Obama should get another Nobel Peace Prize for this...he's clipping the wings of the military-industrial complex.
Absolutely any notion that this **adds** secrecy is insane. This is what Kennedy tried to do and it cost him his life.
This is taking our country back and adding accountability to something that previously had none (especially under Bush, who started using Hellfire missiles on drones, btw).
And WTF about is this above ^^ about Nixon? Obama *stopped* two wars...Nixon intervened at the end of LBJ's term to keep a peace agreement (that would've ended Vientnam) from happening before the election: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21768668
the deliberate removal of a usable feature to force users to give up personal data.
I think your argument has morphed somewhere along the way. This is nowhere in your original response.
I said, in my original post: "Blizzard knows what is best, most "usable" for the customer, but creates an artificial feature bottleneck and then uses the dumbest way ever to capitalize on it."
Silicosis...breathing in...will make short work of your lungs...pieces chip off as you're walking or bringing in machinery from the outside, it's still no good.
This is a simple construction problem. I grew up in the residential construction biz and worked on commercial/industrial projects (including a NIST expansion at their Boulder facility...really!)
You can cover the entire inner structure with a plastic sheeting. Just like the roof of a greenhouse only inside....or the bed of your flower garden to keep out weeds. Simple process. It's what they do to certain asbestos buildings to do repair as well. Very common.
There really is no reason not to be on the moon right now. It's beauracratic nonsense that is keeping us. That is all.
I am an HCI researcher and neither do they. First off, the whole concept of 'beta testing' and the larger way companies contextualize the development process is pedantic, bloated, and makes anti-user products.
Specifically, they only test a narrowly defined set of factors in their 'beta test'
It's like if automotive engineers tested a sports car by driving it around the block, parallel parking with it, then revving it's engine to max RPM while in Neutral.
Sure, they'll have reems of data...some useful (parallel parking) and even a big fat 'performance portfolio' on the engine...but as a whole the test is **shit**
So for the game, they probably tested it with everyday gamers, but the quesitons on the questionaire would explain everything. They probably had a 7-Likert scale on questions like "Did you feel excited when you began playing"...then "Do you feel that excitement diminished during gameplay?"
Then some benchmark metrics of course, but those are custom installs on super-fast machines most likely (as a final commercial build of the Game wouldn't be done at this time;). Those performance tests are also usually shitty, but there's still a inferable relationship between actual performance curves and the lab-perfect curves...just reduced.
Then that's put in a report to the game 'producer'...yes they have titles like that...who sees what he/she expects to see.
Talk to the off-the-street testers after the test...they'll tell you all about what the didn't like and how the dumbfuck survery didn't ask them about any of it.
Ok Omestes...you have to respond directly to this, from my original post:
"Blizzard...creates an artificial feature bottleneck and then uses the dumbest way ever to capitalize on it."
They removed a usable feature. Don't tell me about what *you* think *personally* about *your* gaming preferences. You probably have the ability to think from the perspective of the decision maker, Blizzard.
It's wrong to abuse your users by removing features that **many use** (don't fuck with me on that last phrase, asshat, it's a fucking pro sport in Korea...it's popular to use LAN...) in order to force them to give you personal data via constant link.
You can't deny that. That mean's your point is disproven.
I want to see you try, but you fail if you don't directly counter the argument I made...the deliberate removal of a usable feature to force users to give up personal data.
Blizzard knows what is best, most "usable" for the customer, but creates an artificial feature bottleneck and then uses the dumbest way ever to capitalize on it. It is bad management. I guarantee the game designers did not choose to do this.
It's a fuck up. Borne from a chain of anti-user decisions, and it ruins game franchises (or at least that iteration). This version IS screwed up and it will cost Blizzard in the long run. Unless you've been to Korea (I taught Enrish there), you have no idea. The LAN battles in Starcraft created an **entire professional gaming industry**
LAN Battles on broadcast TV.
The parent comment is 100% troll face, but GP has it right completely.
at first glance, to me it looks like the author copy/pasted some text from an essay, book, or lecture that serves as sort of a survey with a few case studies.
I've seen alot of comments saying 'this guy didn't answer questions' being modded as a 'troll'...what gives?
This guy (poetmatt) isn't trolling...maybe the GP AC...but even then it's more snarky than troll.
Stating that the person did not answer the questions is **not** trolling. It is a valid criticism. Given the format (internet forum) and the size of the text being criticized, it is logical that a commenter would omit supporting evidence for such a claim. Why? The post is prima facia not a Q/A.
Marissa Mayer is a data dork who was hot and in the right place at the right time. Yes, her degrees are difficult to attain (with honors), but a degree doesn't mean **jack shit** to the profit margin.
Here's the problem with this article:
1. Superficial examination of women CEO's, omitted many examples (as stated above IBM's CEO and others)
2. Takes mainstream understanding of what a 'successful tech company' looks like. Business must have a sustainable profit model or they are nothing.
3. These women drive their companies into the ground. They take capital-building enterprises, outsource, cut workers, 'innovate', and then stop production of devices and go into "business services"...happens every time. The type of 'woman CEO' he profiles get their position because the **do as they are told** not b/c they can run a company.
you missed/ignored/didn't read that part of my post did you?
go ahead and re-read my **entire** post, think about it, and come back....**waits a few minutes**
just because something 'makes money' doesn't mean it isn't total and complete shit...you have to look at WHY...you do realize people do something called 'game the system' right?
ex: a shitty restaurant can last for decades in the right location, but a restaurant could have the *best* concept ever and give the best service, cheapest prices, etc. and not succeed.
I love that I elicited such an emotional response from you using complex ideas and with sources cited.
What your comment tells me is, from a 2nd order Cybernetics perspective, my excoriation of JJ Abrams had the punch of a flamebait text art comment but the complexity and intellectual gravitas of an essay.
"the people responsible for Jar Jar Binks/Episode 1 did."
Right, so that'd be George Lucas. A decision made by fiat in his role as independent filmaker emperor. That's all gone now -> Disney.
The new Star Wars trilogy will *not* have a "Jar-Jar"
According to my theory, now that big industry studios are projecting 50-year profit margins on rights, a "Jar-Jar" has too much 'bad press' to make it past marketing.
Yes, big industry studios make "Jar-Jar's" but it's a different process, one that is market-tested, social media'd, and focus-grouped to death. Something so blatant as "another Jar-Jar" would raise red flags for a studio **now** given all the reviews/blog posts/word of mouth on how much Jar-Jar was hated by fans.
Also, JJ Abrams is a hack (obv) but he's more 'hip' because the women he bangs are younger (my guess). He'd veto a "Jar-Jar" even though overall he's shit.
"Hopefully this will allow for an Abrams style reboot..."
JJ Abrams is all hype and money. His concepts are all a tease with no substance. Substance comes of course, but in his projects what we usually call 'plot', 'writing', etc are slapdash afterthoughts. He benefits from the fact that ~60% of the population will watch whatever is playing in theaters that week due to artificial scarcity of film choices.
JJ Abrams is shit. That doesn't mean his projects are doomed. In the big-budget studio world, franchises like this become so monolithic it usually prevents stupid shit like Abrams' ridiculous lens flare fetish. Put any random 30-something film buff in his chair and let him bark orders and bullshit concepts for action scenes and you'd get the same result.
IMHO, Abrams' shit tendencies will *not* ruin Star Wars like they ruined Star Trek. Too many people with money on this understand how shitty Abrams is...
"If such a group can be formed then they will be also fired as a group."
Develop that...maybe start by thinking it through. If Yahoo's employee who are allowed to telecommute virtually all refused to comply, THEY COULD NOT FIRE ALL OF THEM
So I'd like to hear your thoughts, but saying, "Meh, they would just fire 'em" is dumb and insults (whats left of) the Pasta-fearing conoscenti of/.
"It's bad because I like PC games, and want the industry to focus on PC games again."
I call Troll. This is all bad and everyone knows it. There is no 'PC gaming industry'...the Personal Computer (PC) is a type of platform for consumer games.
The problem is the notion of requiring an internet connection to use. The problem is FEE PER USE.
DRM is bad for *any* industry in its current usage. Sure there is no law against properly implementing DRM in the right situation so not to harm your users, but that virtually never happens. Once DRM creeps into a type of media it is historically resulted in anti-user DRM implementations.
Lamenting something like 'PC games' is the exact wrong thing to notice. Lament FEE PER USE as industry standard across all gaming platforms.
This is it: "She just wants to fire people, the data is a pretense."
I enjoy poking holes in her VPN theory as much as the next data wonk, but it's like trying to rope the wind with these people...
Marissa Meyers is going to run that company into the ground. Yahoo=Hewlet-Packard
I'm wondering if anyone at a company like Yahoo thinks it is within the realm of possibility for the employees to 'organize' and refuse to comply as a group?
Many commenters have said 'party' or 'get laid a lot'...this guy gets +5 for 'start working early'...both seem like good options.
The point is, by this point in your life, you should have some idea of what kind of 'work/life' balance works for you, so now you execute.
What I'm saying is, do both: get involved in work you love and get out and have some fun. You will most likely be in your current town for awhile. Branch out, start making professional contacts, go to art gallery openings, go to 'meet ups' or happy hour networking bullshits...
For better or worse, 'work' and 'partying' overlap a lot more than some university students think. It is hard to provide evidence for such a claim beyond annecdotes...it's true. You don't have to mix work and pleasure, but you at least need to get an idea how you can fit into different situations.
screw the Appalachian Trail...well, not really. Don't let other people's idea of 'adventure' bias your decision.
The idea is, do something that requires alot of time and commitment that you truly enjoy. Something that the future you're going for may not allow the flexibility for. It can be something challenging like a long backpacking trip. That's a popular thing to do in this situation.
Let's say you're going to be an oceanographer. You're going to have all kinds of adventures in your program. You probably already have had some interesting research trips. You might want to try to see a baseball game in every stadium in the National League or something like that.
Don't be the kind of person who does things 'for the story' so you can look cool.
Seriously, I am a programmer, but I totally get why people use Excel. Programmers and devs have this problem in that they cant do something quickly because it needs to be abstracted, modularized, etc, etc...
+1 Informative, +1 Takedown
I'm kind of teaching myself programming (for web crap) but I have a weird database and data analysis background that is very helpful but causes me problems when I get deep into OOP shit...
Of course 'it depends on the job', but I'd suggest having a look at SPSS, if you have access or are rich. Every college and university uses it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPSS
It has a code view for your queries (i am weird and only use SQL) and even some online 'libraries' of often used search strings (consult google). There used to be a FOSS alternative, PSPP, but I never used it.
I'd like to hear any feedback on my suggestion. The type of data analysis I did was either large data pulls based and de-duping on a few factors across 800K contact dbases in Oracle, Access, Excel, etc. or it was SPSS for doing geospatial, survey response, and anthropolgy factor analysis. We tested WiMax router signal penetration and correlated it with observational and respondent based computer usage data. SPSS handled the mix of data well.
Looking at other responses it appears that many are sort of dancing on the line between hard coding and dbase querying with their set ups...I'm not a coding wizard but I can at least get the concept. Never used most of the programs others have mentioned.
I agree, and I have tried to simplify my explanation of this concept for years. I started in database management and telecom and I use to be a computer design prof.
"Somebody else's computer" is exactly what is happening. The 'internet' is a system of networked (or 'internetworked') computers. The internet allows the computers to communicate information.
I always understood networked computers as just a really, really big mainframe spread across rooms in different cities. It helped with learning network engineering alot...but thinking my way makes you hate the way things like CSS work.
I agree with parent and GP in regards to the overal question. Coding 'mobile apps' is a great idea for part time coding ca$h...
However, it sounds silly to hear any debate on the suggested platform. It's got to be IOS/Android...make it for both. All the best 'apps' are in both.
To suggest otherwise would be to essentially the same as doing FOSS work. If you're going to make the $$$ then do it right, or find FOSS to play around with...no half measures.
Also, Blackberry is practically dead. Really.....are there Blackberry fanbois out there? Well it's dead. Just be honest with yourself.
I haven't seen anyone else mention it, so my answer is: Staffing Agency
If you become one of the 'go to' coders for a staffing agency, especially a smaller regional one, you can make almost full-time money and completely set your own schedule.
Your options depend on where you live. In a tech focused large city, you probably have at least a dozen options, if you include larger staffing agencies with a tech division. In BFE, North Dakota you will probably have only the larger chains, but they can be ok.In my area, they call them 'IT talent agencies' but that's just the West Coast. They do coding stuff along with 'UX' and w/e else they call marketing these days.
Do whatever work you're willing to do. Just be clear and consistent. The Staffing agency people won't know WTF most of your job description means anyway. Just do good work.
I would suggest doing some basic network engineering along with coding. Web coding is bad for the mind, and routers have the comfort of a command line.
It's just hard to believe that, in an economic sense, even with all the invasive gov't and corporate snooping and tracking...even with all that, SilkRoad exists.
It's a truth of economics...the black market **will certainly** exist in any human system. Heh...in Soviet Russian the side supplies YOU
Seriously look at Soviet Russia. They had strict authoritarian controls inside, and embargoes outside, yet 'yankee blue jeans' and Marlboros were ubiquitous to the point of being parodied (Berserker!)
The black market is a certainty. Process it and behave accordingly.
Slashdot Mirror
Obama should get another Nobel Peace Prize for this...he's clipping the wings of the military-industrial complex.
Absolutely any notion that this **adds** secrecy is insane. This is what Kennedy tried to do and it cost him his life.
This is taking our country back and adding accountability to something that previously had none (especially under Bush, who started using Hellfire missiles on drones, btw).
And WTF about is this above ^^ about Nixon? Obama *stopped* two wars...Nixon intervened at the end of LBJ's term to keep a peace agreement (that would've ended Vientnam) from happening before the election: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21768668
Read up chumps...
Ormestes...I win...
I said, in my original post: "Blizzard knows what is best, most "usable" for the customer, but creates an artificial feature bottleneck and then uses the dumbest way ever to capitalize on it."
I accept your apology
This is a simple construction problem. I grew up in the residential construction biz and worked on commercial/industrial projects (including a NIST expansion at their Boulder facility...really!)
You can cover the entire inner structure with a plastic sheeting. Just like the roof of a greenhouse only inside....or the bed of your flower garden to keep out weeds. Simple process. It's what they do to certain asbestos buildings to do repair as well. Very common.
There really is no reason not to be on the moon right now. It's beauracratic nonsense that is keeping us. That is all.
I am an HCI researcher and neither do they. First off, the whole concept of 'beta testing' and the larger way companies contextualize the development process is pedantic, bloated, and makes anti-user products.
Specifically, they only test a narrowly defined set of factors in their 'beta test'
It's like if automotive engineers tested a sports car by driving it around the block, parallel parking with it, then revving it's engine to max RPM while in Neutral.
Sure, they'll have reems of data...some useful (parallel parking) and even a big fat 'performance portfolio' on the engine...but as a whole the test is **shit**
So for the game, they probably tested it with everyday gamers, but the quesitons on the questionaire would explain everything. They probably had a 7-Likert scale on questions like "Did you feel excited when you began playing"...then "Do you feel that excitement diminished during gameplay?"
Then some benchmark metrics of course, but those are custom installs on super-fast machines most likely (as a final commercial build of the Game wouldn't be done at this time ;). Those performance tests are also usually shitty, but there's still a inferable relationship between actual performance curves and the lab-perfect curves...just reduced.
Then that's put in a report to the game 'producer'...yes they have titles like that...who sees what he/she expects to see.
Talk to the off-the-street testers after the test...they'll tell you all about what the didn't like and how the dumbfuck survery didn't ask them about any of it.
Science is only as good as it is rigorous.
Ok Omestes...you have to respond directly to this, from my original post:
"Blizzard...creates an artificial feature bottleneck and then uses the dumbest way ever to capitalize on it."
They removed a usable feature. Don't tell me about what *you* think *personally* about *your* gaming preferences. You probably have the ability to think from the perspective of the decision maker, Blizzard.
It's wrong to abuse your users by removing features that **many use** (don't fuck with me on that last phrase, asshat, it's a fucking pro sport in Korea...it's popular to use LAN...) in order to force them to give you personal data via constant link.
You can't deny that. That mean's your point is disproven.
I want to see you try, but you fail if you don't directly counter the argument I made...the deliberate removal of a usable feature to force users to give up personal data.
GP had it right, and parent is trolling.
Blizzard knows what is best, most "usable" for the customer, but creates an artificial feature bottleneck and then uses the dumbest way ever to capitalize on it. It is bad management. I guarantee the game designers did not choose to do this.
It's a fuck up. Borne from a chain of anti-user decisions, and it ruins game franchises (or at least that iteration). This version IS screwed up and it will cost Blizzard in the long run. Unless you've been to Korea (I taught Enrish there), you have no idea. The LAN battles in Starcraft created an **entire professional gaming industry**
LAN Battles on broadcast TV.
The parent comment is 100% troll face, but GP has it right completely.
at first glance, to me it looks like the author copy/pasted some text from an essay, book, or lecture that serves as sort of a survey with a few case studies.
I've seen alot of comments saying 'this guy didn't answer questions' being modded as a 'troll'...what gives?
This guy (poetmatt) isn't trolling...maybe the GP AC...but even then it's more snarky than troll.
Stating that the person did not answer the questions is **not** trolling. It is a valid criticism. Given the format (internet forum) and the size of the text being criticized, it is logical that a commenter would omit supporting evidence for such a claim. Why? The post is prima facia not a Q/A.
Marissa Mayer is a data dork who was hot and in the right place at the right time. Yes, her degrees are difficult to attain (with honors), but a degree doesn't mean **jack shit** to the profit margin.
Here's the problem with this article:
1. Superficial examination of women CEO's, omitted many examples (as stated above IBM's CEO and others)
2. Takes mainstream understanding of what a 'successful tech company' looks like. Business must have a sustainable profit model or they are nothing.
3. These women drive their companies into the ground. They take capital-building enterprises, outsource, cut workers, 'innovate', and then stop production of devices and go into "business services"...happens every time. The type of 'woman CEO' he profiles get their position because the **do as they are told** not b/c they can run a company.
you missed/ignored/didn't read that part of my post did you?
go ahead and re-read my **entire** post, think about it, and come back....**waits a few minutes**
just because something 'makes money' doesn't mean it isn't total and complete shit...you have to look at WHY...you do realize people do something called 'game the system' right?
ex: a shitty restaurant can last for decades in the right location, but a restaurant could have the *best* concept ever and give the best service, cheapest prices, etc. and not succeed.
I love that I elicited such an emotional response from you using complex ideas and with sources cited.
What your comment tells me is, from a 2nd order Cybernetics perspective, my excoriation of JJ Abrams had the punch of a flamebait text art comment but the complexity and intellectual gravitas of an essay.
Thanks ;)
"the people responsible for Jar Jar Binks/Episode 1 did."
Right, so that'd be George Lucas. A decision made by fiat in his role as independent filmaker emperor. That's all gone now -> Disney.
The new Star Wars trilogy will *not* have a "Jar-Jar"
According to my theory, now that big industry studios are projecting 50-year profit margins on rights, a "Jar-Jar" has too much 'bad press' to make it past marketing.
Yes, big industry studios make "Jar-Jar's" but it's a different process, one that is market-tested, social media'd, and focus-grouped to death. Something so blatant as "another Jar-Jar" would raise red flags for a studio **now** given all the reviews/blog posts/word of mouth on how much Jar-Jar was hated by fans.
Also, JJ Abrams is a hack (obv) but he's more 'hip' because the women he bangs are younger (my guess). He'd veto a "Jar-Jar" even though overall he's shit.
Curse your filthy mouth for saying this:
"Hopefully this will allow for an Abrams style reboot..."
JJ Abrams is all hype and money. His concepts are all a tease with no substance. Substance comes of course, but in his projects what we usually call 'plot', 'writing', etc are slapdash afterthoughts. He benefits from the fact that ~60% of the population will watch whatever is playing in theaters that week due to artificial scarcity of film choices.
I'm not even a Star Wars fanboi...if anything I'll claim to be a Trekkie. If you have any notion of Star Trek as a franchise and why fans like it, the 10 Minute Star Trek 2 trailer that played before The Hobbit should be all you need to see: http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/12/19/star-trek-into-darkness-first-trailer-rewind-theater
JJ Abrams is shit. That doesn't mean his projects are doomed. In the big-budget studio world, franchises like this become so monolithic it usually prevents stupid shit like Abrams' ridiculous lens flare fetish. Put any random 30-something film buff in his chair and let him bark orders and bullshit concepts for action scenes and you'd get the same result.
IMHO, Abrams' shit tendencies will *not* ruin Star Wars like they ruined Star Trek. Too many people with money on this understand how shitty Abrams is...
"If such a group can be formed then they will be also fired as a group."
Develop that...maybe start by thinking it through. If Yahoo's employee who are allowed to telecommute virtually all refused to comply, THEY COULD NOT FIRE ALL OF THEM
So I'd like to hear your thoughts, but saying, "Meh, they would just fire 'em" is dumb and insults (whats left of) the Pasta-fearing conoscenti of /.
I accept your apology in advance
"It's bad because I like PC games, and want the industry to focus on PC games again."
I call Troll. This is all bad and everyone knows it. There is no 'PC gaming industry'...the Personal Computer (PC) is a type of platform for consumer games.
The problem is the notion of requiring an internet connection to use. The problem is FEE PER USE.
DRM is bad for *any* industry in its current usage. Sure there is no law against properly implementing DRM in the right situation so not to harm your users, but that virtually never happens. Once DRM creeps into a type of media it is historically resulted in anti-user DRM implementations.
Lamenting something like 'PC games' is the exact wrong thing to notice. Lament FEE PER USE as industry standard across all gaming platforms.
This is it: "She just wants to fire people, the data is a pretense."
I enjoy poking holes in her VPN theory as much as the next data wonk, but it's like trying to rope the wind with these people...
Marissa Meyers is going to run that company into the ground. Yahoo=Hewlet-Packard
I'm wondering if anyone at a company like Yahoo thinks it is within the realm of possibility for the employees to 'organize' and refuse to comply as a group?
if you don't already have one. And maybe try something out of your research area.
PhD students usually live their work, so you may be so used to not having hobbies that you don't realize it ;)
Anything that involves moving around is probably a good place to start.
Many commenters have said 'party' or 'get laid a lot'...this guy gets +5 for 'start working early'...both seem like good options.
The point is, by this point in your life, you should have some idea of what kind of 'work/life' balance works for you, so now you execute.
What I'm saying is, do both: get involved in work you love and get out and have some fun. You will most likely be in your current town for awhile. Branch out, start making professional contacts, go to art gallery openings, go to 'meet ups' or happy hour networking bullshits...
For better or worse, 'work' and 'partying' overlap a lot more than some university students think. It is hard to provide evidence for such a claim beyond annecdotes...it's true. You don't have to mix work and pleasure, but you at least need to get an idea how you can fit into different situations.
screw the Appalachian Trail...well, not really. Don't let other people's idea of 'adventure' bias your decision.
The idea is, do something that requires alot of time and commitment that you truly enjoy. Something that the future you're going for may not allow the flexibility for. It can be something challenging like a long backpacking trip. That's a popular thing to do in this situation.
Let's say you're going to be an oceanographer. You're going to have all kinds of adventures in your program. You probably already have had some interesting research trips. You might want to try to see a baseball game in every stadium in the National League or something like that.
Don't be the kind of person who does things 'for the story' so you can look cool.
+1 Informative, +1 Takedown
I'm kind of teaching myself programming (for web crap) but I have a weird database and data analysis background that is very helpful but causes me problems when I get deep into OOP shit...
Of course 'it depends on the job', but I'd suggest having a look at SPSS, if you have access or are rich. Every college and university uses it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPSS
It has a code view for your queries (i am weird and only use SQL) and even some online 'libraries' of often used search strings (consult google). There used to be a FOSS alternative, PSPP, but I never used it.
I'd like to hear any feedback on my suggestion. The type of data analysis I did was either large data pulls based and de-duping on a few factors across 800K contact dbases in Oracle, Access, Excel, etc. or it was SPSS for doing geospatial, survey response, and anthropolgy factor analysis. We tested WiMax router signal penetration and correlated it with observational and respondent based computer usage data. SPSS handled the mix of data well.
Looking at other responses it appears that many are sort of dancing on the line between hard coding and dbase querying with their set ups...I'm not a coding wizard but I can at least get the concept. Never used most of the programs others have mentioned.
Mod parent up!
I agree, and I have tried to simplify my explanation of this concept for years. I started in database management and telecom and I use to be a computer design prof.
"Somebody else's computer" is exactly what is happening. The 'internet' is a system of networked (or 'internetworked') computers. The internet allows the computers to communicate information.
I always understood networked computers as just a really, really big mainframe spread across rooms in different cities. It helped with learning network engineering alot...but thinking my way makes you hate the way things like CSS work.
I agree with parent and GP in regards to the overal question. Coding 'mobile apps' is a great idea for part time coding ca$h...
However, it sounds silly to hear any debate on the suggested platform. It's got to be IOS/Android...make it for both. All the best 'apps' are in both.
To suggest otherwise would be to essentially the same as doing FOSS work. If you're going to make the $$$ then do it right, or find FOSS to play around with...no half measures.
Also, Blackberry is practically dead. Really.....are there Blackberry fanbois out there? Well it's dead. Just be honest with yourself.
I haven't seen anyone else mention it, so my answer is: Staffing Agency
If you become one of the 'go to' coders for a staffing agency, especially a smaller regional one, you can make almost full-time money and completely set your own schedule.
Your options depend on where you live. In a tech focused large city, you probably have at least a dozen options, if you include larger staffing agencies with a tech division. In BFE, North Dakota you will probably have only the larger chains, but they can be ok.In my area, they call them 'IT talent agencies' but that's just the West Coast. They do coding stuff along with 'UX' and w/e else they call marketing these days.
Do whatever work you're willing to do. Just be clear and consistent. The Staffing agency people won't know WTF most of your job description means anyway. Just do good work.
I would suggest doing some basic network engineering along with coding. Web coding is bad for the mind, and routers have the comfort of a command line.
It's just hard to believe that, in an economic sense, even with all the invasive gov't and corporate snooping and tracking...even with all that, SilkRoad exists.
It's a truth of economics...the black market **will certainly** exist in any human system. Heh...in Soviet Russian the side supplies YOU
Seriously look at Soviet Russia. They had strict authoritarian controls inside, and embargoes outside, yet 'yankee blue jeans' and Marlboros were ubiquitous to the point of being parodied (Berserker!)
The black market is a certainty. Process it and behave accordingly.