Choosing a DAW is much like choosing a programming language & IDE in one, all your knowledge becomes domain specific, and as such, as soon as you get serious it's difficult to consider open source options seriously.
No.
The only thing that is partly stuck to the program is the workflow. If you just know in which order to press the buttons and don't know what they do or why they do it, then sure, you knowledge applies only to that program. But if you know what the tools are doing then you can jump to pretty much any DAW on the market and make it work. You'll be slightly less efficient because of changes in workflow while getting used to the new workflow. And the bigger the difference, the weirder it is for the first couple of hours. Jumping from ProTools to Ableton Live is quite weird, for example. I've jumped between ProTools, Ableton Live, and Reason with no problems. I've also played around with Logic, Reaper, and Cubase. Reaper is quite nice, and works well. Also very easy to grok the workflow as it is a simple one that is quite like ProTools in that it relies heavily on an old workflow that would fit an audio engineer from the 1980s or 90s.
The only kind of DVD rental that can possibly survive is a specialist store that carries something that is not readily available on the internet. Nowadays that would mean older films, artsy films, all sorts of older tv series... basically everything except newish blockbusters and porn..
Catering to film geeks is harder and requires building up a reputation. Adding wifi or coffee or whatever into his business is probably not that great an idea as it is likely to draw focus from the core business. Unless he wants to found a coffeeshop with a few DVDs and wifi in competition with Starbucks, because that's the competition he would then face and have to compare himself against.
If you want Icelandic music then http://www.icelandicmusic.com/ is the real deal. Pretty good music that can be found there, but most of it obviously in a language that will sound like Klingon to most people...
One part of the problem is that peer review is set up in a way to catch mistakes, not really to vet for misconduct. I have no idea what would be required to properly vet for misconduct, but I'm guessing that it should be a good idea to statistically analyse any numbers presented, that should catch the most blatant cheaters.
A good friend of mine has the same problem, one arm paralyzed. He has a good quality gaming mouse with a suitable amount of programmable buttons, a Razer Naga. He's also thought about a footswitch (or multiple) but hasn't tried that yet. He plays FPS with alarming accuracy and skill, having bound buttons for moving forward, strafing, and doing all major tasks. He cannot go backwards (on his current setup) but that really doesn't seem to affect his gameplay much. He previously had a Logitech gaming mouse, and bought the Razer more because it looks good than anything else (well, one or two extra buttons and nice ergonomics for his hand). He was a leftie, and lost use of his left arm, so is gaming with his weaker hand now. It's possible with any good programmable mouse!
Good luck on continuing gaming, and rest assured that it can be done insanely well!
innovate |nvet| verb [ no obj. ] make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products: the company's failure to diversify and innovate competitively.
[ with obj. ] introduce (something new, especially a product).
The established wisdom at the time was that the shape of windows didn't matter. Research proved that knowledge to be false. The solution was to make the windows in a new manner, innovate. Innovation has nothing to do with an artistic Eureka moment, and everything to do with doing something in a new manner, or to do something that hasn't been done before. Most often innovation involves slight changes and very logical and simple changes IF you know the rationale behind the changes.
So, rounded window corners was an innovation. A rounded rectangle slab was a new form for phones a few years ago (smartphones using other OS were of a very different shape and form factor at the time). So that can be viewed as an innovation (the whole question whether that part of the innovation should be patentable is an entirely different can of worms...)
I think it would fall under being a FRAND patent that they would be forced to license to others. You know, like the one Samsung tried to bully Apple with...:D
This was modded funny, but it's actually a quite clever comment.
If GrpA had included some context it would be informative
Thing is, in aviation, the first passenger jet, the DH Comet started exploding in flight and no one knew why. Turns out that square corners in windows and doors is a bad idea when it comes to pressured vessels made from aluminium.
The failure modes of aluminium weren't perfectly understood at the time, and after huge amounts of testing (actually quite impressive amounts of testing using quite clever methods) they found that repeated pressurisation/depressurisation cycles led to the formation of microcracks at the corner's of windows and doors. This wasn't thought to be a big issue, because the best known metals (steel, iron) had quite gradual and benign failure modes.
Well, it turned out that aluminium fails quite spectacularly when it has any kind of stress damage.
The whole fuselage of the aircraft would basically rip apart in an explosive manner, and this was in a static testing tank so the 800km/h speed wasn't even factored in.
The solution? Rounded rectangles for windows (or oval shaped windows) The cockpit windows have sharp corners, but also have special reinforcement to decrease/distribute the stress.
So, rounded rectangles can actually be a major innovation:D
But someone who has a lot of experience working with a specific model of doodad (let's say an audio compressor) can look at a skeumorphic version on-screen and INSTANTLY see what is going on because the knobs and buttons do more than just setting the values, the knobs also DISPLAY the settings, values, and general state of the system.
I hate having to try to rotate a knob using a mouse and prefer interaction methods that are designed for the tool I'm using (trackpad, mouse, hardware interface) but sometimes skeumorphism actually has a point.
Othertimes, such as in Apple's Calendar, not so much... Showing a fake desk calendar with selection buttons embedded in the leather, then some sideways scroll buttons, and those sideways scroll buttons trigger a pageturn animation (in/out, not sideways)...
The problem isn't necessarily the skeumorphism, but rather the mishmash of concepts which results in a confused mess.
I moved countries a few years ago, and even moving within one's own culture area can be hard work. There will be many little legal things and things to do with the system you move to that you need to learn.
As to the question "what is the best country to move to", the answer is based on your expectations of the future, or your goals.
I am a family man and moved with young children. I believe I will stay here in Sweden for the foreseeable future. There are a few reasons for this, many of which have to do not only with my own chances for the future but also for my children:
Good, cheap healthcare Good efficient social care (not perfect, but pretty good) Excellent quality schools at all levels Schools have no tuition fees (paid for with tax money. This applies to universities as well) Good human rights situation Good safety (low crime, low accident rates, high survivability)...and a few more reasons
As you may see many of these reasons include contingency planning. If I should become unable to work I won't lose a chance of a decent life, and the rest of my family continues to have good future prospects. The US scares me mostly because of health care costs and job loss issues, otherwise the US can be seen as a land of opportunity. But lose your health and job in the US and it's not just your problem but also your kids' problem. That's not something I really want to aim for (unless I were to get the kind of wages/income that makes those issues moot). Scandinavia is excellent for this, but much of Europe is also quite good. The public healthcare systems in most of Europe range between decent and excellent, and the public school systems do likewise. The UK has quite expensive tuition for most higher level schools, and most countries have some private schools that may cost a bit.
So I don't see it as only being about the visible costs of housing and food vs the size of the paycheck as I see many other issues that easily outweigh that. In Sweden I can survive on a very small paycheck, live comfortably on a small paycheck, and live extremely nicely on anything larger all the while knowing that if something gets messed up there is a safety net for myself and my family. I would trade away half my paycheck for this (in the form of taxes and/or a lower total paycheck)
Small, very cheap (proper computers are at least ten times as expensive), and can be run from a small pack of AA batteries.
If I need something that fits any of those criteria and doesn't require massive general computing power then the Pi is perfect.
Robotics, small distributed experiments, mucking around with programming, seeing what can be done, fitting a computer (almost) into an Altoids tin, low power.... I would say that at $35 this is pretty awesome. Heck, as it has the capability to decode HD video and has a USB port, WiFi, and a SD slot then it works fine as a main video computer, just connected to an old LCD. Great for the kids' room.
Oh yeah, and it's silent. Because of the low power it doesn't require fans.
I have also dropped an iPhone 4. From around 4 feet onto asphalt. Landed flat on its face and got a point loading shock. The screen was quite effectively destroyed.
Changing the screen was an involved operation, but not all that complex, as such. Just needed some time and effort. The screen wasn't too expensive (ordered from China) at around U$100 delivered, and getting the glued battery out only required being careful. No biggie. I then proceeded to fix more phones for others.
It's not an operation that everyone would like to perform, but is surprisingly easy when you get started, and WELL worth it!
Well, to be fair the Win7 version almost works. It comes SO close to working properly. But Spotlight on the Mac is an actual killer feature, and I won't even consider another OS as my daily system unless it has at least as good a search, preview, and document opening/application starting system as Spotlight. It's not a COOL feature, but unbelievably useful. I work with a lot of documents, Spotlight is indispensable.
Windows is trying, Linux is trying (Ubuntu's Lenses), and that is excellent. But they both have far to go.
the Tom Swift books are pretty fun for kids. Crazy airplanes, spaceships, submarines, and all kinds of weird things. The books will make YOU cringe a little (not the best prose in the world and sometimes quite tacky) but may spark the imagination of a child.
Hardcore sci-fi can start being interesting soon, but most of that does not get REALLY interesting until the children become old enough to read between the lines and see the actual point of the stories. At least a little. Books such as Animal Farm (okay, not sci-fi, but bear with me) are often seen as boring by children who haven't trained themselves to read books and understand the point. Most hardcore sci-fi isn't about robots, but rather about the human condition. Choose something simpler that really is about robots to begin with. The rest comes when the children start exploring by themselves.
Would mod parent up, good summary of the salient points of the article.
I have the same question re: browser selection. I've used Opera, which allows the user to make custom viewing modes and switch between "author mode" and "user mode" (User defined mode or a selection of predefined style sheets) at the touch of a button.
This is the cost of protecting our free speech rights, and protecting free speech worldwide. As soon as we make a system that really gives us all a chance to exercise free speech there will be some abuse of that system. It's inevitable. We must then use other methods to catch these offenders because the encryption of the free speech mechanism will always be evolved to stay one step ahead of those who wish to break it. And I hope that anyone distributing CP gets caught, but not at the cost of sacrificing anyone else's freedom; that would punish the innocent.
I really shouldn't be responding to such a weak bit of trolling, but here goes.
Aftershave companies are selling SEX APPEAL. That is the actual thing that they're selling.
When you're trying to sell anything you need to take into account what you're actually selling and to whom you're selling it. If the product is a new tablet computer or an integrated graphics card, and the customers are mostly executives with an 80/20 male female spread then you don't want your marketing strategy to alienate 20% of your customers from the get go.
As I said (lower in my first comment), the COMPANIES should stop this because it is disrespectful to women, and in particular it's disrespectful to women in tech (those are the women who might want to go to tech trade shows, right?)
I have no sympathy for women who choose to get paid for being decorations. That's who the article is about. The article SHOULD really focus on: "WTF is going on? It's 2012 and big tech companies still act like a horny teen boy. WTF?"
I'm sorry.These women take jobs that are sexist (their job is to arouse the customer and link sexiness and sensuality to some plastic product that isn't really sexy at all) by some sexist companies and then get ogled by the people who are supposed to ogle them.
No. Sympathy. At. All.
While I don't agree with the whole concept of booth babes (I would prefer having real people from the companies instead of models. Not scantily clad, just real people who know the product) it is very hard to sympathise with those who choose to take part in it. They knew what the job was about when they took it. If I take a job that entails wearing a Borat style Mankini then I know I will be the subject of stares (not for the same reasons as these women, but still, my crotch will garner some stares) and then it's my own stupidity to blame if I'm unhappy about being stared at...
But, again. Stupid companies. Stop using booth babes. It makes the industry look adolescent in nature, and is disrespectful to all women, and even more disrespectful to women in tech. THIS kind of attitude is why many of us geeks can't get a date.. change it!
Consensual sex involved protection from STDs and pregnancy (i.e. a condom). The accusation is that he surreptitiously slipped of the condom without informing his partner. Anything that happened after that would not have been a part of the consensual sex act. He (allegedly) hid his actions. As someone pointed out there are different words available for rape here, and they signify different levels of violence and different levels of seriousness. All of them translate to rape in English (as far as I know)
Slashdot Mirror
Choosing a DAW is much like choosing a programming language & IDE in one, all your knowledge becomes domain specific, and as such, as soon as you get serious it's difficult to consider open source options seriously.
No.
The only thing that is partly stuck to the program is the workflow. If you just know in which order to press the buttons and don't know what they do or why they do it, then sure, you knowledge applies only to that program. But if you know what the tools are doing then you can jump to pretty much any DAW on the market and make it work. You'll be slightly less efficient because of changes in workflow while getting used to the new workflow. And the bigger the difference, the weirder it is for the first couple of hours. Jumping from ProTools to Ableton Live is quite weird, for example.
I've jumped between ProTools, Ableton Live, and Reason with no problems. I've also played around with Logic, Reaper, and Cubase.
Reaper is quite nice, and works well. Also very easy to grok the workflow as it is a simple one that is quite like ProTools in that it relies heavily on an old workflow that would fit an audio engineer from the 1980s or 90s.
Reaper rocks for that price!
I forgot gogoyoko.com, they are also excellent.
Whoever modded parent down has no clue!
The only kind of DVD rental that can possibly survive is a specialist store that carries something that is not readily available on the internet. Nowadays that would mean older films, artsy films, all sorts of older tv series... basically everything except newish blockbusters and porn..
Catering to film geeks is harder and requires building up a reputation.
Adding wifi or coffee or whatever into his business is probably not that great an idea as it is likely to draw focus from the core business. Unless he wants to found a coffeeshop with a few DVDs and wifi in competition with Starbucks, because that's the competition he would then face and have to compare himself against.
If you want Icelandic music then http://www.icelandicmusic.com/ is the real deal. Pretty good music that can be found there, but most of it obviously in a language that will sound like Klingon to most people...
Damn pseudoscientist you have there. ;)
Of course cats haven't been known for their scientific rigour...
One part of the problem is that peer review is set up in a way to catch mistakes, not really to vet for misconduct. I have no idea what would be required to properly vet for misconduct, but I'm guessing that it should be a good idea to statistically analyse any numbers presented, that should catch the most blatant cheaters.
A good friend of mine has the same problem, one arm paralyzed. He has a good quality gaming mouse with a suitable amount of programmable buttons, a Razer Naga.
He's also thought about a footswitch (or multiple) but hasn't tried that yet. He plays FPS with alarming accuracy and skill, having bound buttons for moving forward, strafing, and doing all major tasks. He cannot go backwards (on his current setup) but that really doesn't seem to affect his gameplay much.
He previously had a Logitech gaming mouse, and bought the Razer more because it looks good than anything else (well, one or two extra buttons and nice ergonomics for his hand). He was a leftie, and lost use of his left arm, so is gaming with his weaker hand now. It's possible with any good programmable mouse!
Good luck on continuing gaming, and rest assured that it can be done insanely well!
innovate |nvet|
verb [ no obj. ]
make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products: the company's failure to diversify and innovate competitively.
[ with obj. ] introduce (something new, especially a product).
The established wisdom at the time was that the shape of windows didn't matter. Research proved that knowledge to be false. The solution was to make the windows in a new manner, innovate.
Innovation has nothing to do with an artistic Eureka moment, and everything to do with doing something in a new manner, or to do something that hasn't been done before. Most often innovation involves slight changes and very logical and simple changes IF you know the rationale behind the changes.
So, rounded window corners was an innovation. A rounded rectangle slab was a new form for phones a few years ago (smartphones using other OS were of a very different shape and form factor at the time). So that can be viewed as an innovation (the whole question whether that part of the innovation should be patentable is an entirely different can of worms...)
I think it would fall under being a FRAND patent that they would be forced to license to others. You know, like the one Samsung tried to bully Apple with... :D
This was modded funny, but it's actually a quite clever comment.
If GrpA had included some context it would be informative
Thing is, in aviation, the first passenger jet, the DH Comet started exploding in flight and no one knew why. Turns out that square corners in windows and doors is a bad idea when it comes to pressured vessels made from aluminium.
The failure modes of aluminium weren't perfectly understood at the time, and after huge amounts of testing (actually quite impressive amounts of testing using quite clever methods) they found that repeated pressurisation/depressurisation cycles led to the formation of microcracks at the corner's of windows and doors. This wasn't thought to be a big issue, because the best known metals (steel, iron) had quite gradual and benign failure modes.
Well, it turned out that aluminium fails quite spectacularly when it has any kind of stress damage.
The whole fuselage of the aircraft would basically rip apart in an explosive manner, and this was in a static testing tank so the 800km/h speed wasn't even factored in.
The solution?
Rounded rectangles for windows (or oval shaped windows)
The cockpit windows have sharp corners, but also have special reinforcement to decrease/distribute the stress.
So, rounded rectangles can actually be a major innovation :D
Sure, that can be good too.
But someone who has a lot of experience working with a specific model of doodad (let's say an audio compressor) can look at a skeumorphic version on-screen and INSTANTLY see what is going on because the knobs and buttons do more than just setting the values, the knobs also DISPLAY the settings, values, and general state of the system.
I hate having to try to rotate a knob using a mouse and prefer interaction methods that are designed for the tool I'm using (trackpad, mouse, hardware interface) but sometimes skeumorphism actually has a point.
Othertimes, such as in Apple's Calendar, not so much...
Showing a fake desk calendar with selection buttons embedded in the leather, then some sideways scroll buttons, and those sideways scroll buttons trigger a pageturn animation (in/out, not sideways)...
The problem isn't necessarily the skeumorphism, but rather the mishmash of concepts which results in a confused mess.
I moved countries a few years ago, and even moving within one's own culture area can be hard work. There will be many little legal things and things to do with the system you move to that you need to learn.
As to the question "what is the best country to move to", the answer is based on your expectations of the future, or your goals.
I am a family man and moved with young children. I believe I will stay here in Sweden for the foreseeable future. There are a few reasons for this, many of which have to do not only with my own chances for the future but also for my children:
Good, cheap healthcare ...and a few more reasons
Good efficient social care (not perfect, but pretty good)
Excellent quality schools at all levels
Schools have no tuition fees (paid for with tax money. This applies to universities as well)
Good human rights situation
Good safety (low crime, low accident rates, high survivability)
As you may see many of these reasons include contingency planning. If I should become unable to work I won't lose a chance of a decent life, and the rest of my family continues to have good future prospects. The US scares me mostly because of health care costs and job loss issues, otherwise the US can be seen as a land of opportunity. But lose your health and job in the US and it's not just your problem but also your kids' problem. That's not something I really want to aim for (unless I were to get the kind of wages/income that makes those issues moot).
Scandinavia is excellent for this, but much of Europe is also quite good. The public healthcare systems in most of Europe range between decent and excellent, and the public school systems do likewise. The UK has quite expensive tuition for most higher level schools, and most countries have some private schools that may cost a bit.
So I don't see it as only being about the visible costs of housing and food vs the size of the paycheck as I see many other issues that easily outweigh that. In Sweden I can survive on a very small paycheck, live comfortably on a small paycheck, and live extremely nicely on anything larger all the while knowing that if something gets messed up there is a safety net for myself and my family. I would trade away half my paycheck for this (in the form of taxes and/or a lower total paycheck)
Small, very cheap (proper computers are at least ten times as expensive), and can be run from a small pack of AA batteries.
If I need something that fits any of those criteria and doesn't require massive general computing power then the Pi is perfect.
Robotics, small distributed experiments, mucking around with programming, seeing what can be done, fitting a computer (almost) into an Altoids tin, low power.... I would say that at $35 this is pretty awesome. Heck, as it has the capability to decode HD video and has a USB port, WiFi, and a SD slot then it works fine as a main video computer, just connected to an old LCD. Great for the kids' room.
Oh yeah, and it's silent. Because of the low power it doesn't require fans.
So, small, cheap, silent, energy efficient..
Consider the issue explained
..and then they give the old one away or sell it at a low price to a geek who fixes it himself.
I don't see the problem ;)
I'm a geek and have Apple products. They are a little more hassle to fix, in some ways, but not all that hard if you're a decent hardware geek.
I have also dropped an iPhone 4. From around 4 feet onto asphalt. Landed flat on its face and got a point loading shock. The screen was quite effectively destroyed.
Changing the screen was an involved operation, but not all that complex, as such. Just needed some time and effort. The screen wasn't too expensive (ordered from China) at around U$100 delivered, and getting the glued battery out only required being careful. No biggie. I then proceeded to fix more phones for others.
It's not an operation that everyone would like to perform, but is surprisingly easy when you get started, and WELL worth it!
Well, if anyone had built a time machine it would have been Woz ;)
Well, to be fair the Win7 version almost works. It comes SO close to working properly. But Spotlight on the Mac is an actual killer feature, and I won't even consider another OS as my daily system unless it has at least as good a search, preview, and document opening/application starting system as Spotlight. It's not a COOL feature, but unbelievably useful. I work with a lot of documents, Spotlight is indispensable.
Windows is trying, Linux is trying (Ubuntu's Lenses), and that is excellent. But they both have far to go.
the Tom Swift books are pretty fun for kids. Crazy airplanes, spaceships, submarines, and all kinds of weird things. The books will make YOU cringe a little (not the best prose in the world and sometimes quite tacky) but may spark the imagination of a child.
Hardcore sci-fi can start being interesting soon, but most of that does not get REALLY interesting until the children become old enough to read between the lines and see the actual point of the stories. At least a little. Books such as Animal Farm (okay, not sci-fi, but bear with me) are often seen as boring by children who haven't trained themselves to read books and understand the point. Most hardcore sci-fi isn't about robots, but rather about the human condition. Choose something simpler that really is about robots to begin with. The rest comes when the children start exploring by themselves.
Would mod parent up, good summary of the salient points of the article.
I have the same question re: browser selection.
I've used Opera, which allows the user to make custom viewing modes and switch between "author mode" and "user mode" (User defined mode or a selection of predefined style sheets) at the touch of a button.
Freedom isn't free!
This is the cost of protecting our free speech rights, and protecting free speech worldwide. As soon as we make a system that really gives us all a chance to exercise free speech there will be some abuse of that system. It's inevitable.
We must then use other methods to catch these offenders because the encryption of the free speech mechanism will always be evolved to stay one step ahead of those who wish to break it. And I hope that anyone distributing CP gets caught, but not at the cost of sacrificing anyone else's freedom; that would punish the innocent.
I really shouldn't be responding to such a weak bit of trolling, but here goes.
Aftershave companies are selling SEX APPEAL. That is the actual thing that they're selling.
When you're trying to sell anything you need to take into account what you're actually selling and to whom you're selling it. If the product is a new tablet computer or an integrated graphics card, and the customers are mostly executives with an 80/20 male female spread then you don't want your marketing strategy to alienate 20% of your customers from the get go.
As it is here in Sweden. The last woman I saw in a booth at a computer convention was there because she's the CEO of a gaming company.
But it still happens, and is common everywhere except a few countries in Europe. Not cool.
As I said (lower in my first comment), the COMPANIES should stop this because it is disrespectful to women, and in particular it's disrespectful to women in tech (those are the women who might want to go to tech trade shows, right?)
I have no sympathy for women who choose to get paid for being decorations. That's who the article is about.
The article SHOULD really focus on: "WTF is going on? It's 2012 and big tech companies still act like a horny teen boy. WTF?"
I'm sorry.These women take jobs that are sexist (their job is to arouse the customer and link sexiness and sensuality to some plastic product that isn't really sexy at all) by some sexist companies and then get ogled by the people who are supposed to ogle them.
No. Sympathy. At. All.
While I don't agree with the whole concept of booth babes (I would prefer having real people from the companies instead of models. Not scantily clad, just real people who know the product) it is very hard to sympathise with those who choose to take part in it. They knew what the job was about when they took it. If I take a job that entails wearing a Borat style Mankini then I know I will be the subject of stares (not for the same reasons as these women, but still, my crotch will garner some stares) and then it's my own stupidity to blame if I'm unhappy about being stared at...
But, again. Stupid companies. Stop using booth babes. It makes the industry look adolescent in nature, and is disrespectful to all women, and even more disrespectful to women in tech.
THIS kind of attitude is why many of us geeks can't get a date.. change it!
Consensual sex involved protection from STDs and pregnancy (i.e. a condom). The accusation is that he surreptitiously slipped of the condom without informing his partner. Anything that happened after that would not have been a part of the consensual sex act. He (allegedly) hid his actions.
As someone pointed out there are different words available for rape here, and they signify different levels of violence and different levels of seriousness. All of them translate to rape in English (as far as I know)