Forget computers! The most important thing is to train a kid's brain to *think*. For that, you need good schools and good teachers. There is no spec of doubt in my mind that this amount will be better spent in improving infrastructure and getting better teachers than giving the child the computer. Kids in that age group will be much better off..
Think of it this way, what good is a tool if you dont know how to use it??
Check out HP's website for their PDA phone..the hw6515 (says cingular, but its a quad band phone). I know they have more - I saw them in Singapore, but cant find them on their site right now.
Also, you may want to look at the O2 PDA phones...they are selling like hot cakes in other GSM markets, but are (obviously) not yet available in US.
You will be surprised as to how many people actually listen to music on their phones. Nokia and SE already have phones that play MP3s and have a decent battery life. (There are more cellphone choices outside US) Talking about cell phones just for making and receiving phone calls, how about all of the phones touted as "entry level" phones? Eg. Motorola V188
I dont understand why people start complaining when companies talk about adding new features. The argument about improving battery life and reception makes sense - but why complain about new features. You know, the Nokias with MP3 capability are doing well outside US, clearly indicating a good demand for that feature.
Absolutely not!! Microsoft actually sends them tons of spyware alongwith a small microsoft utility. One month later, the microsoft utility pops up every 5 minutes saying - "Screw with micro$oft, you pirates, and we screw you....all your base are belong to us" it then crashes the pc, with all restart attempts leading to the new startup screen showing the finger..
Spyware Doctor (free to try) works great for me in conjunction with spybot and ad-aware. it's fast, and detects stuff a lot of stuff that the other 2 missed. its easy to use for the avg. user, unlike hijackthis.
(and to get the latest updates, i just re-install it every month using the latest version from download.com)
The state of "mainstream" IT in the U.S. seems to be more systematic than anything. Business owners and their advisors have gotten it into their head that "official" certifications are what qualifies one for a position, not actual technical knowledge.
Are you trying to imply, my friend, that to get a certification, you don't need any "actual" technical knowledge? Don't you need a benchmark to judge certain things, like someone's technical knowledge - or a post's relevance on Slashdot?
It functions the same way as the U.S. education system; some of the DUMBEST people I've known were straight A students
That, I believe just means that the education grading system is not fool-proof, and considering someone "dumb" in one field won't strip them of their abilities in some other fields (maybe the ones they got their As in)
Colleges are just making a killing by riding on the blind faith business managers give to college degrees.
Again, benchmarking!! and I don't think I know of any bosses who hire just by looking at someone's resume - it just acts as a first pass. Personal interviews, and at times, aptitude tests follow.
I guess I just want to make the point that formal education is not over-hyped. A person with a master's degree is by no means smarter than a person with a bachelor's degree and same level of experience - but he sure has had a chance to hone his skills in his chosen field a little more by solving more quasi-practical problems in class.
I have worked as a web programmer and troubleshooter, rate myself as above average in basic technical/computer knowhow, and have had the "privilege" to help people with their computer problems. When I had to direct a guy to click on the "big blue E on the desktop" when he didn't understand what opening his web browser meant, I surely thought that someone sitting in India with a lot more patience and the willingness to work for less than what someone would expect to be paid here to go through all that torture was better for this job. At the same time, I have cussed at those so-called tech support staff twice - once when they won't believe that my router was really busted, and that I had tried not only the steps they suggested, but more than that (D-link), and the next time when he was asking me a thousand questions on why I wanted to cancel my aol account that came bundled with my new computer. (I know, I know, buying a D-link was a bad choice to begin with;))
Slashdot Mirror
Forget computers! The most important thing is to train a kid's brain to *think*. For that, you need good schools and good teachers. There is no spec of doubt in my mind that this amount will be better spent in improving infrastructure and getting better teachers than giving the child the computer. Kids in that age group will be much better off..
Think of it this way, what good is a tool if you dont know how to use it??
Check out HP's website for their PDA phone..the hw6515 (says cingular, but its a quad band phone). I know they have more - I saw them in Singapore, but cant find them on their site right now.
Also, you may want to look at the O2 PDA phones...they are selling like hot cakes in other GSM markets, but are (obviously) not yet available in US.
You will be surprised as to how many people actually listen to music on their phones. Nokia and SE already have phones that play MP3s and have a decent battery life. (There are more cellphone choices outside US)
Talking about cell phones just for making and receiving phone calls, how about all of the phones touted as "entry level" phones? Eg. Motorola V188
I dont understand why people start complaining when companies talk about adding new features. The argument about improving battery life and reception makes sense - but why complain about new features. You know, the Nokias with MP3 capability are doing well outside US, clearly indicating a good demand for that feature.
but some birds like pigeons are great at ranking web pages !!!
http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html
hehe
Absolutely not!! Microsoft actually sends them tons of spyware alongwith a small microsoft utility.
One month later, the microsoft utility pops up every 5 minutes saying - "Screw with micro$oft, you pirates, and we screw you....all your base are belong to us"
it then crashes the pc, with all restart attempts leading to the new startup screen showing the finger..
those bastards!
Spyware Doctor (free to try) works great for me in conjunction with spybot and ad-aware. it's fast, and detects stuff a lot of stuff that the other 2 missed. its easy to use for the avg. user, unlike hijackthis. (and to get the latest updates, i just re-install it every month using the latest version from download.com)
The state of "mainstream" IT in the U.S. seems to be more systematic than anything. Business owners and their advisors have gotten it into their head that "official" certifications are what qualifies one for a position, not actual technical knowledge.
;))
Are you trying to imply, my friend, that to get a certification, you don't need any "actual" technical knowledge? Don't you need a benchmark to judge certain things, like someone's technical knowledge - or a post's relevance on Slashdot?
It functions the same way as the U.S. education system; some of the DUMBEST people I've known were straight A students
That, I believe just means that the education grading system is not fool-proof, and considering someone "dumb" in one field won't strip them of their abilities in some other fields (maybe the ones they got their As in)
Colleges are just making a killing by riding on the blind faith business managers give to college degrees.
Again, benchmarking!! and I don't think I know of any bosses who hire just by looking at someone's resume - it just acts as a first pass. Personal interviews, and at times, aptitude tests follow.
I guess I just want to make the point that formal education is not over-hyped. A person with a master's degree is by no means smarter than a person with a bachelor's degree and same level of experience - but he sure has had a chance to hone his skills in his chosen field a little more by solving more quasi-practical problems in class.
I have worked as a web programmer and troubleshooter, rate myself as above average in basic technical/computer knowhow, and have had the "privilege" to help people with their computer problems.
When I had to direct a guy to click on the "big blue E on the desktop" when he didn't understand what opening his web browser meant, I surely thought that someone sitting in India with a lot more patience and the willingness to work for less than what someone would expect to be paid here to go through all that torture was better for this job.
At the same time, I have cussed at those so-called tech support staff twice - once when they won't believe that my router was really busted, and that I had tried not only the steps they suggested, but more than that (D-link), and the next time when he was asking me a thousand questions on why I wanted to cancel my aol account that came bundled with my new computer. (I know, I know, buying a D-link was a bad choice to begin with