VC will own a significant portion of the company, yes. The VC's goal is to make money -- they may sell much of their stake in the company after the IPO to take their profits. If they believe the company will still grow they may stick around for a while longer.
As for the startup company that got "ruined" by VC -- it sounds like the guys who started the company didn't know what they were getting into. Of course the VC is going to want significant control of the company. It will all be spelled out in the VC deal -- if they didn't realize until later how much control they gave away then they weren't paying attention. Besides, VC money is *not* for parties and vacation -- any idiot who takes VC money and sends his entire staff on vacation is asking to be fired.
Ok, it's true they don't connect you to the 'real' 911, but they *do* ask you to register your location so their substitute 911 service knows where to route the call. When I signed up with Vonage they made it quite clear I couldn't get traditional 911 service through my Vonage service, and that in fact 911 would do nothing until I specifically enabled it, and they sent me reminder emails to enable the 911 service by registering my location.
I would guess that the reason Vonage doesn't offer traditional 911 service is because they *can't* becuase they can't get CLECs to cooperate.
He is basically saying "if *everyone* did what we did, there would be no spam". That sounds good in theory, but in the real world, and especially on the internet, you cannot get 100% compliance on *anything*.
Any solution to spam (or, for that matter, any annoyance in life) which relies on 100% cooperation is doomed to fail. The successful solution will be one that allows a customer to stop receiving spam entirely regardless of what everyone else does.
If you just want to provide people with what they want, you should go ahead and port these things to Windows. If you are on some crusade to force people to switch to open source, then go ahead and restrict where they can use their applications. Just be aware that it is somewhat hypocritical: denying someone the ability to run OSS on a non-open OS is essentially restricting their freedom. Especially when your only reason to do so is philosophical, and not technological.
Strap a decent magnet to the bottom of your bike. It will make your bicycle look like an 18-wheeler to the induction loop sensors in the road.
Here's a website that sells them: http://www.cyclegadgets.com/Products/product.asp?I tem=GLTRIG
If it really is a weight sensor (a long metal plate in the road), you can step off your bike and jump on it, assuming you can do so safely. I used to have to do this at an intersection in Pennsylvania.
You seem to be confusing computer programmers with computer programs.
A program is designed to be deterministic, same input same output, if X then Y, etc.
A programmer, on the other hand, is expected to be able to come up with creative ways of approaching a given situation. The approach must be logical and strategic, but not deterministic: two different programmers are unlikely to come up with the exact same solution to a problem.
And that's exactly what good poker playing is all about.
First of all, forget the notion of 3-day work weeks. Your goal, if you take this contract position, is to convert it to full-time. Working only 3 days a week is not going to help you get that goal.
There are a lot of different things to consider when you take a contract position. How much of a pay differential you get depends a lot on the specifics of your contract. You will want to discuss this with the company making you an offer and make sure you get all of the details. Here are some things to find out:
- Will you be W-2 or 1099? 1099 contractors are independent contractors according to the IRS. This means you pay *all* of your FICA taxes. If you are W-2, the IRA considers you an employee, which means you pay half and the employers pays half. So if you are 1099, that's an additional 7% reduction in your net pay that you will never get back.
- What benefits, if any, are you eligible for, and how do they differ from full-time employee's benefits? This all depends on your contract. Sometimes health insurance and 401k are available to contractors, sometimes not. This may or may not be important to you (you may have health insurance through your spouse's job, for example). 401ks are usually a very good deal if they are offered, but sometimes they are not available to contractors.
- Contractors usually do not get paid holidays or paid vacation, but that is not always true. If you get no paid time off, that's about 20 days of lost pay per year (assuming 10 days vacation and 10 holidays) out of a 200-business-day year, the equivalent of a 10% reduction in pay.
- Employees are typically salaried but many contract positions are hourly, and some will pay time-and-a-half for overtime. If so, find out whether overtime is considered over 8 hours per day, or over 40 hours per week. 8hrs/day is better than 40 hrs/wk, but 40 hrs/wk is probably more common.
- Are they serious about making you full time eventually? How long do they expect you to be a contractor before offering you full-time? See if they will put a conversion date in writing. Starting out as a contractor can be a very good way to get in the door and prove yourself, but it could also be the employer's way to make it easier to trim staff when workload lightens. If you know anyone who works there already, see if you can talk to them about how things look from the inside and find out if it is really the great job it looks to be. If they intend to leave you as a contractor forever or cut you loose after a short period of time, be aware that many potential employers look negatively at short-term contract work on a resume. Not all do, but many do.
Be prepared to take a pay cut if and when they do offer to convert you to full-time.
Don't be afraid to talk to the recruiter or hiring manager openly and honestly about your concerns. You are raising kids and have never had a contract position so you have a very legitimate reason to be concerned and to want to proceed carefully. If they balk at your concerns, I would take that as a red flag that something is wrong with the situation. If everything is on the up-and-up, they should be understanding of your situation and willing to spell things out for you.
Umm... why would they do that? Their TOS does give them authority to terminate any account for any reason, but there is nothing specific in it tying my account to the actions of those I invite.
Sure, they *could* do it, I just don't see any reason why they *would*. They're certainly quite aware (and amused, I am sure) that invites are being sold, begged for, and given to complete strangers everyday. To think they are going to enforce some mafia-esque policy ("you vouched for him, and he screwed up, so you are going to pay") is silly.
I suggest anyone with extra gmail invites to spare donate them to this site which is giving them out for free to anyone who asks for them. I have donated all of my invites to them.
Authentication can generally be done using any combination of these 3 factors:
- Something You Know. Generally a shared secret, such as a password.
- Something You Have. Prove that you are in possession of something. By entering the code from a SecureID card, you prove you are in possession of the card. A physical key entered into a lock is also Something You Have. The CVV code on the back of a credit card is a weak form of Something You Have (it could be argued it is something you know, but online stores are using it to 'prove' you are in possession of the card).
- Something You Are. This is biometric authentication, such as voiceprint, fingerprint, iris scan, DNA check, dental records, etc.
Your username is only a bit data -- well-known data at that. It doesn't count for any of the three factors.
From a business perspective, think of how this could change distribution. Instead of having to ship DVDs to your local Blockbuster, Blockbuster could have their stores hooked up to the net and just download the DVD's their customers request.
"Oh, no more copies of Passion of the Christ on the shelf? Hang on a couple of minutes while I burn one for you..."
In August of 2001, I lost my wallet while travelling. I thought getting on a plane without ID would be a problem, but when I showed up at the airport without ID, the airline employee said it was *illegal* for them to require ID (although not illegal to ask for it), and let me board the plane with just the ticket.
Bah, my eyes do much better than 24 Hz. At movie theatres when the camera pans it is very annoying, because 24 Hz isn't fast enough to make the scroll look smooth. It's one of my beefs about going to the movies -- they have made so many advances in sound quality but for the most part image quality is unchanged. I can see the flicker on my monitor unless I crank it up to about 70 Hz.
It's interesting that on Slashdot we criticize organizations like the RIAA for wanting to shut down technology like P2P because the RIAA fears that the technology will be abused, yet we are the ones who complain about the use of technologies such as video camera networks (and RFID, etc.) -- because we fear that they will be abused.
The submitter used the term black box, but the submitter was wrong.
As the article itself states, the technology recognizes a specific pattern of 5 circles on the currency in order to identify it as currency. The pattern can be seen on the back of US $20 bills as a repeating pattern of gold "20"s.
It's very possible to add code to open source software to detect this pattern. It's very possible for open source software to comply with any regulations requiring such technology.
Seems to me that most blue-collar workers put down their tools at the end of the day and walk away from the work.
I agree.
Seems to me that most blue-collar workers damn well do get paid for their overtime, and if the boss doesn't want to pony up the bucks, he can do the work himself.
I agree.
Seems to me that most professional blue-collar workers, like plumbers and carpenters and such, make upwards of six-figure incomes.
Six figures? Maybe if you include cents. According to this page (from a quick google search), carpenters make an average of $16.44/hour. That's about $32k/year. Plumbers make $13.70/hr.
I have recently been trying out another social networking site -- ecademy.com. It started in the UK apparently, and is just now starting to get some USA folks on it.
I've been on Orkut, Friendster, LinkedIn, and now Ecademy. One thing is for sure, there is no such thing as "if you've seen one you've seen them all". Every one of these sites has unique features and a unique atmosphere to it. LinkedIn is very polished and professional and formal. Ecademy is in many way the opposite -- people there will say hi just because they noticed you online, even though you have never met them. The openness of ecademy certainly makes it a lot friendlier.
All of these sites are tools that can be used or abused just like anything else.
Re:Sheesh!
on
TiVo Will Die
·
· Score: 2, Informative
It's a DirecTV set top box with Tivo service built-in. Sorry I didn't make that more clear in the last message.
If you consider "Tivo" to be a standalone box then I agree that Tivo will die. The future of Tivo is integration with cable/satellite boxes. The DirecTV boxes are great -- two tuners, no MPEG compression (well, DirecTV sends an already compressed MPEG stream from satellite, much better quality than end-user mpeg compression), no channel-change delay, and dolby digital sound on some (although admittedly not much) programming.
Slashdot Mirror
VC will own a significant portion of the company, yes. The VC's goal is to make money -- they may sell much of their stake in the company after the IPO to take their profits. If they believe the company will still grow they may stick around for a while longer.
As for the startup company that got "ruined" by VC -- it sounds like the guys who started the company didn't know what they were getting into. Of course the VC is going to want significant control of the company. It will all be spelled out in the VC deal -- if they didn't realize until later how much control they gave away then they weren't paying attention. Besides, VC money is *not* for parties and vacation -- any idiot who takes VC money and sends his entire staff on vacation is asking to be fired.
How is $25/month expensive? Compared to a $60/month POTS line from Verizon, it's dirt cheap.
What are you expecting to see in the header? Sender ID info is stored in DNS, not message headers.
that's a hell of a lot of man-hours.
It's precisely zero man-hours, unless some person is bent on staring at the computer while it boots.
Ok, it's true they don't connect you to the 'real' 911, but they *do* ask you to register your location so their substitute 911 service knows where to route the call. When I signed up with Vonage they made it quite clear I couldn't get traditional 911 service through my Vonage service, and that in fact 911 would do nothing until I specifically enabled it, and they sent me reminder emails to enable the 911 service by registering my location.
I would guess that the reason Vonage doesn't offer traditional 911 service is because they *can't* becuase they can't get CLECs to cooperate.
He is basically saying "if *everyone* did what we did, there would be no spam". That sounds good in theory, but in the real world, and especially on the internet, you cannot get 100% compliance on *anything*.
Any solution to spam (or, for that matter, any annoyance in life) which relies on 100% cooperation is doomed to fail. The successful solution will be one that allows a customer to stop receiving spam entirely regardless of what everyone else does.
I donate all of my invites to http://isnoop.net/gmailomatic.php.
If you just want to provide people with what they want, you should go ahead and port these things to Windows. If you are on some crusade to force people to switch to open source, then go ahead and restrict where they can use their applications. Just be aware that it is somewhat hypocritical: denying someone the ability to run OSS on a non-open OS is essentially restricting their freedom. Especially when your only reason to do so is philosophical, and not technological.
The article says that a single windmill killes 364 birds per year. 364 > 50. Cats kill more then fans because there are a hell of a lot more cats.
No, it said that a 120-turbine wind farm kills 364 birds per year. That's less than 3 (364 / 130) birds per windmill per year. Much *less* than 50.
Strap a decent magnet to the bottom of your bike. It will make your bicycle look like an 18-wheeler to the induction loop sensors in the road.
I tem=GLTRIG
Here's a website that sells them: http://www.cyclegadgets.com/Products/product.asp?
If it really is a weight sensor (a long metal plate in the road), you can step off your bike and jump on it, assuming you can do so safely. I used to have to do this at an intersection in Pennsylvania.
You seem to be confusing computer programmers with computer programs.
A program is designed to be deterministic, same input same output, if X then Y, etc.
A programmer, on the other hand, is expected to be able to come up with creative ways of approaching a given situation. The approach must be logical and strategic, but not deterministic: two different programmers are unlikely to come up with the exact same solution to a problem.
And that's exactly what good poker playing is all about.
First of all, forget the notion of 3-day work weeks. Your goal, if you take this contract position, is to convert it to full-time. Working only 3 days a week is not going to help you get that goal.
There are a lot of different things to consider when you take a contract position. How much of a pay differential you get depends a lot on the specifics of your contract. You will want to discuss this with the company making you an offer and make sure you get all of the details. Here are some things to find out:
- Will you be W-2 or 1099? 1099 contractors are independent contractors according to the IRS. This means you pay *all* of your FICA taxes. If you are W-2, the IRA considers you an employee, which means you pay half and the employers pays half. So if you are 1099, that's an additional 7% reduction in your net pay that you will never get back.
- What benefits, if any, are you eligible for, and how do they differ from full-time employee's benefits? This all depends on your contract. Sometimes health insurance and 401k are available to contractors, sometimes not. This may or may not be important to you (you may have health insurance through your spouse's job, for example). 401ks are usually a very good deal if they are offered, but sometimes they are not available to contractors.
- Contractors usually do not get paid holidays or paid vacation, but that is not always true. If you get no paid time off, that's about 20 days of lost pay per year (assuming 10 days vacation and 10 holidays) out of a 200-business-day year, the equivalent of a 10% reduction in pay.
- Employees are typically salaried but many contract positions are hourly, and some will pay time-and-a-half for overtime. If so, find out whether overtime is considered over 8 hours per day, or over 40 hours per week. 8hrs/day is better than 40 hrs/wk, but 40 hrs/wk is probably more common.
- Are they serious about making you full time eventually? How long do they expect you to be a contractor before offering you full-time? See if they will put a conversion date in writing. Starting out as a contractor can be a very good way to get in the door and prove yourself, but it could also be the employer's way to make it easier to trim staff when workload lightens. If you know anyone who works there already, see if you can talk to them about how things look from the inside and find out if it is really the great job it looks to be. If they intend to leave you as a contractor forever or cut you loose after a short period of time, be aware that many potential employers look negatively at short-term contract work on a resume. Not all do, but many do.
Be prepared to take a pay cut if and when they do offer to convert you to full-time.
Don't be afraid to talk to the recruiter or hiring manager openly and honestly about your concerns. You are raising kids and have never had a contract position so you have a very legitimate reason to be concerned and to want to proceed carefully. If they balk at your concerns, I would take that as a red flag that something is wrong with the situation. If everything is on the up-and-up, they should be understanding of your situation and willing to spell things out for you.
Good luck!
Umm... why would they do that? Their TOS does give them authority to terminate any account for any reason, but there is nothing specific in it tying my account to the actions of those I invite.
Sure, they *could* do it, I just don't see any reason why they *would*. They're certainly quite aware (and amused, I am sure) that invites are being sold, begged for, and given to complete strangers everyday. To think they are going to enforce some mafia-esque policy ("you vouched for him, and he screwed up, so you are going to pay") is silly.
Not sure who you meant to reply to... my message wasn't about downloading any software or filling up hard drives.
I suggest anyone with extra gmail invites to spare donate them to this site which is giving them out for free to anyone who asks for them. I have donated all of my invites to them.
Authentication can generally be done using any combination of these 3 factors:
- Something You Know. Generally a shared secret, such as a password.
- Something You Have. Prove that you are in possession of something. By entering the code from a SecureID card, you prove you are in possession of the card. A physical key entered into a lock is also Something You Have. The CVV code on the back of a credit card is a weak form of Something You Have (it could be argued it is something you know, but online stores are using it to 'prove' you are in possession of the card).
- Something You Are. This is biometric authentication, such as voiceprint, fingerprint, iris scan, DNA check, dental records, etc.
Your username is only a bit data -- well-known data at that. It doesn't count for any of the three factors.
From a business perspective, think of how this could change distribution. Instead of having to ship DVDs to your local Blockbuster, Blockbuster could have their stores hooked up to the net and just download the DVD's their customers request.
"Oh, no more copies of Passion of the Christ on the shelf? Hang on a couple of minutes while I burn one for you..."
'This record speed of 6.63Gbps is equivalent to transferring a full-length DVD movie in four seconds.'
Yeah, that's the message we want to convey to the MPAA. Everyone knows the Internet2 is all about pirating DVDs.
In August of 2001, I lost my wallet while travelling. I thought getting on a plane without ID would be a problem, but when I showed up at the airport without ID, the airline employee said it was *illegal* for them to require ID (although not illegal to ask for it), and let me board the plane with just the ticket.
Bah, my eyes do much better than 24 Hz. At movie theatres when the camera pans it is very annoying, because 24 Hz isn't fast enough to make the scroll look smooth. It's one of my beefs about going to the movies -- they have made so many advances in sound quality but for the most part image quality is unchanged. I can see the flicker on my monitor unless I crank it up to about 70 Hz.
It's interesting that on Slashdot we criticize organizations like the RIAA for wanting to shut down technology like P2P because the RIAA fears that the technology will be abused, yet we are the ones who complain about the use of technologies such as video camera networks (and RFID, etc.) -- because we fear that they will be abused.
The submitter used the term black box, but the submitter was wrong.
As the article itself states, the technology recognizes a specific pattern of 5 circles on the currency in order to identify it as currency. The pattern can be seen on the back of US $20 bills as a repeating pattern of gold "20"s.
It's very possible to add code to open source software to detect this pattern. It's very possible for open source software to comply with any regulations requiring such technology.
Seems to me that most blue-collar workers put down their tools at the end of the day and walk away from the work.
I agree.
Seems to me that most blue-collar workers damn well do get paid for their overtime, and if the boss doesn't want to pony up the bucks, he can do the work himself.
I agree.
Seems to me that most professional blue-collar workers, like plumbers and carpenters and such, make upwards of six-figure incomes.
Six figures? Maybe if you include cents. According to this page (from a quick google search), carpenters make an average of $16.44/hour. That's about $32k/year. Plumbers make $13.70/hr.
I have recently been trying out another social networking site -- ecademy.com. It started in the UK apparently, and is just now starting to get some USA folks on it.
I've been on Orkut, Friendster, LinkedIn, and now Ecademy. One thing is for sure, there is no such thing as "if you've seen one you've seen them all". Every one of these sites has unique features and a unique atmosphere to it. LinkedIn is very polished and professional and formal. Ecademy is in many way the opposite -- people there will say hi just because they noticed you online, even though you have never met them. The openness of ecademy certainly makes it a lot friendlier.
All of these sites are tools that can be used or abused just like anything else.
It's a DirecTV set top box with Tivo service built-in. Sorry I didn't make that more clear in the last message.
If you consider "Tivo" to be a standalone box then I agree that Tivo will die. The future of Tivo is integration with cable/satellite boxes. The DirecTV boxes are great -- two tuners, no MPEG compression (well, DirecTV sends an already compressed MPEG stream from satellite, much better quality than end-user mpeg compression), no channel-change delay, and dolby digital sound on some (although admittedly not much) programming.