Why does everybody here think that AOL implementing this policy is the first step on a slippery slope to the end of email? It's not, nowhere near it.
What AOL is saying is that if you cover the costs to certify your email, they will ensure that it gets through and not stuck in a spam filter. AOL exists for one reason, to provide a service to their customers. If you feel that they charge to much or provide poor service and don't use them, guess what? You are not their customer.
AOL was the first successful ISP for the masses. Sure you and I might hate AOL and you may even feel that any user of AOL is an idiot. And that's fine for you to think, but the people who pay the monthly fee think they are getting their money's worth.
To all those who say "fine, I won't allow any AOL email addresses on my list" that's a great idea. Postal service is not guarenteed delivery, therefore do you refuse to send mail? Hell, even insured services such as UPS, FedEx, DHL are not guarenteed, they'll merely pay you in the event something is lost or damaged.
So you put up a notice saying that AOL users might not be able to receive emails and to ensure that the sending address is on a whitelist (and give directions on how to do this). Believe me, AOL will suffer more than anybody if innocent email doesn't get through. Bank statements, etc. and expected by recipients and when they call the bank and say "But I'm not receiving them" and the bank tells them that it's because of AOL filters, guess who is gonna be losing the customer?
Everybody should just chill out, let AOL (a company, responsible to shareholders, not geeks on Slashdot or mailing list owners) do what they feel is best. If it doesn't work, they will lose customers, if it works, I doubt I'll ever see a story about its success on Slashdot.
Exactly. There is always a bigger fish in the ocean that will eat the current one. I make it a point to not shop at Walmart. I hate them, the stores are filthy, they only carry crap, and if you look at studies, the prices aren't actually cheaper.
But the interesting thing is, Toys R Us didn't have a typical Toy Store business model, they had a Walmart business model. They never had people who just knew the product and could help out, they just had a large selection and rather than low prices, just slightly lower than the local toy store.
But I'm amazed at the people who love Walmart. There are so many people who buy virtually everything at Walmart. I try to convert them to Target (I personally like Target, they seem to be better, give a lot more to charity and don't seem to run over the little guy - at least as much), and I drive out of my way to go to Target rather than Walmart, but people just won't change. All the negative PR, and still, what I hear is "yeah, but they're cheaper."
Having moved to a new area, I've been searching for the local places, the hardware store, the toy store, the book store, etc. and they're out there. But there are so few of them now, and you have to pay such a premium, that most people don't even bother.
Now I'm kind of excited to see how this FIC comes out on the market. $499 for out of the box PC and DVR functionality in a nice package, I may just have to buy one.
FIC claims giga-lan, bluetooth, wifi, digital audio out, seems pretty close to the mac as a comparison, price of $500 to $1000 according to Mobile Whack.
Assuming the $500 price is the 1.66GHz version, it doesn't look like PC versions are much if any cheaper.
This is not insightful, at least as far as the original question goes. Children aged 4-12 are in school to learn fundemental basics about many topics: reading, writing, math, social studies, some history, etc., as well as social skills. They are not there to learn how to build a computer.
I'm not saying it's a useless skill and not worth teaching, it's just not worth taking something else out of the curriculum to put this in. If you want to teach them in depth how computers work, that's great as an after school activity, or class for older students.
Now, if Edubuntu or another linux environment can provide the same benefits to the students as a windows environment, sounds good to me. But if the software available for the linux environment isn't as up to date or isn't improved often enough, then you aren't saving money, you're merely spending less and getting less.
The edubuntu link looks interesting to me and as the husband of an elementary school teacher, I'm interested in learning about it's application. But I also know a lot of teachers that feel if it doesn't work like a Mac (they don't even know how to use Windows), it won't be used.
Sure, we could blame this on the teacher and say they should learn a new system, but they already have to learn enough throughout the year to keep up (especially with ever demanding government regulations). Some of the time though, it's not even the teachers holding it back.
Last year my wife taught at an inner-city school, one with very few computers. I offered, through a formal letter, to solicit donations of hardware and software to increase the number of labs in the district (there wasn't even a single computer in each classroom). Having high level contacts at multiple hardware and software companies, receiving the donations would not be an issue. The teacher's loved it, the principal loved it, but when it hit the administration level, it was turned down. Why? Because the district (primarily the IT administrator) did not want to support it.
Anything that is going to go unsupported, is most likely going to fail at the school, and if it means spending $X on windows software and compatible hardware and having a lab that is used, that might be better than spending much less or even no money on an alternative lab that won't be used.
If you want to think of software like other goods that are purchased, and therefore can be "dumped" on a market, then what about free software (OSS, Linux, etc.)? Dumping is generally an issue when a company uses it to gain market dominence and then raises the prices once the competition is gone. I don't remember MS charging for IE after taking over the browser market from Netscape. I don't remember MS charging for WMP.
What it comes down to is a fine line between giving the users what they want/need (keep in mind, a lot of computer users don't know what they want), and pushing your solution as the only one onto customers.
Does the fact that automobile makers build and install all of the parts as OEM into the car, then also sell them as replacement/repair parts affect the quality of 3rd party manufacturers? I don't think so. But if anything, it would require the 3rd parties to create a much better alternative in order to overcome the OEM part dominence.
The irony is that the big alternative to the MS dominence is a company that not only bundles as much, or more, software with their OS, but also requires you to buy the hardware from them as well, attempting even more dominence.
I don't mind breaking up monopolies, but I think instead of suing MS at the drop of a hat, it's about time software developers created an experience that was better than Windows (for the masses), and would run on hardware from multiple manufacturers.
So what you are saying is that if Microsoft started selling complete systems, that rather than being uncompetitive, it would be more competitive?
MS is providing a complete experience for the end user, in as far as software goes. By offering a software package that provides what the user wants (most users of MS software want everything to interoperate, want everything to work similar application to application, and don't want to be forced to choose 100 different pieces of software so that they can use their computer for what they want) they are competing, not being anti-competitive.
If MS said that OEMs can't install a competitors software, or didn't allow competitors to write software to run on the Windows OS, then that would be anticompetitive. But just because MS is being competitive, doesn't mean they need to be sued.
My school did this, starting with freshmen the year after I started there. While I didn't have direct participation in the program I had friends who did, and working for the admissions office, explained the system to prospective students all of the time.
In short, it worked. The school is traditionally an engineering school, but all majors were required to own a laptop. The school had a deal with IBM to basically get the latest thinkpad at a great price (much better than the IBM employee price and much, much lower than anything comparable). The laptop came loaded with enough memory, hard drive space, a big, hi-res screen, etc., everything most people would want. But the big thing was, you weren't required to purchase a laptop through the school.
If you did purchase the thinkpad, there were benefits. The school had loaners should yours need repairing, the warranty repairs could be handled on-site, it was preloaded with all the software you needed (though you could buy the software fairly inexpensively at the campus computer store). But as long as you met the minimum specs (while minimums were specified, it was more of a soft limit, nobody checked, just make sure required software will run) you were fine.
The laptops were used in virtually every class, which was interesting. Overall, the students and faculty, while at first skeptical, really came to like it.
Yes, it's an additional cost, and college students aren't known for having excess money lying around, but an extra $1500 or so on top of your $120k+ tuition won't be noticed and if it improves learning, well, then it's a good idea.
The campus did keep computer labs though. All of the Sun, SGI and Mac labs remained, as well as most of the PC labs. This was not implemented as a way to replace the labs, more to augment them.
We rented a car with GPS Nav recently, and it was infinately more dangerous for me to use while driving then either my handheld GPS, or a map which I could unfold on the steering wheel only to the part I need
That's why (at least for Hertz NeverLost) if you try using it while moving it tells you not to. Sure, people will misuse anything they possibly can. Doesn't mean it's the fault of the product.
I would format it a little bit nicer. Maybe use a table to clearly define sections. Choose to use either full sentences (I actually changed mine to full paragraphs for more of a narrative) or bullets, but the combination of the two gets a little confusing and makes me wonder how good your communication skills are.
Keep it relevant, or sort out the non-relevant parts. Playing the piano is great (I took lessons for 14 years) and winning a writing contest is also good, but keep in mind, the first writing contest award was nine years ago, it doesn't add anything to the resume.
A 13 year old game shows a lot of interest in programming, but it doesn't relate to your summary. Planning and teaching a high school course eleven years ago, has little bearing on your qualifications today. Instead of listing 48 merit badges, how about describing your Eagle project? It should show leadership and commitment.
In summary, shorten it up. Format it so that it's easier to read, and easier to tell sections apart. Remove parts that aren't relevent to your current search, but put the important ones in a seperate section. Take out the statements like "I gained a reputation..." and "Foreman said...," that's what references are for. What did you do between 2004 and now? Prospective employers hate to see unexplained gaps on resumes (when I interview, it's a pet peeve of mine).
If you know somebody in the field, give the resume to them to review, ask for their input. Send it back to your college career center for a review. Also, rather than your summary, put in an objective.
-dave
Re:Both nuisance and blessing... mostly nuisance.
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OSx86 Cracked Again
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However, when you look at Dell's Core Duo laptop and Apple's Core Duo laptop... the differences aren't much. That's the big win for Apple in switching to Intel hardware- the systems are really comparable and fairly easily similarly priced.
Only while the price of that Apple stays constant for the year(s) that it is produced with no meaningful upgrades, the PC (Dell or other) will come down in price and become faster. I like the design of macs, but unless you are buying hardware when it's bleeding edge, the price is anything but similar.
Problem is, now you have to define utilizing. What if I patent a part of a larger system, but the rest of the system isn't ready for market yet. Does designing a system that would use that patent constitute utilizing it?
Personally, I think a system like this would work better:
Allow for an easier to get, low cost, shorter term patent (think helping the little guy) - Say less than $200 (no lawyer needed) and 2 years
Require that a prototype demonstrating the patent (not necessarily the end item) be required in order to upgrade the above patent to a full protection patent
I don't see that the problem is that patents are too easy to get. I think they are too easy for the wrong people, and too hard for the right ones. I don't have the $10k+ required to file a patent for something I want to develop in my garage. But I also don't want to spend two years developing it, and then get nailed for patent infringement because a year ago somebody patented something similar.
I've personally never bought or been influenced by an add on a TV or radio
While it's possible true, I'd doubt that you've never been influenced by an ad. A ton of money is spent on research and advertising, and it's done because there is a return on investment. Sure some people are affected a lot more by advertisers (just look at QVC and other similar stations) and some are less so. While I can't think of a particular product I've purchased based on an advertisement, there are obvious times when an ad will get an idea in my head. Maybe I'm looking for something that I'd normally buy at Home Depot, but I see an ad for a local hardware store that I didn't know about previously (having just moved to the area). So now knowing about this new store, regardless of the specific item they are advertising, I might check them out. Same thing happens with local restaurants.
Brute force advertising is just a waste of money.
I think you'll find a lot of people who have "wasted" that money who would disagree. There is a reason they advertise. There is a reason why they invest so much to produce and air a commercial. It's for return on investment. Does targetted advertising have a higher return on investment? Probably. But the only way to currently do targetted advertising is on the web (well you could advertise on certain shows/channels/times on tv/radio), whereas the vast majority of people still use the tv and radio for entertainment.
Google has a slogan "Do No Evil" yet when put to the test, as in the recent China episode, we saw that "evil" is very much a gray area to them.
Now Microsoft, while taking a similar implementation to Google, but has decided to make it an actual written policy on how they will handle these situations. That's the big difference. Google (as far as I know) has no written policy to cover this. And seeing as MS is the first large tech company to have such a policy, therefore setting the bar, it is good.
My problem with the google episode is not so much what they are doing (a lot of companies have different policies in China), but that they do it while still claiming to "Do No Evil." Google should either can the slogan, or live by it.
In all likelihood, the quality coming out of the unit itself is not the weakest link. Poor headphones, poor encoding, bad ears, bad listening environment, etc. will all be a factor. Like someone above said, listen to it, if you like it who cares what reviewers say?
I like good speakers for my home theater. But a friend of mine likes his $250 all-in-one setup. It's not that either one of us is wrong, but he gets the quality he wants, and doesn't spend nearly as much as I do.
Thus, in my mind, Apple's dog resistant keyboard lasts one year, whereas, a PC notebook lasts 30 seconds.
Are you trying to imply that all PC notebook keyboards are as bad as the single toshiba? Ever seen a thinkpad hold up to abuse? It's amazing. I've got a 7 year old thinkpad right now that spent it's first four years with a college friend of mine who abused the crap out of it. The hinges are now failing, but the keyboard and the rest of the computer work well.
I'd agree that Toshiba's suck, but just because they do, not all PC notebooks are worse than Apple's.
Never will happen. People get distracted while driving even without cell phones, makeup, etc. Ever seen what happens when there's an accident on the other side of the road?
Most people can't seen to drive, extra devices or not.
But the share is just 38% for those with an income of less than $30,000.
Households with incomes under $30k are probably spending their money on more important items than broadband access. Unless the BBC means access to broadband, but I doubt it.
You should try putting together your own off the shelf system. It sounds like a good idea to me. If you could implement the most common applications for a small-medium company in an easy to setup, plug it in and go system, you might be able to do it.
I've heard a lot of ideas for computer based products, but honestly, this sounds like a good one. Also, think about a particular market (law offices, medical offices, etc.). My uncle's medical practice spends a fortune on applications like this from larger vendors, and he's often asked me to put something together for him, and from talking at conferences, many other doctors are looking for the same type of thing.
Records management, time cards, expense reports, etc. would all be pretty universal needs I would think.
I think you are getting a little ahead of yourself. If you haven't taken a product design class, now would be a good time.
You really need to spend some time figuring out what your requirements are (do you want a variable number of answers, or a set amount? Does there need to be any immediate feedback? Do you need a keyboard or will pushbutton input be acceptable?).
Define high-level requirements and then brainstorm for each one. Don't get caught up in wired or wireless, 802.11 or bluetooth, that's a medium and can be easily changed later.
Make sure for every requirement (and you should have a good number of requirements) that you have multiple ways of addressing that requirement. Write down every idea, don't judge them yet. Make sure you have some wacky ideas that just might work given some more time.
Get a focus group together of the "customer." This means students, teaching faculty, administrators, IT (they'll probably have to support).
Find out what their requirements and their desires are.
Get some people to help, multiple EEs/CSEs for the hardware side, some CompSci's to help with the software, even some psychology majors to help you with what works and doesn't for human factors.
Put together an initial prototype. It can be crude and rely on external addressing, wires, whatever, even if you plan to implement security and wireless later, you need a proof of concept.
Go step by step, so you have a rough interface done, work on the addressing scheme. Build another prototype (by the way, use an FPGA or something else that you can re-use without buying new, or at least put everything on protoboards).
Play around with different wired and wireless connections. Try getting an 802.11, bluetooth, wired, etc. connection working, and have users try them out.
Once you have an idea of what you want to build, do it. Design a PCB and have some made (some meaning enough to do a reasonable test, at least 25). Look for somebody to do injection molding for a plastic case, put everything together. This is your prototype.
Test, test, test.
Go back to the drawing board, what worked, what didn't. Redesign, get input from users, brainstorm again.
Build a second set of prototypes (maybe you can reuse some or all of the components if you are lucky).
Run more tests, this time on a larger scale. Ask a professor to use them in a class.
Take input from these tests and build yet a third prototype. By this time, get a MechE or materials person involved. These things will be in backpacks, under textbooks, sat on, dropped, will they withstand some abuse? Do some environmental testing (it doesn't have to be official, though, look at some of the things a place like Retlif laboratories (http://www.retlif.com/ can do, and at least mimic some of the tests.
You now have a Beta product. Have a few classes use it for a semester and get feedback. Repeat the necessary steps for the Alpha product. At this point, try to sell it as a system and get a wider group of users.
This process is not quick, not easy, not cheap. But if you want to create a serious product, it's the way to go.
As a design engineer, I know how big of a pain in the butt going through each step can be, but if you skip a step to save a week, it will cost you two weeks later on, when you don't have that time to spend.
Do you know any teahers or are you just pulling this crap out of your ass?
My wife is a second grade teacher, wanted to be a teacher for as long as she can remember. She put herself through college and grad school just to become an elementary school teacher.
Whatever you think the teacher's unions are lying to you about, here's the reality. My wife is up by 5:30 every morning, and at her school by 7am.
She doesn't leave school until 5 or 5:30pm any day, so that's a 10-10.5 hour day, everyday (and that doesn't include the nights for school events which are a couple of nights a month when she's working a 13-14 hour day). And the school year isn't 9 months, my wife is working from late august through late june, that's 10 months every year, not to mention the workshops and other training that she has in the summers.
My point is before you start knocking teachers for not working much, learn the facts.
And how long ago did you start your career? As an engineer who recently started a career, I can tell you that starting salaries, even during the economic downturn, were above those of teachers.
RDS isn't common at all in the states. I remember having a rental car in the UK 7 years ago with RDS and thinking it was pretty neat. But in all that time, it hasn't crossed the pond.
-dave
Slashdot Mirror
Why does everybody here think that AOL implementing this policy is the first step on a slippery slope to the end of email? It's not, nowhere near it.
What AOL is saying is that if you cover the costs to certify your email, they will ensure that it gets through and not stuck in a spam filter. AOL exists for one reason, to provide a service to their customers. If you feel that they charge to much or provide poor service and don't use them, guess what? You are not their customer.
AOL was the first successful ISP for the masses. Sure you and I might hate AOL and you may even feel that any user of AOL is an idiot. And that's fine for you to think, but the people who pay the monthly fee think they are getting their money's worth.
To all those who say "fine, I won't allow any AOL email addresses on my list" that's a great idea. Postal service is not guarenteed delivery, therefore do you refuse to send mail? Hell, even insured services such as UPS, FedEx, DHL are not guarenteed, they'll merely pay you in the event something is lost or damaged.
So you put up a notice saying that AOL users might not be able to receive emails and to ensure that the sending address is on a whitelist (and give directions on how to do this). Believe me, AOL will suffer more than anybody if innocent email doesn't get through. Bank statements, etc. and expected by recipients and when they call the bank and say "But I'm not receiving them" and the bank tells them that it's because of AOL filters, guess who is gonna be losing the customer?
Everybody should just chill out, let AOL (a company, responsible to shareholders, not geeks on Slashdot or mailing list owners) do what they feel is best. If it doesn't work, they will lose customers, if it works, I doubt I'll ever see a story about its success on Slashdot.
-dave
Exactly. There is always a bigger fish in the ocean that will eat the current one. I make it a point to not shop at Walmart. I hate them, the stores are filthy, they only carry crap, and if you look at studies, the prices aren't actually cheaper.
But the interesting thing is, Toys R Us didn't have a typical Toy Store business model, they had a Walmart business model. They never had people who just knew the product and could help out, they just had a large selection and rather than low prices, just slightly lower than the local toy store.
But I'm amazed at the people who love Walmart. There are so many people who buy virtually everything at Walmart. I try to convert them to Target (I personally like Target, they seem to be better, give a lot more to charity and don't seem to run over the little guy - at least as much), and I drive out of my way to go to Target rather than Walmart, but people just won't change. All the negative PR, and still, what I hear is "yeah, but they're cheaper."
Having moved to a new area, I've been searching for the local places, the hardware store, the toy store, the book store, etc. and they're out there. But there are so few of them now, and you have to pay such a premium, that most people don't even bother.
Researching a little further, that $499 price may include a TV tuner with PVR functionality.
t _locator/product_details.asp?prodid=7004
i ewarticle.jsp?id=36714
A few more links:
http://www.cesweb.org/attendees/show_floor/produc
http://wifi.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/v
Now I'm kind of excited to see how this FIC comes out on the market. $499 for out of the box PC and DVR functionality in a nice package, I may just have to buy one.
-dave
http://www.pcg.fic.com.tw/marketing/Products/main3 .asp
e 2_intel_core_duo_desktop.html
Size: Mac: 6.5x6.5x2 FIC: ~9x~7x~1.5
CPU: Mac: DuoCore 1.66 FIC: DuoCore 1.66-2.33
More information here: http://www.mobilewhack.com/computers/review/fic_g
FIC claims giga-lan, bluetooth, wifi, digital audio out, seems pretty close to the mac as a comparison, price of $500 to $1000 according to Mobile Whack.
Assuming the $500 price is the 1.66GHz version, it doesn't look like PC versions are much if any cheaper.
-dave
This is not insightful, at least as far as the original question goes. Children aged 4-12 are in school to learn fundemental basics about many topics: reading, writing, math, social studies, some history, etc., as well as social skills. They are not there to learn how to build a computer.
I'm not saying it's a useless skill and not worth teaching, it's just not worth taking something else out of the curriculum to put this in. If you want to teach them in depth how computers work, that's great as an after school activity, or class for older students.
Now, if Edubuntu or another linux environment can provide the same benefits to the students as a windows environment, sounds good to me. But if the software available for the linux environment isn't as up to date or isn't improved often enough, then you aren't saving money, you're merely spending less and getting less.
The edubuntu link looks interesting to me and as the husband of an elementary school teacher, I'm interested in learning about it's application. But I also know a lot of teachers that feel if it doesn't work like a Mac (they don't even know how to use Windows), it won't be used.
Sure, we could blame this on the teacher and say they should learn a new system, but they already have to learn enough throughout the year to keep up (especially with ever demanding government regulations). Some of the time though, it's not even the teachers holding it back.
Last year my wife taught at an inner-city school, one with very few computers. I offered, through a formal letter, to solicit donations of hardware and software to increase the number of labs in the district (there wasn't even a single computer in each classroom). Having high level contacts at multiple hardware and software companies, receiving the donations would not be an issue. The teacher's loved it, the principal loved it, but when it hit the administration level, it was turned down. Why? Because the district (primarily the IT administrator) did not want to support it.
Anything that is going to go unsupported, is most likely going to fail at the school, and if it means spending $X on windows software and compatible hardware and having a lab that is used, that might be better than spending much less or even no money on an alternative lab that won't be used.
-dave
If you want to think of software like other goods that are purchased, and therefore can be "dumped" on a market, then what about free software (OSS, Linux, etc.)? Dumping is generally an issue when a company uses it to gain market dominence and then raises the prices once the competition is gone. I don't remember MS charging for IE after taking over the browser market from Netscape. I don't remember MS charging for WMP.
What it comes down to is a fine line between giving the users what they want/need (keep in mind, a lot of computer users don't know what they want), and pushing your solution as the only one onto customers.
Does the fact that automobile makers build and install all of the parts as OEM into the car, then also sell them as replacement/repair parts affect the quality of 3rd party manufacturers? I don't think so. But if anything, it would require the 3rd parties to create a much better alternative in order to overcome the OEM part dominence.
The irony is that the big alternative to the MS dominence is a company that not only bundles as much, or more, software with their OS, but also requires you to buy the hardware from them as well, attempting even more dominence.
I don't mind breaking up monopolies, but I think instead of suing MS at the drop of a hat, it's about time software developers created an experience that was better than Windows (for the masses), and would run on hardware from multiple manufacturers.
-dave
So what you are saying is that if Microsoft started selling complete systems, that rather than being uncompetitive, it would be more competitive?
MS is providing a complete experience for the end user, in as far as software goes. By offering a software package that provides what the user wants (most users of MS software want everything to interoperate, want everything to work similar application to application, and don't want to be forced to choose 100 different pieces of software so that they can use their computer for what they want) they are competing, not being anti-competitive.
If MS said that OEMs can't install a competitors software, or didn't allow competitors to write software to run on the Windows OS, then that would be anticompetitive. But just because MS is being competitive, doesn't mean they need to be sued.
-dave
My school did this, starting with freshmen the year after I started there. While I didn't have direct participation in the program I had friends who did, and working for the admissions office, explained the system to prospective students all of the time.
In short, it worked. The school is traditionally an engineering school, but all majors were required to own a laptop. The school had a deal with IBM to basically get the latest thinkpad at a great price (much better than the IBM employee price and much, much lower than anything comparable). The laptop came loaded with enough memory, hard drive space, a big, hi-res screen, etc., everything most people would want. But the big thing was, you weren't required to purchase a laptop through the school.
If you did purchase the thinkpad, there were benefits. The school had loaners should yours need repairing, the warranty repairs could be handled on-site, it was preloaded with all the software you needed (though you could buy the software fairly inexpensively at the campus computer store). But as long as you met the minimum specs (while minimums were specified, it was more of a soft limit, nobody checked, just make sure required software will run) you were fine.
The laptops were used in virtually every class, which was interesting. Overall, the students and faculty, while at first skeptical, really came to like it.
Yes, it's an additional cost, and college students aren't known for having excess money lying around, but an extra $1500 or so on top of your $120k+ tuition won't be noticed and if it improves learning, well, then it's a good idea.
The campus did keep computer labs though. All of the Sun, SGI and Mac labs remained, as well as most of the PC labs. This was not implemented as a way to replace the labs, more to augment them.
-dave
We rented a car with GPS Nav recently, and it was infinately more dangerous for me to use while driving then either my handheld GPS, or a map which I could unfold on the steering wheel only to the part I need
That's why (at least for Hertz NeverLost) if you try using it while moving it tells you not to. Sure, people will misuse anything they possibly can. Doesn't mean it's the fault of the product.
-dave
I would format it a little bit nicer. Maybe use a table to clearly define sections. Choose to use either full sentences (I actually changed mine to full paragraphs for more of a narrative) or bullets, but the combination of the two gets a little confusing and makes me wonder how good your communication skills are.
Keep it relevant, or sort out the non-relevant parts. Playing the piano is great (I took lessons for 14 years) and winning a writing contest is also good, but keep in mind, the first writing contest award was nine years ago, it doesn't add anything to the resume.
A 13 year old game shows a lot of interest in programming, but it doesn't relate to your summary. Planning and teaching a high school course eleven years ago, has little bearing on your qualifications today. Instead of listing 48 merit badges, how about describing your Eagle project? It should show leadership and commitment.
In summary, shorten it up. Format it so that it's easier to read, and easier to tell sections apart. Remove parts that aren't relevent to your current search, but put the important ones in a seperate section. Take out the statements like "I gained a reputation..." and "Foreman said...," that's what references are for. What did you do between 2004 and now? Prospective employers hate to see unexplained gaps on resumes (when I interview, it's a pet peeve of mine).
If you know somebody in the field, give the resume to them to review, ask for their input. Send it back to your college career center for a review. Also, rather than your summary, put in an objective.
-dave
However, when you look at Dell's Core Duo laptop and Apple's Core Duo laptop... the differences aren't much. That's the big win for Apple in switching to Intel hardware- the systems are really comparable and fairly easily similarly priced.
Only while the price of that Apple stays constant for the year(s) that it is produced with no meaningful upgrades, the PC (Dell or other) will come down in price and become faster. I like the design of macs, but unless you are buying hardware when it's bleeding edge, the price is anything but similar.
-dave
Problem is, now you have to define utilizing. What if I patent a part of a larger system, but the rest of the system isn't ready for market yet. Does designing a system that would use that patent constitute utilizing it?
Personally, I think a system like this would work better:
Allow for an easier to get, low cost, shorter term patent (think helping the little guy) - Say less than $200 (no lawyer needed) and 2 years
Require that a prototype demonstrating the patent (not necessarily the end item) be required in order to upgrade the above patent to a full protection patent
I don't see that the problem is that patents are too easy to get. I think they are too easy for the wrong people, and too hard for the right ones. I don't have the $10k+ required to file a patent for something I want to develop in my garage. But I also don't want to spend two years developing it, and then get nailed for patent infringement because a year ago somebody patented something similar.
-dave
I've personally never bought or been influenced by an add on a TV or radio
While it's possible true, I'd doubt that you've never been influenced by an ad. A ton of money is spent on research and advertising, and it's done because there is a return on investment. Sure some people are affected a lot more by advertisers (just look at QVC and other similar stations) and some are less so. While I can't think of a particular product I've purchased based on an advertisement, there are obvious times when an ad will get an idea in my head. Maybe I'm looking for something that I'd normally buy at Home Depot, but I see an ad for a local hardware store that I didn't know about previously (having just moved to the area). So now knowing about this new store, regardless of the specific item they are advertising, I might check them out. Same thing happens with local restaurants.
Brute force advertising is just a waste of money.
I think you'll find a lot of people who have "wasted" that money who would disagree. There is a reason they advertise. There is a reason why they invest so much to produce and air a commercial. It's for return on investment. Does targetted advertising have a higher return on investment? Probably. But the only way to currently do targetted advertising is on the web (well you could advertise on certain shows/channels/times on tv/radio), whereas the vast majority of people still use the tv and radio for entertainment.
-dave
The difference in my mind is this.
Google has a slogan "Do No Evil" yet when put to the test, as in the recent China episode, we saw that "evil" is very much a gray area to them.
Now Microsoft, while taking a similar implementation to Google, but has decided to make it an actual written policy on how they will handle these situations. That's the big difference. Google (as far as I know) has no written policy to cover this. And seeing as MS is the first large tech company to have such a policy, therefore setting the bar, it is good.
My problem with the google episode is not so much what they are doing (a lot of companies have different policies in China), but that they do it while still claiming to "Do No Evil." Google should either can the slogan, or live by it.
-dave
Because I don't walk around with a chip on my shoulder saying my motto is "Do No Evil"
-dave
In all likelihood, the quality coming out of the unit itself is not the weakest link. Poor headphones, poor encoding, bad ears, bad listening environment, etc. will all be a factor. Like someone above said, listen to it, if you like it who cares what reviewers say?
I like good speakers for my home theater. But a friend of mine likes his $250 all-in-one setup. It's not that either one of us is wrong, but he gets the quality he wants, and doesn't spend nearly as much as I do.
-dave
Thus, in my mind, Apple's dog resistant keyboard lasts one year, whereas, a PC notebook lasts 30 seconds.
Are you trying to imply that all PC notebook keyboards are as bad as the single toshiba? Ever seen a thinkpad hold up to abuse? It's amazing. I've got a 7 year old thinkpad right now that spent it's first four years with a college friend of mine who abused the crap out of it. The hinges are now failing, but the keyboard and the rest of the computer work well.
I'd agree that Toshiba's suck, but just because they do, not all PC notebooks are worse than Apple's.
Never will happen. People get distracted while driving even without cell phones, makeup, etc. Ever seen what happens when there's an accident on the other side of the road?
Most people can't seen to drive, extra devices or not.
-dave
Households with incomes under $30k are probably spending their money on more important items than broadband access. Unless the BBC means access to broadband, but I doubt it.
-dave
You should try putting together your own off the shelf system. It sounds like a good idea to me. If you could implement the most common applications for a small-medium company in an easy to setup, plug it in and go system, you might be able to do it.
I've heard a lot of ideas for computer based products, but honestly, this sounds like a good one. Also, think about a particular market (law offices, medical offices, etc.). My uncle's medical practice spends a fortune on applications like this from larger vendors, and he's often asked me to put something together for him, and from talking at conferences, many other doctors are looking for the same type of thing.
Records management, time cards, expense reports, etc. would all be pretty universal needs I would think.
-dave
I think you are getting a little ahead of yourself. If you haven't taken a product design class, now would be a good time.
You really need to spend some time figuring out what your requirements are (do you want a variable number of answers, or a set amount? Does there need to be any immediate feedback? Do you need a keyboard or will pushbutton input be acceptable?).
Define high-level requirements and then brainstorm for each one. Don't get caught up in wired or wireless, 802.11 or bluetooth, that's a medium and can be easily changed later.
Make sure for every requirement (and you should have a good number of requirements) that you have multiple ways of addressing that requirement. Write down every idea, don't judge them yet. Make sure you have some wacky ideas that just might work given some more time.
Get a focus group together of the "customer." This means students, teaching faculty, administrators, IT (they'll probably have to support).
Find out what their requirements and their desires are.
Get some people to help, multiple EEs/CSEs for the hardware side, some CompSci's to help with the software, even some psychology majors to help you with what works and doesn't for human factors.
Put together an initial prototype. It can be crude and rely on external addressing, wires, whatever, even if you plan to implement security and wireless later, you need a proof of concept.
Go step by step, so you have a rough interface done, work on the addressing scheme. Build another prototype (by the way, use an FPGA or something else that you can re-use without buying new, or at least put everything on protoboards).
Play around with different wired and wireless connections. Try getting an 802.11, bluetooth, wired, etc. connection working, and have users try them out.
Once you have an idea of what you want to build, do it. Design a PCB and have some made (some meaning enough to do a reasonable test, at least 25). Look for somebody to do injection molding for a plastic case, put everything together. This is your prototype.
Test, test, test.
Go back to the drawing board, what worked, what didn't. Redesign, get input from users, brainstorm again.
Build a second set of prototypes (maybe you can reuse some or all of the components if you are lucky).
Run more tests, this time on a larger scale. Ask a professor to use them in a class.
Take input from these tests and build yet a third prototype. By this time, get a MechE or materials person involved. These things will be in backpacks, under textbooks, sat on, dropped, will they withstand some abuse? Do some environmental testing (it doesn't have to be official, though, look at some of the things a place like Retlif laboratories (http://www.retlif.com/ can do, and at least mimic some of the tests.
You now have a Beta product. Have a few classes use it for a semester and get feedback. Repeat the necessary steps for the Alpha product. At this point, try to sell it as a system and get a wider group of users.
This process is not quick, not easy, not cheap. But if you want to create a serious product, it's the way to go.
As a design engineer, I know how big of a pain in the butt going through each step can be, but if you skip a step to save a week, it will cost you two weeks later on, when you don't have that time to spend.
-dave
(working only 9 months)
Do you know any teahers or are you just pulling this crap out of your ass?
My wife is a second grade teacher, wanted to be a teacher for as long as she can remember. She put herself through college and grad school just to become an elementary school teacher.
Whatever you think the teacher's unions are lying to you about, here's the reality. My wife is up by 5:30 every morning, and at her school by 7am.
She doesn't leave school until 5 or 5:30pm any day, so that's a 10-10.5 hour day, everyday (and that doesn't include the nights for school events which are a couple of nights a month when she's working a 13-14 hour day). And the school year isn't 9 months, my wife is working from late august through late june, that's 10 months every year, not to mention the workshops and other training that she has in the summers.
My point is before you start knocking teachers for not working much, learn the facts.
And how long ago did you start your career? As an engineer who recently started a career, I can tell you that starting salaries, even during the economic downturn, were above those of teachers.
-dave
RDS isn't common at all in the states. I remember having a rental car in the UK 7 years ago with RDS and thinking it was pretty neat. But in all that time, it hasn't crossed the pond. -dave
I believe that you still need to fill out customs documents. Call UPS and just ask what paperwork they need to ship to Canada.
Only since this was a broadcast fax, you have to look at that list of supported file formats:
Efax Broadcast Fax Supported File Types
No Postscript there.
-dave