And just what kind of threat does a stun gun pose to deserve such a measure? I mean really, people are always going to be able to do all sorts of harm to others. Trying to attain security by micromanaging everyone's actions is just not a working solution. Sure, it's sensible to ban handguns and large kitchen knives from airlines, but battery operated devices? Nail clippers?? Long fingernails could do more damage than the clipper.
Maybe, but the prosecutors aren't interested in justice, they are interested in convictions. I doubt if they would give the guy the benefit of the doubt, even if they saw the pattern you mention.
Well, it's a full gigabyte of mail that's available anywhere you can get to a web browser. Oops, on the road and spilled coffee on your laptop the morning of a huge presentation? Well, just grab the powerpoint from the email you sent yourself. You get the idea...
It's true you can do this with most other webmail accounts, but Google is rasing the bar not just on the total size of your mailbox, but of individual attachments as well. I would suggest encrypting any ground shattering corporate secrets, though.
Google has also shown a pattern of providing highly usable services without resorting to gaudy "revenue generation" tactics. I like the fact that they actually seem to CARE about the user experience. This might change after they go public, but at least for now I'm looking forward to using my new gmail account.
Re:For me, its the optical zoom ability
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I noticed in some of your other work (great stuff by the way!) you used Photoshop. Have you tried to run an unsharp mask on this picture? Try just sharpening a single channel (green maybe) if you get too many jaggies. Also, if you wanted to go to even more trouble, mask off the alligator's head and just sharpen that... the background looks pretty good the way it is. Photoshop has made a bunch of my bad pictures into decent if not good ones.
The sale of PC hardware is driven a lot by video games... what other reason would I have to upgrade from a 2.4ghz p4 with Geforce4 except to play Doom III with all the snazzy new effects enabled, for example? The next gen consoles might have cutting edge specs now, but so did the Xbox when it came out. Now it's 700mhz processor and graphics are pretty dated compared to the state of the art.
I think if video game publishers ease off of the PC platform, we will see money from Nvidia, ATI, and Intel that will support cutting edge video gaming on the PC.
It's incredibly difficult today for the retailer to tell a customer which new model corresponds to the old one. But we could fix that with RFID.
This quote is specifically talking about sport shoes... I don't see how RFID has much to do with this. a model number is a model number. They could just as easily key the thing into the same computer that would be reading the RFID to implement this.
Credit cards go away in the future, and your phone becomes your credit card.
And what if I don't carry a cell phone or dont WANT TO CARRY A CELL PHONE! This seems like a great way to expand the market for cell phones than anything else. Also, with all these RFID tags in close proximity, how does the reader know WHICH credit card I want to use? Do I select it on my cell phone? This sounds more like bluetooth to me.
I'm not saying RFID tags don't have their place, but society today seems to be stuck in this mode of coming up with the most complicated and convoluted solution to a problem possible. Keep It Simple, Stupid.
We can go back to the early part of the century when companies could spy on their workers' private lives in order to ensure they were living "morally".
I think we are there... I'm looking for a job for the first time since 9/11 and it seems pretty standard for companies to request a release of almost any kind of information they could use to determine your "morality". Ok, background checks are nothing new, but now companies are demanding the right to re-check this information any time they well please... they are also making use of credit reports, and associated "character reports". I don't know what kind of information these things collect, but this is scary stuff indeed. Does the equivalent to a credit score exist for "character"?
The red t-rex Mozilla head or the fox-like shape wrapped around the globe might have geek appeal, but if they are trying to capture the "average desktop user" I think they need to look at their branding strategy. My mother or even "Bob User" is much more likely to warm up to the Linux penguin or the Gnome foot than the angry t-rex head or a depiction of any kind of flaming animal.
Just one man's opinion, but scary icons and unfortunate names (GIMP comes to mind) probably have a much bigger impact on adoption than people realize.
Come on, mod this post up. I know it's not as interesting as the licking toilet seats post, but discussing air purifiers is on topic and at least it is trying to address the problem of dirty office environments instead of just making jokes and complaining about it. I don't care about Karma, I just want to see who else is using/thinking about using an air purifier and if it's a good idea.
I have a small spare bedroom I recently updated as a home office. Part of my renovations were to install pergo-like flooring and basically get rid of any surfaces that can catch dust like carpet and fabrics since my computers seem to get so dirty. It hasn't helped at all.
One thought that occurred to me was to get an air purifier... one that circulates air with a HEPA filter. Does anyone use one of these in their computer rooms and does it actually make a difference as far as dust goes? They also have ones with UV lightbulbs, maybe this would cut down on the microbe populations? I'm more concerned with the constant accumulation of dust than anything else.
Corporate interests seem to rule these days... new fancy expensive voting machines mandated for every district means a lot of money to the selected few. They can outsource the coding to communist China and make even more! Oh, the irony...
Introverts are sometimes uncomfortable (terrorized in extreme cases) in larger group social settings.
The problem is, most social activity is organzied by extroverts... to them, the bigger the group the better. They draw energy from social interaction and don't understand this concept at all. Introverts generally expend energy and social interaction leaves them drained. Try finding a setting where he can interact... preferably including extroverts with at least some similar interests because they will reach out, but in a small group setting.
Will these bodies of curated knowledge just dissapear, or will they move to the web where they can be indexed by Google?
The great thing about Encyclopedias is knowing that someone is vouching for those facts... When you find something through Google, you generally have no idea of the quality of that information. Site's like Wikipedia are a great alternative, where there is a system for peer review and correction, but in general Google is just not the same as an Encyclopedia. For kids to survive, they are going to have to be discerning and question every fact put before them. I think this is good in general, but I don't think our schools are teaching much critical thinking these days. They are going to need to start because there is a lot of misinformation out there.
Boring? Sure if you are stuck on a black and decker coffee maker and basket filters. You've gotta mix up your brew methods and experience the alchemy of making a good cup of coffee. Try a french press, that can be pretty exciting but hard to clean. One of my favorite methods is the Chorreador de cafe. It's the traditional method in Costa Rica where, as far as I'm concerned, the best tasting coffee beans come from.
Oh, it should go without saying that grinding the beans just before you use them is the only way to get exiting coffee. Pre-ground might be convenient, but it loses flavor fast. Also, Starbucks is great for convenience, but I think the quality of their coffee beans has slipped. It's still way better than McDonalds, but you can get a way better cup at home with a little effort.
Hope that helps everyone on the road to exciting coffee!
Here's a great web site to check out if this issue strikes a chord with you. We all thought Big Brother would arise from the government... I think we were looking in the wrong place.
Users of this software should have to pass a background check before they can use it. See how they like it. Having a business license doesn't prove anything as in most areas anyone that pays the fee can get one.
What ever happened to checking references and the good old probationary period? It takes a very unique individual to realize that someone's opinion can be intelligent while disagreeing with it. In fact, sometimes I will even play devil's advocate to spark an interesting discussion... will the background checker have the insight to look past all that?
Let me prove myself on the job I'm hired to do and please leave my slashdot account, my credit score, my medical history, and my weekly garbage to myself thank you.
I don't see how this is a liberal vs. conservative issue.
I'm relatively conservative, but I get sick at the thought that most CEO's are probably so removed from reality that the human impact of slicing thousands of workers from the payroll is probably not even considered. They don't share the pain in any way, "human resources" are treated no differently than the cogs and sprockets that come off the assembly lines. Ok, so that will not change... high paid CEO's will never be known for their compassion and I'm willing to accept that.
What irks me even more is our politicans (and Greenspan) still don't get it. They are still calling for "worker retraining" initiatives. I have a freakin Mechanical Engineering degree. What additional training do I need? What I need is a job description that doesn't read like a laundry list of every technology that HR could find any reference too. Companies are outsourcing like crazy to save money but they won't accept any of the responsibility to help those displaced workers cycle into new positions. To HR, I am a machine only good for one purpose spelled out on my resume.
the U.K. also has an exceptional public transportation system compared to the U.S. In addition, the pubs all seemed to close down at 11pm. I think this would help considerably in the U.S. We still have drive through beer stores and the bars close at 2:30am in my state.
I don't think many people go out with the plan to drink and drive illegally... and it's definitely not socially acceptable. It's just that after you've had a few is the wrong time to determine whether you are ok to drive.
Thanks for your reply, Dragon... I'm starting to wonder if China won't soon be a bastion of freedom compared to the U.S. at the rate we are going. It's sad that I have to think twice about posting this comment, lest it be taken out of context and used against me someday.
The reason given by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 22 million more jobs by 2010 is they are counting on the baby boomers to retire when they are supposed to. Whether this will happen or not probably depends on how well the stock market recovers... I think a lot of people lost a lot of retirement money in the dot com bust.
Of course it doesn't surprise me that a McKinsey executive, one of the companies benfiting the most from outsourcing, would spin the statistics.
Remember, Unemployment numbers are calculated from people collecting unemployment benefits. Once the checks stop, there is very little incentive for people to continue to send their cards in every week. From my perspective (software engineer with 8 years experience) the job market is nearly non-existant. I do have friends that are into more sales type roles that don't seem to be having a problem, though.
I don't think that music/movies vs. porn can be compared... porn has a slightly (or not-so-slightly to some) addictive quality to it that music and Hollywood type movies just don't have. The porn industry benefits by wider distribution because exposing people to more porn only increases their appetite. Why do you think the usenet is flooded with free porn? It's not coming from Joe "Porn Wants to be Free" Smith, it's from the industry.
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And just what kind of threat does a stun gun pose to deserve such a measure? I mean really, people are always going to be able to do all sorts of harm to others. Trying to attain security by micromanaging everyone's actions is just not a working solution. Sure, it's sensible to ban handguns and large kitchen knives from airlines, but battery operated devices? Nail clippers?? Long fingernails could do more damage than the clipper.
Maybe, but the prosecutors aren't interested in justice, they are interested in convictions. I doubt if they would give the guy the benefit of the doubt, even if they saw the pattern you mention.
It's true you can do this with most other webmail accounts, but Google is rasing the bar not just on the total size of your mailbox, but of individual attachments as well. I would suggest encrypting any ground shattering corporate secrets, though.
Google has also shown a pattern of providing highly usable services without resorting to gaudy "revenue generation" tactics. I like the fact that they actually seem to CARE about the user experience. This might change after they go public, but at least for now I'm looking forward to using my new gmail account.
I noticed in some of your other work (great stuff by the way!) you used Photoshop. Have you tried to run an unsharp mask on this picture? Try just sharpening a single channel (green maybe) if you get too many jaggies. Also, if you wanted to go to even more trouble, mask off the alligator's head and just sharpen that... the background looks pretty good the way it is. Photoshop has made a bunch of my bad pictures into decent if not good ones.
I think if video game publishers ease off of the PC platform, we will see money from Nvidia, ATI, and Intel that will support cutting edge video gaming on the PC.
I'm not saying RFID tags don't have their place, but society today seems to be stuck in this mode of coming up with the most complicated and convoluted solution to a problem possible. Keep It Simple, Stupid.
I think we are there... I'm looking for a job for the first time since 9/11 and it seems pretty standard for companies to request a release of almost any kind of information they could use to determine your "morality". Ok, background checks are nothing new, but now companies are demanding the right to re-check this information any time they well please... they are also making use of credit reports, and associated "character reports". I don't know what kind of information these things collect, but this is scary stuff indeed. Does the equivalent to a credit score exist for "character"?
Just one man's opinion, but scary icons and unfortunate names (GIMP comes to mind) probably have a much bigger impact on adoption than people realize.
Come on, mod this post up. I know it's not as interesting as the licking toilet seats post, but discussing air purifiers is on topic and at least it is trying to address the problem of dirty office environments instead of just making jokes and complaining about it. I don't care about Karma, I just want to see who else is using/thinking about using an air purifier and if it's a good idea.
One thought that occurred to me was to get an air purifier... one that circulates air with a HEPA filter. Does anyone use one of these in their computer rooms and does it actually make a difference as far as dust goes? They also have ones with UV lightbulbs, maybe this would cut down on the microbe populations? I'm more concerned with the constant accumulation of dust than anything else.
Corporate interests seem to rule these days... new fancy expensive voting machines mandated for every district means a lot of money to the selected few. They can outsource the coding to communist China and make even more! Oh, the irony...
Introverts are sometimes uncomfortable (terrorized in extreme cases) in larger group social settings. The problem is, most social activity is organzied by extroverts... to them, the bigger the group the better. They draw energy from social interaction and don't understand this concept at all. Introverts generally expend energy and social interaction leaves them drained. Try finding a setting where he can interact... preferably including extroverts with at least some similar interests because they will reach out, but in a small group setting.
The great thing about Encyclopedias is knowing that someone is vouching for those facts... When you find something through Google, you generally have no idea of the quality of that information. Site's like Wikipedia are a great alternative, where there is a system for peer review and correction, but in general Google is just not the same as an Encyclopedia. For kids to survive, they are going to have to be discerning and question every fact put before them. I think this is good in general, but I don't think our schools are teaching much critical thinking these days. They are going to need to start because there is a lot of misinformation out there.
Oh, it should go without saying that grinding the beans just before you use them is the only way to get exiting coffee. Pre-ground might be convenient, but it loses flavor fast. Also, Starbucks is great for convenience, but I think the quality of their coffee beans has slipped. It's still way better than McDonalds, but you can get a way better cup at home with a little effort.
Hope that helps everyone on the road to exciting coffee!
Here's a great web site to check out if this issue strikes a chord with you. We all thought Big Brother would arise from the government... I think we were looking in the wrong place.
Users of this software should have to pass a background check before they can use it. See how they like it. Having a business license doesn't prove anything as in most areas anyone that pays the fee can get one.
Let me prove myself on the job I'm hired to do and please leave my slashdot account, my credit score, my medical history, and my weekly garbage to myself thank you.
Don't forget that Jerry Springer was mayor of Cincinatti. Wonder if he had anything to do with this?
I'm relatively conservative, but I get sick at the thought that most CEO's are probably so removed from reality that the human impact of slicing thousands of workers from the payroll is probably not even considered. They don't share the pain in any way, "human resources" are treated no differently than the cogs and sprockets that come off the assembly lines. Ok, so that will not change... high paid CEO's will never be known for their compassion and I'm willing to accept that.
What irks me even more is our politicans (and Greenspan) still don't get it. They are still calling for "worker retraining" initiatives. I have a freakin Mechanical Engineering degree. What additional training do I need? What I need is a job description that doesn't read like a laundry list of every technology that HR could find any reference too. Companies are outsourcing like crazy to save money but they won't accept any of the responsibility to help those displaced workers cycle into new positions. To HR, I am a machine only good for one purpose spelled out on my resume.
I don't think many people go out with the plan to drink and drive illegally... and it's definitely not socially acceptable. It's just that after you've had a few is the wrong time to determine whether you are ok to drive.
Thanks for your reply, Dragon... I'm starting to wonder if China won't soon be a bastion of freedom compared to the U.S. at the rate we are going. It's sad that I have to think twice about posting this comment, lest it be taken out of context and used against me someday.
Never mind... I'm thinking of the BLS projections on a worker shortage in the U.S., not job creation. It's late, what can I say?
Of course it doesn't surprise me that a McKinsey executive, one of the companies benfiting the most from outsourcing, would spin the statistics.
Remember, Unemployment numbers are calculated from people collecting unemployment benefits. Once the checks stop, there is very little incentive for people to continue to send their cards in every week. From my perspective (software engineer with 8 years experience) the job market is nearly non-existant. I do have friends that are into more sales type roles that don't seem to be having a problem, though.
I don't think that music/movies vs. porn can be compared... porn has a slightly (or not-so-slightly to some) addictive quality to it that music and Hollywood type movies just don't have. The porn industry benefits by wider distribution because exposing people to more porn only increases their appetite. Why do you think the usenet is flooded with free porn? It's not coming from Joe "Porn Wants to be Free" Smith, it's from the industry.