I buy my hearing aids from a specialized supplier. In addition to the devices I get insurance, three years of free batteries and free appointments. I am picky about what I hear, so I spend a lot of time with him fine tuning the aids -- and there is an incredible amount of tuning that can be done. He also threw in a free custom ear mold. This is all rolled in to the price I pay. I could get the same hearing aids cheaper at COSCO, but without the service. Is it worth it? That is up to you.
Judges should not be forced to be politicians. If judges were appointed rather than elected they would be less influenced by big money and the judicial system would be more fair.
Why can't they just jam the wireless frequencies to make wireless useless within 200 yards of the place?
People don't care about security flaws because
on
WinXP Security Flaw
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
most of the time Windows does what they want it to do, without hassles. The security risks and the threat of MS abusing their personal freedoms are remote problems that don't impinge on the daily experience of web browsing, word processing, emailing, gaming, playing CDs... Sure, once in awhile you get bit by a virus. And the cost is increasing. But there isn't an alternative that is as easy to use.
OK, argue with me, but I've been using Linux since before the birth of RedHat. Last month I spent a full day configuring my CD-ROM burner because of incomplete or wrong documentation. In windows it just works. Today I found a nifty software package, downloaded, unzipped, untarred, and it wouldn't run because of incompatible libraries. I try to update libraries and discover I'll break dependencies. Do I want to hassle with that? NO! Does Jane Doe want to hassle with that? Hell NO! Not when she can, using windows, double-click on Setup and let the install shield work -- which it does, most of the time.
We can gloat over how insecure windows is and how dumb the people who use it are, but that won't make more people use Linux. Many people want to ditch windows, but don't because they think, correctly, that Linux is too gear-headed. What will make them switch is if they see an alternative to windows that is at least as easy to use. The major distributors know this, and they have improved installation and the desktop environment fantastically in the past couple of years. But Linux needs an equivalent to windows' install shield so that application installation and removal is simple, transparent, and reliable.
I recently shipped some valuable art via UPS and had a long discussion with the woman at the counter about the vagaries of the UPS system. What is important here is that UPS ground involves lots of conveyor belt transfers. Packages must be able to withstand an 18" drop. They also undergo considerable "grinding" as discussed above. The solution is to ship 2nd day air. This drastically reduces the amount of handling the package receives. For even more precious cargo use Next Day Air -- then it is basically hand-delivered. I know these options are more expensive, but consider them a form of insurance. In my case UPS insured my packages for $2500 each, but required that I ship 2nd Day Air. When I buy computers mail order they always come 2nd Day. Now I think I understand why.
I just bought a VAIO SR133 for $1000 new. That's a Celeron 600/128M/10G. The main reason for getting it was to download and preprocess images from a digital camera while on the road. The screen is best at 800x600 and a little low contrast, but that is one of the main differences between this and the $2K machines. I had to add an ethernet pc card to hook into my network. The fan is on the fscking bottom of the unit, so ou have to be careful. I haven't tried it out on the airplane yet, so don't know if the fan location is a problem. As far as price/performance in the <3 lb bracket this was the best. From reading the above comments I maybe should have looked at the iBooks more closely. I sure like the small size though.
I'm not saying there aren't kids into "Hello World." My son, at various times from maybe age 6, has tried different flavors of BASIC. He'd get interested for a day or two, then drop it. When I bought him Visual Basic he built a dice roller with a GUI for Dungeons and Dragons. But we could never get the help files to work, so he kept getting stuck, and I can't help much, because I use perl and python and the VB programming environment is terribly complex. The robot projects have really caught his interest.
BTW -- anyone got ideas on how to "fix" help files in Windoze?
Three points: (1) You have to go by the kids' reactions. The Lego software may not be attractive to an experienced programmer, and it has some frustrating limitations (no variables!), but kids get into it, and that is the first, hardest step. (2) The underlying hardware and software are remarkably sophisticated even though the user interface is dumbed down. Remember, this is for kids as young as 10. (3) As I pointed out, and others have commented, there are several more powerful languages to use with Mindstorms once you get started.
In my experience Mindstorms works great. My son and I used Lego Mindstorms to build a mini-sumo robot and beat 17 other entries first time out! We have also built and programmed numerous run-around the floor robots and a bar-code reader/candy dispenser. Several things are good about Mindstorms. You can build active, interesting *fun* robots, and fun is *most* important. You see the results of your program in a real manifestation (show me a 10-year-old cares about "Hello World?"). The Lego programming language is very drag-and-drop visual, and is dead simple to get started with. Once you get going there are several other languages to use. I use NQC (not quite C) which has a very c-like syntax and a reasonable programming environment called the RCX Control Center. More info on NQC is at: http://www.enteract.com/~dbaum/nqc/index.html . There is also a Forth variant and another low-level language called, I think, LegoS. The last 3 all run under linux. NQC also works with Windows.
If you get interested in robots, there are several systems based on a series of microcontrollers called BASIC STAMPs. These, as you might guess, are programmed in versions of BASIC (running under DOS). The advantage here is you can teach some electronics fundamentals along with the programming, again in a real-world environment. the Robot Store, http://www.robotstore.com/ has lots of resources.
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I buy my hearing aids from a specialized supplier. In addition to the devices I get insurance, three years of free batteries and free appointments. I am picky about what I hear, so I spend a lot of time with him fine tuning the aids -- and there is an incredible amount of tuning that can be done. He also threw in a free custom ear mold. This is all rolled in to the price I pay. I could get the same hearing aids cheaper at COSCO, but without the service. Is it worth it? That is up to you.
Judges should not be forced to be politicians. If judges were appointed rather than elected they would be less influenced by big money and the judicial system would be more fair.
Why can't they just jam the wireless frequencies to make wireless useless within 200 yards of the place?
most of the time Windows does what they want it to do, without hassles. The security risks and the threat of MS abusing their personal freedoms are remote problems that don't impinge on the daily experience of web browsing, word processing, emailing, gaming, playing CDs... Sure, once in awhile you get bit by a virus. And the cost is increasing. But there isn't an alternative that is as easy to use.
OK, argue with me, but I've been using Linux since before the birth of RedHat. Last month I spent a full day configuring my CD-ROM burner because of incomplete or wrong documentation. In windows it just works. Today I found a nifty software package, downloaded, unzipped, untarred, and it wouldn't run because of incompatible libraries. I try to update libraries and discover I'll break dependencies. Do I want to hassle with that? NO! Does Jane Doe want to hassle with that? Hell NO! Not when she can, using windows, double-click on Setup and let the install shield work -- which it does, most of the time.
We can gloat over how insecure windows is and how dumb the people who use it are, but that won't make more people use Linux. Many people want to ditch windows, but don't because they think, correctly, that Linux is too gear-headed. What will make them switch is if they see an alternative to windows that is at least as easy to use. The major distributors know this, and they have improved installation and the desktop environment fantastically in the past couple of years. But Linux needs an equivalent to windows' install shield so that application installation and removal is simple, transparent, and reliable.
It's the front end, stupid!
I recently shipped some valuable art via UPS and had a long discussion with the woman at the counter about the vagaries of the UPS system. What is important here is that UPS ground involves lots of conveyor belt transfers. Packages must be able to withstand an 18" drop. They also undergo considerable "grinding" as discussed above. The solution is to ship 2nd day air. This drastically reduces the amount of handling the package receives. For even more precious cargo use Next Day Air -- then it is basically hand-delivered. I know these options are more expensive, but consider them a form of insurance. In my case UPS insured my packages for $2500 each, but required that I ship 2nd Day Air. When I buy computers mail order they always come 2nd Day. Now I think I understand why.
I just bought a VAIO SR133 for $1000 new. That's a Celeron 600/128M/10G. The main reason for getting it was to download and preprocess images from a digital camera while on the road. The screen is best at 800x600 and a little low contrast, but that is one of the main differences between this and the $2K machines. I had to add an ethernet pc card to hook into my network. The fan is on the fscking bottom of the unit, so ou have to be careful. I haven't tried it out on the airplane yet, so don't know if the fan location is a problem. As far as price/performance in the <3 lb bracket this was the best. From reading the above comments I maybe should have looked at the iBooks more closely. I sure like the small size though.
I'm not saying there aren't kids into "Hello World." My son, at various times from maybe age 6, has tried different flavors of BASIC. He'd get interested for a day or two, then drop it. When I bought him Visual Basic he built a dice roller with a GUI for Dungeons and Dragons. But we could never get the help files to work, so he kept getting stuck, and I can't help much, because I use perl and python and the VB programming environment is terribly complex. The robot projects have really caught his interest.
BTW -- anyone got ideas on how to "fix" help files in Windoze?
Three points:
(1) You have to go by the kids' reactions. The Lego software may not be attractive to an experienced programmer, and it has some frustrating limitations (no variables!), but kids get into it, and that is the first, hardest step.
(2) The underlying hardware and software are remarkably sophisticated even though the user interface is dumbed down. Remember, this is for kids as young as 10.
(3) As I pointed out, and others have commented, there are several more powerful languages to use with Mindstorms once you get started.
In my experience Mindstorms works great. My son and I used Lego Mindstorms to build a mini-sumo robot and beat 17 other entries first time out! We have also built and programmed numerous run-around the floor robots and a bar-code reader/candy dispenser. Several things are good about Mindstorms. You can build active, interesting *fun* robots, and fun is *most* important. You see the results of your program in a real manifestation (show me a 10-year-old cares about "Hello World?"). The Lego programming language is very drag-and-drop visual, and is dead simple to get started with. Once you get going there are several other languages to use. I use NQC (not quite C) which has a very c-like syntax and a reasonable programming environment called the RCX Control Center. More info on NQC is at: http://www.enteract.com/~dbaum/nqc/index.html . There is also a Forth variant and another low-level language called, I think, LegoS. The last 3 all run under linux. NQC also works with Windows.
If you get interested in robots, there are several systems based on a series of microcontrollers called BASIC STAMPs. These, as you might guess, are programmed in versions of BASIC (running under DOS). The advantage here is you can teach some electronics fundamentals along with the programming, again in a real-world environment. the Robot Store, http://www.robotstore.com/ has lots of resources.
So what is taking Mozilla so long? It sounds to me like we need a monster push to make Mozilla happen right now.