Mediann and std dev are useless. They only really apply for normal distributions. Salaries tend not to have a normal distribution so they lose their value.
A far off alien culture sees a third-rate planet called EARTH inhabitied by primitive beings. After a few open atmosphere concerts (Earthling Aid) and a telethon (Dough for Doh!), they raise enough money to send an engineering fleet to ask the earthlings what they want built.
Due to some translation errors, and an over active project manager's ego, a simple request for a small pond to keep water for a herd of goats gets "innovated" into a series of pyramids that can be seen from far away. The rest is history.
I thought parent was posting bullshit, but though what the heck let's try this.... except I didn't want to screw up hardware so I thought I'd take a stab at lightening Windows. I went into the Windows directory and truncated a few DLLs to make them lighter.
Well who would have expected it... Windows BSODs much faster than it used to!
You can do all these things much cheaper than that.
For example $70 gets you http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2837651365.html. For less than $20 you can put together a board using an Atmel ARM micro or NXP ARM micro packed to the eyebrows with ADCs etc.
Diesels perform better (in mpg) or about the same as gas hybrids. I have a diesel Toyota LiteAce van that does approx 34 mpg (the gas equivalent does about 21mpg). Diesels really like to run at an even speed which should make them suite suited to use in a hybrid scenario.
I expect the real reason is that diesel is perceived to be "dirty" and hybrids want to be seen as "clean".Perhaps is is more a marketing issue than anything else.
Stirlings are very interesting. I have two model sirlings. They are very effective for some applications but tend to be pretty heavy for the power they produce making them less than ideal for automotive applications.
Algae essentially grow in 2d too. They only grow in the plane that the sun shines. Once you have an algae soup, only the top few cm get any light. Sunlight only goes a few metres into clear water before its useful properties are reduced.
A massive usage for corn is in fattening cattle. This is a hugely wasteful way to feed people compared to a more direct approach such as eating the corn or soy or whatever, Processing into beef is very wasteful. This would also drive up beef prices which would make McDonalds unhappy with DoE
There is no reason why there should not be a multi-input strategy. Corn can grow where sugar cannot. Algae can grow where corn and sugar can't. It is silly to really argue for one over the other. Rather make a multi-input ethanol industry.
RIAA makes claim. Defendent makes counter claim. Out of court settlement results in both dropping their claims.
However, there is no reason why this should be the outcome of an out of court settlement. The RIAA can choose to withdraw a claim without any obligation on the defendent, in which case the counter claim stands.
These places typically have huge problems with keeping wired systems going. Poor roads & access make it hard to fix physical breakages. In many areas, copper phone lines get stolen on regular basis for sale as scrap metal. You can't steal the ether.
Even if you can retain copyright (ie not give it to the school), you need to be able to allow the school fair access and use of that material so that the school can do their job. Part of that job is to check against plagiarism. If the conditions you place on the assignment restrict this use, then the school can just say that you failed to submit an acceptable assignment.
If you don't like this, then I suggest you encrypt your next assignment so that the school cannot read it. That will show them!
MS has always been very beige box in the way they've made products (hw and sw). The one exception might be XBox.
The ipod is low on features, but high on style. That just shows that features are not what make this kind of product. The ipod is iconic - you really struggle to find any way to dislodge that.
MS has always been high on features/low on style (eg. Office).
MP3 players are not technical products. They are fashion statements. What sane kid will walk around with a Brown Zune Turd in their pocket?
But in the USA, while you'll buy a Motorola, you might not but a YinYangCaller. In a few years you might if the YinYangCaller brand establishes itself.
The development of the industry moves steadily up the value adding chain: Start with manufacturing (lowest value) a few years back, now they're into design (higher value). In a few more years they could get into branding (highest value).
Many Japanese companies like Sony managed to do that (though they've now trashed their brand a bit), so there is nothing stopping Chinese company doing the same. In many ways it is easier now since there is better globalisation and less NIH. Then there are all those Samsungs and similar that have managed to establish a brand.
The ipod is a very successful product. Part of that comes down to not so much what features it has, but what was left out.
"Just pack it full of features" is a very easy and lazy way to define products. Add too much detail and you gunk up the UI. It is way harder and more important to figure out what to leave out to make it easier to use and "cleaner" for the target user base. There are huge numbers of features that could have been added to ipod, but some of its appeal comes from relative simplicity.
iPhone does not need huge numbers of features to be successful. So long as it does the functions that the target audience expects, it should do well.
Branding does come through reputation and quality, but it is also a result of advertising and other marketing activities. For example, take Coke: Coke consists of water, a couple of cents of sugar (bad-for you stuff), caramel, caffiene, CO2 many of which are toxins. How do they make people drink the stuff? By advertising and marketing and creating an image.
ipods are much the same really. They are a result of extremely good marketing (and I include ergonomics in marketing). They are not particularly good in terms of sound quality and break often (a huge number of in wanrantee failures).
Sure, branding within an economy adds very little value within that economy. If a Coke costs $1 or $5 does not really matter within the USA. But on a global basis, branding is increasingly becoming a huge USA export earner. A Coke sold in Australia, for instance, which is made and bottled in Australia results in some money going back to Coke USA.
Anyway, back to the original point, as you say, ipod is made in the same factory as the technically equivalent YinYangMP3. So why would you spend $200 for the ipod and not spend $100 for the equivalent YinYang? Because of the branding. Essentially that ipod brand allows Apple to charge an extra $100. The same goes for all kinds of things from cars through electronics. And yes, often brand owners cash in their chips like Sony has done.
There are literally hundreds of products designed and made in China that are just waiting to be rebranded. As quality rises, as it has over the years, the technical differential reduces and branding is going to increasingly be where US companies make their money. It is all simple arithmetic. If apple can sell a gizzmo for $100 and it costs $50 to design and make in USA then they make $50 per unit. If they can rebrand (or have custom designed for them) a device for $10, then they make $90 per unit.
As is well known by those familiar with the art, April 1 is the day when existing joke technology makes silly claims. This has become rather predictable and lacks attention grabbing appeal.
This disclosure teaches a novel day on which to spring those jokes. By using March 29, a whole new dimension is added to joking.
Take $1 commodity product, attach brand and sell it for $5. The brand added the value and generates revenue. From a purely economic perspective that is no different to taking a $1 chunk of metal, making it into a widget and selling it for $2.
Take for example Cola. There are many Colas out there that people would not be able to tell apart from Coke in a blind taste test. While you can sell the Coke for $2 you will struggle to sell the arbitrary branded product for $1. The Coke brand is worth $1 in that sale.
While offshore sourced products are "crap", there will be an advantage to US design/manufacture. However, that advantage is being heavily eroded as Chinese manufacturing and design improve and provide better product + services to the brand names. This trend is very rapid. Just compare the sophistication of Chinese manufacturing/development services now to, say, three years ago to see the difference.
True, ipod and heavily designed goods are probably not quite there yet, but given a concept drawing of an ipod, Chinese engineers could design and manufacture the device as well as a US-based team.
These days it is easier to find a Chinese phone (designed and manufactured in China) and just send them the artwork for the logo, packaging etc. You then end up with a container load of product to sell. No engineering risk, no pesky engineers to feed and mess up the place. All you need is a marketing department to do the branding. Sure, the process is not wrinkle free yet, but the Chinese custom manufacturers are getting far more sophisticated in what they can do and what services they can offer. Give them another few years and you'll have completely turnkey engineering (including industrial design etc).
While US companies are judged solely on profit, this trend will continue because it is the most lucrative way to bring something to market.
This position is a result of economic trends. Even though I am a geek, and it pains me to say this, companies don't make money out of the technology in their products. They make it out of marketing and branding. The actual electronic/menchanical/software development is largely comoditised.
All the electronic design + manufacturing for phones, PDAs, MP3s etc can readily be outsourced to China etc, leaving the branding to be done by the US company. As companies get more and more profit driven and offshore design/manufacturing services become more prevalent this trend will strengthen. There is already a huge market driven by rebranding with companies like LiteOn doing all the product design/ developmnet/ manufacturing and the US OEM just designing the badge and putting in an order.
This is a highly effective strategy for many companies since much of the commercial value in the product is just in the brand (eg. Coke, ipod,...).
In the long term it means a significant reduction to western geekdom.
Slashdot Mirror
Mediann and std dev are useless. They only really apply for normal distributions. Salaries tend not to have a normal distribution so they lose their value.
Java does too http://lejos.sourceforge.net/
I don't think there are python or ruby ports though, possibly because these devices are very limited.
Reporting about the gags is even more lame and will probably go on for a few days.
Due to some translation errors, and an over active project manager's ego, a simple request for a small pond to keep water for a herd of goats gets "innovated" into a series of pyramids that can be seen from far away. The rest is history.
Land of the free. Guaranteed freedom of speech. Press freedom. US 23rd (beats Jamaca Woooohooo!) http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=11715
and it was not announced anywhere near 1 April. How long before this can be taken seriously?
Well who would have expected it... Windows BSODs much faster than it used to!
For example $70 gets you http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2837651365.html . For less than $20 you can put together a board using an Atmel ARM micro or NXP ARM micro packed to the eyebrows with ADCs etc.
Well we can cook the books for 4 to be whatever gives you the best tax break. You want 4 to equal 5? Sure no problem.
I expect the real reason is that diesel is perceived to be "dirty" and hybrids want to be seen as "clean".Perhaps is is more a marketing issue than anything else.
Stirlings are very interesting. I have two model sirlings. They are very effective for some applications but tend to be pretty heavy for the power they produce making them less than ideal for automotive applications.
Sugar is a good way to go. Sugar is very fast growing which is why ethanol in Brazil is pretty cheap: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2005/06/17/AR2005061701440.html. There flexi-fuel cars can run on gas (which is at least 25% ethanol) or E100 (100% ethanol).
A massive usage for corn is in fattening cattle. This is a hugely wasteful way to feed people compared to a more direct approach such as eating the corn or soy or whatever, Processing into beef is very wasteful. This would also drive up beef prices which would make McDonalds unhappy with DoE
There is no reason why there should not be a multi-input strategy. Corn can grow where sugar cannot. Algae can grow where corn and sugar can't. It is silly to really argue for one over the other. Rather make a multi-input ethanol industry.
I was told this by a USPS worker, but he started getting a bit cranky so I walked away...
It's more like vandalism. They don't take the ether away, they just foul it up.
However, there is no reason why this should be the outcome of an out of court settlement. The RIAA can choose to withdraw a claim without any obligation on the defendent, in which case the counter claim stands.
These places typically have huge problems with keeping wired systems going. Poor roads & access make it hard to fix physical breakages. In many areas, copper phone lines get stolen on regular basis for sale as scrap metal. You can't steal the ether.
If you don't like this, then I suggest you encrypt your next assignment so that the school cannot read it. That will show them!
The ipod is low on features, but high on style. That just shows that features are not what make this kind of product. The ipod is iconic - you really struggle to find any way to dislodge that.
MS has always been high on features/low on style (eg. Office).
MP3 players are not technical products. They are fashion statements. What sane kid will walk around with a Brown Zune Turd in their pocket?
If MS has any sense they'll can Zune. If they make Zune2 then they'd better come up with something far better. Perhaps something based on http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS7994750806.html
But in the USA, while you'll buy a Motorola, you might not but a YinYangCaller. In a few years you might if the YinYangCaller brand establishes itself.
The development of the industry moves steadily up the value adding chain: Start with manufacturing (lowest value) a few years back, now they're into design (higher value). In a few more years they could get into branding (highest value).
Many Japanese companies like Sony managed to do that (though they've now trashed their brand a bit), so there is nothing stopping Chinese company doing the same. In many ways it is easier now since there is better globalisation and less NIH. Then there are all those Samsungs and similar that have managed to establish a brand.
For an interesting look at how this process unfolds, look at Kyocera - how they started out making ceramics then IC packaging and slowly grew the value into branding cellphones etc http://global.kyocera.com/company/summary/history/ until1979.html
"Just pack it full of features" is a very easy and lazy way to define products. Add too much detail and you gunk up the UI. It is way harder and more important to figure out what to leave out to make it easier to use and "cleaner" for the target user base. There are huge numbers of features that could have been added to ipod, but some of its appeal comes from relative simplicity.
iPhone does not need huge numbers of features to be successful. So long as it does the functions that the target audience expects, it should do well.
wake people up!
ipods are much the same really. They are a result of extremely good marketing (and I include ergonomics in marketing). They are not particularly good in terms of sound quality and break often (a huge number of in wanrantee failures).
Sure, branding within an economy adds very little value within that economy. If a Coke costs $1 or $5 does not really matter within the USA. But on a global basis, branding is increasingly becoming a huge USA export earner. A Coke sold in Australia, for instance, which is made and bottled in Australia results in some money going back to Coke USA.
Anyway, back to the original point, as you say, ipod is made in the same factory as the technically equivalent YinYangMP3. So why would you spend $200 for the ipod and not spend $100 for the equivalent YinYang? Because of the branding. Essentially that ipod brand allows Apple to charge an extra $100. The same goes for all kinds of things from cars through electronics. And yes, often brand owners cash in their chips like Sony has done.
There are literally hundreds of products designed and made in China that are just waiting to be rebranded. As quality rises, as it has over the years, the technical differential reduces and branding is going to increasingly be where US companies make their money. It is all simple arithmetic. If apple can sell a gizzmo for $100 and it costs $50 to design and make in USA then they make $50 per unit. If they can rebrand (or have custom designed for them) a device for $10, then they make $90 per unit.
This disclosure teaches a novel day on which to spring those jokes. By using March 29, a whole new dimension is added to joking.
Add drawing here.
Claims...
Take for example Cola. There are many Colas out there that people would not be able to tell apart from Coke in a blind taste test. While you can sell the Coke for $2 you will struggle to sell the arbitrary branded product for $1. The Coke brand is worth $1 in that sale.
While offshore sourced products are "crap", there will be an advantage to US design/manufacture. However, that advantage is being heavily eroded as Chinese manufacturing and design improve and provide better product + services to the brand names. This trend is very rapid. Just compare the sophistication of Chinese manufacturing/development services now to, say, three years ago to see the difference.
True, ipod and heavily designed goods are probably not quite there yet, but given a concept drawing of an ipod, Chinese engineers could design and manufacture the device as well as a US-based team.
While US companies are judged solely on profit, this trend will continue because it is the most lucrative way to bring something to market.
All the electronic design + manufacturing for phones, PDAs, MP3s etc can readily be outsourced to China etc, leaving the branding to be done by the US company. As companies get more and more profit driven and offshore design/manufacturing services become more prevalent this trend will strengthen. There is already a huge market driven by rebranding with companies like LiteOn doing all the product design/ developmnet/ manufacturing and the US OEM just designing the badge and putting in an order.
This is a highly effective strategy for many companies since much of the commercial value in the product is just in the brand (eg. Coke, ipod,...).
In the long term it means a significant reduction to western geekdom.