Of course GMS also offers HSCSD (high speed circuit switched data), which isn't all that high speed but works with the same principle. GPRS, (which really is more part of GMS than anything else) similarly allocates different amounts of bandwidth to the user, using a weird circuit/packet oriented hybrid for radio link allocation. To the user it should look like a regular packet switched network. What _Stryker mentioned about the limitations of 3G (Third Generation systems, as opposed to IS-95 and GMS which are second generation) are true, and a further limitation is that the total capacity of a cell hasn't magically multiplied. As long as there are any normal users on it sharing the bandwidth with you, kiss your super-duper speeds goodbye, this goes equally for GRPS, HSCSD and UMTS. The 2Mbps also implies fairly shabby coding, as soon as you start demanding reasonable bit error rates your data rate drops as more redundancy shares the same bandwidth with the information.
One of the things the Coolpix finally brings to consumer digital cameras is the histogram display. It's a good example of the things that you can do with a digital camera that you can't with a traditional one.
For serious work you still have to look at the Nikon D1, Kodak DCS560 and the like for good external flash support, interchangeable lenses such as telephoto, macro, fish-eye, decent filtering, anti moire, low noise and other features most consumer and prosumer camera vendors keep the buyer totally unaware of. Having a gazillion pixels does you little good if the optics smudge the image and the CCD is noisy, slow and has a poor dynamic range. If you want a good and cheap digital camera, you still have to buy two different ones.
No money, no education?
on
Laptop Exams?
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· Score: 1
As for the rich-poor gap... Bah! Computers are becoming dirt cheap, especially compared to the cost of education. The upcoming web-pads (a'la Crusoe) will sell for the cost of a schoolbook in a year or two. For this level of computation, cost is not going to be an issue for long. If you can afford college, you can afford the books, and the laptop (in a year or two mind you).
I rather disagree. I've known several, and have been myself, a student who had to work to support his studies, and spending an additional $2000 would have been, at the least, a major extra burden. Unless universities knowingly build some system that allows poorer students get more aid to offset the bulk of the laptop costs, I think requiring one takes the educational system in the wrong direction. On the up side, it's a nice tool. On the downside, it's way too expensive compared to the benefits, makes it even harder than it already is for poor people to get an education, and leads to a whole lot of administrative, legal and other problems. Not worth it, I say.
Another interesting point is to ask whether laptops will survive through college. What happens if you're walking down the road and it starts raining? Someone hits you with a golf cart? You slip and fall? I'm not sure if I would have ever managed to get the $2000 for a laptop, but I'm quite sure I couldn't have done it twice. Do you insure it? How much would you pay in premiums, and how much would you get for a two year old, used laptop? Enough to buy another one?
Another problem is the lack of technical skills. I've known several competent students of theoretical physics who really couldn't care less about learning the intricacies of WinXX or Linux or a laptop. Such people would be badly disadvantaged in an exam when a driver fails to load or something similar happens, even if they know their subject much better than most other people in the class.
Depends on what it is you do. The H1B is a temporary specialty worker visa that's good for up to three years from the application date, and can be extended for another three (while seeking a green card, quite often. There are some hilarious legal concepts involved here for people interested.) The visa costs around $3000-$4000 to get, in my case I had to shell out the money out of my own pocket. It allows you to work for a specified position in a specified company. If you want to change either your job description or company, you have to apply for a new one, resulting in a waiting period from a few months to a year while it's being processed. And of course you get to pay the fee again. (Or your employer, if they're reasonable.) As part of the visa process the department of labor has to approve a labor condition application, which essentially has to prove that the foreigner isn't getting paid less, being treated worse, or otherwise degrades the working conditions of Americans. This usually includes a salary survey that proves that the foreigner is getting paid a reasonable market wage for the position. Ie, the alleged wage disparity isn't really supposed to exist unless someone's cheating. The labor condition application also has to be posted to the local unions or, in case of their nonexistance, posted publically at the place of residence for two weeks prior to the application process, so any nay sayers can say nay to us foreigners:-)
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Of course GMS also offers HSCSD (high speed circuit switched data), which isn't all that high speed but works with the same principle. GPRS, (which really is more part of GMS than anything else) similarly allocates different amounts of bandwidth to the user, using a weird circuit/packet oriented hybrid for radio link allocation. To the user it should look like a regular packet switched network.
What _Stryker mentioned about the limitations of 3G (Third Generation systems, as opposed to IS-95 and GMS which are second generation) are true, and a further limitation is that the total capacity of a cell hasn't magically multiplied. As long as there are any normal users on it sharing the bandwidth with you, kiss your super-duper speeds goodbye, this goes equally for GRPS, HSCSD and UMTS. The 2Mbps also implies fairly shabby coding, as soon as you start demanding reasonable bit error rates your data rate drops as more redundancy shares the same bandwidth with the information.
For serious work you still have to look at the Nikon D1, Kodak DCS560 and the like for good external flash support, interchangeable lenses such as telephoto, macro, fish-eye, decent filtering, anti moire, low noise and other features most consumer and prosumer camera vendors keep the buyer totally unaware of. Having a gazillion pixels does you little good if the optics smudge the image and the CCD is noisy, slow and has a poor dynamic range. If you want a good and cheap digital camera, you still have to buy two different ones.
I rather disagree. I've known several, and have been myself, a student who had to work to support his studies, and spending an additional $2000 would have been, at the least, a major extra burden. Unless universities knowingly build some system that allows poorer students get more aid to offset the bulk of the laptop costs, I think requiring one takes the educational system in the wrong direction. On the up side, it's a nice tool. On the downside, it's way too expensive compared to the benefits, makes it even harder than it already is for poor people to get an education, and leads to a whole lot of administrative, legal and other problems. Not worth it, I say.
Another interesting point is to ask whether laptops will survive through college. What happens if you're walking down the road and it starts raining? Someone hits you with a golf cart? You slip and fall? I'm not sure if I would have ever managed to get the $2000 for a laptop, but I'm quite sure I couldn't have done it twice. Do you insure it? How much would you pay in premiums, and how much would you get for a two year old, used laptop? Enough to buy another one?
Another problem is the lack of technical skills. I've known several competent students of theoretical physics who really couldn't care less about learning the intricacies of WinXX or Linux or a laptop. Such people would be badly disadvantaged in an exam when a driver fails to load or something similar happens, even if they know their subject much better than most other people in the class.
Depends on what it is you do. The H1B is a temporary specialty worker visa that's good for up to three years from the application date, and can be extended for another three (while seeking a green card, quite often. There are some hilarious legal concepts involved here for people interested.) The visa costs around $3000-$4000 to get, in my case I had to shell out the money out of my own pocket. It allows you to work for a specified position in a specified company. If you want to change either your job description or company, you have to apply for a new one, resulting in a waiting period from a few months to a year while it's being processed. And of course you get to pay the fee again. (Or your employer, if they're reasonable.) :-)
As part of the visa process the department of labor has to approve a labor condition application, which essentially has to prove that the foreigner isn't getting paid less, being treated worse, or otherwise degrades the working conditions of Americans. This usually includes a salary survey that proves that the foreigner is getting paid a reasonable market wage for the position. Ie, the alleged wage disparity isn't really supposed to exist unless someone's cheating. The labor condition application also has to be posted to the local unions or, in case of their nonexistance, posted publically at the place of residence for two weeks prior to the application process, so any nay sayers can say nay to us foreigners