As a general policy, if a developer needs root access, they need to prove to me as an administrator that they actually do need root access. I'm not going to give root access (sudo, su -, or access to privileged accounts), even on a development box, to someone that needs occasional chmod privileges. More often than not, the people who are begging for root access are those that have been so spoiled by coding on their own Linux boxes that they lose sight of all the best practices that contribute to good code. They want foolish things like directories with 777 privileges so they can drop temp files when there are 30 better ways to do it. root is not a cure all... just because you're used to it on your own machine doesn't mean it's appropriate for coding in a multi-user environment developing customer-facing applications.
In the end, there are very few specialized applications that actually require root access to work. I will concede that sometimes root access is necessary but it needs to be treated on a case-by-case basis. I'm of the belief that a properly written application should be written such that it can be run with the least amount of privileges, and can be installed anywhere... not just/usr. root access as we know it is a luxury that should be reserved for true administrative duties, unless absolutely positively necessary.
> Those 10 things applied at every job I've ever had, except for the laundry.
Well either you've been very fortunate, or you're completely blind. So either congratulations, or I'm sorry.
Almost every company believes they follow the Google 10 Commandments, but in practice, you'll find most companies fail at it. Something happens -- whether under the guise of "extenuating circumstances", "deadlines", or another excuse -- and gets in the way of these best practices. It's rather remarkable that given Google's explosive growth, they seem to have maintained the kind of culture that creates a positive work environment. At least from all accounts I've read, the employee satisfaction is very high, something you will not find in most Fortune 500 companies.
I'm very interested in seeing how long they can maintain that track record. "Stuff" happens... and a real sign of maturity in a company is how they manage that to ensure that their most important asset (the employees) stays happy.
Plasma has close to the same off-axis viewing as a CRT, which is to say it's significantly better than LCDs. The technology shares much in common with CRT displays. So either his set is bad or he doesn't have a plasma TV. Viewing distance is also largely irrelevant, unless you're sitting so close that you can count the pixels, or so far away that you can't see the screen.
As for the picture, the rule is garbage in, garbage out. A 70" screen isn't going to do you a world of good if you're watching standard-definition images.
A high-definition image on a properly set up high definition display (be it plasma, LCD, RPTV, etc.) will be stunning. If it is anything less than that, either the source is bad or it was improperly set up.
I've been able to run 802.11b for HOURS on IPAQs and Palms. I have yet to see Bluetooth used effectively here... maybe Japan and other countries, but not in the US.
What I don't understand is why people insist on buying a TiVo if they aren't going to buy the service that makes TiVo what it is.
The service is good. Really. The company is good too. They have taken great strides to work with their customers. If you don't want to buy into the monthly fee business, spend $199 and get the lifetime service.
If you're really that unwilling to deal with the nags and issues, then build your own TiVo box. If you don't like the TiVo service, then a real VCR is still the best answer... it will give you all the benefits of a service-less TiVo, and the ability to swap media.
Does anyone go to design school anymore?
on
PDAs, PDAs
·
· Score: 2
ACK! HandEra has made a great product, and it looks TERRIBLE!
There was a time when people went to school and learned how to make good looking designs which stirred strong positive emotions. The Palm V was one. The IPAQ was another. The m50x (although evolutionary) is also in this club.
The HandEra device is certainly an engineering marvel. I cannot argue with good technology. But, the thing has no "lines". When you look at it, your eyes dart all over the place. It's just too busy... the design doesn't flow.:(
For those that already have IPAQs, a brave and enterprising soul has already found a way to upgrade 32mb IPAQs to 64mb. He will be providing the service shortly, and will provide a 90-day warranty on the upgrade!
In my experience, unless your ISP artificially throttles back your available bandwidth, most people will find cable to be significantly faster than DSL. The concept of "shared" bandwidth is lost because in the end, everyone's sharing bandwidth from someone (even DSL). I would venture to say that unless you live in a heavy tech corridor, where all your neighbors have cable modem, you will not likely feel the pinch. Additionally, cable appears to be more readily available, and is cheaper than DSL access for the amount of bandwidth you get.
However, in terms of regulation, I think that DSL has been friendlier to the subscribers in terms of allowing VPNs and allowing you to run your own servers. A lot of cable broadband providers have really started to crack down on this.
I think speed is only half the issue that is being faced here. It's always nice to pull down a file at speeds over the 1Mbps mark, but with all the rules and regulations, what's the point of having all that bandwidth if you can't use it the way you want?
I'd rather keep my slow 640kbps/90kbps DSL line and be left alone, instead of having an ultra-fast cable modem connection where I can't VPN, can't run a server, and can't have a static IP.
Be careful here. You may be slightly misled by the 'photos' of the Visor.
The Prism looks awesome in the photos, but remember that the resolution is ONLY 160x160 -- the same as the Palm IIIc. For those that have seen the IIIc, you will remember that it has a very grainy resolution.
Although the Prism does have a higher color depth, and uses TFT color, unless the screen has a tighter dpi, you will probably find that it is only marginally better than the IIIc. Also, remember that it is thicker and heavier than a regular Visor.
Be careful buying this blind -- I'm very interested in seeing a real one up close, in both indoor light AND outdoor light. As far as color goes outside, I have only seen 2 color LCDs that really work well outside -- the Sony hybrid LCD on their digital camera, and the Compaq IPAQ. The rest wash out completely.
freedom & personal responsibility good, serfdom & tyrannical control bad,
freedom & personal responsibility good, serfdom & tyrannical control bad,
freedom & personal responsibility good, serfdom & tyrannical control bad,
freedom & personal responsibility good, serfdom & tyrannical control bad
...:)
Although the SSL certificate is expired, using https://toc.oscar.aol.com will allow you to access AOL Instant Messenger with an SSL encryption wrapper. Requires Java.
Using services like http://www.pop3now.com will let you access POP3 email through the web while protecting you from your employer's prying eyes.
There are also other SSL wrapper services out that will get you out of untrusted workstations. However, keep an eye out for programs that record keystrokes and/or record screen activity.
Technology to monitor email, TCP/IP traffic, etc. has been around for a very long time. A quick search on Freshmeat will unearth plenty of utilities that listen promiscuously on your network segment. Any administrator can turn on logging and monitor what you do.
What makes Carnivore different is:
It's the US Government - There is an inherent distrust when it comes to privacy matters
It's close sourced - We are even more afraid of what we don't understand.
Email has always been insecure. If you're really concerned about the mail that leaves your workstation, learn to use PGP, and get all your friends to use PGP. Suddenly, you won't care nearly as much about who's reading your email because it's all encrypted.
The problem isn't really that Palm is charging for this upgrade. The problem is people aren't ACCUSTOMED to paying for an upgrade with Palm. Consider that almost every software package on the market has some sort of associated upgrade cost.
Palm started out giving upgrades away free. Now people are upset, because they expected the upgrade to be free, are now finding themselves with a $20 charge.
If Palm had always charged for upgrades, 3.5 would be no different from any other upgrade.
Some of the more "significant" changes that Palm touts include:
The Graphics System includes support for 1, 2, 4, and 8 bit color and grayscale.
The Datebook's new Agenda view combines a view of a day's appointments with the day's ToDo tasks
The Alarm dialog now has larger buttons to facilitate finger operation, as well as a "Snooze" button
When beaming an entire category, the receiver's dialog allows selection of the destination category in which to place the items
The Title, Company, City, State and Country fields in the Address book support auto-completion of the input text
Masked records
The Command bar
Tapping the title tab of an application shows the menu bar
Double-tapping on a word in a field selects it; triple-tapping selects the line
The category indicator has changed to differentiate between when the data is changing
versus when the view of the data is changing. See the memo pad edit screen for an example.
Personally, I don't think that it's worth a $20 upgrade. Not only are the changes minor, but from all indications I've seen, 3.5 is SLOWER.
As mentioned in another post, TiVo profits solely on subscriptions.
If your machine craps out, and you send it to them to fix, your lifetime subscription will transfer. You may have to pay for the repair if it's out of warranty though.
The only time it won't transfer is if you get another unit. Not a big deal -- you either pay the premium, or you go month-to-month. If you look on eBay, you'll see that the lifetime subscription really helps the resale value of the unit, so you should be able to recover your lifetime costs by auctioning the unit.
What you are paying for is a full service (the only way TiVo actually makes money). Think of it as subscribing to a TV portal instead of subscribing to an EPG.
You are paying not only for the EPG, but also paying for the TiVolution guide (reviews, what's hot, what's not, etc.) You are also paying for the ability to use features like TiVomatic -- upcoming show previews that are TiVomatic-friendly have information encoded in vertical blanking allowing you to use the Thumbs system to say "yeah, that looks like a cool program, record it when it comes on" (instead of trying to remember the time, date, and channel to set your recording).
I am a lifetime subscriber -- I paid my $199, and I haven't looked back. If you don't like the idea of spending $199 to get the service, get Replay, but in the end you're paying exactly the same amount of money.
If you don't want to pay at all, you can enjoy it as a glorified VCR. It's not nearly as much fun though.
BTW, Yahoo may only have 1 banner on their TV listings, but that one page probably serves several million impressions per day. Even the most conservative CPM figure would yield enormous revenues for them.
You can use TiVo without the service. However, you will encounter a regular 'nag screen' telling you that TiVo hasn't been able to connect to the service for x days to get new program data. You cannot disable this warning.
You're really missing out on all the great TiVo features by not getting the service though. Pay the $9.95 for 1 month of service, and see how you like it.
If you're interesting in hacking your TiVo to do interesting things, visit the AVS Forum, and go to the TiVo Underground.
Here is an excerpt from one of the posters regarding getting his TiVo to use the DSS port to communicate over Ethernet:
T u r b o writes on 08-17-2000 09:19 PM:
I got updates working over the DSS port. I currently have it setup like this:
TiVoPCLANROUTERINTERNET
Obviously, PPP is used between the TiVo and the workstation. I have IP Forwarding turned on on the PC, and the router is doing NAT and IP Masquerading. The connection to the internet is a wireless T-1, but could just as easily be a cable modem or DSL...
I copied/sbin/pppd to/tmp/custpppd. I start/tmp/custpppd in rc.sysinit instead of ppp, because when the TiVo tries to call out it, if it fails it kills pppd. Renaming it prevents it from being killed, so the TiVo can think that the call
is succeeding while PPP continues to run over the DSS port...
The default route is setup through the DSS port. Currently, the TiVo still tries to dial and connect to the TiVo service, but once the connection script returns 'OK' the TiVo actually uses the DSS PPP connection for the traffic,
since a default route is already set.
I still have to replace the dialing script (tcphonehome.tcl, I think) with something that will always return 'OK' and not try to dial, but it's working well so far...
There are normal people -- they go to high school, they go to college, they get a job. They are neither a leader, nor are they an underdog. Some are slackers. In general, they go with the flow. They get through life fine.
There are those learn quickly but need guidance. They go to high school, they go to college, and they make the most of the resources around them. They get out of school, and walk out a well rounded individual. They play by the rules, and do great in life.
Finally, there are those who are self starters, learn quickly and can apply what they learn with no guidance -- they go to high school, they go to college. Some dropout and some stay. No matter what path they choose, they will always succeed.
I use one with my Palm V. When I need a charge on the road, I just hook up a 9V battery overnight, and I'm fresh to go in the AM. I'm sure you'll see one of these made for the Sony PDA.
a) Don't compare processors... the Palm does everything quickly and efficiently with 16mhz. The Pocket PCs are 133mhz+ because of UI bloat, and the high demands/priority the product line puts on multimedia. The only Pocket PC that seems faster than Palm is the iPaq at 206mhz. The Palm was never intended to be an MP3 player.
b) Palm Multi-platform friendly. The Pocket PC is all about Windows. As far as I know, you're SOL if you're on any other platform (BeOS, Linux, BSD, MacOS, etc.) The world isn't just Windows anymore -- and certainly Slashdot readers are far more zealous about things that work with Linux and run Linux (note: the iPaq can run linux, and Slashdot runs stories about it regularly).
c) The Pocket PC has painfully little application support. VNC? SSH? Telnet? These are all freely available for the Palm. You have to buy the Ruksun packages for Pocket PC. Pocket PC apps seem to be generally more expensive than Palm.
d) No wireless support yet for Pocket PC. Yes, the Jornada has a wireless sled coming, and with the PCMCIA sleeve (yet to be released) you can go wireless with an iPaq. However, until then, the Palm V can go wireless with Omnisky (best choice), Palm III series can go wireless with Novatel modems and GoAmerica, and the Palm VII has built-in wireless. To me at least, there's no point getting a media rich Palm device if I can't use it to access the net.
e) Cost, Cost, Cost. You can get Palms for as little as $149... NEW. Lower costs mean more accessibility to the geeks that write the code.:)
Slashdot Mirror
I've been both a developer and an administrator.
/usr. root access as we know it is a luxury that should be reserved for true administrative duties, unless absolutely positively necessary.
As a general policy, if a developer needs root access, they need to prove to me as an administrator that they actually do need root access. I'm not going to give root access (sudo, su -, or access to privileged accounts), even on a development box, to someone that needs occasional chmod privileges. More often than not, the people who are begging for root access are those that have been so spoiled by coding on their own Linux boxes that they lose sight of all the best practices that contribute to good code. They want foolish things like directories with 777 privileges so they can drop temp files when there are 30 better ways to do it. root is not a cure all... just because you're used to it on your own machine doesn't mean it's appropriate for coding in a multi-user environment developing customer-facing applications.
In the end, there are very few specialized applications that actually require root access to work. I will concede that sometimes root access is necessary but it needs to be treated on a case-by-case basis. I'm of the belief that a properly written application should be written such that it can be run with the least amount of privileges, and can be installed anywhere... not just
> Those 10 things applied at every job I've ever had, except for the laundry.
Well either you've been very fortunate, or you're completely blind. So either congratulations, or I'm sorry.
Almost every company believes they follow the Google 10 Commandments, but in practice, you'll find most companies fail at it. Something happens -- whether under the guise of "extenuating circumstances", "deadlines", or another excuse -- and gets in the way of these best practices. It's rather remarkable that given Google's explosive growth, they seem to have maintained the kind of culture that creates a positive work environment. At least from all accounts I've read, the employee satisfaction is very high, something you will not find in most Fortune 500 companies.
I'm very interested in seeing how long they can maintain that track record. "Stuff" happens... and a real sign of maturity in a company is how they manage that to ensure that their most important asset (the employees) stays happy.
Plasma has close to the same off-axis viewing as a CRT, which is to say it's significantly better than LCDs. The technology shares much in common with CRT displays. So either his set is bad or he doesn't have a plasma TV. Viewing distance is also largely irrelevant, unless you're sitting so close that you can count the pixels, or so far away that you can't see the screen.
As for the picture, the rule is garbage in, garbage out. A 70" screen isn't going to do you a world of good if you're watching standard-definition images.
A high-definition image on a properly set up high definition display (be it plasma, LCD, RPTV, etc.) will be stunning. If it is anything less than that, either the source is bad or it was improperly set up.
I've been able to run 802.11b for HOURS on IPAQs and Palms. I have yet to see Bluetooth used effectively here... maybe Japan and other countries, but not in the US.
What I don't understand is why people insist on buying a TiVo if they aren't going to buy the service that makes TiVo what it is.
The service is good. Really. The company is good too. They have taken great strides to work with their customers. If you don't want to buy into the monthly fee business, spend $199 and get the lifetime service.
If you're really that unwilling to deal with the nags and issues, then build your own TiVo box. If you don't like the TiVo service, then a real VCR is still the best answer... it will give you all the benefits of a service-less TiVo, and the ability to swap media.
There was a time when people went to school and learned how to make good looking designs which stirred strong positive emotions. The Palm V was one. The IPAQ was another. The m50x (although evolutionary) is also in this club.
The HandEra device is certainly an engineering marvel. I cannot argue with good technology. But, the thing has no "lines". When you look at it, your eyes dart all over the place. It's just too busy... the design doesn't flow. :(
Visit http://www.times2tech.com/pocketpc.html to get on a long waiting list.
However, in terms of regulation, I think that DSL has been friendlier to the subscribers in terms of allowing VPNs and allowing you to run your own servers. A lot of cable broadband providers have really started to crack down on this.
I think speed is only half the issue that is being faced here. It's always nice to pull down a file at speeds over the 1Mbps mark, but with all the rules and regulations, what's the point of having all that bandwidth if you can't use it the way you want?
I'd rather keep my slow 640kbps/90kbps DSL line and be left alone, instead of having an ultra-fast cable modem connection where I can't VPN, can't run a server, and can't have a static IP.
How does this affect Mark Burnett (the creator of Survivor) and his plans for Destination Mir?
http://www.pencomputing.com/palm/Pen37/visorsprism platinum.html
http://www.zdnet.co.jp/macwire/0010/16/r_viprfi.ht ml h tml
http://www.zdnet.co.jp/macwire/0010/16/r_viprfi2.
Be careful here. You may be slightly misled by the 'photos' of the Visor.
The Prism looks awesome in the photos, but remember that the resolution is ONLY 160x160 -- the same as the Palm IIIc. For those that have seen the IIIc, you will remember that it has a very grainy resolution.
Although the Prism does have a higher color depth, and uses TFT color, unless the screen has a tighter dpi, you will probably find that it is only marginally better than the IIIc. Also, remember that it is thicker and heavier than a regular Visor.
Be careful buying this blind -- I'm very interested in seeing a real one up close, in both indoor light AND outdoor light. As far as color goes outside, I have only seen 2 color LCDs that really work well outside -- the Sony hybrid LCD on their digital camera, and the Compaq IPAQ. The rest wash out completely.
freedom & personal responsibility good, serfdom & tyrannical control bad, :)
freedom & personal responsibility good, serfdom & tyrannical control bad,
freedom & personal responsibility good, serfdom & tyrannical control bad,
freedom & personal responsibility good, serfdom & tyrannical control bad
...
Using services like http://www.pop3now.com will let you access POP3 email through the web while protecting you from your employer's prying eyes.
There are also other SSL wrapper services out that will get you out of untrusted workstations. However, keep an eye out for programs that record keystrokes and/or record screen activity.
What makes Carnivore different is:
Email has always been insecure. If you're really concerned about the mail that leaves your workstation, learn to use PGP, and get all your friends to use PGP. Suddenly, you won't care nearly as much about who's reading your email because it's all encrypted.
Palm started out giving upgrades away free. Now people are upset, because they expected the upgrade to be free, are now finding themselves with a $20 charge.
If Palm had always charged for upgrades, 3.5 would be no different from any other upgrade.
http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/docs/p almos35/
Some of the more "significant" changes that Palm touts include:
Personally, I don't think that it's worth a $20 upgrade. Not only are the changes minor, but from all indications I've seen, 3.5 is SLOWER.
As mentioned in another post, TiVo profits solely on subscriptions.
If your machine craps out, and you send it to them to fix, your lifetime subscription will transfer. You may have to pay for the repair if it's out of warranty though.
The only time it won't transfer is if you get another unit. Not a big deal -- you either pay the premium, or you go month-to-month. If you look on eBay, you'll see that the lifetime subscription really helps the resale value of the unit, so you should be able to recover your lifetime costs by auctioning the unit.
What you are paying for is a full service (the only way TiVo actually makes money). Think of it as subscribing to a TV portal instead of subscribing to an EPG.
You are paying not only for the EPG, but also paying for the TiVolution guide (reviews, what's hot, what's not, etc.) You are also paying for the ability to use features like TiVomatic -- upcoming show previews that are TiVomatic-friendly have information encoded in vertical blanking allowing you to use the Thumbs system to say "yeah, that looks like a cool program, record it when it comes on" (instead of trying to remember the time, date, and channel to set your recording).
I am a lifetime subscriber -- I paid my $199, and I haven't looked back. If you don't like the idea of spending $199 to get the service, get Replay, but in the end you're paying exactly the same amount of money.
If you don't want to pay at all, you can enjoy it as a glorified VCR. It's not nearly as much fun though.
BTW, Yahoo may only have 1 banner on their TV listings, but that one page probably serves several million impressions per day. Even the most conservative CPM figure would yield enormous revenues for them.
You're really missing out on all the great TiVo features by not getting the service though. Pay the $9.95 for 1 month of service, and see how you like it.
Here is an excerpt from one of the posters regarding getting his TiVo to use the DSS port to communicate over Ethernet:
T u r b o writes on 08-17-2000 09:19 PM:
I got updates working over the DSS port. I currently have it setup like this:
TiVoPCLANROUTERINTERNET
Obviously, PPP is used between the TiVo and the workstation. I have IP Forwarding turned on on the PC, and the router is doing NAT and IP Masquerading. The connection to the internet is a wireless T-1, but could just as easily be a cable modem or DSL...
I copied /sbin/pppd to /tmp/custpppd. I start /tmp/custpppd in rc.sysinit instead of ppp, because when the TiVo tries to call out it, if it fails it kills pppd. Renaming it prevents it from being killed, so the TiVo can think that the call
is succeeding while PPP continues to run over the DSS port...
The default route is setup through the DSS port. Currently, the TiVo still tries to dial and connect to the TiVo service, but once the connection script returns 'OK' the TiVo actually uses the DSS PPP connection for the traffic, since a default route is already set.
I still have to replace the dialing script (tcphonehome.tcl, I think) with something that will always return 'OK' and not try to dial, but it's working well so far...
- Mike
Replay fans are quick to point out that they never have to pay to subscribe; however, the cost of Replay == TiVo + lifetime subscription.
In my opinion, there are 3 types of techies...
There are normal people -- they go to high school, they go to college, they get a job. They are neither a leader, nor are they an underdog. Some are slackers. In general, they go with the flow. They get through life fine.
There are those learn quickly but need guidance. They go to high school, they go to college, and they make the most of the resources around them. They get out of school, and walk out a well rounded individual. They play by the rules, and do great in life.
Finally, there are those who are self starters, learn quickly and can apply what they learn with no guidance -- they go to high school, they go to college. Some dropout and some stay. No matter what path they choose, they will always succeed.
http://members.aol.com/gmayhak/tcl/ e-charge.htm.
I use one with my Palm V. When I need a charge on the road, I just hook up a 9V battery overnight, and I'm fresh to go in the AM. I'm sure you'll see one of these made for the Sony PDA.
a) Don't compare processors... the Palm does everything quickly and efficiently with 16mhz. The Pocket PCs are 133mhz+ because of UI bloat, and the high demands/priority the product line puts on multimedia. The only Pocket PC that seems faster than Palm is the iPaq at 206mhz. The Palm was never intended to be an MP3 player.
b) Palm Multi-platform friendly. The Pocket PC is all about Windows. As far as I know, you're SOL if you're on any other platform (BeOS, Linux, BSD, MacOS, etc.) The world isn't just Windows anymore -- and certainly Slashdot readers are far more zealous about things that work with Linux and run Linux (note: the iPaq can run linux, and Slashdot runs stories about it regularly).
c) The Pocket PC has painfully little application support. VNC? SSH? Telnet? These are all freely available for the Palm. You have to buy the Ruksun packages for Pocket PC. Pocket PC apps seem to be generally more expensive than Palm.
d) No wireless support yet for Pocket PC. Yes, the Jornada has a wireless sled coming, and with the PCMCIA sleeve (yet to be released) you can go wireless with an iPaq. However, until then, the Palm V can go wireless with Omnisky (best choice), Palm III series can go wireless with Novatel modems and GoAmerica, and the Palm VII has built-in wireless. To me at least, there's no point getting a media rich Palm device if I can't use it to access the net.
e) Cost, Cost, Cost. You can get Palms for as little as $149 ... NEW. Lower costs mean more accessibility to the geeks that write the code. :)