I love this BBC world news title: "2007 data confirms warming trend". http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7142694.stm Nowhere in the article does it mention that 2007 was cooler than 2002-2006 or 2007 was cooler than 2006 which was cooler than 2005.
Fortunately they included a table so anyone who bothered to re-sort the table by year would know that their definition of trend is a little odd.
Unfortunately most people read the title, a few less read the first paragraph, and relatively few analyze the data tables.
I'd call this bias unless they admit the negative short-term trend up front and explain how climate scientists determine trends. At the time, they could have used nasa temps instead of Hadley's and it wouldn't have looked so bad short-term. So I don't think it was intentional bias, but writers/editors not knowing enough of the subject to write an article and just copying press releases (which are always biased towards whoever releases them)
If they want "innovative and interactive technologies" they should make publicly available web services with the data, and let anyone make sites using "innovative and interactive technologies". Whatever UI technologies they use will not appeal to some people and will be outdated soon (and require another $18mil). Letting any of us make any site we want will really provide "innovative and interactive technologies".
29 and 13% fewer sales may be meaningful, but may not. How much have sales of other items fallen in this economy? What % of people who would use a GPS had bought one in previous years so didn't need one this year. I've been looking at getting one of these for a few years, and late 2007 was the first time the price & features were what I was looking for. So I could see 2008 being a big selling year for anyone who wanted one and thus 2009 would be a drop off from 2008. (I finally bought my first one 2 weeks ago so there's at least one example counter to my argument but I still think it's possible)
> I don't think Flash will go away overnight. I don't think it will go away at all Not when agencies can charge $100s for a 100K flash app that does something our html contractor could have done in 5 minutes and 2 lines of javascript he found online. (trivial apps like rotating images)
(Many) Agencies and individuals like to be "experts" on things that take special tools and knowledge so they can charge more.
LOTS of contractors can do html/css/basic javscript. Not as many can do flash and those who can don't want flash to go away.
If an agency delivers HTML, there is usually someone in the office who can edit it (change wording, colors, etc). But if you want flash changed, you are more than likely going to need to give the agency more work.
I wanted information to write operating systems and compilers and that's about it (and still is). If I wanted the schematics for some random IC it didn't take long to find a friend who knew how to get in touch with someone who worked on the IC - email/ftp/phone worked really well once you know who to talk to (still does but harder to find that person and have them trust you and spend time with you). I didn't care much for games, video, and other things you mentioned and still don't.
I admit there's A LOT more information now and that's a good thing. But sifting through it takes a lot more effort.
I'd trade my current 6MB connection and today's web sites, email, blogs, etc for the 300 baud modem I had in the 70s/80s and the BBSs, news groups, talk/chat, and useful information on the other end.
People knew how to put lots of information in a few sentences or at most a couple of paragraphs. I may have seen the info show up slowly, 1 character at a time, but after 30-60 seconds I had what I want. Now I have megabytes show up in seconds, but it may take minutes to find the useful information (if useful information is even there)
Any time I see a "new & improved" version of a drug or an FDA ban, the first thing I think is that a patent is running out on the old version and something has to be done to keep generics from competing.
I think the most recent I remember is Lamictal. The "new and improved" version did everything the old one did plus DISOLVE ON THE TONGUE or something silly like that (also, it's patent is not expired so anyone who wants the "better" version doesn't get a generic option)
When I saw the title I thought "I'm old-guard". Then I read the article and JOINs are a key concept to the old-guard.
My first few DB apps involved using a b-tree or ISAM library (or writing our own). Then the "new guys" started wanting to pay for a server that did JOINs. We did JOINs, just at the app layer and without the guaranteed consitency that a good relational design gives you. And getting a server that does it was expensive.
I wouldn't want to go back to pre-relational server days, but am also very thankful that I did write my own DBs from the ground up. I will probably never need to use the entire experience, but can often use bits and pieces of it, and I appreciate a good key/value store.
When governments start snooping on everything they make it harder to snoop on criminals in the future. This makes lots more people want secure networks, which makes more people create tools to make it easy to send/receive encrypted data, which makes even the people who don't know about the issues aware of the issues and tools. Once the tools/protocols become normal, police won't be able to snoop on suspected criminals even with a court order because everything is encrypted.
That'll just make them pass more laws and restrict ISPs so that unsnoopable content isn't allowed. Which will make people start creating stenogrphy tools so things look snoopable, which will make other people aware of the issues and wonder why the gov't is so concerned and start using them.
Then people start using those tools and snooping becomes more expensive (trying to detect stenogaphy) and still useless. But it will get lots of otherwise innocent people in trouble for using encryption or stenography to do something unimportant like send email to their mother.
If police stick to treating everyone as innocent until they had a valid reason to think otherwise and then got a court order they will have a lot more ability to snoop in the future.
They've obviously solved all the other problems in the state if have time to spend on this. I've never been there but it must be a great place to live.
He should determine what's in the best interest of the contry and set policies based on that. I'm sick of people talking about how Washington GIVES to this group or that group. If we need to stimulate the economy, the result is that certain groups will receive money. The result is the same, but the mindset of "Washington GIVES" vs. "Washington does what's in the best interest of the country" is very different.
The main problems with the stimulus is that much of it was about GIVING to certain groups then justifying how it would stimulate the economy rather than figuring out what will best stimulate the economy then figuring out where to spend the money.
Every gmail bug that affects 'a small number of users,' has affected me. Is my account that special or is their definition of 'small' different than mine? Maybe because 99% uses the number 99 which is small compared to 4294967296.
Almost every company I've worked for (15+ full time and contract) has told me to go buy a book on whatever I'm doing and they'll reimburse me for it, even when it's something simple, or someting so new/complex/specialized that there is no book. If that's typical, I'd guess that publishers are setting price based on what managers are willing to pay, not on what readers are willing to pay.
The only time when I can see this being useful to the Government is if I'm doing something wrong. You know, harassing my ex, threatening the President, and that junk.
Maybe not useful to the goverment, but bad if your soon-to-be ex can prove that a letter to your girlfriend came from your printer.
It depends on the type of data and on who else will be broadcasting.
I assume it's a digital signal you are sending, but if it's analog audio you can do some cool things by adding something that sounds like white noise to the transmitter, then subtracting it on the receiver. A "sync" signal will need to be sent to get them together (or transmit the "white noise" on another frequency if 2 tranmitters is feasable). If the transmitter isn't adding the "white noise", but you subtract it, then the audio will sound like white noise. (something like this was done for WWII radio encryption).
Weather it's analog audio or digital, it depends on who else will be broadcasting. If it's an attacker who may put lots of effort to reverse engineer your signal then you may need crypto. If you're just worried about a random transmitter or script-kiddie-type trying to screw with you, then you may just need to add some "sync" or "i'm legit" signals occationally (possibly on another frequency).
1. We get 2-3 web sites (or more) a month from different creative agencies. In our QA we find out they don't look right in some browser. We can check what percentage of our users had that browser last month and determine if it's worth sending back to the agency (and delay the deploy) or if 1% of the users not seeing something lined up correctly is acceptable.
2. We have links to different types of audio. Some is DRM with certain system requirements, and only play in Media Player so we're better off not putting the links up for Mac users. Some play on most Macs, but not all. By knowing the percent of Mac users we have, we can estimate the support costs of putting the audio links up.
Make sure you look at websites created by the indivuals who will be working on your site. I've had a case where the 5+ example sites we saw were VERY impressive and for large & famous companies. But the team assigned to do our site was not quite as competent as the teams that did the other sites we looked at.
I want to be able to download the song now in whatever format they have and in the future download it in any new formats with no extra charge (maybe $.10 for bandwidth). I'll take DRM, but I want to be able to re-download in a different format or different computer or different DRM system sometime in the future without an new license charge(even 20 years from now). I've paid for many songs or albums times (lp, 8 track, cd, cassette) and now I just want to pay 1 time for any song then listen in any/all formats forever.
T1 protocols let you send caller ID when you place a call. Most telcos either ignore it and put in your "default" number or only let you use specific numbers that you "own".
I have programmed an IVR system that went through a telco who didn't check the caller ID and I was able to send any number I wanted. I used this feature to test our system since I was able to call as any of our customers (and verify that I got the correct callerID-based greeting & info)
I've also used a telco who always puts in 9999999999.
Slashdot Mirror
I love this BBC world news title: "2007 data confirms warming trend". http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7142694.stm Nowhere in the article does it mention that 2007 was cooler than 2002-2006 or 2007 was cooler than 2006 which was cooler than 2005.
Fortunately they included a table so anyone who bothered to re-sort the table by year would know that their definition of trend is a little odd.
Unfortunately most people read the title, a few less read the first paragraph, and relatively few analyze the data tables.
I'd call this bias unless they admit the negative short-term trend up front and explain how climate scientists determine trends. At the time, they could have used nasa temps instead of Hadley's and it wouldn't have looked so bad short-term. So I don't think it was intentional bias, but writers/editors not knowing enough of the subject to write an article and just copying press releases (which are always biased towards whoever releases them)
If they want "innovative and interactive technologies" they should make publicly available web services with the data, and let anyone make sites using "innovative and interactive technologies". Whatever UI technologies they use will not appeal to some people and will be outdated soon (and require another $18mil). Letting any of us make any site we want will really provide "innovative and interactive technologies".
29 and 13% fewer sales may be meaningful, but may not. How much have sales of other items fallen in this economy? What % of people who would use a GPS had bought one in previous years so didn't need one this year. I've been looking at getting one of these for a few years, and late 2007 was the first time the price & features were what I was looking for. So I could see 2008 being a big selling year for anyone who wanted one and thus 2009 would be a drop off from 2008. (I finally bought my first one 2 weeks ago so there's at least one example counter to my argument but I still think it's possible)
> I don't think Flash will go away overnight.
I don't think it will go away at all
Not when agencies can charge $100s for a 100K flash app that does something our html contractor could have done in 5 minutes and 2 lines of javascript he found online. (trivial apps like rotating images)
(Many) Agencies and individuals like to be "experts" on things that take special tools and knowledge so they can charge more.
LOTS of contractors can do html/css/basic javscript. Not as many can do flash and those who can don't want flash to go away.
If an agency delivers HTML, there is usually someone in the office who can edit it (change wording, colors, etc). But if you want flash changed, you are more than likely going to need to give the agency more work.
I wanted information to write operating systems and compilers and that's about it (and still is). If I wanted the schematics for some random IC it didn't take long to find a friend who knew how to get in touch with someone who worked on the IC - email/ftp/phone worked really well once you know who to talk to (still does but harder to find that person and have them trust you and spend time with you). I didn't care much for games, video, and other things you mentioned and still don't.
I admit there's A LOT more information now and that's a good thing. But sifting through it takes a lot more effort.
I'd trade my current 6MB connection and today's web sites, email, blogs, etc for the 300 baud modem I had in the 70s/80s and the BBSs, news groups, talk/chat, and useful information on the other end.
People knew how to put lots of information in a few sentences or at most a couple of paragraphs. I may have seen the info show up slowly, 1 character at a time, but after 30-60 seconds I had what I want. Now I have megabytes show up in seconds, but it may take minutes to find the useful information (if useful information is even there)
Any time I see a "new & improved" version of a drug or an FDA ban, the first thing I think is that a patent is running out on the old version and something has to be done to keep generics from competing.
I think the most recent I remember is Lamictal. The "new and improved" version did everything the old one did plus DISOLVE ON THE TONGUE or something silly like that (also, it's patent is not expired so anyone who wants the "better" version doesn't get a generic option)
When I saw the title I thought "I'm old-guard". Then I read the article and JOINs are a key concept to the old-guard.
My first few DB apps involved using a b-tree or ISAM library (or writing our own). Then the "new guys" started wanting to pay for a server that did JOINs. We did JOINs, just at the app layer and without the guaranteed consitency that a good relational design gives you. And getting a server that does it was expensive.
I wouldn't want to go back to pre-relational server days, but am also very thankful that I did write my own DBs from the ground up. I will probably never need to use the entire experience, but can often use bits and pieces of it, and I appreciate a good key/value store.
When governments start snooping on everything they make it harder to snoop on criminals in the future. This makes lots more people want secure networks, which makes more people create tools to make it easy to send/receive encrypted data, which makes even the people who don't know about the issues aware of the issues and tools. Once the tools/protocols become normal, police won't be able to snoop on suspected criminals even with a court order because everything is encrypted.
That'll just make them pass more laws and restrict ISPs so that unsnoopable content isn't allowed. Which will make people start creating stenogrphy tools so things look snoopable, which will make other people aware of the issues and wonder why the gov't is so concerned and start using them.
Then people start using those tools and snooping becomes more expensive (trying to detect stenogaphy) and still useless. But it will get lots of otherwise innocent people in trouble for using encryption or stenography to do something unimportant like send email to their mother.
If police stick to treating everyone as innocent until they had a valid reason to think otherwise and then got a court order they will have a lot more ability to snoop in the future.
They've obviously solved all the other problems in the state if have time to spend on this. I've never been there but it must be a great place to live.
He should determine what's in the best interest of the contry and set policies based on that. I'm sick of people talking about how Washington GIVES to this group or that group. If we need to stimulate the economy, the result is that certain groups will receive money. The result is the same, but the mindset of "Washington GIVES" vs. "Washington does what's in the best interest of the country" is very different. The main problems with the stimulus is that much of it was about GIVING to certain groups then justifying how it would stimulate the economy rather than figuring out what will best stimulate the economy then figuring out where to spend the money.
Every gmail bug that affects 'a small number of users,' has affected me. Is my account that special or is their definition of 'small' different than mine? Maybe because 99% uses the number 99 which is small compared to 4294967296.
Almost every company I've worked for (15+ full time and contract) has told me to go buy a book on whatever I'm doing and they'll reimburse me for it, even when it's something simple, or someting so new/complex/specialized that there is no book. If that's typical, I'd guess that publishers are setting price based on what managers are willing to pay, not on what readers are willing to pay.
The only time when I can see this being useful to the Government is if I'm doing something wrong. You know, harassing my ex, threatening the President, and that junk.
Maybe not useful to the goverment, but bad if your soon-to-be ex can prove that a letter to your girlfriend came from your printer.
It depends on the type of data and on who else will be broadcasting.
I assume it's a digital signal you are sending, but if it's analog audio you can do some cool things by adding something that sounds like white noise to the transmitter, then subtracting it on the receiver. A "sync" signal will need to be sent to get them together (or transmit the "white noise" on another frequency if 2 tranmitters is feasable). If the transmitter isn't adding the "white noise", but you subtract it, then the audio will sound like white noise. (something like this was done for WWII radio encryption).
Weather it's analog audio or digital, it depends on who else will be broadcasting. If it's an attacker who may put lots of effort to reverse engineer your signal then you may need crypto. If you're just worried about a random transmitter or script-kiddie-type trying to screw with you, then you may just need to add some "sync" or "i'm legit" signals occationally (possibly on another frequency).
My company has 2 reasons why.
1. We get 2-3 web sites (or more) a month from different creative agencies. In our QA we find out they don't look right in some browser. We can check what percentage of our users had that browser last month and determine if it's worth sending back to the agency (and delay the deploy) or if 1% of the users not seeing something lined up correctly is acceptable.
2. We have links to different types of audio. Some is DRM with certain system requirements, and only play in Media Player so we're better off not putting the links up for Mac users. Some play on most Macs, but not all. By knowing the percent of Mac users we have, we can estimate the support costs of putting the audio links up.
Make sure you look at websites created by the indivuals who will be working on your site. I've had a case where the 5+ example sites we saw were VERY impressive and for large & famous companies. But the team assigned to do our site was not quite as competent as the teams that did the other sites we looked at.
I want to be able to download the song now in whatever format they have and in the future download it in any new formats with no extra charge (maybe $.10 for bandwidth). I'll take DRM, but I want to be able to re-download in a different format or different computer or different DRM system sometime in the future without an new license charge(even 20 years from now). I've paid for many songs or albums times (lp, 8 track, cd, cassette) and now I just want to pay 1 time for any song then listen in any/all formats forever.
T1 protocols let you send caller ID when you place a call. Most telcos either ignore it and put in your "default" number or only let you use specific numbers that you "own".
I have programmed an IVR system that went through a telco who didn't check the caller ID and I was able to send any number I wanted. I used this feature to test our system since I was able to call as any of our customers (and verify that I got the correct callerID-based greeting & info)
I've also used a telco who always puts in 9999999999.