As lore has it, back when Java was known as "Oak," it was meant as a language to program small appliances such as remote controls, microwaves, televisions, VCRs and other household electronics. In all that time I've never seen Java actually used in such small devices until now.
I'd never heard that before, but I am realizing what a good idea it is. Admittedly I am not a programmer, but I do have a working knowledge of java, and I know a lot of people like me. How cool would it be if I could easily customize code for my appliances? I may buy this Lego kit just so I can show people the future usefulness of continuing CS education. (And to build cool stuff and show the gigantabox of Legos sits in my utility room for a reason... who can throw away Legos?)
I am really glad that M$ is not that smart. One thing that still irks me though is that given the user-friendliness of almost all OS's right now, this really doesn't matter all that much. No matter what you use, you still click on icons, you still see them on the desktop, you still get to choose your own wallpaper...
I think that pretty soon its not going to matter what you run as more applications are geared toward usage on any platform (think Virtual PC or M$ Word on a Mac).
Re:So many books on java...
on
Bitter Java
·
· Score: 1
I am not going to go get the book because I wouldn't understand it very well anyway (I'm a really awful programmer), but I really respect the guy for writing it. I have a java book on the shelf (won't name any names, but there are some dancing figures and it features with Java swing), and it is what I pull out when I need a clue. What makes me upset though is the number of things in it I don't understand. I am not a programmer, but occasionally I have to write a few lines of code for something. And when that happens, I do not need the words simple or straight-forward to appear anywhere.
I understand that maybe there are people who actually understand it if someone says we promised to use the J2EE/EJB framework, but I don't. My major problem is that I tend to figure out some intuitive way of doing something, but then I realize that it is terribly inefficient and it takes me all day to figure out what a good programmer could do instead in five minutes. Does anyone know of a good Java book for idiots who know they're idiots but still want to do things the right way?
Well, there kind of is a way on some things... Wasn't there something here just the other day about how that publishing companies were going to track books throughout their lifetimes? And they do sort of track automobiles... through the VIN numbers. Admittedly the manufacturers don't always know where the cars are, but in states like IL, where insurance is mandatory, the insurers know where the cars are...
Thank goodness they don't track alcohol sales though... although I used to be paranoid they did back when I was too young to drink. I wouldn't use a credit card to purchase the stuff for fear that someone was tracking it. I really wonder if it would have mattered.
I'm not surprised either, but for a different reason. I went and saw the show last night at 11:30. Despite the fact that Harry Potter probably has just as big a fan base as Spiderman, Harry Potter's fan base is a lot younger. I didn't see any kids at the showing I went to, and I bet that was because it was so late. This statistic just means that more adults decided to see the movie over the weekend because more shows were offered later. Spiderman went all day with lots of shows, but many theaters probably didn't bother packing in so many Harry Potter showings in the later hours.
That makes that stat a particularly meaningless comparison to me. I am interested to see how the numbers go after several weeks though, although I can see how those numbers could be skewed likewise. Mayabe in a few months the comparison will be worthwhile...
I think there may be a variant on Klez right now floating around and it is hilarious. I got the first this morning and have gotten several since.
The email said: Attached is the patch to prevent the Klez virus. Because it is a virus patch, it will appear to be a virus to all virus scanners. Go ahead and run the executable to protect yourself forever from the Klez virus. The attachment WAS the Klez virus, or something very close. I didn't poke around to find out; as I am practically a techno-not in that department, but it left me wondering.
I found myself thinking "My poor mom. She would actually fall for that. Oh my gosh! The guys at the office are going to fall for that." And then I had to race around and make sure nobody was being stupid.
I actually have some friends who are sitting in that situation right now. When we all graduated, some of them went to a small company that is having some cash problems right now. My friends have been taking 60% paychecks for a few months now.
I am particularly worried about their situation though because I am not sure that their corporation is going to have a comeback. If you ever do decide to work for such a company, make sure that their steady revenue stream is really revenue and not startup loans and IPO cash. It can look like revenue on paper, but it is not. I think that a few people around here are wishing they had done a little more research into the place where they work.
Probably the biggest problem that these folks are going through is that they have such a small company that they really feel a commitment to the place and the management. Unlike the folks mentioned in the thread, the management is taking the paycuts too. I just wish I could convince my friends to abandon the sinking ship because I don't want to see them any more desperate for cash than they already are.
Yes, the article even talks about one-time pads, although they only report their existance since the beginning of the last century.
What is really exciting about this is that the key is sent without detection (supposedly... I personally think there will eventually be devices made to counter this by "quantum listening" to that transfer).
Funny enough, that "crowd" you're referring to will still be paranoid even if they don't bother communicating with anyone at all that the government will still monitor their thoughts.
I know this thread is long dead, but just in case someone wants to happen across it later today, I'm going to post.
My dad works for one of the national laboratories and was part of not the nanotechnology, but the microtechnology initiative there (some say he founded it, but I don't really know...). Anyway, as his research has gotten smaller and smaller (think nanotechnology) so has his budget. He's one of the most respected people in the field, and he's been moved to a little bitty office, had his team taken away, and has started having a difficult time accounting for the hours that he's putting in. Such is true of everyone at that laboratory.
I have also heard that when people from NASA or other countries call and ask to get them to consult from him, the lab is jumping through all kinds of beaurocratic hoops explaining why he can't talk to them. He's too respected to be fired (or maybe he knows too much), but he's being screwed. My whole family is really worried about him because he is just working all the time and seemingly under a great deal of stress, but he won't talk about it. The only things that I can say for sure are what his old research partner, now retired, has heard. That information, is not very good.
One question... I agree that it is useful to have an outbox archive, but what do you do if they still say they didn't get that or say that? Admittedly I can print out their email, but that can be fabricated and then printed, or I can forward them their own original message, but that can be fabricated, etc... Am I missing something?
If you want linux to be the OS of the elite it makes perfect sense to bash this product. User friendliness (or an OS being picky about its friends) is undesirable and annoying (who needs a mouse anyway...).
If however, what you want is more OS variety worldwide (read open market with no barriers to entry) products like this will help a lot. I think that because I believe so strongly in open source OS's I have to support these kinds of suites. They will increase the likelihood of open source OS reaching the general public. I know, there are a lot of people here who feel a lot closer to that first paragraph.
Re:Long on Talk, Short on Substance
on
On Hacktivism
·
· Score: 1
It's just you. I found it pretty informative. I have known that other countries had been censoring internet access for their citizens for a while, but it never occurred to me that I should try to do anything about it. What I do not feel, having read that, is that I have a clue as to what to do.
Was that supposed to be a speech for people who already know what to do? Or was it supposed to just make me aware and get me thinking? I thought that he said we shouldn't be writing disruptive code, but that we should practice dissonant compliance. (I know that wasn't the term, but that's what it sounded like.)
It was beautifully written. I have to give him that.
Ok. This is going to sound like a really stupid post, but I really don't get it, so here goes.
Privacy must be individually taken, kept and defended.
Why do we need so much privacy? Admittedly, I don't want my credit card numbers made public for all to abuse, and I don't want anyone to know I was stupid enough to date a few of the guys I've dated, but I can't think of any information really that is super-private. You wanna know how much money I have in my bank account? Okay, I'll tell you. You want to know that bank account's number? I won't tell you that.
I understand and respect that other people have other privacy needs than I do, hence your comment about it being individually taken, but I don't have anything to hide. And I don't understand really what other people would have to hide either. I try to live as up-front a life as possible and I kinda figured everyone did.
If marketing firms, for instance, get my information, they're able to market to me more accurately, and they then realize that I don't want them to send me prOn, but a Scientific American magazine subscription deal or a guitar catalog would be much appreciated. I am of the opinion right now that de-privatizing my life makes it easier. Ok, now please someone, tell me why I'm wrong.
I actually have a hunch about this. I made a comment about the Disney backed bill earlier and someone replied that it probably was less our lobbying than Intel's money behind the policy-makers. I don't know if I agree, but it is certainly worthy of ponderance. Given that, I cannot help but wonder if he had previously received campaign moulah from a tech company (not saying Intel, but someone like Intel) that got really peeved with him and thus quit supporting him.
Is there some soft-money involved here? It would be great if I could just say he just wants our votes and is trying to make friends, but he should know better really after his previous attitude. He should realize he can't get our trust back. Of course, maybe the voters of South Carolina are more likely to forgive and forget than I am.
It may be that IBM is planning on keeping that share of the hard drive market, getting rid of 70% of their products, but keeping the bulk of their market intact.
If financial worries are part of their motivation to explore exit strategies it makes good sense to abandon all but the most profitable products. Of course, if that is the case, Hitachi has very little reason to bother getting involved at all, except perhaps to ride on the prestigious coattails of IBM.
Re:sabotage through the internet is similar to
on
Byte Wars
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I think you're absolutely right, and yet I also think I'm beginning to hate how cynical statements like that sound and how cynical I must have somehow become in agreeing with statements like that.
I would like to point out, however, that sabotage through the internet is very unlike a suicide bomber in that provided you are not caught, a would-be saboteur could feasibly sabotage again, and again, and again. Successful suicide bombers have but one shot to hurt people.
I am quite convinced that because of this, despite the new fear experienced by many post-9.11, suicide bombers are still the least of our immediate first-world worries.
One of the things I have long not understood about this country's legal system is the notion that you are suddenly old enough to do things at certain ages. That is one qualm I have with child pornography laws. I am convinced there are numerous 17 year-olds capable of making such mature decisions, and there are probably scores more who are legal that are not.
Another reservation I hold with the system is the notion that it is not illegal to import images where someone filmed a child and then modified the image to make it pornographic. While that is not as detrimental to a child's well-being at the time, it is still sick, and the child could feasibly be hurt for a long time just as a result of finding such images of themselves or others their age.
It would seem to me that other companies should be getting a clue just by watching other companies enjoy success as a direct result of mods. But that doesn't seem to be the case. Is there something intrinsically wrong with the system that other companies are so stuck in the cost/revenue/profit cycle they can't/won't step out for a minute and realize that they would be better off sharing development with players?
I would like to propose a user-driven move for all software to be more like this but my faith in our ability to do such is waning...
Slashdot Mirror
that information was already obsolete at press-time, given continual universal expansion.
As lore has it, back when Java was known as "Oak," it was meant as a language to program small appliances such as remote controls, microwaves, televisions, VCRs and other household electronics. In all that time I've never seen Java actually used in such small devices until now.
I'd never heard that before, but I am realizing what a good idea it is. Admittedly I am not a programmer, but I do have a working knowledge of java, and I know a lot of people like me. How cool would it be if I could easily customize code for my appliances? I may buy this Lego kit just so I can show people the future usefulness of continuing CS education. (And to build cool stuff and show the gigantabox of Legos sits in my utility room for a reason... who can throw away Legos?)
Waiting to get the girl again?
Mario sets off on his greatest adventure yet
No, that would happen if he arrived on a pollution-free island and got to do some much deserved resting and relaxing there with Princess Peach.
I am really glad that M$ is not that smart. One thing that still irks me though is that given the user-friendliness of almost all OS's right now, this really doesn't matter all that much. No matter what you use, you still click on icons, you still see them on the desktop, you still get to choose your own wallpaper...
I think that pretty soon its not going to matter what you run as more applications are geared toward usage on any platform (think Virtual PC or M$ Word on a Mac).
I am not going to go get the book because I wouldn't understand it very well anyway (I'm a really awful programmer), but I really respect the guy for writing it. I have a java book on the shelf (won't name any names, but there are some dancing figures and it features with Java swing), and it is what I pull out when I need a clue. What makes me upset though is the number of things in it I don't understand. I am not a programmer, but occasionally I have to write a few lines of code for something. And when that happens, I do not need the words simple or straight-forward to appear anywhere.
I understand that maybe there are people who actually understand it if someone says we promised to use the J2EE/EJB framework, but I don't. My major problem is that I tend to figure out some intuitive way of doing something, but then I realize that it is terribly inefficient and it takes me all day to figure out what a good programmer could do instead in five minutes. Does anyone know of a good Java book for idiots who know they're idiots but still want to do things the right way?
Well, there kind of is a way on some things... Wasn't there something here just the other day about how that publishing companies were going to track books throughout their lifetimes? And they do sort of track automobiles... through the VIN numbers. Admittedly the manufacturers don't always know where the cars are, but in states like IL, where insurance is mandatory, the insurers know where the cars are...
Thank goodness they don't track alcohol sales though... although I used to be paranoid they did back when I was too young to drink. I wouldn't use a credit card to purchase the stuff for fear that someone was tracking it. I really wonder if it would have mattered.
Now I understand why M$ has adopted the flexible and friendly attitude. They know the school districts have God on their side!
God gave us 24 hours in a day, and I have occasionally tried to use every one of them playing video games. Now this may actually be possible!
I'm not surprised either, but for a different reason. I went and saw the show last night at 11:30. Despite the fact that Harry Potter probably has just as big a fan base as Spiderman, Harry Potter's fan base is a lot younger. I didn't see any kids at the showing I went to, and I bet that was because it was so late. This statistic just means that more adults decided to see the movie over the weekend because more shows were offered later. Spiderman went all day with lots of shows, but many theaters probably didn't bother packing in so many Harry Potter showings in the later hours.
That makes that stat a particularly meaningless comparison to me. I am interested to see how the numbers go after several weeks though, although I can see how those numbers could be skewed likewise. Mayabe in a few months the comparison will be worthwhile...
I think there may be a variant on Klez right now floating around and it is hilarious. I got the first this morning and have gotten several since.
The email said: Attached is the patch to prevent the Klez virus. Because it is a virus patch, it will appear to be a virus to all virus scanners. Go ahead and run the executable to protect yourself forever from the Klez virus. The attachment WAS the Klez virus, or something very close. I didn't poke around to find out; as I am practically a techno-not in that department, but it left me wondering.
I found myself thinking "My poor mom. She would actually fall for that. Oh my gosh! The guys at the office are going to fall for that." And then I had to race around and make sure nobody was being stupid.
I actually have some friends who are sitting in that situation right now. When we all graduated, some of them went to a small company that is having some cash problems right now. My friends have been taking 60% paychecks for a few months now.
I am particularly worried about their situation though because I am not sure that their corporation is going to have a comeback. If you ever do decide to work for such a company, make sure that their steady revenue stream is really revenue and not startup loans and IPO cash. It can look like revenue on paper, but it is not. I think that a few people around here are wishing they had done a little more research into the place where they work.
Probably the biggest problem that these folks are going through is that they have such a small company that they really feel a commitment to the place and the management. Unlike the folks mentioned in the thread, the management is taking the paycuts too. I just wish I could convince my friends to abandon the sinking ship because I don't want to see them any more desperate for cash than they already are.
Yes, the article even talks about one-time pads, although they only report their existance since the beginning of the last century.
What is really exciting about this is that the key is sent without detection (supposedly... I personally think there will eventually be devices made to counter this by "quantum listening" to that transfer).
Funny enough, that "crowd" you're referring to will still be paranoid even if they don't bother communicating with anyone at all that the government will still monitor their thoughts.
I know this thread is long dead, but just in case someone wants to happen across it later today, I'm going to post.
My dad works for one of the national laboratories and was part of not the nanotechnology, but the microtechnology initiative there (some say he founded it, but I don't really know...). Anyway, as his research has gotten smaller and smaller (think nanotechnology) so has his budget. He's one of the most respected people in the field, and he's been moved to a little bitty office, had his team taken away, and has started having a difficult time accounting for the hours that he's putting in. Such is true of everyone at that laboratory.
I have also heard that when people from NASA or other countries call and ask to get them to consult from him, the lab is jumping through all kinds of beaurocratic hoops explaining why he can't talk to them. He's too respected to be fired (or maybe he knows too much), but he's being screwed. My whole family is really worried about him because he is just working all the time and seemingly under a great deal of stress, but he won't talk about it. The only things that I can say for sure are what his old research partner, now retired, has heard. That information, is not very good.
Adaware/Radlight Install Pack
1. Read all directions before installing
2. Install Radlight
3. Install Adaware
One question... I agree that it is useful to have an outbox archive, but what do you do if they still say they didn't get that or say that? Admittedly I can print out their email, but that can be fabricated and then printed, or I can forward them their own original message, but that can be fabricated, etc... Am I missing something?
If you want linux to be the OS of the elite it makes perfect sense to bash this product. User friendliness (or an OS being picky about its friends) is undesirable and annoying (who needs a mouse anyway...).
If however, what you want is more OS variety worldwide (read open market with no barriers to entry) products like this will help a lot. I think that because I believe so strongly in open source OS's I have to support these kinds of suites. They will increase the likelihood of open source OS reaching the general public. I know, there are a lot of people here who feel a lot closer to that first paragraph.
It's just you. I found it pretty informative. I have known that other countries had been censoring internet access for their citizens for a while, but it never occurred to me that I should try to do anything about it. What I do not feel, having read that, is that I have a clue as to what to do.
Was that supposed to be a speech for people who already know what to do? Or was it supposed to just make me aware and get me thinking? I thought that he said we shouldn't be writing disruptive code, but that we should practice dissonant compliance. (I know that wasn't the term, but that's what it sounded like.)
It was beautifully written. I have to give him that.
Ok. This is going to sound like a really stupid post, but I really don't get it, so here goes.
Privacy must be individually taken, kept and defended.
Why do we need so much privacy? Admittedly, I don't want my credit card numbers made public for all to abuse, and I don't want anyone to know I was stupid enough to date a few of the guys I've dated, but I can't think of any information really that is super-private. You wanna know how much money I have in my bank account? Okay, I'll tell you. You want to know that bank account's number? I won't tell you that.
I understand and respect that other people have other privacy needs than I do, hence your comment about it being individually taken, but I don't have anything to hide. And I don't understand really what other people would have to hide either. I try to live as up-front a life as possible and I kinda figured everyone did.
If marketing firms, for instance, get my information, they're able to market to me more accurately, and they then realize that I don't want them to send me prOn, but a Scientific American magazine subscription deal or a guitar catalog would be much appreciated. I am of the opinion right now that de-privatizing my life makes it easier. Ok, now please someone, tell me why I'm wrong.
...gives the right time twice a day
I actually have a hunch about this. I made a comment about the Disney backed bill earlier and someone replied that it probably was less our lobbying than Intel's money behind the policy-makers. I don't know if I agree, but it is certainly worthy of ponderance. Given that, I cannot help but wonder if he had previously received campaign moulah from a tech company (not saying Intel, but someone like Intel) that got really peeved with him and thus quit supporting him.
Is there some soft-money involved here? It would be great if I could just say he just wants our votes and is trying to make friends, but he should know better really after his previous attitude. He should realize he can't get our trust back. Of course, maybe the voters of South Carolina are more likely to forgive and forget than I am.
Surveilance cameras in homes for security purposes could qualify...
...not that I own anything worth watching...
It may be that IBM is planning on keeping that share of the hard drive market, getting rid of 70% of their products, but keeping the bulk of their market intact.
If financial worries are part of their motivation to explore exit strategies it makes good sense to abandon all but the most profitable products. Of course, if that is the case, Hitachi has very little reason to bother getting involved at all, except perhaps to ride on the prestigious coattails of IBM.
I think you're absolutely right, and yet I also think I'm beginning to hate how cynical statements like that sound and how cynical I must have somehow become in agreeing with statements like that.
I would like to point out, however, that sabotage through the internet is very unlike a suicide bomber in that provided you are not caught, a would-be saboteur could feasibly sabotage again, and again, and again. Successful suicide bombers have but one shot to hurt people.
I am quite convinced that because of this, despite the new fear experienced by many post-9.11, suicide bombers are still the least of our immediate first-world worries.
One of the things I have long not understood about this country's legal system is the notion that you are suddenly old enough to do things at certain ages. That is one qualm I have with child pornography laws. I am convinced there are numerous 17 year-olds capable of making such mature decisions, and there are probably scores more who are legal that are not.
Another reservation I hold with the system is the notion that it is not illegal to import images where someone filmed a child and then modified the image to make it pornographic. While that is not as detrimental to a child's well-being at the time, it is still sick, and the child could feasibly be hurt for a long time just as a result of finding such images of themselves or others their age.
It would seem to me that other companies should be getting a clue just by watching other companies enjoy success as a direct result of mods. But that doesn't seem to be the case. Is there something intrinsically wrong with the system that other companies are so stuck in the cost/revenue/profit cycle they can't/won't step out for a minute and realize that they would be better off sharing development with players?
I would like to propose a user-driven move for all software to be more like this but my faith in our ability to do such is waning...
SWEET!
Techchicks like titanium bands and silicon "stones" with holograms.