I don't believe that my weight has a direct impact on my IQ level, however I would perhaps concede that my fitness level impacts on my ability to focus my intelligence effectively.
While I''m unfit (like I am at the moment) I sleep poorly, am frequently tired, out of laziness I eat crud and this all affects my ability to think clearly for exended periods of time.
I have a loptop @ work and a laptop @ home. The work laptop is most commonly used with an external full keyboard, mouse and 20" display. The types of work I use it for, which frequently includes data mining large data sources with many rows and columns benefit from me being able to view more data at the same time, especially when looking for patterns. Being a laptop means that when I need to work away from my office - either because I am at a client site or at another field ofice - means I can take my apps and data with me easily. From an ergonomics perspective, the external KVM setup is much better for my neck, shoulders back and sanity.
At home, I work almost exclusively with th elap top as a standalone unit. It has wireless, I use it on my lap in front of the TV. I'm not planning on writing reports for work in front of the TV.
Hrm... I typically have fewer windows open on my Mac than on my Windows box. Partially because I still use the default setup in MS Office to have a different item on the task bar for each document, and on the Mac the default is to have one item per application and change which document is at the front.
Realistically, the number of windows you have open will be relative to the number of tasks you are doing at any given time. Your observation that Mac users have more windows open at a time, it would suggest they are running more applications. From that I could make two assumptions: 1. they are comfortable managing more tasks simulateously; or 2. they are like may parents and don't realise closing the window doesn't quit the application.
Well, Apple already have Expose, but I would suggest it would be some technologly that allows efficient change of focus and smart resizing of windows in relation towhat other applicaitons you are currently using. Simply tiling them to all the same size doesn't help - some apps need more space than others, and some you will always want to run full screen or in a small status view.
On my mac,the distance the cursor travels is relative to the speed the mouse travels. I assume windows does something similar. So if you need to travel a long way you move the mounse fast, if you need to move a small distance you move the mouse slowly. Obviously your accuracy increases with slow movement. This is where Fitts Law comes in with targets of infinite height/width.
The danger comes in when there are conflicting socially acceptable standards. For example, in Australian in recent years we had a spate of gang rapes in Sydney by a group of Lebanese muslims who were yanking anglo-saxon girls off the street because 'white girls are sluts and are asking for it'.
In their little segment of society, women are expected to be covered with a veil from head to foot when in public or they are being deliberately provocative. It is unreasonable in their eyes for men to be expected to restrain their sexual urges when confronted by women with exposed arms, or a shirt that shows a bit of cleavage.
I'm not suggesting that all Lebanese or even all mulsims believe this. But it is an example of conflicting standards hurting people who had a reasonable expectation of safety.
In a "perfect" world we could all go around naked and not have unwanted sexual advances pursued beyond the first "no".
A surevy like this will self select for a higher than average failure rate. The people most likely to post are those that have had an issue. People who's machines just work would be less likely to be looking for defect information or post in a surevey about defects.
You might as well use my personal purchases of Powerbooks as the definative sample - I've bought 4 over 10+ years. None have had a hardware failure in the first 12 months, one has had a failure in the first 3 years. It was the clock battery on a PB 150, which required a small board to be replaced. We upgraded the harddrive at the same time.
I haven't collected the stats on PBs, I recall that @ launch of the iMac (Bondi), Apple anticipated a possible 2% failure rate and requested resellers stock certain parts in anticipation of those failure levels. Ultimately the failure rate in first 3 months was less than 1% for units sold.
The typical failure pattern for a new computer is:
0-3 months - failures due to unit design
0-6 months - failures due to poor QA at manufacturing - usually unit or batch specific, not model specific, will see some overlap at start with model design failures, may be tricky to isolate.
6-24 months - usually pretty stable in the hands of typical user
24-onwards - start seeing wear and tear issues
Varients to this would include laptop programs with schools - the kids can induce wear and tear issues within 6 months or less. This is generally because their usage patterns are different (setting up and packing up machine several times per day, pluging and unplugging cables constantly causing stress on ports) plus they tend to take less care of the devices.
Most common failure types are problems with ports being pushed off their boards, catches being forced (either to open lid or for removable modules), hinges broken/twisted, damage from falling (HDA/case/LCD damage).
Similar failure patterns are found on units by other manufacturers.
Disclaimer: worked 5+ years as an Apple Warranty repairer in Australia. Also warrantied NEC laptop repairer during same period. Preferred supplier for a number of private schools laptop programs during this period. Also several years in retail computer sales across all major brands. Worst failure rate I ever saw were when Olivetti released desktop computers, we had a batch with over a 90% DOA rate.
As someone who plays both WoW and D&D I would suggest that there is very little difference as foar as the random numbers go. The biggest difference is the micro-management in D&D, on every combat round I need to choose what action I will take - if I cannot chose, then I do nothing but my opponent can still attack. In WoW I will auto attack unless I choose a different action. That action can be to move, disengage, use a special attack. The success of that action will be determined by the AI (random numbers).
D&D has no clearer win scenario than WoW. If you are limiting the win requirements to completing a given scenario, then my guild won BWL last week, and the week before and the week before that. If you set the win scanario to reaching the maximum level - then I won WoW about 15 months ago, but the highest level D&D character I've ever had was a level 19.
Death can certainly be a pain in the but in D&D, but after you reach a certain level you generally have access to resurrection spells with your party. Your DM will decide whether they are going to charge you an XP penalty depending ou your house rules. You have the option to re-roll at any time with much less effort than leveling a new WoW toon. In fact the penalty for changing race/class/build is far less than in WoW as typically the DM will allow you to create a new character of similar level to your exisiting one to introduce into the campaign. You don't have to level it from 0 unless your whole party decides to do so.
I currently have 2 active D&D characters, an elvish rogue @ L8 and a Human druid at L16. Both get played on a semi regular basis in campaigns that have been going for years. They are not the first characters I have had in those games. I have a character that joined a campign that has been going collectively for over 12 years, but I found the campign a bit too serious and stoped playing.
A tabletop game is only limited by the imagination and persistence of your DM. It's easier to win a full game of Talisman than it is to win at D&D.
I tried to purchase a Stan Ridgway CD. I could not find it in Australia anywhere. I could not find it on Amazon. Eventually I located the artist's personal website which said he was no longer pressing CDs but selling all his back catalog through the iTunes store.
Excellent, I say. The iTunes store is due to open any time now in Australia (this happened a while back - I had been trying to buy the albums for some time). The iTunes store is finally launched, I find the album and try to buy it.... Unfortunately, it is listed on the iTunes US store, but not available to purchase from the Australian catalogue.
Short of obtaining a US credit card, there is no legal way for me to purchase this album in Australia unless I can find a second hand copy somewhere - which provides the artist just as much in the way of revenue as if I copy it from someone.
While I don't think that this is a situation of Apple's making - I doubt they specifically negotiated an exclusive deal with Mr Ridgway. I suspect he is supporting what he believes is a boon for independent artists and didn't think about the impact it would have for people outside of the US.
A game allows players to make non-trivial choices that affect the outcome (positively or negatively) according to an established ruleset, and make progress towards a win or lose condition.
You seem to be describing a game of strategy. There are many games of luck which allow few if any non-trivial choices, and games of skill where the only strategy may be who you select as your opponent.
Games have a much broader definition that you give them credit for. Even some of your examples are questionable.
How do you "win" at D&D? Sure you can beat a given encounter (complete a quest) but the game world and campaign is only limited by the imagination and the endurance of your GM and players.
The random number generators we use for D&D are polyhedrons (dice) of assorted number of sizes (faces). How does that differ from your description of WoW?
Just in case you didn't know, Xerox does far more than build and sell copiers. They also have significant investment in digital document management systems such as workflow solutions, content management and DAMs. The also propmote zero-landfill remanufacturing for thier print engines, have a corporate policy of using recycled paper where ever possible including client presentations (at least in Australia).
I notice you left HP and Lexmark off your list of DIAF candidates, did you realise that most organisations use MFDs (multi-function devices) now, and that probably 80% or more of their volume is PRINTING not COPYING.
Also, on the topic of recycled paper, can I suggest you find a copy of the "Penn & Teller's Bullshit" episode on recycling. You might find it enlightening.
Most paper I see used around an office is not suitable to be run through a printer a second time, it is often dog-eared, creased, distorted from someone holding it too long in sweaty hands, stapled, etc...
It is not uncommon to see loose paper piled next to a printer waiting to be laoded which is already mangled. It is best to store paper in it's pack until ready for use, it keeps the paper clean, dry and undamaged.
I tend to use tracing paper, felt tip pens and a photocopier.
Establish your basic grid - photocopy a bunch of shells, you can layer elements to see how the screens build on each other using either light trace or bank paper.
I also find that colour can be useful in mockups - hence the felt tip pens. If links are going to be a different colour, etc... show them as such on your mockup. HMTL is a GUI, chances are they won't be using the site in B&W - colour does impact on the choices people make while using the site.
That sound has nothing to do with the OS, it's a hardware check. You would get that noise from a Mac with a blank hard drive if you switched it on (and the hardware passed it's intial boot check.
The first thing I do on any computer is turn off sound sets. They annoy me. I'm sure they annoy plenty of other people. I can't think of many worse tortures than being in an open plan coprorate environment and flocks of computers boot into Vista.:(
I used to go the extra mile, I worked back nights and came in on weekends and male collegues got all the credit. Screw them. The company advocates a family freindly environment and promotes living balanced lifestyles so I'm taking them at their word.
About 18 months ago I resolved not to make a practice of working back unless a project was off the rails due to no fault of our own and working back wuld make a difference in that situation.
A number of years ago I used to work as the on-site technician for a school running a laptop program, I also spent several years doing back to base servicing for several schools from a reseller workshop.
My personal opinion is that in primary school (up to year 6) the kids should be using a class room shared machine in groups, years 7 to 9 should be using open labs and probably have access to a computer at home. Years 10 to 12 would direcctly benefit from a personla laptop.
Portable computers with their accessories still weight 5kg or so, this is an unreasonable weight to have a small child carry in addition to any other personal effects they have for the day. Most children in primary schol have little concept of the value of the laptop they are lugging around, I saw far more "accidental damage" from young children dropping them on the ground, spilling things in them, throwing them at each other or having them vandalised by classmates.
The average usable lifespan of a laptop computer is 3 years. The sooner you start the kids using a laptop - the more you have to buy while they are at school. In the later years of schooling they are more likely to be doing large projects over an extended period of time which will require multiple drafts and the ability to work on the project in multiple locations at a time suitable to the user. Being able to control their own working environment will be key for these older users.
Slashdot Mirror
The Australian Oxford Dictionary
ISBN: 0195517962
The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
William Strunk Jr., E. B. White, Roger Angell (Foreword)
ISBN: 020530902X
Most of my business communications are written - making these tools essential.
Some people would say that it simply saves time to hire NSW policement who have already been to jail...
(Disclaimer - I come from a family rife with NSW police, including a former Police Commisioner)
The Performa wasn't guilty all by itself, I would say instead the combination of the Performa range machines, the PB190/5300 and Mac Os 7.5
I don't believe that my weight has a direct impact on my IQ level, however I would perhaps concede that my fitness level impacts on my ability to focus my intelligence effectively.
While I''m unfit (like I am at the moment) I sleep poorly, am frequently tired, out of laziness I eat crud and this all affects my ability to think clearly for exended periods of time.
I have a loptop @ work and a laptop @ home. The work laptop is most commonly used with an external full keyboard, mouse and 20" display. The types of work I use it for, which frequently includes data mining large data sources with many rows and columns benefit from me being able to view more data at the same time, especially when looking for patterns. Being a laptop means that when I need to work away from my office - either because I am at a client site or at another field ofice - means I can take my apps and data with me easily. From an ergonomics perspective, the external KVM setup is much better for my neck, shoulders back and sanity.
At home, I work almost exclusively with th elap top as a standalone unit. It has wireless, I use it on my lap in front of the TV. I'm not planning on writing reports for work in front of the TV.
Hrm... I typically have fewer windows open on my Mac than on my Windows box. Partially because I still use the default setup in MS Office to have a different item on the task bar for each document, and on the Mac the default is to have one item per application and change which document is at the front.
Realistically, the number of windows you have open will be relative to the number of tasks you are doing at any given time. Your observation that Mac users have more windows open at a time, it would suggest they are running more applications. From that I could make two assumptions: 1. they are comfortable managing more tasks simulateously; or 2. they are like may parents and don't realise closing the window doesn't quit the application.
Well, Apple already have Expose, but I would suggest it would be some technologly that allows efficient change of focus and smart resizing of windows in relation towhat other applicaitons you are currently using. Simply tiling them to all the same size doesn't help - some apps need more space than others, and some you will always want to run full screen or in a small status view.
On my mac,the distance the cursor travels is relative to the speed the mouse travels. I assume windows does something similar. So if you need to travel a long way you move the mounse fast, if you need to move a small distance you move the mouse slowly. Obviously your accuracy increases with slow movement. This is where Fitts Law comes in with targets of infinite height/width.
The danger comes in when there are conflicting socially acceptable standards. For example, in Australian in recent years we had a spate of gang rapes in Sydney by a group of Lebanese muslims who were yanking anglo-saxon girls off the street because 'white girls are sluts and are asking for it'.
In their little segment of society, women are expected to be covered with a veil from head to foot when in public or they are being deliberately provocative. It is unreasonable in their eyes for men to be expected to restrain their sexual urges when confronted by women with exposed arms, or a shirt that shows a bit of cleavage.
I'm not suggesting that all Lebanese or even all mulsims believe this. But it is an example of conflicting standards hurting people who had a reasonable expectation of safety.
In a "perfect" world we could all go around naked and not have unwanted sexual advances pursued beyond the first "no".
we don't live in a perfect world.
A surevy like this will self select for a higher than average failure rate. The people most likely to post are those that have had an issue. People who's machines just work would be less likely to be looking for defect information or post in a surevey about defects.
You might as well use my personal purchases of Powerbooks as the definative sample - I've bought 4 over 10+ years. None have had a hardware failure in the first 12 months, one has had a failure in the first 3 years. It was the clock battery on a PB 150, which required a small board to be replaced. We upgraded the harddrive at the same time.
I haven't collected the stats on PBs, I recall that @ launch of the iMac (Bondi), Apple anticipated a possible 2% failure rate and requested resellers stock certain parts in anticipation of those failure levels. Ultimately the failure rate in first 3 months was less than 1% for units sold.
The typical failure pattern for a new computer is:
Varients to this would include laptop programs with schools - the kids can induce wear and tear issues within 6 months or less. This is generally because their usage patterns are different (setting up and packing up machine several times per day, pluging and unplugging cables constantly causing stress on ports) plus they tend to take less care of the devices.
Most common failure types are problems with ports being pushed off their boards, catches being forced (either to open lid or for removable modules), hinges broken/twisted, damage from falling (HDA/case/LCD damage).
Similar failure patterns are found on units by other manufacturers.
Disclaimer: worked 5+ years as an Apple Warranty repairer in Australia. Also warrantied NEC laptop repairer during same period. Preferred supplier for a number of private schools laptop programs during this period. Also several years in retail computer sales across all major brands. Worst failure rate I ever saw were when Olivetti released desktop computers, we had a batch with over a 90% DOA rate.
But, surely it wasn't a core promise. You know, like "there will never, ever be a GST"...
As someone who plays both WoW and D&D I would suggest that there is very little difference as foar as the random numbers go. The biggest difference is the micro-management in D&D, on every combat round I need to choose what action I will take - if I cannot chose, then I do nothing but my opponent can still attack. In WoW I will auto attack unless I choose a different action. That action can be to move, disengage, use a special attack. The success of that action will be determined by the AI (random numbers).
D&D has no clearer win scenario than WoW. If you are limiting the win requirements to completing a given scenario, then my guild won BWL last week, and the week before and the week before that. If you set the win scanario to reaching the maximum level - then I won WoW about 15 months ago, but the highest level D&D character I've ever had was a level 19.
Death can certainly be a pain in the but in D&D, but after you reach a certain level you generally have access to resurrection spells with your party. Your DM will decide whether they are going to charge you an XP penalty depending ou your house rules. You have the option to re-roll at any time with much less effort than leveling a new WoW toon. In fact the penalty for changing race/class/build is far less than in WoW as typically the DM will allow you to create a new character of similar level to your exisiting one to introduce into the campaign. You don't have to level it from 0 unless your whole party decides to do so.
I currently have 2 active D&D characters, an elvish rogue @ L8 and a Human druid at L16. Both get played on a semi regular basis in campaigns that have been going for years. They are not the first characters I have had in those games. I have a character that joined a campign that has been going collectively for over 12 years, but I found the campign a bit too serious and stoped playing.
A tabletop game is only limited by the imagination and persistence of your DM. It's easier to win a full game of Talisman than it is to win at D&D.
What about "Yellow Box"?
I tried to purchase a Stan Ridgway CD. I could not find it in Australia anywhere. I could not find it on Amazon. Eventually I located the artist's personal website which said he was no longer pressing CDs but selling all his back catalog through the iTunes store.
Excellent, I say. The iTunes store is due to open any time now in Australia (this happened a while back - I had been trying to buy the albums for some time). The iTunes store is finally launched, I find the album and try to buy it.... Unfortunately, it is listed on the iTunes US store, but not available to purchase from the Australian catalogue.
Short of obtaining a US credit card, there is no legal way for me to purchase this album in Australia unless I can find a second hand copy somewhere - which provides the artist just as much in the way of revenue as if I copy it from someone.
While I don't think that this is a situation of Apple's making - I doubt they specifically negotiated an exclusive deal with Mr Ridgway. I suspect he is supporting what he believes is a boon for independent artists and didn't think about the impact it would have for people outside of the US.
A game allows players to make non-trivial choices that affect the outcome (positively or negatively) according to an established ruleset, and make progress towards a win or lose condition.
You seem to be describing a game of strategy. There are many games of luck which allow few if any non-trivial choices, and games of skill where the only strategy may be who you select as your opponent.
Games have a much broader definition that you give them credit for. Even some of your examples are questionable.
How do you "win" at D&D? Sure you can beat a given encounter (complete a quest) but the game world and campaign is only limited by the imagination and the endurance of your GM and players.
The random number generators we use for D&D are polyhedrons (dice) of assorted number of sizes (faces). How does that differ from your description of WoW?
Just in case you didn't know, Xerox does far more than build and sell copiers. They also have significant investment in digital document management systems such as workflow solutions, content management and DAMs. The also propmote zero-landfill remanufacturing for thier print engines, have a corporate policy of using recycled paper where ever possible including client presentations (at least in Australia).
I notice you left HP and Lexmark off your list of DIAF candidates, did you realise that most organisations use MFDs (multi-function devices) now, and that probably 80% or more of their volume is PRINTING not COPYING.
Also, on the topic of recycled paper, can I suggest you find a copy of the "Penn & Teller's Bullshit" episode on recycling. You might find it enlightening.
Most paper I see used around an office is not suitable to be run through a printer a second time, it is often dog-eared, creased, distorted from someone holding it too long in sweaty hands, stapled, etc...
It is not uncommon to see loose paper piled next to a printer waiting to be laoded which is already mangled. It is best to store paper in it's pack until ready for use, it keeps the paper clean, dry and undamaged.
There have been times when Apple suffered from too many and too confusing product lines - back in the Performa era machines.
While he was an atypical example - you can't say he wasn't a real Australian.
I tend to use tracing paper, felt tip pens and a photocopier.
Establish your basic grid - photocopy a bunch of shells, you can layer elements to see how the screens build on each other using either light trace or bank paper.
I also find that colour can be useful in mockups - hence the felt tip pens. If links are going to be a different colour, etc... show them as such on your mockup. HMTL is a GUI, chances are they won't be using the site in B&W - colour does impact on the choices people make while using the site.
That sound has nothing to do with the OS, it's a hardware check. You would get that noise from a Mac with a blank hard drive if you switched it on (and the hardware passed it's intial boot check.
*pout*
The first thing I do on any computer is turn off sound sets. They annoy me. I'm sure they annoy plenty of other people. I can't think of many worse tortures than being in an open plan coprorate environment and flocks of computers boot into Vista. :(
I used to go the extra mile, I worked back nights and came in on weekends and male collegues got all the credit. Screw them. The company advocates a family freindly environment and promotes living balanced lifestyles so I'm taking them at their word.
About 18 months ago I resolved not to make a practice of working back unless a project was off the rails due to no fault of our own and working back wuld make a difference in that situation.
A number of years ago I used to work as the on-site technician for a school running a laptop program, I also spent several years doing back to base servicing for several schools from a reseller workshop.
My personal opinion is that in primary school (up to year 6) the kids should be using a class room shared machine in groups, years 7 to 9 should be using open labs and probably have access to a computer at home. Years 10 to 12 would direcctly benefit from a personla laptop.
Portable computers with their accessories still weight 5kg or so, this is an unreasonable weight to have a small child carry in addition to any other personal effects they have for the day. Most children in primary schol have little concept of the value of the laptop they are lugging around, I saw far more "accidental damage" from young children dropping them on the ground, spilling things in them, throwing them at each other or having them vandalised by classmates.
The average usable lifespan of a laptop computer is 3 years. The sooner you start the kids using a laptop - the more you have to buy while they are at school. In the later years of schooling they are more likely to be doing large projects over an extended period of time which will require multiple drafts and the ability to work on the project in multiple locations at a time suitable to the user. Being able to control their own working environment will be key for these older users.
That explains why our fridage is cleaned out Friday afternoon every week. It's to manage the useby dates on the "free food".