Re:Funny you mention automakers...
on
Paranoia
·
· Score: 1
It's been happening all over the place, too. Corporate and personal privacy are finally in the forefront of many people's minds.
My fiancee still doesn't understand why I enforce WEP (soon WPA) on my wireless router. "It slows it down a bit, and who's gonna hack our network?"
Of course, she'd probably have a problem if someone with a camera-phone took her picture in the locker room at the gym and posted it on the Internet.
*sigh*
Funny you mention automakers...
on
Paranoia
·
· Score: 2, Informative
One major automaker passed a corporate rule that outlaws the use or possession of a camera-phone within buildings.
Apparently, a "tourist" glimpsed a model of something, snapped a couple quick shots, and was later sold to the competition. The estimated losses were in the millions.
I received my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro today (though it's not yet installed). I did all kinds of reading about these cards and was so close to buying another Nvidia, but it just doesn't look like they're competing on the levels that ATI's cards can go. Plus, I was a bit put off by their marketing schemes - it happens all over the place, but the GeForce 4 MX series isn't much more than a glorified GeForce 2. It's not as powerful as the GeForce 3 - but it's cheaper. So I suppose I'm not surprised by the news that they would cut corners to make a bit more money. A software/firmware upgrade that makes my card faster? I'll take it. Buying the same card with that upgrade installed for even more money? Screw off.
Then again, AMD does sorta the same thing with their numbering in order to counter Intel's "gigahertz means better" campaigns.
There were some companies developing other interesting ones too - I recall hearing about robotic "rats" that helped scour the September 11 site for survivors. Of course, some of these were just remote controlled camera carriers. Even so, I'd like to see more robotic workers in dangerous (to humans) situations. Ignoring any debate on civil rights for AI, it is easy to put a price on robotic life. It's not so easy to weigh the costs of human life in these situations.
I tend to agree with his statement. Maybe your corporation doesn't control citizens, but some corporations are in a position to influence and exert pressure. Record companies, Microsoft, many others... what OS do you use? Do you listen to music by artists that aren't associated with the RIAA? Corporate America is certainly becoming more synonymous with America in general. A hundred years ago, the major players in the world were the rich guys - Rockerfellers and whatnot. Now, it's corporations.
Well, not totally unbelievable (coughcoughriaa/mpaa/dmcacoughcough). But it's pretty crappy.
1. Offering a link is not illegal, is it?
2. What are they doing to prevent the seller from selling to U.S. customers? Isn't that a more logical target if you want to stop these sales?
One of these days I'm going to give up and go live on Mars. Ooh, and what luck! There's a Java Mars clock available!
Everyone who claims that it's the end of the road for [Microsoft/Apple]. Their business decisions have alienated customers for too long. They can no longer be truly competitive. Their OS just isn't going to stand for much longer. There are too many problems - usability, security, bugs, configurability.
---
Both of these companies have their own markets, and though I use primarily MS, I also use Linux and Mac. I shudder at the classic argument over who's better and who's doomed. Dinosaurs they might be; their size and age are not disputed. But I don't see either of those companies going extinct any time soon.
I'm not sure if you're criticizing the use of lengthy words in general, or if you're saying that it was (in this particular case) too confusing to understand because of the vocabulary. I usually avoid big words for the sake of big words (read almost any academic journal). Sometimes, though, you can say something with one big word better than ten smaller words. (Poster is president of Wordsupply.com, after all).
As for the post itself, I'm in the middle of researching project management and preparing to build a custom project management system. This book sounds like it could help with the overall strategy we'd like to define before building... it's tempting to identify smaller tasks and build those (only to try and assemble them later).
right on the head. I'm still trying to make a real step into a Linux partition. I've been using Knoppix live and so far my bosses are mostly just confused. This might help me show them (and thus provide me a box to install on) how easy (and cheap!) this stuff really is.
"...just as computer programming tools were shared in the open source software movement."
Were? As in... the OSS movement that is complete?
Not sure how I feel about this idea - to speed up progress research should be shared, but individual benefits should also drive that research. Why would you go into biophysics if your work wasn't going to pay off? (I know there are other reasons, but money's still at the top of most people's list).
Should the priority be making faster supercomputers (but large) or smaller supercomputers (but the same speed)? This one seems to be a step in both directions, but I wonder if they're sacrificing speed for size (or vice-versa).
One problem with using a hard copy is that you're the only one holding that copy. If the site disappears from the Internet, then your readers must rely on your printout (or cache) as a reliable source. You may not have a way to prove that your printout wasn't modified between download and printout. With more traditional methods, there are so many printed copies that such a claim could be disputed easily.
I think your solution is the best one under the current situation, though.
It's not just the short lifespan of a webpage... it's also the fact that the source isn't always reliable. Web publications are rarely given the same strict editorial process as most journal articles. The content might be just as good - or better - but they're also not given the same credibility.
I'm a recent grad of a University... my freshman year, profs wanted us to start using the Internet more so we were asked to submit at least x number of references from Internet sources. By my senior year, they were trying to get us to stop using the Internet. Using a URL as a reference was sometimes forbidden by the professor.
Slashdot Mirror
It's been happening all over the place, too. Corporate and personal privacy are finally in the forefront of many people's minds. My fiancee still doesn't understand why I enforce WEP (soon WPA) on my wireless router. "It slows it down a bit, and who's gonna hack our network?" Of course, she'd probably have a problem if someone with a camera-phone took her picture in the locker room at the gym and posted it on the Internet. *sigh*
One major automaker passed a corporate rule that outlaws the use or possession of a camera-phone within buildings.
Apparently, a "tourist" glimpsed a model of something, snapped a couple quick shots, and was later sold to the competition. The estimated losses were in the millions.
I received my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro today (though it's not yet installed). I did all kinds of reading about these cards and was so close to buying another Nvidia, but it just doesn't look like they're competing on the levels that ATI's cards can go. Plus, I was a bit put off by their marketing schemes - it happens all over the place, but the GeForce 4 MX series isn't much more than a glorified GeForce 2. It's not as powerful as the GeForce 3 - but it's cheaper. So I suppose I'm not surprised by the news that they would cut corners to make a bit more money. A software/firmware upgrade that makes my card faster? I'll take it. Buying the same card with that upgrade installed for even more money? Screw off.
Then again, AMD does sorta the same thing with their numbering in order to counter Intel's "gigahertz means better" campaigns.
There were some companies developing other interesting ones too - I recall hearing about robotic "rats" that helped scour the September 11 site for survivors. Of course, some of these were just remote controlled camera carriers. Even so, I'd like to see more robotic workers in dangerous (to humans) situations. Ignoring any debate on civil rights for AI, it is easy to put a price on robotic life. It's not so easy to weigh the costs of human life in these situations.
I tend to agree with his statement. Maybe your corporation doesn't control citizens, but some corporations are in a position to influence and exert pressure. Record companies, Microsoft, many others... what OS do you use? Do you listen to music by artists that aren't associated with the RIAA? Corporate America is certainly becoming more synonymous with America in general. A hundred years ago, the major players in the world were the rich guys - Rockerfellers and whatnot. Now, it's corporations.
Man, my TRS-80 won't open PDFs. Damn you Adobe!!!
Well, not totally unbelievable (coughcoughriaa/mpaa/dmcacoughcough). But it's pretty crappy. 1. Offering a link is not illegal, is it? 2. What are they doing to prevent the seller from selling to U.S. customers? Isn't that a more logical target if you want to stop these sales? One of these days I'm going to give up and go live on Mars. Ooh, and what luck! There's a Java Mars clock available!
It's definitely a kind of "Hello world" program...
Everyone who claims that it's the end of the road for [Microsoft/Apple]. Their business decisions have alienated customers for too long. They can no longer be truly competitive. Their OS just isn't going to stand for much longer. There are too many problems - usability, security, bugs, configurability. --- Both of these companies have their own markets, and though I use primarily MS, I also use Linux and Mac. I shudder at the classic argument over who's better and who's doomed. Dinosaurs they might be; their size and age are not disputed. But I don't see either of those companies going extinct any time soon.
OT, perhaps...
I'm not sure if you're criticizing the use of lengthy words in general, or if you're saying that it was (in this particular case) too confusing to understand because of the vocabulary. I usually avoid big words for the sake of big words (read almost any academic journal). Sometimes, though, you can say something with one big word better than ten smaller words. (Poster is president of Wordsupply.com, after all).
As for the post itself, I'm in the middle of researching project management and preparing to build a custom project management system. This book sounds like it could help with the overall strategy we'd like to define before building... it's tempting to identify smaller tasks and build those (only to try and assemble them later).
So much material to work with, yet so few funnies...
"Steve Ballmer is all about the FAT!"
"Windows - with a PHAT File System!"
"Microsoft: FAT With Greed"
"Linux: Avoid the FAT"
right on the head. I'm still trying to make a real step into a Linux partition. I've been using Knoppix live and so far my bosses are mostly just confused. This might help me show them (and thus provide me a box to install on) how easy (and cheap!) this stuff really is.
"...just as computer programming tools were shared in the open source software movement."
Were? As in... the OSS movement that is complete?
Not sure how I feel about this idea - to speed up progress research should be shared, but individual benefits should also drive that research. Why would you go into biophysics if your work wasn't going to pay off? (I know there are other reasons, but money's still at the top of most people's list).
Should the priority be making faster supercomputers (but large) or smaller supercomputers (but the same speed)? This one seems to be a step in both directions, but I wonder if they're sacrificing speed for size (or vice-versa).
One problem with using a hard copy is that you're the only one holding that copy. If the site disappears from the Internet, then your readers must rely on your printout (or cache) as a reliable source. You may not have a way to prove that your printout wasn't modified between download and printout. With more traditional methods, there are so many printed copies that such a claim could be disputed easily. I think your solution is the best one under the current situation, though.
It's not just the short lifespan of a webpage... it's also the fact that the source isn't always reliable. Web publications are rarely given the same strict editorial process as most journal articles. The content might be just as good - or better - but they're also not given the same credibility.
I'm a recent grad of a University... my freshman year, profs wanted us to start using the Internet more so we were asked to submit at least x number of references from Internet sources. By my senior year, they were trying to get us to stop using the Internet. Using a URL as a reference was sometimes forbidden by the professor.