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User: Tozog

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Comments · 48

  1. Re:Respond to THIS on TiVo Lets You Respond to Ads · · Score: 1

    Must have glazed over the line about "highest margins are from standalone while the biggest money comes from DirecTV" eh? Gee, wonder what that implies..

    I was just trying to point out to the parent that switching to DirecTivo is in no way stickin' it to Tivo. I'm sure their revenue from ads only deals with number of installed Tivos, DirecTivo or standalone. There are far more DirecTivo customers than standalone Tivo users.

  2. Re:Respond to THIS on TiVo Lets You Respond to Ads · · Score: 1

    You do realize that DirecTivo is, for all purposes, the same thing as regular Tivo right? Practically the same software and hardware, designed by Tivo? The same pro-advertising stance will exist with a DirecTivo as it does with a standalone. It may just take longer to get the patch with the new fancy ads.

    After your one year free, the monthly charge will go to Tivo? It's a tad less, but some still goes to Tivo. Last I heard, Tivo makes the highest margins off stand-alone customers, but the biggest revenue comes from their deal with DirecTivo.

  3. The GodFather on Organizing MP3s and Other File Collections? · · Score: 4, Informative

    The GodFather is by far my favorite. It has mass tagging, renaming, organization, and handles mp3/ogg/mpc/ape/flac/aac/apl/wv/mp4/ofr/spx tags, scripting abilities, pull info from online sites, and free, but not open source.

    http://users.otenet.gr/~jtcliper/tgf/

  4. Re:No, it's more comparible for me on Online Shoppers Aren't Impulsive · · Score: 1

    Sounds like you've been to an Ikea store!

  5. Re:Microsoft Thing? on Review: Jade Empire · · Score: 1

    Dungeon Keeper was made by Bullfrog and was a game where you controlled a dungeon and filled it with traps and monsters to kill the local hero. Very funny, and very fun

    Dungeon Siege was made by Gas Powered Games and released by Microsoft and was a somewhat boring dungeon crawl game in the vein of Diablo, but with less clicking.

    I know it's hip to bash MS on slashdot, but MS has little to do with either game. They were the publisher for Dungeon Siege and Jade Empire runs on the xbox. Neither were designed by MS.

  6. Re:Respect on How to Prevent IP Theft by Your Own Employees? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So it's better to treat your employees like untrusted criminals to try and prevent the 1% who are criminals and might steal your code?

    Seriously, if I work on something that is your IP, any system you put in place to prevent me from stealing it is just going to make it harder to do my job and frustrate me. Even if I no longer have access to the code, I still know the general way things work and could probably reproduce the code in a much shorter period of time. And besides, no matter how harsh the security, if I need access to it to do my job, I still have access in some way or other. If I am determined, I could still steal it.

  7. Respect on How to Prevent IP Theft by Your Own Employees? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The best way to prevent IP theft is to treat your employees with respect and give them no reason to steal your IP in the first place.

    Putting in draconian security rules is just going to piss me off and keep me from doing my job effectively, and quite frankly, make me look for a new job.

  8. Re:Gotta love Walmart... on Walmart Offers Sub-$500 laptop With Linspire · · Score: 1

    *shrug* I worked for Wal-Mart for 3 months. After 90 days, I was told I was eligible for health benefits. They would cover 60% of the premium cost, if I remember correctly.

    I worked in the electronics department full-time as a regular associate. I started at Wal-Mart as a full time employee.

    Hiring practices are very much up to the individual managers, not some corporate edict from above.

    Of course, as soon as a real job offer came along, I ditched Wal-mart the same day.

  9. Re:Gotta love Walmart... on Walmart Offers Sub-$500 laptop With Linspire · · Score: 1

    Except Wal-Mart is completely against ever paying overtime, so you'll never work more than 40 hours a week. They provide a decent healthcare plan, much better than any other minimum wage job anyway.

    Wal-mart is the pinicle of a very successful business. You can't fault them for making money, it's what they are supposed to do.

  10. Have a clue on Tips For A Budding Project Manager? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Make a real effort to understand the projects you manage. Nothing is more frustrating than telling your manager what the project does, how it works, and what your role is, every single week. Not knowing all the details about feature a and b is ok, but at least know about feature a and b.

    Have as few meetings as possible. Managers seem to love meetings, underlings hate them. I do recommend one-on-one meetings with all your direct reports, but don't make them weekly. That's just overkill. Once a month, or twice a month at the most.

    Don't ask your employees what they need for a project and then veto it down. It will just kill morale. If you have a limited budget, tell the employees what the budget is and ask what they would like to use it for, they will have a better idea what things to pick. Also, don't ask your employees to spec out a system with features A, B, and C and after getting the recommendations, grill the employee why features A, B, and C are necissary. That's really blows :O

  11. Re:Did he get the memo? on Libertarian Candidate Michael Badnarik Interview · · Score: 1

    Just to clarify too: its HR 163. You can read the official text of the bill at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.0 0163:

    2 Yeas, 402 Nays

    Someone else want to find the Senate counterpart?

  12. Features for new cars on Vehicles of Tomorrow? · · Score: 1

    My guesses for features (most are already available in higher end cars today)

    * More GPS enabled cars
    * Regular power plugs instead of cigarette lighters
    * Bluetooth or other wireless capability for cellphones to interact with the speakers
    * HUDs for showing information from GPS/Cellphone/stereo/MPH etc
    * IR-enhanced night driving
    * Hybrid electiric engines. Many cars coming out in the next few years from all sorts of brands. Toyota, Ford, Nissian, Lexus just off the top of my head.

    It's funny how we can talk about the technology of tomorrow when you still have to pay extra to get power windows and locks in cars today.

  13. Re:Exciting on Fetuses Provide Stem-Like Cells to Mothers · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yeah well except most ebryonic stem cells come from unused inventro-fertilization embryos. Ones that would get "thrown away" anyway. They have no chance at actual survival. Because IVF is risky and low yield, they have to try many (I think groups of 4) eggs to reliably get 1, but in some cases, get more. In those cases, they pick one and toss the others. Or in some cases, use them for stem cells.

    The reason embryonic stem cells are the niftiest, is because they can be transformed into any other cells. Other stem cells, like those from teeth, blood, etc are usually "stuck" to only turn into a certian subset of cells.

    Check out this article on Scientific American

  14. Re:Well then.. on Fetuses Provide Stem-Like Cells to Mothers · · Score: 1

    The article mentions that mothers who have a miscarrige still have stem cells from the fetus, so I would imagine depending on when the abortion was done, the mother could still benefit.

  15. Machine Learning Databases on Large, Free, and Interesting SQL-ready Datasets? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You could probably write a script to use the data from the machine learning database collection from UCI.

    Some are large, some are interesting, some are simple, but plenty of data.

    http://www.ics.uci.edu/~mlearn/MLSummary.html

  16. Re:Will be used in athletics for a limited time... on Mutation Creates SuperKid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The gene therapy version of this talked about in Scientific American says it can be targetted to specific muscles. They were able to use this on mice to enhance one leg by 25% while the other leg's muscles developed normally.

    The increase in muscle came with no additional work, the mice were essential sedentary, but still gained 15-25% muscle mass.

  17. Re:July Scientific American on Mutation Creates SuperKid · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is up for free now here.

    The method in the article is gene therapy, replacing the natural gene with a gene to block myostatin. The NY Times article talks about a drug antibody to prevent myostatin from reaching muscle satalite cells.

  18. Re:I don't know a good rate... on Reasonable Salary for Entry Level Programmers? · · Score: 2, Informative

    The tax "advantage" of a mortgage does not outweigh the benefits. You only can deduct your interest payments. Assuming you fall in the 28% tax bracket, you are basically paying $1 in interest to save 30 cents.

    Shamelessly ripped from Suze Orman (crazy crack fiend that she is, she has good advice).

    "If you can manage just one extra mortgage payment a year you can cut a 30-year mortgage at 6 percent down to about 25 years and a 15 year mortgage will be paid off in 13 years. That translates into huge savings on the interest payments. And I mean huge: you'll avoid paying more than $35,000 in interest on the 30-year."
    http://biz.yahoo.com/pfg/e02credit/art042.html

    If you were to pay that $35,000 in interest for the extra 5 years, you would "save" 9,800 over the 5 years in taxes (at 28%, slightly higher for higher tax brackets, 16,800 at 48%). Which sounds better, $35,000 in savings or $9,800 ?

    Granted, if you have to decide between paying down your credit cards or your mortgage, do the credit cards. Always pay the highest interest first.

  19. Re:Another solution looking for a problem on Stoplights to Mete Out Punishment? · · Score: 1

    Where's this document saying traffic laws are not for safety but revenue generation? I don't believe it for a second.

    I'm sure the reason drinking and driving is a "traffic law" is just to squeeze a little bit more money out of drunks.

    Or tailgating, since its so safe to drive 2 inches behind someone when you are both going 70 mph.

    Or running red lights is a ticketable offense because its safe to allow people to just drive through traffic.

    Or speeding through a school zone where kids are crossing the street is perfectly safe for the kids. (someone think of the children!, ha ha)

    Traffic laws are very much to promote safety and fairness on the roads. Stop signs, stop lights, yield signs make driving safer for everyone if you actually obey them. Tickets exist to ensure people obey them.

    If traffic tickets were such an important revenue stream, cops would NEVER give warnings. Yet they do, quite often.

  20. 3M on Suggestions for an Ergonomic Mouse? · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is actually made by 3M. Its called the 3M(TM) Ergonomic Mouse, you can find it at many retailers.

    http://www.3m.com/ergonomics/ergonomicmouse.jhtml

    Comes in two size, small/medium and large.

    I used one for a summer when I was an intern at SGI. It really reduces wrist pain, but its a bit "slower" and takes about 2 weeks to get used to it. Seems less precise than a regular mouse too.

    A Froogle finds average price about $50.

    http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=EM500GPS-AM&bt nG=Search+Froogle

    Bobby

  21. Re:Has it occurred to anyone here... on Tax Preparation Software for 2003? · · Score: 1

    Free E-file:
    http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=11 8986,00.h tml

    Not up yet, but a bunch of different sites offer free e-filing based on your income for the year. Last year I was able to use Turbo Tax for the web for free. Probably won't this year since I worked the whole year instead of only half the year.

    It was pretty much the "full" version of their software, just didn't do the over zealous look into your deductions. I was able to file my state and federal free.

  22. Re:Get a cheap Travan drive on Best Redundant Storage for Home Use? · · Score: 1

    Travan? Ick.

    If you want to trust your luck to Travan, go right ahead.

    A better solution would be dat or dlt. Spendier for sure, but so much more reliable. Travan is slow and unreliable.

    The best solution would be AIT, but spendy. Very fast, very reliable.

  23. About that Beetle on A Hydrogen-Based Economy · · Score: 1

    Only problem with your VW Beetle is it runs on diesel, which is even less friendly than your standard unleaded gasoline.

    Current hybrids do a lot of cool things to improve the efficiency of standard engines. I'd think just having the ability for the engine to quick turn off and on when you are not moving (say at a stop light / grid-lock traffic during rush hour) would save quite a bit of gas. I'd imagine quite a few of the benefits from hybrids will eventually make it back to standard engines.