maybe you can clear this up -- In this announcement did Sony kill all of it's "Beta" products (Digital Beta, Betacam, Beta, BetaMax) or just the home tape Betamax?
Is Beta dead as a format carte blanche, or is it still being supported in it's newer incarnations?
I'll gladly pay $1.00 ($0.75 for licensing, $0.25 for programmer's cost) to buy a batch converter to go through my 10 gigs of MP3's and convert them to OGG.
That will be the last $0.75 I'll ever spend on anything to do with MP3 -- who is programmer willing to make a couple thousand dollars for a few hours work?
As a person on the other side of the desk (i.e. one of the evil 'contractor companies' that get hired to design training) I have an opinion on this issue.
First some background -- I am an instructional designer. Like an interface designer or architect, I work with other people (content experts, lecturers, multi-media programmers) to create learning materials. When I am hired by a firm to develop some training there are few very important questions that any reputable learning consultants must ask...
1. Is it a 'training' problem? There are all kinds of problems that are not training related. Maybe all the web-programmers know how to use Dreamweaver, but they still prefer Notepad.
Most times 'training' is only one piece of the puzzle -- there are usually environmental factors like rewards/acknowledgement, time/project management, human resource and other issues that will affect training.
2. Who is the target audience and what are their PERCIEVED, STATED, ACTUAL needs. The manager might say they need an in depth course on XYZ (percieved) whereas the programmers might say all they need is the 'X' of the XYZ (stated) and having done a proper needs assessment/instructional design, the learning consultants find out that the programmers need some remedial Calculus to even understand XYZ (actual).
To figure out the all these needs -- a proper Needs Assessment must be completed -- this doesn't have to be a huge ordeal, but it should be a proportional effort to the size of the 'course' that is to be offered. So for a half day workshop, it should only take a couple phone calls and maybe a quick site visit for a good 'instructor' to understand the requirements.
3. What are the barriers to implementation in the users environment? What will enable implementation? This is where alot of the customization will come in -- let's say the company cannot use process ABC and ABC is a generally accepted industry practice. Well first, the trainer needs to find out about this (by doing a needs assessment), the work with the company to come up with an alternate to ABC -- or find that an alternate already exists in house.
The bottom line is -- if your company is paying for customized training and you haven't seen or heard from the 'trainers' until the first day of the course -- then chances are it will be a rip-off and waste of your time.
Paranoid lunatics should not be allowed to run countries.
If this were the case, then the United States would be largely 'President'-free!
Chuck
Web Usability ... don't use columns
on
GUIs for Everyone
·
· Score: 1
This is not a troll, but can we take seriously a person who extolls the virtues of good user interface design -- but puts his entire essay in two columns on a webpage?
So, I scroll to the bottom, just to have to scroll back to the top to read the second half of the article?
The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots. -- Military school Commandant's graduation address, "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" as found on the best Simpsons site http://www.snpp.com
Sure a CTRL+C and a CTRL+V are useful, but beyond that I have many more important things to remember than CRTL+SHIFT+"N" will reset my document's formating. I know that same feature is in the 'Tools' menu, somewhere -- which is good enough when I need to use it.
It is very different. The majority of cubicle minions only need the damn thing to boot and work. They don't install hardware or even install the OS -- the IT department does that.
With that said -- I still agree with you until Linux becomes easier to roll-out onto 1000 desktops, the barriers to implementation are too high - especially when it is not unlikely that of 100 new computers from the same manufacturer, there is likely to be some kind of difference in one or two machines to become a major headache for the IT guy installing linux.
I wish I lived in your world! There are those of us who *DO NOT* have and IT department on-site (or at all).
Plus, sometimes people are on projects where off-hours access to buildings is difficult or impossible but the work still needs to be done -- so we work at home.
And then there are the times where I just can't sit any longer in my office where phones are ringing, people are bugging me, and the fluorescent lighting is making my eyes hurt (+ I'd rather be sitting in my pajama's with the lights turned low).
The whole thing looks like something out a family sitcom. The siblings are fighting when a couple of them decide that they are going to go and pout. This brings Dad onto the scene who patches everything up with some good advice, perhaps a threat and 8 million dollars.
Last summer I arranged for a group of guys to play paintball -- for the most part the regular CounterStrike and Quake players sucked at the game.
Games like CS and Quake 'teach' an unrealistic strategy that doesn't work in the real world - the disturbing strategy of mass killing in a school yard.
They also do not teach someone how to load, aim, fire, kill, reload, etc. For that you need to go to a firing range (which I guess this kid was a member of one).
A flight simulator is a different -- because it tries to simulate real world conditions. Tell me where in this world do you find 8t's + 8ct's in a closed space doing one another in? Maybe a Paintball field? Well as I stated, it doesn't do a very good job training people for that, either.
(including 20 that passes the "HIGH" setting in my hotmail account)
It is in Microsoft's best interest that you have an inbox full of spam, because then you just might sign up for their $20 a year larger inbox -- so you won't miss any *important* mail because of a full inbox.
Should we envision a dark future where you watch a show and then are QUIZZED on the ads you saw? If you pass you're good, if you fail you're fined? That's the only way I can see this form of theft ever really held in check.
They already do this... I we pass we go out an buy bags of Oxyclean and GM Trucks. If we fail, they claim the economy is crumbling and we will soon be wearing rags and drinking from puddles.
IANAL, but in Canada there are five prerequisites of an enforceable contract (only three if you live in a trailerpark).
1. Valid Offer and Acceptance. Question - where in my cable TV agreement does it say I will watch all the ads in exchange for programming? 2. Legally Competent Parties. - No problem here, although it sounds like the Turner CEO may have a bit o' brain damage. 3. Consideration (or contract under seal). - I pay my bill, so there is consideration. However, if I steal cable, then I am just stealing cable, not violating a contract to watch ads -- so using a PVR in this situation is OK. 4. Genuine Intention to Create Legal Relations. - Now unless Turner Broadcasting sends me a letter, or shows me where in my cable rental agreement it says I have to watch the ads -- there is no "meeting of the minds". 5. Lawful Object of the Contract. - Unless something has changed drastically, it is still legal to recieve a cable signal in my house if I pay for it, so there is lawful object.
So, again, IANAL, but based on my analysis at least 2 of these 5 have not been met -- thus, no contract!
The ultimate irony of this story is another posted on this very day about a TiVO and AOL partnership agreement -- Turner Broadcasting is part of the TW/AOL Family of properties.
Why do you insist that the gas in that tank was propane? It could have been natural gas (http://www.newsearching.com/barbecue/Weber_Genesi s_Silver_A_Natural_Gas_BBQ_Grill__BLACK_.html). Natural Gas has a molecular weight of 16 g/mmol, which is lighter than air (29 g/mmol, btw propane is 44 g/mmol).
So, if it was natural gas in that tank, then it would have risen.
When I first saw the word 'can' in the description, I thought of the tin variety. But when I got to the part about the ski hill, I started to wonder if this story was about a 'protective cup' like the ones hockey players wear.
I've been on a ski hill -- I'm all for a crotch warming device.
Maybe I'm missing something big here, but even the mention of 'magnetic' and 'computer' brings to mind crashed hardward and lost data.
If their marketing plan works, I think I'm going to develop a line of Tux fridge magnets -- they look great in the kitchen and stuck to your tower in the office.
Agreed. It can shorten a 25 minute show to 24 minutes to get the full alottment of commercials -- however it would more likely be a 100 minute movie to 96 minutes to get the full 24 minutes of commercials... Or Global, CTV, A-channel, CBC, etc could all save $90,000US ($150,000 CAD) and just cut a scene from the movie -- same results less cost.
Also remember, Canadian Networks are more likely to need to fill 2 minutes than to cut 2 minutes because we get programming already formatted for American Network 22 minute schedules. Why spend 150K on something that won't make you any money?
How about this -- I will ask the CBC if they are using this technology.
Canadian stations use this too, you can bet on it.
Respectfully, no they don't for the following reason -- we have LAWS in Canada about broadcast length of television shows.
A show for a 1/2 hour time slot that is produced in Canada is minimum 24 minutes. Which means a maximum of 6 minutes of comercials per half hour. In the US, most shows run about 22 minutes. So when a US show is broadcast on Canadian TV, there is an extra two minutes in which BY LAW the Canadian Networks are NOT ALLOWED TO BROADCAST COMMERCIALS (that they recieve revenue from).
Most often, that two minutes is taken up by Free Public Service Announcements or Network Promo's for other shows.
In fact, one of the reasons that Canadians are so well known for short films is because often if a movie cannot fit nicely into a number divisible by 24, that extra time, that in the US would go to commercials, is filled by a short film.
This is less common than it once was, but ask any Canadian (over 25) what office was located at 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa -- or play the music/loon call of "Hinterland Who's Who" OR ask them "Who goes burling down and round white water?" and they will attest to what I have written above.
I think the problem the Canadian Government had with this website, wasn't the use of the image of the Canadian Flag -- but with a particular style of Canadian Flag.
"The flag symbol is a global identifier of the Government of Canada. " http://www.forcesitaly.org/italy/assort/canada.htm
If you look on any government site, those two little red bars, with a maple leaf in the middle -- no background, no drop shadow, two color (as in http://www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/) is the base logo of all our government agencies.
I bet were the FORCES site to post a stylized Maple leaf or some gaudy animated gif of a waving Canadian flag -- the feds wouldn't care.
I don't think my government is saying nobody can use a maple leaf -- just not that particular style.
Slashdot Mirror
maybe you can clear this up -- In this announcement did Sony kill all of it's "Beta" products (Digital Beta, Betacam, Beta, BetaMax) or just the home tape Betamax?
Is Beta dead as a format carte blanche, or is it still being supported in it's newer incarnations?
Thanks,
Grip
I'll gladly pay $1.00 ($0.75 for licensing, $0.25 for programmer's cost) to buy a batch converter to go through my 10 gigs of MP3's and convert them to OGG.
That will be the last $0.75 I'll ever spend on anything to do with MP3 -- who is programmer willing to make a couple thousand dollars for a few hours work?
Grip
As a person on the other side of the desk (i.e. one of the evil 'contractor companies' that get hired to design training) I have an opinion on this issue.
...
First some background -- I am an instructional designer. Like an interface designer or architect, I work with other people (content experts, lecturers, multi-media programmers) to create learning materials. When I am hired by a firm to develop some training there are few very important questions that any reputable learning consultants must ask
1. Is it a 'training' problem? There are all kinds of problems that are not training related. Maybe all the web-programmers know how to use Dreamweaver, but they still prefer Notepad.
Most times 'training' is only one piece of the puzzle -- there are usually environmental factors like rewards/acknowledgement, time/project management, human resource and other issues that will affect training.
2. Who is the target audience and what are their PERCIEVED, STATED, ACTUAL needs. The manager might say they need an in depth course on XYZ (percieved) whereas the programmers might say all they need is the 'X' of the XYZ (stated) and having done a proper needs assessment/instructional design, the learning consultants find out that the programmers need some remedial Calculus to even understand XYZ (actual).
To figure out the all these needs -- a proper Needs Assessment must be completed -- this doesn't have to be a huge ordeal, but it should be a proportional effort to the size of the 'course' that is to be offered. So for a half day workshop, it should only take a couple phone calls and maybe a quick site visit for a good 'instructor' to understand the requirements.
3. What are the barriers to implementation in the users environment? What will enable implementation? This is where alot of the customization will come in -- let's say the company cannot use process ABC and ABC is a generally accepted industry practice. Well first, the trainer needs to find out about this (by doing a needs assessment), the work with the company to come up with an alternate to ABC -- or find that an alternate already exists in house.
The bottom line is -- if your company is paying for customized training and you haven't seen or heard from the 'trainers' until the first day of the course -- then chances are it will be a rip-off and waste of your time.
Grip
Here is what I do -- DO NOT TURN THE MONITOR ON but put the DVD in the tray, close the tray - it autostarts.
... whatever takes a couple minutes to do.
... just menu!
Then go to the bathroom, get a drink, let the dog out, turn on the lawn sprinkler
Come back, turn on the monitor and SHAZAAM - main menu. No trailers, No FBI warning, nothing
It's all good.
Grip
Paranoid lunatics should not be allowed to run countries.
If this were the case, then the United States would be largely 'President'-free!
Chuck
This is not a troll, but can we take seriously a person who extolls the virtues of good user interface design -- but puts his entire essay in two columns on a webpage?
So, I scroll to the bottom, just to have to scroll back to the top to read the second half of the article?
Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad...
Grip
I liked this story better when it was called "Y2K".
Grip
The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea.
They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots.
-- Military school Commandant's graduation address, "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" as found on the best Simpsons site http://www.snpp.com
I detest the mouse
Which is why you aren't 'joe average user'.
Sure a CTRL+C and a CTRL+V are useful, but beyond that I have many more important things to remember than CRTL+SHIFT+"N" will reset my document's formating. I know that same feature is in the 'Tools' menu, somewhere -- which is good enough when I need to use it.
Grip
How is this different than a business user ..?
It is very different. The majority of cubicle minions only need the damn thing to boot and work. They don't install hardware or even install the OS -- the IT department does that.
With that said -- I still agree with you until Linux becomes easier to roll-out onto 1000 desktops, the barriers to implementation are too high - especially when it is not unlikely that of 100 new computers from the same manufacturer, there is likely to be some kind of difference in one or two machines to become a major headache for the IT guy installing linux.
Cheers,
Grip
So now I will need to take my laptop with wireless card into the bathroom, so I can read the 'Sears' Catalog on the crapper.
grip
I wish I lived in your world! There are those of us who *DO NOT* have and IT department on-site (or at all).
Plus, sometimes people are on projects where off-hours access to buildings is difficult or impossible but the work still needs to be done -- so we work at home.
And then there are the times where I just can't sit any longer in my office where phones are ringing, people are bugging me, and the fluorescent lighting is making my eyes hurt (+ I'd rather be sitting in my pajama's with the lights turned low).
Grip
The whole thing looks like something out a family sitcom. The siblings are fighting when a couple of them decide that they are going to go and pout. This brings Dad onto the scene who patches everything up with some good advice, perhaps a threat and 8 million dollars.
Grip
Last summer I arranged for a group of guys to play paintball -- for the most part the regular CounterStrike and Quake players sucked at the game.
Games like CS and Quake 'teach' an unrealistic strategy that doesn't work in the real world - the disturbing strategy of mass killing in a school yard.
They also do not teach someone how to load, aim, fire, kill, reload, etc. For that you need to go to a firing range (which I guess this kid was a member of one).
A flight simulator is a different -- because it tries to simulate real world conditions. Tell me where in this world do you find 8t's + 8ct's in a closed space doing one another in? Maybe a Paintball field? Well as I stated, it doesn't do a very good job training people for that, either.
Grip
It is in Microsoft's best interest that you have an inbox full of spam, because then you just might sign up for their $20 a year larger inbox -- so you won't miss any *important* mail because of a full inbox.
It's a one eyed, one horned, flying portable people meter and it sure looks strange to me.
They already do this
Grip
IANAL, but in Canada there are five prerequisites of an enforceable contract (only three if you live in a trailerpark).
1. Valid Offer and Acceptance.
Question - where in my cable TV agreement does it say I will watch all the ads in exchange for programming?
2. Legally Competent Parties.
- No problem here, although it sounds like the Turner CEO may have a bit o' brain damage.
3. Consideration (or contract under seal).
- I pay my bill, so there is consideration. However, if I steal cable, then I am just stealing cable, not violating a contract to watch ads -- so using a PVR in this situation is OK.
4. Genuine Intention to Create Legal Relations.
- Now unless Turner Broadcasting sends me a letter, or shows me where in my cable rental agreement it says I have to watch the ads -- there is no "meeting of the minds".
5. Lawful Object of the Contract.
- Unless something has changed drastically, it is still legal to recieve a cable signal in my house if I pay for it, so there is lawful object.
So, again, IANAL, but based on my analysis at least 2 of these 5 have not been met -- thus, no contract!
Cheers,
Grip
The ultimate irony of this story is another posted on this very day about a TiVO and AOL partnership agreement -- Turner Broadcasting is part of the TW/AOL Family of properties.
Grip
Why do you insist that the gas in that tank was propane? It could have been natural gas (http://www.newsearching.com/barbecue/Weber_Genesi s_Silver_A_Natural_Gas_BBQ_Grill__BLACK_.html). Natural Gas has a molecular weight of 16 g/mmol, which is lighter than air (29 g/mmol, btw propane is 44 g/mmol).
So, if it was natural gas in that tank, then it would have risen.
Grip
When I first saw the word 'can' in the description, I thought of the tin variety. But when I got to the part about the ski hill, I started to wonder if this story was about a 'protective cup' like the ones hockey players wear.
I've been on a ski hill -- I'm all for a crotch warming device.
Chuck
Maybe I'm missing something big here, but even the mention of 'magnetic' and 'computer' brings to mind crashed hardward and lost data.
If their marketing plan works, I think I'm going to develop a line of Tux fridge magnets -- they look great in the kitchen and stuck to your tower in the office.
Chuck
Agreed. It can shorten a 25 minute show to 24 minutes to get the full alottment of commercials -- however it would more likely be a 100 minute movie to 96 minutes to get the full 24 minutes of commercials ... Or Global, CTV, A-channel, CBC, etc could all save $90,000US ($150,000 CAD) and just cut a scene from the movie -- same results less cost.
Also remember, Canadian Networks are more likely to need to fill 2 minutes than to cut 2 minutes because we get programming already formatted for American Network 22 minute schedules. Why spend 150K on something that won't make you any money?
How about this -- I will ask the CBC if they are using this technology.
Cheers,
Colin
Canadian stations use this too, you can bet on it.
Respectfully, no they don't for the following reason -- we have LAWS in Canada about broadcast length of television shows.
A show for a 1/2 hour time slot that is produced in Canada is minimum 24 minutes. Which means a maximum of 6 minutes of comercials per half hour. In the US, most shows run about 22 minutes. So when a US show is broadcast on Canadian TV, there is an extra two minutes in which BY LAW the Canadian Networks are NOT ALLOWED TO BROADCAST COMMERCIALS (that they recieve revenue from).
Most often, that two minutes is taken up by Free Public Service Announcements or Network Promo's for other shows.
In fact, one of the reasons that Canadians are so well known for short films is because often if a movie cannot fit nicely into a number divisible by 24, that extra time, that in the US would go to commercials, is filled by a short film.
This is less common than it once was, but ask any Canadian (over 25) what office was located at 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa -- or play the music/loon call of "Hinterland Who's Who" OR ask them "Who goes burling down and round white water?" and they will attest to what I have written above.
Cheers,
Grip
I think the problem the Canadian Government had with this website, wasn't the use of the image of the Canadian Flag -- but with a particular style of Canadian Flag.
m
"The flag symbol is a global identifier of the Government of Canada. " http://www.forcesitaly.org/italy/assort/canada.ht
If you look on any government site, those two little red bars, with a maple leaf in the middle -- no background, no drop shadow, two color (as in http://www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/) is the base logo of all our government agencies.
I bet were the FORCES site to post a stylized Maple leaf or some gaudy animated gif of a waving Canadian flag -- the feds wouldn't care.
I don't think my government is saying nobody can use a maple leaf -- just not that particular style.
Grip