Those keyboards remain popular in Japan, and annoy the ever loving shit out of me. Having to listen to an office full of people banging away on those things all day just drives me batshit insane.
The netbook is getting squeezed out of the market. When they first came on the market there were largely 2 classes of customers for them, one that wanted a really cheap device to get online, do email, look at photos watch videos etc, and those that wanted a really small and light laptop. Well fast forward 5 years or so and many of the people who just wanted a device to get online are buying tablets and the rise of the ultralight relatively full featured laptops are taking away many of the customers who wanted a really light laptop. Hell, even Apple's ultralight sells for 1k, and those from the likes of Sony and Dell sell for even less. For less than 200 more than a netbook you can get a much more powerful laptop that weighs about the same. Netbooks will never disappear but their niche continues to shrink.
And the people they do pick aren't often what I would consider the highest caliber of people. I met a guy who was a self described cisco expert in the airforce for 3 years and yet he didn't even know the absolute basics about networking, seriously he thought that the first place every packet hit was the default router, he didn't know that you can send packets between two hosts on the same subnet without involving the router at all..... That's insane that we are putting such idiots in charge of our most sensitive networks, then again he was black.... Affirmative action at it's finest.
The military is over-reliant and over-confident on Windows. Hell they pretty much write their security specifications to whatever Windows does AND they scrutinize non-Windows(particularly Linux machines) much more than they do Windows machines. Relying on Microsoft for anything is just asking to get hacked. I hope(though I know it won't happen) that the next Secretary of Defense will make it his mission to wean the military off of Windows. Not only will it result in a more secure system(probably), it will also save the government money and not make them beholden to the beast of Redmond....
Sadly I know it won't happen because Microsoft is always sure to let senior military officers in charge of this kind of stuff know that when the time is right they are always "looking" for people who have held those positions. IE throw lots of government money at us and we'll make sure you get a do-nothing job with an impressive title and salary to match.
That was my entire point, countries with some elements of "socialism", but not too much(usually a government sector between 25-50% of GDP), such as Germany, tend to thrive while countries that are totally socialist(North Korea, Cuba, the former USSR to name a few) tend to fail economically. Countries where there is very little government oversight(Chile, Argentina, and more recently Iceland) also tend to fare very poorly. Time has shown that the so-called mixed-economy is really the best way forward. But in the mixed-economy the government should not be involved in making luxury items such as cell phone chargers. The governments role is that of providing infrastructure for the private sector and of ameliorating the highs and lows of the economic cycle so that they can prevent economic panics and collapse. Germany does this well, the US used to do an OK job of it, but the Republicans really want us to become Argentina.
So how do you choose among which luxuries the government should provide? This was my fundamental question and one you didn't answer at all. The private sector is more than capable of providing efficient cell phone charging solutions, much more efficient than the government ever could be. I just bought a portable solar-powered cellular phone charger for about $15, well within the reach of anyone who needs one without costing those that do not a dime.
It does harken back to the days where you didn't need both a computer AND a stove, the Pentium Pro filled both niches quite nicely. Ever have Pentium Pro-grilled hamburgers? Sublime.
Unrestricted socialism has been proven not to work as well. While I agree that government should provide for essential services where the private sector is unable or unwilling to offer a cost effective solution(health insurance) or one where the collection of levies would pose undue hardships on the economy(roads, and healthcare again really), the government should NOT be involved in providing luxuries like cell phone charging. Pretty much everyone uses services such as roads, hospitals, fire and police etc. However, only a small portion of the population requires cell phone recharging, so why should everyone be forced to pay for a non-essential item that only a small portion of the population needs? And who in the government gets to decide what luxuries should be funded with tax payer money?
Proponents of unrestricted capitalism have the false belief that unrestricted power in the hands of a few is a good idea, those in favor of unrestricted socialism have the false belief that somehow just because someone works for the government they will automatically be any better than if they were working for themselves. And here is a hint, Hugo Chavez and his ilk are pretty much working for themselves, and only themselves, no matter how much they tell you they aren't. Look at Venezuala's economy ever since Chavez came into power. Despite incredibly high oil prices the economy has actually fallen behind a lot of it's neighbors because Chavez is looting it for his own personal gain. He wants you to think that just because he works for "the people", he actually gives a damn about the people. And with nobody to stand in his way, he can pretty much behave like the capitalists he so decries.
For certain genres of games the iPad and it's ilk are great. For others, namely those that require precise movement in real time, they suck, they suck hard. Why? No tactile feedback. I tried playing Pac-Man on an iPhone and gave up in about 3 minutes because even if your thumb slips off the button a little bit you won't notice until Pac-Man refuses to move and is then gang-raped by a pack of ghosts.
Now of course, if a company can actually find a way to give haptic feedback on a touch screen, they will literally be able to mint money. But I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.
Digital wristwatches, which are rarely stylish, are being replaced by cell phones and the litany of other devices with clocks built into them. I don't wear a watch namely because I have no need. If I need to know the time I look at my phone. Analog watches are used for stylistic purposes nowadays, thats pretty much it.
Come on IBM, finally, finally, FINALLY we have an opportunity to actually create a talking car a la Knight Rider and you let it go to waste on such frivolous tasks as winning a game show, doing medical diagnoses, and selling people stuff. This must make David Hasselhoff so mad that he is rolling around half-naked on the floor unable to even eat a simple cheeseburger.
Come on kids, everyone knows the only real way to get back at an evil media mogul is to broadcast him on his own channel saying that his viewers mean as much to him as a festering bowl of dog snot does. Bonus points if you get the reference.
You REALLY don't think lobbyists were involved in this decision at all? Hmmm.... lets think, now I wonder what company will be providing every single student in Korea with a tablet computer...hmm....thats a tough one, but I'm sure such a huge Korean company had NO influence on this decision. Nope, none at all.
At the end of the day, dropbox is really just a fancy front end bolted on to Amazon's s3 service. So basically if Amazon demanded no copyrighted material be stored on the service, dropbox must change it's TOS to match..... Ultimately your dropbox data is essentially in the hands of not just one, but 2 different companies.
Yup and their numbers will probably increase, not decrease at least in the near future because of their fuel efficiency. A turboprop uses considerably less fuel than a jet, esp. for short to medium distances.
You obviously didn't read the article then. Many of the things listed are in fact *programming* mistakes(among them integer overflows, uncontrolled format strings, and tons about not trusting inputs). My favorite of the list is "CWE-676: Use of Potentially Dangerous Functions" It's amazing how many programmers just totally brush aside compiler warnings, and while not all warnings have security implications, many do....
But ultimately here's a hint people, the compiler isn't warning you for kicks, there's usually a pretty valid reason for the warning and you shouldn't just ignore it because your code still compiles..... but then again, maybe I shouldn't be the one making these calls, after all I have Ada experience:P
I agree they're going in too many different directions but what they need to do is not necessarily split, but have a unified vision.
WHich is why a serious amount of cleaning house at the top is necessary. The way a lot of the execs seem to act at Microsoft, I wouldn't be surprised if the calendar sitting on their desk is one from 1998. The top microsoft execs where at the top during the glory days, back in the day where Microsoft really was it's own biggest competitor. The thing is, it's not 1998 anymore, Microsoft has some serious external competition, but the execs keep on bickering amongst themselves to try to get the biggest piece of the Microsoft pie, seemingly oblivious to the fact that said pie is getting smaller and smaller every day.
If they are abandoning email they certainly aren't abandoning/., I would estimate that 90+% of the stories in the firehose are spam..... Obviously slashdot isn't doing a whole lot to prevent that.
Slashdot Mirror
Those keyboards remain popular in Japan, and annoy the ever loving shit out of me. Having to listen to an office full of people banging away on those things all day just drives me batshit insane.
The netbook is getting squeezed out of the market. When they first came on the market there were largely 2 classes of customers for them, one that wanted a really cheap device to get online, do email, look at photos watch videos etc, and those that wanted a really small and light laptop. Well fast forward 5 years or so and many of the people who just wanted a device to get online are buying tablets and the rise of the ultralight relatively full featured laptops are taking away many of the customers who wanted a really light laptop. Hell, even Apple's ultralight sells for 1k, and those from the likes of Sony and Dell sell for even less. For less than 200 more than a netbook you can get a much more powerful laptop that weighs about the same. Netbooks will never disappear but their niche continues to shrink.
And the people they do pick aren't often what I would consider the highest caliber of people. I met a guy who was a self described cisco expert in the airforce for 3 years and yet he didn't even know the absolute basics about networking, seriously he thought that the first place every packet hit was the default router, he didn't know that you can send packets between two hosts on the same subnet without involving the router at all..... That's insane that we are putting such idiots in charge of our most sensitive networks, then again he was black.... Affirmative action at it's finest.
The military is over-reliant and over-confident on Windows. Hell they pretty much write their security specifications to whatever Windows does AND they scrutinize non-Windows(particularly Linux machines) much more than they do Windows machines. Relying on Microsoft for anything is just asking to get hacked. I hope(though I know it won't happen) that the next Secretary of Defense will make it his mission to wean the military off of Windows. Not only will it result in a more secure system(probably), it will also save the government money and not make them beholden to the beast of Redmond....
Sadly I know it won't happen because Microsoft is always sure to let senior military officers in charge of this kind of stuff know that when the time is right they are always "looking" for people who have held those positions. IE throw lots of government money at us and we'll make sure you get a do-nothing job with an impressive title and salary to match.
duel connections
No wonder you are having so many issues connecting to the internet.... Your connections are constantly firing pistols at each other at 10 paces.
That was my entire point, countries with some elements of "socialism", but not too much(usually a government sector between 25-50% of GDP), such as Germany, tend to thrive while countries that are totally socialist(North Korea, Cuba, the former USSR to name a few) tend to fail economically. Countries where there is very little government oversight(Chile, Argentina, and more recently Iceland) also tend to fare very poorly. Time has shown that the so-called mixed-economy is really the best way forward. But in the mixed-economy the government should not be involved in making luxury items such as cell phone chargers. The governments role is that of providing infrastructure for the private sector and of ameliorating the highs and lows of the economic cycle so that they can prevent economic panics and collapse. Germany does this well, the US used to do an OK job of it, but the Republicans really want us to become Argentina.
So how do you choose among which luxuries the government should provide? This was my fundamental question and one you didn't answer at all. The private sector is more than capable of providing efficient cell phone charging solutions, much more efficient than the government ever could be. I just bought a portable solar-powered cellular phone charger for about $15, well within the reach of anyone who needs one without costing those that do not a dime.
It does harken back to the days where you didn't need both a computer AND a stove, the Pentium Pro filled both niches quite nicely. Ever have Pentium Pro-grilled hamburgers? Sublime.
You totally missed the point of my entire argument. Nice try, please play again.
Give me an example of an unrestricted socialist economy that has thrived. Go ahead, I can wait.
Unrestricted socialism has been proven not to work as well. While I agree that government should provide for essential services where the private sector is unable or unwilling to offer a cost effective solution(health insurance) or one where the collection of levies would pose undue hardships on the economy(roads, and healthcare again really), the government should NOT be involved in providing luxuries like cell phone charging. Pretty much everyone uses services such as roads, hospitals, fire and police etc. However, only a small portion of the population requires cell phone recharging, so why should everyone be forced to pay for a non-essential item that only a small portion of the population needs? And who in the government gets to decide what luxuries should be funded with tax payer money?
Proponents of unrestricted capitalism have the false belief that unrestricted power in the hands of a few is a good idea, those in favor of unrestricted socialism have the false belief that somehow just because someone works for the government they will automatically be any better than if they were working for themselves. And here is a hint, Hugo Chavez and his ilk are pretty much working for themselves, and only themselves, no matter how much they tell you they aren't. Look at Venezuala's economy ever since Chavez came into power. Despite incredibly high oil prices the economy has actually fallen behind a lot of it's neighbors because Chavez is looting it for his own personal gain. He wants you to think that just because he works for "the people", he actually gives a damn about the people. And with nobody to stand in his way, he can pretty much behave like the capitalists he so decries.
For certain genres of games the iPad and it's ilk are great. For others, namely those that require precise movement in real time, they suck, they suck hard. Why? No tactile feedback. I tried playing Pac-Man on an iPhone and gave up in about 3 minutes because even if your thumb slips off the button a little bit you won't notice until Pac-Man refuses to move and is then gang-raped by a pack of ghosts.
Now of course, if a company can actually find a way to give haptic feedback on a touch screen, they will literally be able to mint money. But I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.
Digital wristwatches, which are rarely stylish, are being replaced by cell phones and the litany of other devices with clocks built into them. I don't wear a watch namely because I have no need. If I need to know the time I look at my phone. Analog watches are used for stylistic purposes nowadays, thats pretty much it.
Lomberg is staying!
Come on IBM, finally, finally, FINALLY we have an opportunity to actually create a talking car a la Knight Rider and you let it go to waste on such frivolous tasks as winning a game show, doing medical diagnoses, and selling people stuff. This must make David Hasselhoff so mad that he is rolling around half-naked on the floor unable to even eat a simple cheeseburger.
Come on kids, everyone knows the only real way to get back at an evil media mogul is to broadcast him on his own channel saying that his viewers mean as much to him as a festering bowl of dog snot does. Bonus points if you get the reference.
You REALLY don't think lobbyists were involved in this decision at all? Hmmm.... lets think, now I wonder what company will be providing every single student in Korea with a tablet computer...hmm....thats a tough one, but I'm sure such a huge Korean company had NO influence on this decision. Nope, none at all.
At the end of the day, dropbox is really just a fancy front end bolted on to Amazon's s3 service. So basically if Amazon demanded no copyrighted material be stored on the service, dropbox must change it's TOS to match..... Ultimately your dropbox data is essentially in the hands of not just one, but 2 different companies.
Yup and their numbers will probably increase, not decrease at least in the near future because of their fuel efficiency. A turboprop uses considerably less fuel than a jet, esp. for short to medium distances.
You obviously didn't read the article then. Many of the things listed are in fact *programming* mistakes(among them integer overflows, uncontrolled format strings, and tons about not trusting inputs). My favorite of the list is "CWE-676: Use of Potentially Dangerous Functions" It's amazing how many programmers just totally brush aside compiler warnings, and while not all warnings have security implications, many do....
:P
But ultimately here's a hint people, the compiler isn't warning you for kicks, there's usually a pretty valid reason for the warning and you shouldn't just ignore it because your code still compiles..... but then again, maybe I shouldn't be the one making these calls, after all I have Ada experience
I agree they're going in too many different directions but what they need to do is not necessarily split, but have a unified vision.
WHich is why a serious amount of cleaning house at the top is necessary. The way a lot of the execs seem to act at Microsoft, I wouldn't be surprised if the calendar sitting on their desk is one from 1998. The top microsoft execs where at the top during the glory days, back in the day where Microsoft really was it's own biggest competitor. The thing is, it's not 1998 anymore, Microsoft has some serious external competition, but the execs keep on bickering amongst themselves to try to get the biggest piece of the Microsoft pie, seemingly oblivious to the fact that said pie is getting smaller and smaller every day.
I hope they will never release the sourcecode to Linux.
:p
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think you are a little late on that one
An underrated coaster at Kennywood(an underrated amusement park IMO)?
If they are abandoning email they certainly aren't abandoning /., I would estimate that 90+% of the stories in the firehose are spam..... Obviously slashdot isn't doing a whole lot to prevent that.
Ugh, the spelling nazi in me won't let me go on with life if I don't self-flagellate, it's "insane not to", not "insane not too"...