Rather than attempt to get various teams of developers to code in one exact style, we decided on implementing a single standard for coding but to automatically enforce it via a pre-commit hook when someone checks in their code into our repository. That way, managers don't have to waste their breath attempting to micromanage the minutia of where the semi-colons go, developers can be free to work how they're most comfortable, and when you check code out you can always expect it to be in the exact same familiar form.
This seems to have given us the ability to benefit from a single coding standard for what's in our code base, while *not* spending any developer or manager time to have to worry about it getting/keeping it that way...
If I am unsure of the spelling of a word or not entirely sure of the meaning I just type it into the Chrome URL box and I end up with a Google search with corrected spelling and links to the definition by default.
Probably not as easy on an iPad of course... but $50 for any iPad app seems exorbitant. Unless I am missing something, if the point of the app is to be a dictionary, you really don't need an app (rig up a web service or something?). Ok this app has sound bytes for pronunciation, but Dictionary.com app is $4.99 (does the same as well as voice recognition of words) and this Oxford Deluxe is $50? I am probably missing something...
Also any app that asks for my credentials to any other app or account would not get installed to begin with. Seriously, who would give a dictionary app access to their twitter account? Who says I even have a twitter account?
Offline magazine publisher Primedia said it will buy About, Inc. in a $690 million all-stock deal, forming what the companies say will be one of the largest on- and offline media companies and touting its combined opportunities for marketers.
Primedia publishes more than 220 offline consumer and business magazines -- ranging from teen, parenting, and enthusiast publications to agricultural, industrial and technical trade journals. Its consumer titles include Seventeen, American Baby, and New York magazines. By some estimates, Primedia controls about half of the circulation in the trade publishing industry.
The company also runs Web sites associated with its publications, and business-to-business cable and video outlets, bringing the company's total media outlets to about 700. It reaches 200 million readers/users, has a sales staff of 1600, and says it has 60,000 advertisers.
About brings to the table its network of 700-plus topical interest Web sites, many of which coincide with Primedia publications. It boasts 4000 advertisers, and Jupiter Media Metrix rankings tab About.com as the seventh largest Web property, with 20.5 million unique visitors for September.
"This is the most synergistic combination either of these two companies could possibly enter into, and creates a one of a kind company that no two other companies could create," said Primedia chairman and chief executive officer Tom Rogers.
The new company, executives said, will leverage its offline and online properties to deliver targeted marketing opportunities. The deal will give About.com a substantial boost in its sales efforts -- as the two companies will be able to provide advertisers with cross-media marketing opportunities. For Primedia, the move gives it a jump start in the Internet area -- an important factor as the old-line media company looks to generate growth. About.com founder, chairman and chief executive officer Scott Kurnit will take the helm of Primedia's Internet business, as the company's chief internet officer.
"Primedia is the absolute leader in offline targeted content, and About is the absolute leader in online targeted content. This makes this combination utterly spectacular," said Kurnit said during a conference call with analysts. "The big money is in targeted marketing."
Rogers likened Monday's deal to a niche version of America Online's proposed merger with Time-Warner.
"While the AOL and Time-Warner merger announced earlier this year created a mass media powerhouse of new and traditional media, the Primedia and About merger creates the leading model for the integration of traditional and new media niche content and the resulting delivery of targeted marketing vehicles," said Mr. Rogers.
The deal is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, and is expected to close during the first quarter of 2001. In this morning's trading, Primedia's stock dropped 21 percent to $11.93. About.com was up 3.6 percent, or $0.88, to $24.75.
In the meantime, however, About and Primedia inked an additional, immediate deal that includes an ads-for-equity swap valued at $72 million, aimed at promoting About's sites among Primedia's properties. Primedia's sales force will also rep certain, unspecified About sites as part of that deal.
"This merger really boils down to three things. First, scale across the niches. Second, leverage in monetizing these niches. Third, synergies yielding cost savings," Rogers said.
"Applying Primedia's sales force to About's niche-based sites, driving Primedia magazine subscriptions on these sites, and combining other such revenues with cost synergies which result from cutting back About's marketing expenses while significantly cutting back Primedia's own spending on Internet businesses yields a high-growth formula," he added.
Just commenting on the TRAILER itself, not the DNA's notes from writing the script or anything else.
I have read everything by Douglas Adams.
Regardless, I don't need to do research to evaluate a movie trailer. The trailer itself seemed very much like other Hollywood produced space movies. That's all I was saying...
Ok so the trailer seemed to lack something the books all had - humor. Seemed like an action movie trailer or something. Can you imagine they make it into another Men In Black?
We all need a SCREENSAVER to fight spam for us. Never mind doing the traditional boring things like not posting your email address everywhere and using proper filters.
What's next, a hot new game that is also an anti-virus tool? Reminds me of the old SNL bit "It's a floor wax. It's a dessert topping. Actually it's BOTH!".
Tivo has an option when you set up a season pass that allows you to specify how many minutes EARLY you'd like the recording to start as well as how many minutes LATE you'd like the recording to end.
I always use this option for sporting events that have the potential to go into overtime.
I know this interferes with your ability to record something immediately after a show you're recording for a few extra minutes, but (1) how often are you recording programs in succession and (2) if you are, Tivo can always pick it up on the next showing (e.g. HBO reruns everything 4 times week at least) or (3) you can specify a manual time/channel combination if the program will not be shown again.
Just my 2 cents as a very happy owner of 3 Tivos...
I recently started a service for spam filtering. The idea was to combine several types of filtering as well as allowing a given user to create their own rules. Between whitelisting your uploaded address book, effective use of Spamassassin, Vipul's Razor, (careful use of) the RBL, we also create human made global rules to reject certain types of spam that slip through.
The real draw of the service is that people can use it on an existing email address, by providing POP3 info and picking up filtered mail at the Snaremail server. This is the novelty that I believe makes most new users happy - not having to switch email addresses.
A good friend of mine worked at Brightmail and told me for years, they had many people assigned to adding new mail rules via regular expressions all day. It's a never ending job if you take that approach I'd imagine...
I'm sure many of the/. crowd has got their own solutions, but for the joe user who wishes to keep an existing email address, I'm getting good feedback.
Thanks dude. I've been going back and forth on Linux distros for a while now. I've found Mandrake to have some real merits, so if it's what I settle on I probably will follow your advice and do the Right Thing.
I understand Microsoft's concern about Linux's growing ubiquity, but with there current market share of PCs and servers alike, it seems like they are over reacting to the situation and actually making it worse for themselves.
Does this sound strange to anyone else:
At a recent gathering of venture capitalists Ballmer went so far as to suggest Microsoft might own intellectual property in Linux and assured the audience that Microsoft would pursue any violation of its own patents.
Or how about this?
Windows group chief James Allchin accuses Linux of being a cheap knockoff: "There's no innovation. Linux is still in the business of cloning existing technology." Allchin points to new features in the version of Windows due in 2007 that will allow users to remotely turn PCs on or off, with programs still running. Searches will extend across all data like e-mail, photos, Word. "We're creating things," he says.
It just sounds so petty and even a little childish. Microsoft would do better to take the high road - and steer clear of lowering themselves in some kind of attempt at a smear campaign. It only makes them look weaker than they are.
I know I know - but it's not a decent analogy to compare neo-Nazi stuff to deceptive metatagging is it?
I guess the problem I see with it is that it would appear to be way too subjective in many cases. It would be one thing if people with a porn site used META keywords like "free children's games", but what about some of the more gray areas?
This is not to say that I am in any way even slightly acquainted with German law, but doesn't this issue sound like it violates one's basic right to put whatever you want on your own web page?
Not that I would ever advocate people using deceptive META tagging, but as someone previously stated, wouldn't this close to impossible to police?
Your point all along was what? I thought it was that Romero was right on the money in dissing Doom 3 simply because it was a sequel.
I just can't see justifying/agreeing/rationalizing a negative comment like that from a guy who just didn't get it when it came to what it took to *stay* successful (they did ask him to leave id for lack of performance) - not to mention that fact that the great majority of games are fired up to see the new Doom 3 engine, art work, weapons, levels, etc.
Thanks for the link. I thought there was more to the "totally different" part of the new project. Knowing Carmack, it very well could be just another improved set of physics/reality for another first person type game (not called Doom or Quake).
So you're complaining about id's software because of a lack of a better plot/story? Who plays FPS's for the plot anyway? The real attraction has always been playing in multiplayer scenarios online. It's a different game every time there.
The originality you claim to not be seeing lies in the engine development. Original and creative approaches to engine development should not be underestimated.
BTW if you read the book I mentioned, I think you'd understand id software (i.e. John Carmack) a little better.
And what "next product from id Software" that will be "totally different" are you referring to?
Slashdot Mirror
This seems to have given us the ability to benefit from a single coding standard for what's in our code base, while *not* spending any developer or manager time to have to worry about it getting/keeping it that way ...
If I am unsure of the spelling of a word or not entirely sure of the meaning I just type it into the Chrome URL box and I end up with a Google search with corrected spelling and links to the definition by default.
Probably not as easy on an iPad of course ... but $50 for any iPad app seems exorbitant. Unless I am missing something, if the point of the app is to be a dictionary, you really don't need an app (rig up a web service or something?). Ok this app has sound bytes for pronunciation, but Dictionary.com app is $4.99 (does the same as well as voice recognition of words) and this Oxford Deluxe is $50? I am probably missing something ...
Also any app that asks for my credentials to any other app or account would not get installed to begin with. Seriously, who would give a dictionary app access to their twitter account? Who says I even have a twitter account?
Try this link, if you're really serious about not ruling anything out. It's very interesting to say the least.
I'll give you an o but not an x, since I'm pretty sure the x is a kiss and the o is a hug ;-)
Peace.
Here's another link to the correct price for you.
link to story from 2000
Bzzzt. Wrong. $690 mil.
$490 million (all cash) is still a great deal for Primedia.
I have read everything by Douglas Adams.
Regardless, I don't need to do research to evaluate a movie trailer. The trailer itself seemed very much like other Hollywood produced space movies. That's all I was saying ...
The heads were next to each other in the book. How they gonna go and mess with that?
Wow - thanks to all of you for jarring my memory on Trisha/Trillian. I had clearly forgotten.
Where the hell is Zaphod's second head????
Did they change Trillian's name to Trisha?
Bad vibes already :-(
What's next, a hot new game that is also an anti-virus tool? Reminds me of the old SNL bit "It's a floor wax. It's a dessert topping. Actually it's BOTH!".
I always use this option for sporting events that have the potential to go into overtime.
I know this interferes with your ability to record something immediately after a show you're recording for a few extra minutes, but (1) how often are you recording programs in succession and (2) if you are, Tivo can always pick it up on the next showing (e.g. HBO reruns everything 4 times week at least) or (3) you can specify a manual time/channel combination if the program will not be shown again.
Just my 2 cents as a very happy owner of 3 Tivos ...
I recently started a service for spam filtering. The idea was to combine several types of filtering as well as allowing a given user to create their own rules. Between whitelisting your uploaded address book, effective use of Spamassassin, Vipul's Razor, (careful use of) the RBL, we also create human made global rules to reject certain types of spam that slip through.
The real draw of the service is that people can use it on an existing email address, by providing POP3 info and picking up filtered mail at the Snaremail server. This is the novelty that I believe makes most new users happy - not having to switch email addresses.
A good friend of mine worked at Brightmail and told me for years, they had many people assigned to adding new mail rules via regular expressions all day. It's a never ending job if you take that approach I'd imagine ...
I'm sure many of the /. crowd has got their own solutions, but for the joe user who wishes to keep an existing email address, I'm getting good feedback.
--- end on-topic shameless plug ---
Thanks dude. I've been going back and forth on Linux distros for a while now. I've found Mandrake to have some real merits, so if it's what I settle on I probably will follow your advice and do the Right Thing.
Anyone here in the Club? Is it worth it? I ran Mandrake but have been debating the value of it. Thanks ...
Well said. I'd mod up if I had the points.
Anything I write in any language is extremely readable by anyone - because I code that way. Period.
Does this sound strange to anyone else:
Or how about this?
It just sounds so petty and even a little childish. Microsoft would do better to take the high road - and steer clear of lowering themselves in some kind of attempt at a smear campaign. It only makes them look weaker than they are.
I guess the problem I see with it is that it would appear to be way too subjective in many cases. It would be one thing if people with a porn site used META keywords like "free children's games", but what about some of the more gray areas?
Not that I would ever advocate people using deceptive META tagging, but as someone previously stated, wouldn't this close to impossible to police?
I just can't see justifying/agreeing/rationalizing a negative comment like that from a guy who just didn't get it when it came to what it took to *stay* successful (they did ask him to leave id for lack of performance) - not to mention that fact that the great majority of games are fired up to see the new Doom 3 engine, art work, weapons, levels, etc.
Thanks for the link. I thought there was more to the "totally different" part of the new project. Knowing Carmack, it very well could be just another improved set of physics/reality for another first person type game (not called Doom or Quake).
The originality you claim to not be seeing lies in the engine development. Original and creative approaches to engine development should not be underestimated.
BTW if you read the book I mentioned, I think you'd understand id software (i.e. John Carmack) a little better.
And what "next product from id Software" that will be "totally different" are you referring to?
Are they going to cancel the Adult Entertainment show they always run in Vegas at the same time as Comdex too?