Why it matters how a criminal communicates with the victim? What is different if it is done via email, IM, chat, IRC, or speak? Is a crime through email different than a crime through personal contact? Let's say that spelling out the word Haha is a crime. Is it different to say Haha while I am talking, writing an email, posting an IM, or sending some text to an IRC chat channel?
Imagine that you are a victim of a crime but nobody believes you, what better evidence could you have than a camera recording of the crime? Surely being able to record crimes is useful and a Good Thing. If we record anything, then this not only helps justice but also the people, the victims, and those who are innocent but are being accused of a crime. The problem is twofold: First the rights to privacy and the possibility of misuse. Cameras are just tools, and can be misused in a myriad of ways, just like nuclear power. Judges should not forget that camera evidence can be faked (Photoshop and video editing tools can do magic), so video recordings are not to be taken as definite answers in a court. For me the most serious problem about cameras is who has the right to use them: Shops have cameras, the government has cameras, the police have a plenty, too. Can I put a camera on my head and record anything? I know the government and the police protect me and use their cameras to record evidence, but I want to do the same. If we have the same powers, then it feels like there is less possibility for misuse (you say you recorded me stealing pens, but I say I have a recording at the same shop at the same time and it shows you stealing pens... oh and now the judge has to find out who is the best Photoshop manipulator!). I see nothing wrong with sousveillance (although there is still possibility of misuse even when civilians use cameras).
I have no problem with advertisements, but I do have a problem with advertisers who try to force me see or click their ad. Advertising is a tool, but it's misused. What the advertisers need to understand is that there is nothing bad in allowing viewers to ignore their ads. An advertisement should be useful content itself. How? It's simple: Don't advertise irrelevant stuff.
The Web is document-centric, I like it, and I want it to remain as such.
Very few applications really need rich interactivity, and those that do can utilise Java applets (and remember now Java is really free software under the GPL). I see nothing wrong in loading a document, filling up a form or activating a hyperlink, and getting back the results from the server in another HTTP request.
I would welcome more rich form controls in XHTML pages, though. We do need better forms, better XHTML/CSS, and faster low-latency networks. But we should never forget that Web is a big pile of interconnected documents, so we should be careful about trying to emulate applications with tools built for document creation (it's like wanting to code your next OS in an Excel worksheet with tons of VBA... you can try it, but the results will disappoint you).
Web is for documents, servers are for creating those documents dynamically (PHP, Perl), and C is for building real applications. I do not like running code on my client machine. As a Web user, I want your code to run on your own machine as a PHP or Perl script, and I only want to get the results of your code (the HTML page). I see no reason why I should trust every random 10-year old Web designer on the planet to execute untested JavaScript code on my CPU. If you really badly need strong interactivity for a Web project, use Java applets or downloadable Java applications, and be very careful not to overuse AJAX or JavaScript if you think you really need them on a webpage. For example, there is absolutely no reason (apart from corporate stupidity) to hyperlink Web pages with JavaScript. If you want to analyse your traffic patterns, go feed your Apache log to a Perl script and don't fuck up your visitors with JavaScript hyperlinks. Other stupid things I have seen include displaying your email as a Java applet or Flash movie (you should use text or an image). People should focus more on leveraging the power of CSS instead (why use Flash to create rollovers when you can use CSS?).
I sincerely believe that many times the use of Flash, Java, AJAX, JavaScript, and sometimes even superfluous CSS, is nothing more than the emanation of a desire to own things, control your visitors, and be the master, and this is mostly prevalent in companies (where it is known that employees left their brains at the gate, managers only care about their bonuses, and the owner either has no ability to fix their organisation or enjoys life at a Pacific island, often without knowing that what they created is an organisational monstrosity of apathy and mindlessness). Just compare how free software projects and corporate software utilise AJAX and JavaScript and you will see the difference: Companies seek to minimise the utilisation of their support helpdesks, and only open-source projects care about creating something useful.
Now, the Web is just a service of the Internet, and it's not the only one as we have lots of other services (email, newsgroups, sometime we had gopher too). I really see nothing negative in creating another Internet service, with its own protocols, for distributed applications. We need to define a protocol, perhaps a stateful protocol (remember HTTP is stateless), write a server, and distribute a client to all concerned. Then we sit down writing application software for this protocol, and we watch our new service grow.
I think Web developers should stop masturbating with AJAX and JavaScript and work together to create a new protocol specifically built for applications.
Of course, there are also some practical and commercial considerations you need to make if you code Websites for a living. It is, unfortunately, difficult to avoid JavaScript in the modern world, especially if you work at a company or if you are a freelance Web developer. Many times the client specifically asks for strong interactivity and control, or even specifies technologies like Flash or AJAX. If you are self-employed, you can describe some disadvantages of AJAX/JavaScript/Fl
You created such an innovative keyboard (Optimus) but you are still using the old-fashioned staggered columns design. While this may be enough for the majority of people, it isn't the right choice for customers who focus on ergonomics.
I personally use TypeMatrix [ www.typematrix.com ] and Plum [ www.plum.bz ] keyboards that have a matrix layout, similar to the numeric keypad, and several ergonomic features.
I would consider buying an Optimus keyboard if it had a matrix layout and ergonomic features like centre keys for important functions such as Enter or Backspace (a very important step towards ergonomics is balancing the use of the left and right hands).
I hope you will research the market of matrix and ergonomic keyboards and consider releasing a more ergonomic version of Optimus, even if its price would be higher.
Thanks,
-- Nikolaos S. Karastathis (NSK), BSc(Hons), MBCS, MIET, MIEEE, MACS(Prov)
Damn, they created such an innovative keyboard and they destroyed it by using staggered columns. I personally use TypeMatrix (QWERTY and Dvorak) and Plum keyboards that have a matrix layout, similar to the numeric keypad. You have to use one to understand how much better it is. I would definitely buy an Optimus keyboard if it had a matrix layout, but I have no intention to return to a staggered columns layout just for OLED keycaps.
When companies talk reengineering they mean layoffs, but it needn't be this way: They should focus on waste reduction, business process improvement, quality, and innovation. Reskill existing workers and change positions, do not show loyal people the door!
Do not get the Games degree. Stick with CS, or get a Management degree (or both if you can).
And, please, get over this "degrees are for jobs" mentality. It destroys your education. With a good CS degree you may become a researcher someday and win a place in next century's schoolbooks. With a Games degree you will just get hired to work 15 hours per day with unpaid overtime for an incompetent boss who spends his time with call girls, and you will get fired when you get sick from overwork. Learn to lead your life and understand that a Master's degree is for masters, not for slaves (employees). Become a capitalist, found your own startup and focus on becoming a free man.
A games degree wouldn't make me hire you. Work experience wouldn't, either. What matters to me is your ability and willingness to learn, your educational and academic/research background (but it's also ok for me if you managed to learn real science on your own without going to university), your general intelligence, and your leisure activities. If you watch TV in your free time, you aren't gonna being hired by me, but if you read books (I assume you already have a Safari subscription, right?), hack open-source code or write good stuff at Wikipedia, or if you participate in free community wifi networks, then this matters much more to me than work experience (and actually also more than academic background). I want to hire hackers, not employees. I do not want people who like being led, I want to get other self-starters and leaders collaborating with me (with profit sharing of course). I would prefer a hacker with 1 year's verifiable volunteering experience in Apache or FreeBSD kernel to an employee (read: slave) with 10 years of experience in a Dilbertian company (some exceptions allowed for serious innovative companies that pay for their staff's training and perform real R&D). I do not want slaves working for me, and people who destroy their education by getting vocational degrees have a slave mentality (and they are unproductive: Trained slaves aren't motivated and don't get things done). Get over this "work experience" thing: At companies you only learn some random stuff here and there to do your work as your boss wants, at universities you learn the real stuff (often without much focus on practice but it is assumed that you are smart and therefore capable of practising on your own after you learn the theory), and in the free communities (open source, open content, community wifi) you learn how to be a good citizen in addition to polishing your practical skills.
At my university we did Discrete Mathematics, Automata Theory, Graph Theory, bin/oct/hex numerical systems, statistics and probability and a whola lot of other stuff
Didn't Tesla built something similar? When he presented it to a businessman for sponsorship, the businessman asked how he could put a meter in order to profit from it. Tesla said he couldn't, and the businessman didn't sponsor his device. I do not know whether this really happened, but it is a story commonly said.
MobileQwerty is a step to the right direction, but Mr Dvorak did similar studies a long time ago and came up with the Dvorak layout, which is better (I use Dvorak). So, where is my MobileDvorak, please?
From business side it is understandable that they ask for joint ownership. From our free community perspective, this means that we should be always ready to fork in case we need to. As long as we can fork, I have no problem with joint ownership: If I write a small patch I will give it to them, if my patch is significant then I will fork as a separate project first to prepare the ground for future competition if the need arises, then apply my patch to my fork under the GPL, and optionally also submit it to Sun if they are ethical. This also aplies to other projects with joint ownership such as OpenOffice.org. Note that having our own 'community-built java fork' operational at any time is good from a competition perspective because we can use it to force Sun remain ethical: 'Look, business guys, we will apply our patches to our own project first, and only give the patches to you as long as you follow the spirit of GPL, but the moment you lose your ethics, we will advertise our project as a free alternative and we will force you to compete in a free market where only the highest quality products with the lowest price win the users'.
According to Wikipedia 'the DMZ is devoid of humans' (except for two small villages) and so the DMZ is a good environment to apply Pattern Recognition (everything with two legs gets shoot). PR would have some difficulty to work in an Iraqi village where not even real humans can distinguish between terrorists and civilians (imagine a PR classifier like 'everything with facial hair will be shot').
This GPLv2-only licensing may create some practical problems in the future, but it is sensible from a business point of view, and I can certainly understand it. It's better to have their code in GPLv2 rather than not have it at all. We were given a gift, so let's not whine for a while.
I am a Computer Science graduate, and now work as a programmer and study for an MSc in Management. I am more than happy that I decided to went into business studies, because now I can understand and discuss with my managers, sales teams, and customers, in their own language. This multiplies my technical ability by tenfold.
I graduated in 3 years (UK) with a BSc(Hons) in Computer Science and here is how they taught us: In the 1st year we learnt algorithmics stuff, in the 2nd year we studied software engineering methodologies such as extreme programming and finished a class-wide group project, and in the 3rd year each student completed an individual project in any language and any area we liked, and it was counted as 3 courses in the transcript. So, we learnt to work in teams and also alone. Very good.
I have 2mbps ADSL and multiple 3G connections in Greece, and I see Americans, inhabitants of USA, the world's only hyperpower, complaining that they only had 20kbps dialup in Arizona. Why?
Why is broadband not ubiquitous in the most powerful country of the world?
The.NET megacorp pays you more money because they not only want your labour, but also want to crush your personality. If small and big companies offered the same money, no one would want to work in noisy cubicles and with incompetent drones anymore. That's why the big guys pay more. The smallish Perl company, on the other hand, doesn't need to throw you so much money because they are going to pay you with a more comfortable working environment. You don't get paid only with dollars. Knowing this, it is then up to you to understand what you need most: Money or your sanity? If you are in debt and the Perl salary can't service it, then your only option is to be fully paid only with money. If, however, you have the luxury to accept a mixed money/happiness payment package, then you may want to accept it in order to have balance. There are of course other variables in the equation like future job prospects. To me, the fact that you ask Slashdot about this and you haven't already accepted the big NET salary means that you cannot or don't want to sell yourself for the money. It will be very bad if you end up depressed at a cubicle between drones counting the time left until you can leave. Some people can do that for the money, others for some job prospects, but others really are too revolutionary to allow themselves wear the corporate-drone-in-a-cubicle costume for long hours each day. Only do this if you really need the money or if you have other needs that can only be satisfied at that company.
I'm studying Planetology for fun at the Open University and as a good student I feel obliged to ask: Where's the Moon's magnetic field? Molten planetary cores and planetary magnetic fields are related. When you have one, you have the other. Fire and smoke. If the Moon's core is molten, then why its magnetic field is almost inexistent?
Slashdot Mirror
Why it matters how a criminal communicates with the victim? What is different if it is done via email, IM, chat, IRC, or speak? Is a crime through email different than a crime through personal contact? Let's say that spelling out the word Haha is a crime. Is it different to say Haha while I am talking, writing an email, posting an IM, or sending some text to an IRC chat channel?
Imagine that you are a victim of a crime but nobody believes you, what better evidence could you have than a camera recording of the crime? Surely being able to record crimes is useful and a Good Thing. If we record anything, then this not only helps justice but also the people, the victims, and those who are innocent but are being accused of a crime. The problem is twofold: First the rights to privacy and the possibility of misuse. Cameras are just tools, and can be misused in a myriad of ways, just like nuclear power. Judges should not forget that camera evidence can be faked (Photoshop and video editing tools can do magic), so video recordings are not to be taken as definite answers in a court. For me the most serious problem about cameras is who has the right to use them: Shops have cameras, the government has cameras, the police have a plenty, too. Can I put a camera on my head and record anything? I know the government and the police protect me and use their cameras to record evidence, but I want to do the same. If we have the same powers, then it feels like there is less possibility for misuse (you say you recorded me stealing pens, but I say I have a recording at the same shop at the same time and it shows you stealing pens... oh and now the judge has to find out who is the best Photoshop manipulator!). I see nothing wrong with sousveillance (although there is still possibility of misuse even when civilians use cameras).
I have no problem with advertisements, but I do have a problem with advertisers who try to force me see or click their ad. Advertising is a tool, but it's misused. What the advertisers need to understand is that there is nothing bad in allowing viewers to ignore their ads. An advertisement should be useful content itself. How? It's simple: Don't advertise irrelevant stuff.
The Web is document-centric, I like it, and I want it to remain as such.
Very few applications really need rich interactivity, and those that do can utilise Java applets (and remember now Java is really free software under the GPL). I see nothing wrong in loading a document, filling up a form or activating a hyperlink, and getting back the results from the server in another HTTP request.
I would welcome more rich form controls in XHTML pages, though. We do need better forms, better XHTML/CSS, and faster low-latency networks. But we should never forget that Web is a big pile of interconnected documents, so we should be careful about trying to emulate applications with tools built for document creation (it's like wanting to code your next OS in an Excel worksheet with tons of VBA... you can try it, but the results will disappoint you).
Web is for documents, servers are for creating those documents dynamically (PHP, Perl), and C is for building real applications. I do not like running code on my client machine. As a Web user, I want your code to run on your own machine as a PHP or Perl script, and I only want to get the results of your code (the HTML page). I see no reason why I should trust every random 10-year old Web designer on the planet to execute untested JavaScript code on my CPU. If you really badly need strong interactivity for a Web project, use Java applets or downloadable Java applications, and be very careful not to overuse AJAX or JavaScript if you think you really need them on a webpage. For example, there is absolutely no reason (apart from corporate stupidity) to hyperlink Web pages with JavaScript. If you want to analyse your traffic patterns, go feed your Apache log to a Perl script and don't fuck up your visitors with JavaScript hyperlinks. Other stupid things I have seen include displaying your email as a Java applet or Flash movie (you should use text or an image). People should focus more on leveraging the power of CSS instead (why use Flash to create rollovers when you can use CSS?).
I sincerely believe that many times the use of Flash, Java, AJAX, JavaScript, and sometimes even superfluous CSS, is nothing more than the emanation of a desire to own things, control your visitors, and be the master, and this is mostly prevalent in companies (where it is known that employees left their brains at the gate, managers only care about their bonuses, and the owner either has no ability to fix their organisation or enjoys life at a Pacific island, often without knowing that what they created is an organisational monstrosity of apathy and mindlessness). Just compare how free software projects and corporate software utilise AJAX and JavaScript and you will see the difference: Companies seek to minimise the utilisation of their support helpdesks, and only open-source projects care about creating something useful.
Now, the Web is just a service of the Internet, and it's not the only one as we have lots of other services (email, newsgroups, sometime we had gopher too). I really see nothing negative in creating another Internet service, with its own protocols, for distributed applications. We need to define a protocol, perhaps a stateful protocol (remember HTTP is stateless), write a server, and distribute a client to all concerned. Then we sit down writing application software for this protocol, and we watch our new service grow.
I think Web developers should stop masturbating with AJAX and JavaScript and work together to create a new protocol specifically built for applications.
Of course, there are also some practical and commercial considerations you need to make if you code Websites for a living. It is, unfortunately, difficult to avoid JavaScript in the modern world, especially if you work at a company or if you are a freelance Web developer. Many times the client specifically asks for strong interactivity and control, or even specifies technologies like Flash or AJAX. If you are self-employed, you can describe some disadvantages of AJAX/JavaScript/Fl
My PDA (Qtek9000 or HTC Universal) which is also a phone cost me 1000 Euro, but it's perfect in every sense except the OS (Windoze). Thank FSM, I can use Opera on it and not depend on Internet Exploder. Apart from the OS, my only wish for this machine is a dual QWERTY/Dvorak keyboard (it has only got QWERTY).
Hello,
You created such an innovative keyboard (Optimus) but you are still using the
old-fashioned staggered columns design. While this may be enough for the
majority of people, it isn't the right choice for customers who focus on
ergonomics.
I personally use TypeMatrix [ www.typematrix.com ] and Plum [ www.plum.bz ]
keyboards that have a matrix layout, similar to the numeric keypad, and
several ergonomic features.
I would consider buying an Optimus keyboard if it had a matrix layout and
ergonomic features like centre keys for important functions such as Enter or
Backspace (a very important step towards ergonomics is balancing the use of
the left and right hands).
I hope you will research the market of matrix and ergonomic keyboards and
consider releasing a more ergonomic version of Optimus, even if its price
would be higher.
Thanks,
--
Nikolaos S. Karastathis (NSK), BSc(Hons), MBCS, MIET, MIEEE, MACS(Prov)
Damn, they created such an innovative keyboard and they destroyed it by using staggered columns. I personally use TypeMatrix (QWERTY and Dvorak) and Plum keyboards that have a matrix layout, similar to the numeric keypad. You have to use one to understand how much better it is. I would definitely buy an Optimus keyboard if it had a matrix layout, but I have no intention to return to a staggered columns layout just for OLED keycaps.
Me too, I just sent him an email offering free hosting.
When companies talk reengineering they mean layoffs, but it needn't be this way: They should focus on waste reduction, business process improvement, quality, and innovation. Reskill existing workers and change positions, do not show loyal people the door!
Do not get the Games degree. Stick with CS, or get a Management degree (or both if you can).
And, please, get over this "degrees are for jobs" mentality. It destroys your education. With a good CS degree you may become a researcher someday and win a place in next century's schoolbooks. With a Games degree you will just get hired to work 15 hours per day with unpaid overtime for an incompetent boss who spends his time with call girls, and you will get fired when you get sick from overwork. Learn to lead your life and understand that a Master's degree is for masters, not for slaves (employees). Become a capitalist, found your own startup and focus on becoming a free man.
A games degree wouldn't make me hire you. Work experience wouldn't, either. What matters to me is your ability and willingness to learn, your educational and academic/research background (but it's also ok for me if you managed to learn real science on your own without going to university), your general intelligence, and your leisure activities. If you watch TV in your free time, you aren't gonna being hired by me, but if you read books (I assume you already have a Safari subscription, right?), hack open-source code or write good stuff at Wikipedia, or if you participate in free community wifi networks, then this matters much more to me than work experience (and actually also more than academic background). I want to hire hackers, not employees. I do not want people who like being led, I want to get other self-starters and leaders collaborating with me (with profit sharing of course). I would prefer a hacker with 1 year's verifiable volunteering experience in Apache or FreeBSD kernel to an employee (read: slave) with 10 years of experience in a Dilbertian company (some exceptions allowed for serious innovative companies that pay for their staff's training and perform real R&D). I do not want slaves working for me, and people who destroy their education by getting vocational degrees have a slave mentality (and they are unproductive: Trained slaves aren't motivated and don't get things done). Get over this "work experience" thing: At companies you only learn some random stuff here and there to do your work as your boss wants, at universities you learn the real stuff (often without much focus on practice but it is assumed that you are smart and therefore capable of practising on your own after you learn the theory), and in the free communities (open source, open content, community wifi) you learn how to be a good citizen in addition to polishing your practical skills.
My first computer was a C64, and I still have it.
Get a Safari subscription.
At my university we did Discrete Mathematics, Automata Theory, Graph Theory, bin/oct/hex numerical systems, statistics and probability and a whola lot of other stuff
I remember this story, I read it when I was a child.
Didn't Tesla built something similar? When he presented it to a businessman for sponsorship, the businessman asked how he could put a meter in order to profit from it. Tesla said he couldn't, and the businessman didn't sponsor his device. I do not know whether this really happened, but it is a story commonly said.
MobileQwerty is a step to the right direction, but Mr Dvorak did similar studies a long time ago and came up with the Dvorak layout, which is better (I use Dvorak). So, where is my MobileDvorak, please?
From business side it is understandable that they ask for joint ownership. From our free community perspective, this means that we should be always ready to fork in case we need to. As long as we can fork, I have no problem with joint ownership: If I write a small patch I will give it to them, if my patch is significant then I will fork as a separate project first to prepare the ground for future competition if the need arises, then apply my patch to my fork under the GPL, and optionally also submit it to Sun if they are ethical. This also aplies to other projects with joint ownership such as OpenOffice.org. Note that having our own 'community-built java fork' operational at any time is good from a competition perspective because we can use it to force Sun remain ethical: 'Look, business guys, we will apply our patches to our own project first, and only give the patches to you as long as you follow the spirit of GPL, but the moment you lose your ethics, we will advertise our project as a free alternative and we will force you to compete in a free market where only the highest quality products with the lowest price win the users'.
According to Wikipedia 'the DMZ is devoid of humans' (except for two small villages) and so the DMZ is a good environment to apply Pattern Recognition (everything with two legs gets shoot). PR would have some difficulty to work in an Iraqi village where not even real humans can distinguish between terrorists and civilians (imagine a PR classifier like 'everything with facial hair will be shot').
This GPLv2-only licensing may create some practical problems in the future, but it is sensible from a business point of view, and I can certainly understand it. It's better to have their code in GPLv2 rather than not have it at all. We were given a gift, so let's not whine for a while.
I support Sun GPLing Java and possible OpenSolaris. If I ever buy a rack server, I will make sure it's a Sun model.
I am a Computer Science graduate, and now work as a programmer and study for an MSc in Management. I am more than happy that I decided to went into business studies, because now I can understand and discuss with my managers, sales teams, and customers, in their own language. This multiplies my technical ability by tenfold.
I graduated in 3 years (UK) with a BSc(Hons) in Computer Science and here is how they taught us: In the 1st year we learnt algorithmics stuff, in the 2nd year we studied software engineering methodologies such as extreme programming and finished a class-wide group project, and in the 3rd year each student completed an individual project in any language and any area we liked, and it was counted as 3 courses in the transcript. So, we learnt to work in teams and also alone. Very good.
I have 2mbps ADSL and multiple 3G connections in Greece, and I see Americans, inhabitants of USA, the world's only hyperpower, complaining that they only had 20kbps dialup in Arizona. Why?
Why is broadband not ubiquitous in the most powerful country of the world?
The .NET megacorp pays you more money because they not only want your labour, but also want to crush your personality. If small and big companies offered the same money, no one would want to work in noisy cubicles and with incompetent drones anymore. That's why the big guys pay more. The smallish Perl company, on the other hand, doesn't need to throw you so much money because they are going to pay you with a more comfortable working environment. You don't get paid only with dollars. Knowing this, it is then up to you to understand what you need most: Money or your sanity? If you are in debt and the Perl salary can't service it, then your only option is to be fully paid only with money. If, however, you have the luxury to accept a mixed money/happiness payment package, then you may want to accept it in order to have balance. There are of course other variables in the equation like future job prospects. To me, the fact that you ask Slashdot about this and you haven't already accepted the big NET salary means that you cannot or don't want to sell yourself for the money. It will be very bad if you end up depressed at a cubicle between drones counting the time left until you can leave. Some people can do that for the money, others for some job prospects, but others really are too revolutionary to allow themselves wear the corporate-drone-in-a-cubicle costume for long hours each day. Only do this if you really need the money or if you have other needs that can only be satisfied at that company.
I'm studying Planetology for fun at the Open University and as a good student I feel obliged to ask: Where's the Moon's magnetic field? Molten planetary cores and planetary magnetic fields are related. When you have one, you have the other. Fire and smoke. If the Moon's core is molten, then why its magnetic field is almost inexistent?