I'm having a hard time imagining this being sold in the US. Wouldn't the first time someone got hurt (child hit, accident not avoided, etc.) cause a montrous lawsuit against Honda because the system failed to prevent someone from being hurt? Couldn't someone sue claiming that they didn't need to be as attentive because the car takes care of that? I know people can sue for anything regardless of merit, but this seems like Firestone Tires on Ford Explorer all over again. As control is taken away from the driver, the liability for driving starts moving to the manufacturer.
Also, any hackers out there expected to come up with jamming devices or false signal senders? It isn't too hard to imagine someone getting a kick out of causing an accident behind them. Or just wanting to get a tailgater backed off by triggering their braking system.
I can understand in countries not as trigger happy with lawsuits, but I gotta think Honda is opening a can of worms with active avoidance in the US.
Re:100% Right on the money!
on
Ageism in IT?
·
· Score: 1
This is the key point -- more than "ability".
Younger programmers work for half the salary as older programmers. They don't care about pensions, they don't care about healthcare, they're not taking days off for child care reasons. "Ability" isn't an issue because 90% of professional code development is routine, simple stuff that doesn't require creativity and inspiration.
Of course, this is the same reason programming is moving overseas.
Everyone is expendable. It is rare that a walk out hurts a company in the long run, especially if you are not part of a union that at least has some legal leg to prevent the hiring of others.
There are three certain outcomes. The first is that you will be out of work. The second is that if for some reason the company agrees with your demands, you will be replaced as soon as possible. The third is that you will never get a positive reference from this organization again, possibly hurting your chances for other work.
You're not too busy if you have time to post on slashdot and spend energy discussing this with your coworkers.
I would caution you against doing anything as a group. It is unlikely that your needs and motivation completely line up with those of the rest of the group.
Remember, all jobs stink. That is why we call this "work", after all.
Ultimately, you need to decide your needs, your career goals, whether you agree with the mission of the organization, and if your position in the organization lines up with what you want to do (or your path to get to what you want to do). If you decide its time to move on, move on. But move on with pride and in a way that respects the feelings of those that want to stay. You want the company to remember you as a good person who would be an asset to any organization, and not a person ranting as they go out the door.
I don't think the same worry is there. Oil worked because Saudi was one of the few places with the oil -- a good chunk of it, anyway. If every country had the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia, the Saudis would not have the money they do and the ability that money has to keep their government in power and control. Once their oil is gone, they go back to being an undeveloped (or no longer developing) country since they have not done much to build up other industries (I think).
Outsourced programming is just the process of capitalism at work on a global scale. Low end IT is outsourced where labor is cheaper, and the US workers go on to do other things with higher value if they want to maintain their lifestyle. Just like there is not much clothing being manufactured in the US anymore, but high-end special things still are.
This is just the result of progress, whether through economic pressure (outsourcing) or technological advance (better machinery or automation). We learn other things and move on. Three generations ago my family ran a wool blanket factory. I don't miss it.
I think that even though audiophiles try to avoid clipping, the point is that if you run it loud enough the amp may eventually clip and you want that clip as soft as possible. So, the audiophile will by as large an amp as they can afford to keep it running well below the clipping stage. They purchase 1500 watt amps, while the guitarist blows your ears out with a 50 watt amp.
It's funny how this thread quickly blew into the never-ending tube-vs-solid state debate. Especially since the difference between audiophile gear and consumer gear is so much smaller than it was 25 years ago.
There are several groups that don't have to abide:
Long Distance, Airlines, and Insurance companies that are regulated by states and not Fed.
Organizations you have an "established business relationship" with.
Companies you've made an inquiry to or sent an application to (for three months).
Charities
Political parties.
Between the shake down by the local Police charities, all those contractors with some nebulous relationship to Sears or my mortgage company, the annual cycles of recorded messages by political candidates, and the phone companies checking to see if I want to switch, its unlikely that I will see any reduction in calls.
Cisco has been doing this for a while, at least with their Aironet 350 series wireless access points. They use a day glo cable with a sticker -- but its the same 4 pair Ethernet connector.
There is the copyright of the composer who created the song, and there is the copyright of the artist who recorded the song. These are two independent things.
When an artist records a song, they credit the composer, and the composer gets compensated when the recording is sold or the sheet music is sold. The artist gets compensated when the specific recording is broadcasted.
Sampling, in the context of the original article, potentially violates both these areas. You could sample a unique way of producing a note into a keyboard, like a horn section note from a James Brown song, and use the keyboard to manipulate the frequency into notes. You have ripped off a performer in this case (the horn section, who may have given their copyright to James Brown with their studio contract), but not the composer. If you take a sample to loop it you have now taken the recording and possibly the composer. Or, if you re-record the loop you have only ripped off the composer.
Some artists look the other way because they like the result, or are compensated, or don't care, or like new attention in old work. However, they might claim property rights as in these cases.
A good artist, just like a good programmer, will credit others' work they derive theirs from. Even if its just a little sequence of notes that forms part of their composition.
Ditto for me. I still go back through the single player game once a year just because it was executed so well. You can hang out behind the scientists before the accident, and they roll through a whole buch of conversations -- "Have you seen my coffee cup?". Funny detail and great for 1997.
I just realized I've been playing on your servers for a year! You do a good job with them.
It would be more profitable to make a Mac game than a Linux game.
And just what would be the profit for them to distribute their free Mac platform game? I am guessing the release of Windows and Linux represents some common development tools for both platforms that are not supported, or as easily supported, on the Mac. Of course, this is a question for the developers....
These are the kinds of questions you ask entry level people. If you're hiring experienced people you can ask them about their experience.
I suppose this whole exercise appeals to the puzzle crowd (as discussed in the original post), so you have a company of people who take Mensa tests looking to hire others. But, if you narrowly hire through a profile like this it seems to create a very narrow profile of kind of employee. That lack of diversity probably is some insight into the problems of trying to work with Microsoft as a partner or trying to buy their products as an employee.
While some units have rather modern system that can graphically display locations of other troops, others rely on 10-year-old 5 channel receivers.
Plus the old ones have such a crappy user interface that you accidentally drop bombs on your own troops. Apparently, its a 14 step process to replace the battery, and in the confusion of battle mistakes are made. The same display for "current" location is used for "target" location, and in Afghanistan they dropped some on themselves. (Learned during a presentation by Alan Cooper).
Either you make criminals of this 'generation [which] thinks its OK', or else you change the law so that it actually is OK.
There are probably more than two alternatives (I thought of four):
Make criminals of this 'generation [which] thinks its OK'
Educate those who might be tempted to take others' property, and intellectual property is treated as property.
Technology develops which greatly restricts the ability to casually break the law, or that makes it easy to catch the large offenders.
Change the law so that it actually is OK.
The last item is the only one I have a problem with. It too greatly devalues the act of invention/creation, which makes it difficult to be rewarded for creativity. And I would agree the others are difficult to implement.
I am amazed that you would advocate locking them all up over pulling a couple bucks out of your own pocket so that they could do as they please. You'll pay far more in taxes to imprison half the population than you'd ever pay to give them the liberty to share their music.
I'm not willing to kick in a few bucks so that shoplifters don't go to jail. How is that different from illegal distribution of copyrighted materials? If my brother is distributing stolen material, I'll turn him into the cops myself (of course, after I've educated him on thou shalt not steal). Stolen copyrights hurts more than just overpaid musicians -- programmers get paid based on IP too.
The only reason this is a problem is because the technology has made it dirt cheap to copy/steal material and distribute it, to the point where a whole generation thinks its OK. I don't think the answer is to charge a tax on everyone just because some place no value on the ownership and law. And, it remains to be seen if technology goes the direction of letting the authorities more easily watch what I'm doing or quickly track down servers pumping out illegal copies of songs.
I think a lot of this type of thing is coming from lawyers trying to prevent the public uncovering of security related devices and algorithms. Obviously a philosophical issue wuth them, where they think they can provide more security by making it illegal to discovery how security devices work. This logic can only be pushed by companies trying to slow down their need to respond to security flaws in their products.
My company's council is an MIT Engineering grad who then got a law degree. Smartest guy I've ever talked to. He is very busy, and eats non-technical lawyers for breakfast.
It's hard to tell how this is treated without reading the book. It's possible that "open source" is a type of vendor and the book addresses this.
Also, remember that vendors are used for things besides software. Hardware, facilities, hosting, sub-contractors -- all are generally a vendor selection process. Even if you are committed to open source for solutions you are definately going to have some commercial products to select.
I write for a mainstream, general circulation newspaper with a daily circulation of about 300,000 readers. The influences of freebies are mitigated by my newspaper's policy, as well as our shear size.
I'm not sure the size of your scissors should make a difference on how individuals can be influenced.
I hope that big paper has an editor, or that you're embellishing your importance. The OP shows plenty of large organizations where this is an issue, anyway.
Is this specific to reviewing computer games? Isn't a reviewer developing ethical conflicts the same for music, movies, fashion, etc.? Once you become part of the biz, you are socializing with these people and getting caught up in the scene, thinking that you are part of action. Probably the same for "consumer reports", for all I know.
Everyone has an opinion, but going public with it is a risky thing. As pointed out, if you overinflate, you're going to upset those that purchase based on your review. If you knock down (unfairly), people lose jobs and you stop getting invited to the party.
This may not have any real impact on rural communities. From the advocacy group for Power Line Communications:
Several options, with different costs, can provide broadband Internet service to each base station. The simplest solution is connecting leased lines to each substation. This solution is potentially quite costly because of the number of lines involved. A wireless system has also been suggested to connect base stations to the Internet. This option reduces local loop fees, but increases hardware costs. Another alternative involves running high bandwidth lines, along side electric lines, to substations. These lines could be fiber, ATM, or broadband coaxial cable. This option avoids local loop fees, but is beset by equipment fees. The actual deployment of Digital PowerLine will probably involve a mix of these alternatives, optimized for cost efficiency in different areas and with different service providers.
This seems to imply that the PLC solutions are more of the "last mile" variety, in that the technology is for getting from the local substation to the home. There is still the WAN issue of getting from the substation to the ISP, and it seems to be based on existing ground line technologies. So, for someone in a rural area that no ISP or common carrier feels like running DSL or cable to, the same economic factors may apply.
If anyone has links that explain some of the details on the length limitations of the technology or the economics compared to other technologies, please post. It seems this might be a competitive technology to DSL and cable, and a nice alternative for when the phone cable from your house to the phone company is full (I have 4 pair). It doesn't seem to really address remote areas when homes are unclustered or a radical alternative for areas with DSL and cable already deployed.
Perhaps I state the obvious, but, remote areas are always going to be, well, remote areas. It's probably an unrealistic expectation to think that all the services can be extended to rural areas. Even getting power is difficult without massive subsidies to offset the extra expense. Most likely there are technical challenges to extending WAN links through power lines over long distances as well. DSL and cable have their real physical limitations, and I'm sure there are ultimate lengths to power line distribution as well.
Slashdot Mirror
Digital Cinema. NOT Digital Cameras!!!
I'm having a hard time imagining this being sold in the US. Wouldn't the first time someone got hurt (child hit, accident not avoided, etc.) cause a montrous lawsuit against Honda because the system failed to prevent someone from being hurt? Couldn't someone sue claiming that they didn't need to be as attentive because the car takes care of that? I know people can sue for anything regardless of merit, but this seems like Firestone Tires on Ford Explorer all over again. As control is taken away from the driver, the liability for driving starts moving to the manufacturer.
Also, any hackers out there expected to come up with jamming devices or false signal senders? It isn't too hard to imagine someone getting a kick out of causing an accident behind them. Or just wanting to get a tailgater backed off by triggering their braking system.
I can understand in countries not as trigger happy with lawsuits, but I gotta think Honda is opening a can of worms with active avoidance in the US.
This is the key point -- more than "ability".
Younger programmers work for half the salary as older programmers. They don't care about pensions, they don't care about healthcare, they're not taking days off for child care reasons. "Ability" isn't an issue because 90% of professional code development is routine, simple stuff that doesn't require creativity and inspiration.
Of course, this is the same reason programming is moving overseas.
This is a good one. I'd like to see a "metamoderation" of story selection. Let's mod up good stories so they get posted!
Everyone is expendable. It is rare that a walk out hurts a company in the long run, especially if you are not part of a union that at least has some legal leg to prevent the hiring of others.
There are three certain outcomes. The first is that you will be out of work. The second is that if for some reason the company agrees with your demands, you will be replaced as soon as possible. The third is that you will never get a positive reference from this organization again, possibly hurting your chances for other work.
You're not too busy if you have time to post on slashdot and spend energy discussing this with your coworkers.
I would caution you against doing anything as a group. It is unlikely that your needs and motivation completely line up with those of the rest of the group.
Remember, all jobs stink. That is why we call this "work", after all.
Ultimately, you need to decide your needs, your career goals, whether you agree with the mission of the organization, and if your position in the organization lines up with what you want to do (or your path to get to what you want to do). If you decide its time to move on, move on. But move on with pride and in a way that respects the feelings of those that want to stay. You want the company to remember you as a good person who would be an asset to any organization, and not a person ranting as they go out the door.
Just sounds like a a room filled with crap from Sharper Image. Hardly the future.
I don't think the same worry is there. Oil worked because Saudi was one of the few places with the oil -- a good chunk of it, anyway. If every country had the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia, the Saudis would not have the money they do and the ability that money has to keep their government in power and control. Once their oil is gone, they go back to being an undeveloped (or no longer developing) country since they have not done much to build up other industries (I think).
Outsourced programming is just the process of capitalism at work on a global scale. Low end IT is outsourced where labor is cheaper, and the US workers go on to do other things with higher value if they want to maintain their lifestyle. Just like there is not much clothing being manufactured in the US anymore, but high-end special things still are.
This is just the result of progress, whether through economic pressure (outsourcing) or technological advance (better machinery or automation). We learn other things and move on. Three generations ago my family ran a wool blanket factory. I don't miss it.
I think that even though audiophiles try to avoid clipping, the point is that if you run it loud enough the amp may eventually clip and you want that clip as soft as possible. So, the audiophile will by as large an amp as they can afford to keep it running well below the clipping stage. They purchase 1500 watt amps, while the guitarist blows your ears out with a 50 watt amp.
It's funny how this thread quickly blew into the never-ending tube-vs-solid state debate. Especially since the difference between audiophile gear and consumer gear is so much smaller than it was 25 years ago.
There are several groups that don't have to abide:
Long Distance, Airlines, and Insurance companies that are regulated by states and not Fed.
Organizations you have an "established business relationship" with.
Companies you've made an inquiry to or sent an application to (for three months).
Charities
Political parties.
Between the shake down by the local Police charities, all those contractors with some nebulous relationship to Sears or my mortgage company, the annual cycles of recorded messages by political candidates, and the phone companies checking to see if I want to switch, its unlikely that I will see any reduction in calls.
Cisco has been doing this for a while, at least with their Aironet 350 series wireless access points. They use a day glo cable with a sticker -- but its the same 4 pair Ethernet connector.
Good points.
With music recordings, there are two copyrights.
There is the copyright of the composer who created the song, and there is the copyright of the artist who recorded the song. These are two independent things.
When an artist records a song, they credit the composer, and the composer gets compensated when the recording is sold or the sheet music is sold. The artist gets compensated when the specific recording is broadcasted.
Sampling, in the context of the original article, potentially violates both these areas. You could sample a unique way of producing a note into a keyboard, like a horn section note from a James Brown song, and use the keyboard to manipulate the frequency into notes. You have ripped off a performer in this case (the horn section, who may have given their copyright to James Brown with their studio contract), but not the composer. If you take a sample to loop it you have now taken the recording and possibly the composer. Or, if you re-record the loop you have only ripped off the composer.
Some artists look the other way because they like the result, or are compensated, or don't care, or like new attention in old work. However, they might claim property rights as in these cases.
A good artist, just like a good programmer, will credit others' work they derive theirs from. Even if its just a little sequence of notes that forms part of their composition.
Ring tones should credit the composer.
My 2 cents...
Ditto for me. I still go back through the single player game once a year just because it was executed so well. You can hang out behind the scientists before the accident, and they roll through a whole buch of conversations -- "Have you seen my coffee cup?". Funny detail and great for 1997.
I just realized I've been playing on your servers for a year! You do a good job with them.
And just what would be the profit for them to distribute their free Mac platform game? I am guessing the release of Windows and Linux represents some common development tools for both platforms that are not supported, or as easily supported, on the Mac. Of course, this is a question for the developers....
These are the kinds of questions you ask entry level people. If you're hiring experienced people you can ask them about their experience.
I suppose this whole exercise appeals to the puzzle crowd (as discussed in the original post), so you have a company of people who take Mensa tests looking to hire others. But, if you narrowly hire through a profile like this it seems to create a very narrow profile of kind of employee. That lack of diversity probably is some insight into the problems of trying to work with Microsoft as a partner or trying to buy their products as an employee.
Plus the old ones have such a crappy user interface that you accidentally drop bombs on your own troops. Apparently, its a 14 step process to replace the battery, and in the confusion of battle mistakes are made. The same display for "current" location is used for "target" location, and in Afghanistan they dropped some on themselves. (Learned during a presentation by Alan Cooper).
There are probably more than two alternatives (I thought of four):
Make criminals of this 'generation [which] thinks its OK'
Educate those who might be tempted to take others' property, and intellectual property is treated as property.
Technology develops which greatly restricts the ability to casually break the law, or that makes it easy to catch the large offenders.
Change the law so that it actually is OK.
The last item is the only one I have a problem with. It too greatly devalues the act of invention/creation, which makes it difficult to be rewarded for creativity. And I would agree the others are difficult to implement.
I'm not willing to kick in a few bucks so that shoplifters don't go to jail. How is that different from illegal distribution of copyrighted materials? If my brother is distributing stolen material, I'll turn him into the cops myself (of course, after I've educated him on thou shalt not steal). Stolen copyrights hurts more than just overpaid musicians -- programmers get paid based on IP too.
The only reason this is a problem is because the technology has made it dirt cheap to copy/steal material and distribute it, to the point where a whole generation thinks its OK. I don't think the answer is to charge a tax on everyone just because some place no value on the ownership and law. And, it remains to be seen if technology goes the direction of letting the authorities more easily watch what I'm doing or quickly track down servers pumping out illegal copies of songs.
No. This is the Paul Allen who is a giant that cuts down trees in Minnesota.
I think a lot of this type of thing is coming from lawyers trying to prevent the public uncovering of security related devices and algorithms. Obviously a philosophical issue wuth them, where they think they can provide more security by making it illegal to discovery how security devices work. This logic can only be pushed by companies trying to slow down their need to respond to security flaws in their products.
My 2 Cents...
My company's council is an MIT Engineering grad who then got a law degree. Smartest guy I've ever talked to. He is very busy, and eats non-technical lawyers for breakfast.
It's hard to tell how this is treated without reading the book. It's possible that "open source" is a type of vendor and the book addresses this.
Also, remember that vendors are used for things besides software. Hardware, facilities, hosting, sub-contractors -- all are generally a vendor selection process. Even if you are committed to open source for solutions you are definately going to have some commercial products to select.
I'm not sure the size of your scissors should make a difference on how individuals can be influenced.
I hope that big paper has an editor, or that you're embellishing your importance. The OP shows plenty of large organizations where this is an issue, anyway.
Is this specific to reviewing computer games? Isn't a reviewer developing ethical conflicts the same for music, movies, fashion, etc.? Once you become part of the biz, you are socializing with these people and getting caught up in the scene, thinking that you are part of action. Probably the same for "consumer reports", for all I know.
Everyone has an opinion, but going public with it is a risky thing. As pointed out, if you overinflate, you're going to upset those that purchase based on your review. If you knock down (unfairly), people lose jobs and you stop getting invited to the party.
This may not have any real impact on rural communities. From the advocacy group for Power Line Communications:
This seems to imply that the PLC solutions are more of the "last mile" variety, in that the technology is for getting from the local substation to the home. There is still the WAN issue of getting from the substation to the ISP, and it seems to be based on existing ground line technologies. So, for someone in a rural area that no ISP or common carrier feels like running DSL or cable to, the same economic factors may apply.
If anyone has links that explain some of the details on the length limitations of the technology or the economics compared to other technologies, please post. It seems this might be a competitive technology to DSL and cable, and a nice alternative for when the phone cable from your house to the phone company is full (I have 4 pair). It doesn't seem to really address remote areas when homes are unclustered or a radical alternative for areas with DSL and cable already deployed.
Perhaps I state the obvious, but, remote areas are always going to be, well, remote areas. It's probably an unrealistic expectation to think that all the services can be extended to rural areas. Even getting power is difficult without massive subsidies to offset the extra expense. Most likely there are technical challenges to extending WAN links through power lines over long distances as well. DSL and cable have their real physical limitations, and I'm sure there are ultimate lengths to power line distribution as well.