1. Tablets Are Niche Devices 2. Full OSes Were Always There, Yet Those Who Complained That The iPad Doesn't Have One Still Never Bought One 3. High-End Hardware Specs Sometimes Don't Matter 4. Interface, Interface, Interface 5. Lack Of Tablet Apps
Previously, the CD was the premium format, with all it's uncompressed audio glory. And it is fairly portable, playable in most consumer electronic devices found in the living room or car.
The MP3/AAC format was the discount format. Compressed with some audio loss, and playable in less devices. Also encumbered in some cases with DRM.
The premium format carried a 50% markup, with most MP3 albums costing around $10, and CD's costing around $15.
With CD's potentially costing LESS than MP3/AAC formats, this signifies the market is placing premium on the MP3/AAC format over the CD. This could be because the format is now supported in more devices, or consumers find it friendlier to deal with, perhaps because there's no need to fight the packaging then burn it on your own.
I managed a group that was heavily indian years back, mostly here on visas, whle the client did a more formal search for a CTO. I wasn't all that impressed with their skills. The two lead programmers, one indian and one russian, did 90% of the work, while the rest had a hard time finishing simple development tasks.
What struck me was the inability to understand a problem unless it had been broken down into formal requirements. They didn't understand anything about business needs, users needs, interface considerations, or work flow. They just knew how translate what was essentially pseudo-code into actual code.
I didn't ask them about this directly, but in talking about what education they did have, the colleges they went to only gave them classes in their main topic of study. They didn't balance things out with other mandatory classes in other areas.
It kind of gave me more of an appreciation for the liberals arts side of my degrees.
My issue as of late with Wikipedia is the infiltration of Chinese history into the pages.
Most major inventions are credited to first being invented by the Chinese, regardless how little evidence there is, or whether the invention was anything more than a dream, drawing, or element in a painting.
In fact there's a whole list of claims of Chinese "inventions" on Wikipedia that I kind of find dubious, since most of the reference don't exist or suggest otherwise.
The holocaust. Lehman Brothers goes bankrupt. The US government selling arms to Iran to fund an illegal war in central america. Flu strains from 3 different species combine overnight to form the new H1N1. Man walks on the moon and returns to earth safely.
This, on the other hand, is easily imaginable.
Anyone here NOT ripped off once or twice by a taxi driver?
I'll stick to my guns, having created apps using local data for mobile use. Having the ability to detect net connection would be really useful.
While it's possible to hack this together in javascript, getting system status information from a try/catch type block executed in an asyncronous fashion leads to false positives, false negatives, and code that's generally difficult to debug.
It's not important that it works for you, it's important it work in the field.
A simple synchronous javascript API that allows the browser to detect net connectivity or connectivity to a specific server (ping-like) would be really useful. In fact I'll go so far as to say REALLY USEFUL.
As I stated in the original post, it's my opinion. You might have a different opinion, but trying to prove to me my opinion is invalid is a fool's errand.
Yes, and I've already written apps using it. Safari supports the html5 local storage pretty well, including in the iPhone.
I, too, am unsure how this differs from other new local db storage techniques.
What's missing, by the way, in my opinion, to make these REALLY useful, is a simple javascript call to determin if you are currently web connected, something like isNetConnected() found in some applications. This would let you customize the option you present to the user (ie, you can only sync your data when you're web connected).
Didn't he know that you're only supposed to talk at conferences when A) you have something to sell, or B) you're being paid in a round-about way to promote a product while appearing to have no conflicting interest?
No one does a post-mortem of ACTUAL issues that matter to ACTUAL people, anymore.
I see this all the time as I do consulting. I've never heard/seen proof anyone has a contractual relationship.
Way back in the 80's there was a saying: "No one ever got fired for buying IBM"
It's a similar idea. As a CTO or IT Director, unless you want to spend all your days doing analysis on each type of software you might need, you need to come up with rules on selection and support.
And no one is ever going to get fired for sticking with MS products by default.
The problem with this, of course, is that MS doesn't have best of breed products in many cases.
Some things they do work pretty well (Windows, IIS, SQL Server, Office).
While other MS technologies suck (Frontpage, Visual SourceSafe, Visual Studio, Zune, Windows Mobile).
If you are forced to use the sucky technology simply because someone wants to stick with their overly simple rule, you can fight it, but it's going to be an uphill battle.
You're better off picking one or two battles and trying to win those. Then wait for your CTO or IT Director gets replaced, 'cause they probably don't know what they are doing.
(By the way, this is my opinion. Feel free to express your opinion, but simply telling me my opinion is wrong doesn't add anything to the conversation.)
Slashdot Mirror
1. Tablets Are Niche Devices
2. Full OSes Were Always There, Yet Those Who Complained That The iPad Doesn't Have One Still Never Bought One
3. High-End Hardware Specs Sometimes Don't Matter
4. Interface, Interface, Interface
5. Lack Of Tablet Apps
Agreed.
Getting legal advice from slashdot is like getting auto advice from a plumber.
I must admit I was thinking about touch-screen devices, since that's a huge part of the challenge.
http://www.canalys.com/pr/2010/r2010021.html
But poor Palm. They don't even rate their own color in that chart, just a gray "Others" slice.
When you take the number of HTC Magic phones that shipped, and subtract the number that were returned, you get 3,000.
OK, that was mean. I've gotta get outside.
The $99 might cover the parts, but the R&D to design the thing is a different story.
Whoever can ramp up the economy of scale around netbooks is going to own the market.
My money is on the company that did this in the smartphone market.
You know who they are...
I see this as a really important shift.
Previously, the CD was the premium format, with all it's uncompressed audio glory. And it is fairly portable, playable in most consumer electronic devices found in the living room or car.
The MP3/AAC format was the discount format. Compressed with some audio loss, and playable in less devices. Also encumbered in some cases with DRM.
The premium format carried a 50% markup, with most MP3 albums costing around $10, and CD's costing around $15.
With CD's potentially costing LESS than MP3/AAC formats, this signifies the market is placing premium on the MP3/AAC format over the CD. This could be because the format is now supported in more devices, or consumers find it friendlier to deal with, perhaps because there's no need to fight the packaging then burn it on your own.
Interesting. I never thought of it that way.
I managed a group that was heavily indian years back, mostly here on visas, whle the client did a more formal search for a CTO. I wasn't all that impressed with their skills. The two lead programmers, one indian and one russian, did 90% of the work, while the rest had a hard time finishing simple development tasks.
What struck me was the inability to understand a problem unless it had been broken down into formal requirements. They didn't understand anything about business needs, users needs, interface considerations, or work flow. They just knew how translate what was essentially pseudo-code into actual code.
I didn't ask them about this directly, but in talking about what education they did have, the colleges they went to only gave them classes in their main topic of study. They didn't balance things out with other mandatory classes in other areas.
It kind of gave me more of an appreciation for the liberals arts side of my degrees.
My issue as of late with Wikipedia is the infiltration of Chinese history into the pages.
Most major inventions are credited to first being invented by the Chinese, regardless how little evidence there is, or whether the invention was anything more than a dream, drawing, or element in a painting.
Moveable type? Invented by the Chinese.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moveable_type
The automobile? Invented for a Chinese emperor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile
The Roman Abacus? "May have been inspired by" the Chinese.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus
In fact there's a whole list of claims of Chinese "inventions" on Wikipedia that I kind of find dubious, since most of the reference don't exist or suggest otherwise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_inventions
If our students are using Wikipedia as a basis for papers, they are likely just repeating subtle propaganda without knowing it.
Try looking up the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Did you mean the "Tiananmen Square protests of 1989"?
Hard to imagine why this guy is out of a job.
So you've never been overcharged?
The holocaust. Lehman Brothers goes bankrupt. The US government selling arms to Iran to fund an illegal war in central america. Flu strains from 3 different species combine overnight to form the new H1N1. Man walks on the moon and returns to earth safely.
This, on the other hand, is easily imaginable.
Anyone here NOT ripped off once or twice by a taxi driver?
I agree. This is about important principles. It is nice to see them recognize this.
I'll stick to my guns, having created apps using local data for mobile use. Having the ability to detect net connection would be really useful.
While it's possible to hack this together in javascript, getting system status information from a try/catch type block executed in an asyncronous fashion leads to false positives, false negatives, and code that's generally difficult to debug.
It's not important that it works for you, it's important it work in the field.
A simple synchronous javascript API that allows the browser to detect net connectivity or connectivity to a specific server (ping-like) would be really useful. In fact I'll go so far as to say REALLY USEFUL.
As I stated in the original post, it's my opinion. You might have a different opinion, but trying to prove to me my opinion is invalid is a fool's errand.
Why? 'cause while it is possible to do in javascript, the appropriate place for it is the application/browser.
If you pay the rack rate listed, you're getting screwed.
An insurance company is going to have an agreement with the company, and will probably pay half of the sticker price.
The trick will be talking to the right person who can give you a discount in exchange for paying cash.
Yes, and I've already written apps using it. Safari supports the html5 local storage pretty well, including in the iPhone.
I, too, am unsure how this differs from other new local db storage techniques.
What's missing, by the way, in my opinion, to make these REALLY useful, is a simple javascript call to determin if you are currently web connected, something like isNetConnected() found in some applications. This would let you customize the option you present to the user (ie, you can only sync your data when you're web connected).
Huh? What are you jabbering about?
Long live DeviantArt.com
Didn't he know that you're only supposed to talk at conferences when A) you have something to sell, or B) you're being paid in a round-about way to promote a product while appearing to have no conflicting interest?
No one does a post-mortem of ACTUAL issues that matter to ACTUAL people, anymore.
I'm seeing nothing that any other company wouldn't do to protect their intellectual rights.
Apple is not an open source company.
... don't want a fix to the problem.
It's not good for business, and so MANY people don't want to fix the problem, it's never going to be solved in any real way.
You know the I-9 form? You know how annoying it is? You know how many people have been prosecuted for falsifying information on the form?
Two. That's it. Two cases.
Either people here in the US are really, really honest, or there's no one out there investigating theses things.
New technology won't change old behavior.
Thank you. Much clearer now.
Anyone know?
I see this all the time as I do consulting. I've never heard/seen proof anyone has a contractual relationship.
Way back in the 80's there was a saying: "No one ever got fired for buying IBM"
It's a similar idea. As a CTO or IT Director, unless you want to spend all your days doing analysis on each type of software you might need, you need to come up with rules on selection and support.
And no one is ever going to get fired for sticking with MS products by default.
The problem with this, of course, is that MS doesn't have best of breed products in many cases.
Some things they do work pretty well (Windows, IIS, SQL Server, Office).
While other MS technologies suck (Frontpage, Visual SourceSafe, Visual Studio, Zune, Windows Mobile).
If you are forced to use the sucky technology simply because someone wants to stick with their overly simple rule, you can fight it, but it's going to be an uphill battle.
You're better off picking one or two battles and trying to win those. Then wait for your CTO or IT Director gets replaced, 'cause they probably don't know what they are doing.
(By the way, this is my opinion. Feel free to express your opinion, but simply telling me my opinion is wrong doesn't add anything to the conversation.)
I choked on the same phrase: "a more professional color scheme with purple and orange"