I tend to agree with this. Apple has spotlight tightly integrated into OS X, and I personally have not had any problems when I use it finding relative results. Of course, different users are searching for different types of data, so one program may work better for their uses over another. One thing I will say, at the expense of plugging a particular book. Mac OS X Tiger Edition: The Missing Manual has an excellent spotlight section that covers all kinds of little known spotlight features. I recommend checking it out if you are having problems figuring out exactly how to narrow down your search to things more relavent to what you want.
While I love touchscreens and whatnot, I think everything has it's place. For example, I MUCH prefer a car (or home for that matter) stereo with an actual volume knob, even if it just spins perpetually and get's translated by the system into a digital signal. It's the analog interface that's important. Beyond that, who cares what the underlying system does with the input, as long as the result is the desired effect. Rather than push a button repeatedly, it's so much easier to just give the knob a quick spin when you want to crank up (or down) the volume of a song. The iPOD's click-wheel interface is one of the few touch technologies that are acceptable replacements to an analog volume control. I am simply using the volume control as an example, as that is what came to my mind when I read the article, I am sure there are many more examples I could think of, were I so inclined.
for mac, try handbrake/mediafork. As previously mentioned, they are made for this purpose. Mediafork is essentially the newer version of handbrake, but because of a long sordid affair (which you can read about on their website if you really want to know) they had to change the name, although it may be changing back to handbrake now . . .
Well, the only part of this that I CAN understand being upset about are the UNPAID 15 minute breaks. While it is google's perogative to make them unpaid, generally the 15 minute breaks (law mandates 10 minute BTW) are paid. Again, not illegal, but google has built a reputation for offering it's employees more. Anyone who has ever worked for an outstanding company that gave all kinds of perks is familiar with the google employee's pain. It sucks to have tons of cool benefits then gradually watch them slip away as the company grows and seeks to boost the bottom line.
Linux will allow a normal user to install normal user programs without root access. It just installs them only in that user's space, so they can't potentially hurt other users. You only receive admin prompts when doing things that affect the whole system, like installing OS updates. I don't care how restricted a user you are, I don't think I've EVER seen linux prompt for permission when cutting and pasting, how asenine is that? OOH, you changed your wallpaper, better make sure your REALLY want to do that, since we all know the potential system wide implications of changing from prairie rain to a picture from digital blasphemy. I can sometimes go a week or longer without seeing a linux admin prompt and doing normal things, whereas I challenge you to work on your computer as you normally would and go an HOUR without getting a UAC prompt for something UTTERLY STUPID.
Bet you feel like a big man now. You had the indisputable courage to post anonomously, putting down all who frequent slashdot. Congratulations, Senor Coward, truly congrats. However, I hope everyone will notice that our friend Mr. Coward himself is apparently a/. reader, as he was clearly here to read the summary, then proceeded to the article, then took the time to read through comments on the article, and post his truly well constructed views on all of us lame/.ers so that we may all revel in his wisdom and see the error of our foolish ways for wanting to discuss and have opinions on technology news. I know I feel humbled by his observations, and I certainly hope the rest of you feel the same way too. We certainly were lucky you posted here today, or who knows what other horrible opinions we may have expressed.
The main problem with your theory is this: A cell phone company typically sells the hardware at a loss. Regardless of how ridiculously expensive you may think a particular phone may be, chances are the carrier is losing money on the deal. This is the reason for contracts. A cell phone company DOES make a profit on the service, and the contract is designed to allow that company to make an acceptable profit off of you by the end of your contract to justify the cost of doing business with you. This is why a 1 year contract will net the phone for X amount of money, and a two year contract will get it to you for less. Not saying the company doesn't come out on top in the end, but if you think $499 is expensive, you would probably shit yourself if you saw how much the phone would cost were it simply sold by apple for use on any carrier. I used to work for nextel years back, and saw some of the numbers on what they were paying motorola for phones versus what they were selling them for. It was close to the tune of $300 difference on average. As previously stated, the providers are running a business, and the purpose of that business is to make money. I don't like it much more than anyone else, but I understand it is a necessity in this particular industry.
You know, I think the thing that aggravates me the most is that these distributed computing systems are helping drug companies find cures to illnesses using OUR processing power and computers WE paid for, only to sell us the drug that they would have been hard pressed to develop without our hardware back to us at an extremely inflated price.
I really don't think tampering is much of an issue since people can freely edit facts and figures in wikipedia anytime they want anyway. However, the previous concerns about speed and bandwidth costs are valid points. As for corporate fileservers. aside from the backup issues mentioned previously, there is also the issue of ensuring everyone sees the same thing. It's much easier, say, with software, to have all the software stored centrally and have all computers get their software from this one place. Makes updates much easier, and ensures version consistancy across the enterprise. I don't remember where it was, probably slashdot, a few weeks ago when it was mentioned that there is a movement back towards dumb terminals. Reasons being cost (terminals are much cheaper than PC's), and ease of management. P
OK, now that I've had the opportunity to calm myself. let me start off by apologizing. I don't intend to come off as an alarmist and say we're all doomed and we should bip everything we find. I am kind of trying to play devils advocate here, because there really is a shortage of EOD techs in the world. Most people simply don't understand what it means to do our job. We receive so much training in IED's that we see things differently than the average joe. Usually, this is a life saving perspective, but it can also cause us to overeact on things that are in reality not a hazard. Of course anything COULD be an IED, but most things aren't. Everyone has to excercise good judgement, and when in doubt, err on the side of caution. Never talk yourself into believing something is safe if you are unsure, prove it to yourself. When authorities are notified, it is then EOD's job to determine the danger or safety of a device. That tech will ALWAYS err on the side of caution because his decision is final, and if he makes the wrong choice, he made that choice for anyone else who could get injured by the device also. Just understand that bomb techs see things differently from the rest of the population, so if you can't understand why they do something, more than likely it's not arbitrary, they probably have good reason for it. I am now stepping down from my soap box.
OK, let's clear something up right here. I AM EOD. I am a bomb tech. I know what the fuck I'm talking about and by your lingo, I'm guessing you were probably a combat engineer, who think they know everything but don't. While I agree this is far fetched, IT IS possible. While the device itself may not have been overly hazardous, I don't suppose you are familiar w/ the term "come-on device". Like I say, this is a rather silly argument, given what we now know. However, unless you yourself have ever taken "the long walk" down to a device that either was supposed to explode and didn't, may or may not be supposed to explode and if it is, you don't know how it's designed to detonate, then DON'T fault a seasoned EOD tech for doing what he felt was right given the circumstances. You have NO idea how much training it takes to even get to wear the badge of EOD, and then nearly as much additional training to be the man who goes downrange and makes these type of decisions.
Based on your clearly expert opinion based on all of your experience surrounding IEDs, what specifically should someone see before they say "hey, that don't look right, maybe we should do something". You forget, there have been plenty of instances of IEDs being hidden in backpacks. Of course we don't club everyone wearing a backpack and drop a water charge on it just to be safe. However, were you to find a backpack just chilling out by itself, unattended, on a major thoroughfare, it might seem a bit odd, and justify a bit of caution. Same thing with these things. Were not talking standard signs here, we're talking something that appeared homemade, had wires, had compartments whose contents could not be readily identified, and was out of place in general. I'm not really sure what you want here . ..the classic bundle of dynamite with the alarm clock on it? Last time I seen one of those was on an old episode of Night Rider. And incidentally, Dangitman is correct, the trashcan could be an IED, and were it one, it would pack a huge amount of explosives. However, since it's just out on trashday with the rest of the trashcans, and you have no need to be suspicious of it, no need to call the authorities every thursday. In retrospect it's easy to say it was stupid, but you just never know and better to err on the side of caution.
I think it's awesome when open source companies go public. It allows them to get enough capital to truly innovate, and help prove to the unbelievers that open source IS a viable, successful way to make outstanding software. I hope more open source companies continue this trend.
Seems like a good idea, but it also seems like it would give the device manufacturers an out. "I'm sorry, but we don't officially support the linux operating system". This way they get drivers written for them for free, and don't need to provide any tech support for the device to those users who purchase it for linux. Anyone else see this happening?
excuse me . What I meant to say was MOTOROLA made the phones. Nearly anyone familiar with nextel would have been able to tell you that, as motorola is the ONLY provider for Nextel iDEN phones. Some examples are the i700, i50sr, i350, and more modern ones that I can't think of the nomenclature for at the time. Excuse me for being unclear Mr. Coward.
wow, I haven't heard the term wysiwyg in a very long time. People have become so used to them, they forget that current word processors are a gift compared to volkswriter. Now how much did I date myself in this field with that comment?
OK, the phone being waterproof is news. However, As far as ruggedized phones, Nextel has been releasing mil-spec phones for years and years. An abuse proof or abuse resistant phone is nothing new, but in typical verizon style, they tout everything new to them as if they are the first to ever do it, when rarely they are.
Let me start out by saying I am a loyal iPOD owner (and mac owner). However, The "squirt" feature really ain't that big of a deal to me, as long as microsoft is not trying to tout that feature too much given the current state of things with sony. Lets be honest. We didn't have a player capable of sharing before, and we pretty much still don't, so nothings really changed. So as long as the Zune is willing to compete on it's other merites (lol) then I have no problem with them giving it a go in europe. Perhaps as long as it's excessively overpriced there, they can get into the niche market of people with more money than sense.
Well, actually a lot of things. Boot camp isn't simply a bootloader, it is a packaged solution. Upon first running bootcamp, it has you do a destructionless partition on your HD in order to hold windows (if you don't already have a windows part). Then it burns a cd with all the drivers you will need for your mac hardware once windows is installed and looking for drivers for these things. Now yes, it also doeds include a bootloader, but it is designed to be a more "plug and play" solution than having to find and download the individual programs that would do these things, and configure them properly. Just more of a "mac-like" experience.
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I tend to agree with this. Apple has spotlight tightly integrated into OS X, and I personally have not had any problems when I use it finding relative results. Of course, different users are searching for different types of data, so one program may work better for their uses over another. One thing I will say, at the expense of plugging a particular book. Mac OS X Tiger Edition: The Missing Manual has an excellent spotlight section that covers all kinds of little known spotlight features. I recommend checking it out if you are having problems figuring out exactly how to narrow down your search to things more relavent to what you want.
But why do I need a google app to do this when spotlight comes with my mac and does a pretty outstanding job of this already. Am I missing something?
While I love touchscreens and whatnot, I think everything has it's place. For example, I MUCH prefer a car (or home for that matter) stereo with an actual volume knob, even if it just spins perpetually and get's translated by the system into a digital signal. It's the analog interface that's important. Beyond that, who cares what the underlying system does with the input, as long as the result is the desired effect. Rather than push a button repeatedly, it's so much easier to just give the knob a quick spin when you want to crank up (or down) the volume of a song. The iPOD's click-wheel interface is one of the few touch technologies that are acceptable replacements to an analog volume control. I am simply using the volume control as an example, as that is what came to my mind when I read the article, I am sure there are many more examples I could think of, were I so inclined.
for mac, try handbrake/mediafork. As previously mentioned, they are made for this purpose. Mediafork is essentially the newer version of handbrake, but because of a long sordid affair (which you can read about on their website if you really want to know) they had to change the name, although it may be changing back to handbrake now . . .
the above comment would be correct, where it not for the fact that *BSD IS DYING!!!
Well, the only part of this that I CAN understand being upset about are the UNPAID 15 minute breaks. While it is google's perogative to make them unpaid, generally the 15 minute breaks (law mandates 10 minute BTW) are paid. Again, not illegal, but google has built a reputation for offering it's employees more. Anyone who has ever worked for an outstanding company that gave all kinds of perks is familiar with the google employee's pain. It sucks to have tons of cool benefits then gradually watch them slip away as the company grows and seeks to boost the bottom line.
or the parts they themselves haven't . . .
Linux will allow a normal user to install normal user programs without root access. It just installs them only in that user's space, so they can't potentially hurt other users. You only receive admin prompts when doing things that affect the whole system, like installing OS updates. I don't care how restricted a user you are, I don't think I've EVER seen linux prompt for permission when cutting and pasting, how asenine is that? OOH, you changed your wallpaper, better make sure your REALLY want to do that, since we all know the potential system wide implications of changing from prairie rain to a picture from digital blasphemy. I can sometimes go a week or longer without seeing a linux admin prompt and doing normal things, whereas I challenge you to work on your computer as you normally would and go an HOUR without getting a UAC prompt for something UTTERLY STUPID.
Bet you feel like a big man now. You had the indisputable courage to post anonomously, putting down all who frequent slashdot. Congratulations, Senor Coward, truly congrats. However, I hope everyone will notice that our friend Mr. Coward himself is apparently a /. reader, as he was clearly here to read the summary, then proceeded to the article, then took the time to read through comments on the article, and post his truly well constructed views on all of us lame /.ers so that we may all revel in his wisdom and see the error of our foolish ways for wanting to discuss and have opinions on technology news. I know I feel humbled by his observations, and I certainly hope the rest of you feel the same way too. We certainly were lucky you posted here today, or who knows what other horrible opinions we may have expressed.
The main problem with your theory is this: A cell phone company typically sells the hardware at a loss. Regardless of how ridiculously expensive you may think a particular phone may be, chances are the carrier is losing money on the deal. This is the reason for contracts. A cell phone company DOES make a profit on the service, and the contract is designed to allow that company to make an acceptable profit off of you by the end of your contract to justify the cost of doing business with you. This is why a 1 year contract will net the phone for X amount of money, and a two year contract will get it to you for less. Not saying the company doesn't come out on top in the end, but if you think $499 is expensive, you would probably shit yourself if you saw how much the phone would cost were it simply sold by apple for use on any carrier. I used to work for nextel years back, and saw some of the numbers on what they were paying motorola for phones versus what they were selling them for. It was close to the tune of $300 difference on average. As previously stated, the providers are running a business, and the purpose of that business is to make money. I don't like it much more than anyone else, but I understand it is a necessity in this particular industry.
You know, I think the thing that aggravates me the most is that these distributed computing systems are helping drug companies find cures to illnesses using OUR processing power and computers WE paid for, only to sell us the drug that they would have been hard pressed to develop without our hardware back to us at an extremely inflated price.
I really don't think tampering is much of an issue since people can freely edit facts and figures in wikipedia anytime they want anyway. However, the previous concerns about speed and bandwidth costs are valid points. As for corporate fileservers. aside from the backup issues mentioned previously, there is also the issue of ensuring everyone sees the same thing. It's much easier, say, with software, to have all the software stored centrally and have all computers get their software from this one place. Makes updates much easier, and ensures version consistancy across the enterprise. I don't remember where it was, probably slashdot, a few weeks ago when it was mentioned that there is a movement back towards dumb terminals. Reasons being cost (terminals are much cheaper than PC's), and ease of management. P
OK, now that I've had the opportunity to calm myself. let me start off by apologizing. I don't intend to come off as an alarmist and say we're all doomed and we should bip everything we find. I am kind of trying to play devils advocate here, because there really is a shortage of EOD techs in the world. Most people simply don't understand what it means to do our job. We receive so much training in IED's that we see things differently than the average joe. Usually, this is a life saving perspective, but it can also cause us to overeact on things that are in reality not a hazard. Of course anything COULD be an IED, but most things aren't. Everyone has to excercise good judgement, and when in doubt, err on the side of caution. Never talk yourself into believing something is safe if you are unsure, prove it to yourself. When authorities are notified, it is then EOD's job to determine the danger or safety of a device. That tech will ALWAYS err on the side of caution because his decision is final, and if he makes the wrong choice, he made that choice for anyone else who could get injured by the device also. Just understand that bomb techs see things differently from the rest of the population, so if you can't understand why they do something, more than likely it's not arbitrary, they probably have good reason for it. I am now stepping down from my soap box.
OK, let's clear something up right here. I AM EOD. I am a bomb tech. I know what the fuck I'm talking about and by your lingo, I'm guessing you were probably a combat engineer, who think they know everything but don't. While I agree this is far fetched, IT IS possible. While the device itself may not have been overly hazardous, I don't suppose you are familiar w/ the term "come-on device". Like I say, this is a rather silly argument, given what we now know. However, unless you yourself have ever taken "the long walk" down to a device that either was supposed to explode and didn't, may or may not be supposed to explode and if it is, you don't know how it's designed to detonate, then DON'T fault a seasoned EOD tech for doing what he felt was right given the circumstances. You have NO idea how much training it takes to even get to wear the badge of EOD, and then nearly as much additional training to be the man who goes downrange and makes these type of decisions.
Based on your clearly expert opinion based on all of your experience surrounding IEDs, what specifically should someone see before they say "hey, that don't look right, maybe we should do something". You forget, there have been plenty of instances of IEDs being hidden in backpacks. Of course we don't club everyone wearing a backpack and drop a water charge on it just to be safe. However, were you to find a backpack just chilling out by itself, unattended, on a major thoroughfare, it might seem a bit odd, and justify a bit of caution. Same thing with these things. Were not talking standard signs here, we're talking something that appeared homemade, had wires, had compartments whose contents could not be readily identified, and was out of place in general. I'm not really sure what you want here . . .the classic bundle of dynamite with the alarm clock on it? Last time I seen one of those was on an old episode of Night Rider. And incidentally, Dangitman is correct, the trashcan could be an IED, and were it one, it would pack a huge amount of explosives. However, since it's just out on trashday with the rest of the trashcans, and you have no need to be suspicious of it, no need to call the authorities every thursday. In retrospect it's easy to say it was stupid, but you just never know and better to err on the side of caution.
I smell an opportunity for microsoft to tout their "squirt" feature on the zune to try to penetrate this segment.
I think it's awesome when open source companies go public. It allows them to get enough capital to truly innovate, and help prove to the unbelievers that open source IS a viable, successful way to make outstanding software. I hope more open source companies continue this trend.
I heard microsoft is marketing the cool box as additional value.
Seems like a good idea, but it also seems like it would give the device manufacturers an out. "I'm sorry, but we don't officially support the linux operating system". This way they get drivers written for them for free, and don't need to provide any tech support for the device to those users who purchase it for linux. Anyone else see this happening?
excuse me . What I meant to say was MOTOROLA made the phones. Nearly anyone familiar with nextel would have been able to tell you that, as motorola is the ONLY provider for Nextel iDEN phones. Some examples are the i700, i50sr, i350, and more modern ones that I can't think of the nomenclature for at the time. Excuse me for being unclear Mr. Coward.
wow, I haven't heard the term wysiwyg in a very long time. People have become so used to them, they forget that current word processors are a gift compared to volkswriter. Now how much did I date myself in this field with that comment?
OK, the phone being waterproof is news. However, As far as ruggedized phones, Nextel has been releasing mil-spec phones for years and years. An abuse proof or abuse resistant phone is nothing new, but in typical verizon style, they tout everything new to them as if they are the first to ever do it, when rarely they are.
perhaps a bit off topic, but take a look at this: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windows-Ultimate-N umbered-Signature/dp/B000M2WPIQ/sr=1-2/qid=1169476 621/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-5235946-3553706?ie=UTF8&s= software Signed by Bill Gates himself. If this is real, it is quite possibly one of the most comical things I have ever seen microsoft produce since BOB http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_bob
Let me start out by saying I am a loyal iPOD owner (and mac owner). However, The "squirt" feature really ain't that big of a deal to me, as long as microsoft is not trying to tout that feature too much given the current state of things with sony. Lets be honest. We didn't have a player capable of sharing before, and we pretty much still don't, so nothings really changed. So as long as the Zune is willing to compete on it's other merites (lol) then I have no problem with them giving it a go in europe. Perhaps as long as it's excessively overpriced there, they can get into the niche market of people with more money than sense.
Well, actually a lot of things. Boot camp isn't simply a bootloader, it is a packaged solution. Upon first running bootcamp, it has you do a destructionless partition on your HD in order to hold windows (if you don't already have a windows part). Then it burns a cd with all the drivers you will need for your mac hardware once windows is installed and looking for drivers for these things. Now yes, it also doeds include a bootloader, but it is designed to be a more "plug and play" solution than having to find and download the individual programs that would do these things, and configure them properly. Just more of a "mac-like" experience.