I didn't get the feeling that they are talking about the difference between a BA in CS or a BS in CS. I felt that they were saying that they would be more interested in people who were non-vocationally taught than those who were.
For example, I see commercials for some vocational school (like ITT, or it might actually be ITT) for their video game education track. Now this might seem like it's more focused and more desired in the field but from what the employers are saying is that these applicants are less rounded and aren't as able to solve more complex problems that arise from large-scale software projects.
And heaven forbid they try to do interface design (which is the best marriage between visual design and software development). They may be smart enough to piece together some Java or C# clips off the Internet into a program that, technically, produces the proper data output, but that's it.
I'm glad someone has said it.
I'm a UI engineer in my career, educated as a software engineer. I am in no way a graphical designer, but I do my best, having taken many classes and read many books on UI, graphics, layout, HCI. While I understand why (lack of funds, its a startup), my company won't hire a graphical designer to help out with the things I need help with even though I feel this is very important.
People just don't have 'it' sometimes and I have to actively ban them from creating UIs. A lot of engineers think of just data in/data out and that's not right, it's about presentation. Honestly, our company wouldn't be were it is without me pushing back on a lot of poor visual design choices. And that has unfortunately made me a very unpopular person around the office, even though I've helped the bottom line instead of hurting it.
Screw it though, I won't be responsible for something that is visually unappealing and difficult to use.
Here at MIT we have 4 intro courses. The first, the famous Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, is taught entirely in Scheme, a purer and more pedagogical dialect of Lisp. You learn how to do all the high-level algorithms (e.g., sorting) in a purely mathematical/logical fashion, since Scheme has automatic object creation / memory handling, no code-data distinction, etc. At the end of the class you work with a Scheme interpreter in Scheme (the metacircular evaluator), which, modulo lexing, teaches you how parsing and compiling programs works.
That sounds fine. At my less-prestigious college (Washington State University) we started with C and an asshole of a professor. He was the best thing our CS department had as a filter. The ones who could do it or were tenacious enough to get through it learned a lot and moved on, those who didn't went into something else.
We didn't do compilers or use non c-based languages for about a year. In hindsight, I definitely think that was a little late.
The next two are EE courses. The fourth starts EE and quickly moves to CS. You use a SPICE-like simulator to build gates directly from transistors. (You've done so in real life in previous classes.) Then you use the gate simulator to build up more interesting circuits, culminating in an entire, usable CPU. From gates. Which you built from transistors. The end result is, not only are you intimately famliar with assembly, you know exactly why assembly works the way it does and what sort of electrical signals are occurring inside your processor.
I think this seems a little redundant. I don't like EE and I'm not interested in it. I really don't care about how a computer works internally and I shouldn't really have to if my focus is on software engineering. Circuits don't directly affect me in my career one bit and I doubt many CS people think about them.
In no way are these classes a waste of time though. I did have a few friends who ended up moving more into Computer Engineering instead, although it moved me away.
So yes, blame Java, if you're trying to teach memory allocation or algorithm design with it.
Memory allocation sure, but algorithm design? I can show complexity of algorithms in Java as well as any other language. And please don't say that CS students are getting soft because of algorithm libraries - all languages have libraries to make things easier, not just Java.
The cloak sold for more than any of the other movie costumes the article listed, beating out Sean Connery's dinner jacket from Thunderball and a helmet worn by Terry Jones in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Shocking. How about comparing it to some good memorabilia? If it was say up against the golden gun that would be a good comparison. A dinner jacket? Meh.
This reminds me of when my wife and I were on vacation. We were in Honolulu and ate at the Planet Hollywood there. They have memorabilia but most of it is crap. We tried to find the most obscure thing we could and sure enough: the 'costume' (a t-shirt and shorts) worn by Andrew McCarthy in "Weekend at Bernies 2". We were truly in the presence of greatness...
WoW had it's share of 'release now/fix later' features.
Blackwing Lair was pretty much beta tested on the live servers. After that debacle Blizzard went to having longer public test realm segments. Ahn'Qiraj was also questionable. It required a long 'gate opening' world event that kept people out for at least a few weeks before they could even start the encounters. Once people got to the bosses a lot of changes were made because they were somewhat difficult if not impossible.
From another perspective, Gates is saying that current market rates are ~100k. This is about right for mid-level software engineers with 2-4 years of experience, in that area.
Is it the mid-90s again? That's the only possibility if someone is making that much with only 2-4 years experience. And 100k+, even in an expensive city as Seattle, is still awesome money.
The simple fact is that I've know many people, some very qualified and some not so much, who applied to MS and didn't get so much as a second look. I've known 1 person who's been hired, and he was very young (just turned 22 at the time) and very arrogant.
I think if you want to work for MS you need to be young, show that all you care about is working long hours at the expense of your social life, and be an asshole. They like assholes who know it all. That's why there's a lot of shit that get spewed from Redmond. If you're a foreigner it's even better because they can pay you more than you'd get in your own country but less than a resident and you'll probably work very long hours because you're just happy to be making 'the big bucks'!
IANAL but frankly I don't see the 'mischaracterizes' part of this whole story. From what I can tell, AOL matched one or more IPs directly to the defendant - name, street address, state and ZIP. If they didn't have an account with AOL how did they know that information?
Looks like the RIAA has probable cause to continue litigation because AOL did in fact correlate an IP that downloaded the music to the defendant. It doesn't prove anything but the RIAA still should have the right to continue with the lititgation, as much as it pains me to say it.
Maybe I'm just not seeing the problem here. Maybe I need someone to clear it up or just put on the 'Evil RIAA' blinders that I guess I'm supposed to wear when reading slashdot.
Giving up a Broadway musical for WoW? Sounds like he made the right call.
There are about a million things I would rather do than sit through a Broadway musical. Even given the choice of a colonoscopy or a Broadway musical I would still choose the colonoscopy.
Why should we use television technology that hasn't been updated in over half a century?
Sure I can watch sports in the current non-HD and like it but I like it more in HD. I would still watch whether it's HD or not though so of course the networks can't charge advertisers more. Suck it up and improve your equipment because if TV looks better won't consumers possibly watch MORE?
You are right on the money. There is way too much hinging on 'not knowing' in IV-VI to ruin them by watching I-III first.
Episode IV is fine and stands alone, no biggie. Once we hit 'Empire', if you know why Vader is so obsessed with finding Luke that takes away from it all. The reveal is a huge plot twist that complicates the rest of the movie and has repercussions in 'Return'. Yoda's training with his hippy-ish description of The Force is great, not ruined by midichlorians or however you spell that BS. Sure, 'Return' is mostly Ewoks - Jar Jar precusors, only not as annoying and with fewer lines - but it at least ties everything up by the end. Luke's a Jedi, Lando becomes a hero, Han gets laid, and Anakin redeems himself. Huzzah!
Then you can watch I-III to see how Anakin became an asshole and the apparently gazillion Jedi's were wiped out.
Throw in the first 10 minutes of 'Chasing Amy' for Hooper X's rant about how the series is racist and you have a complete series right there:)
Please don't blame it on WoW, this is about individuals.
Let me just say that I play a few hours a night and was raiding a little before the expansion news which caused a lot of guilds to 'take a break'. I'm currently levelling up a shaman and a hunter for the expansion.
When I started college (back in '95) a few friends introduced me to a MUD. I played it mostly to keep in contact with them (at other colleges) but just didn't really like the interface. It was all typing commands and reading text, like an online D&D session except without actually playing with other people. So, I reached the level cap, albeit slowly, and quit, only logging in to talk with my friends. However, one of my friends played all the time. He was always on. He failed out of school.
So, is Blizzard responsible for creating something that can be addictive? What about EQ, DAoC, AC, UO? They all have elements that can make people who are more susceptible become addicted. But couldn't Battlefield 2/2142? Remember that in BF1942/Vietnam you didn't have ranks. There wasn't a time commitment. You could leave at anytime. But with ranks you are need to grind your way up. The more games that contain these 'RPG' elements the more of this addiction stuff we are going to hear about.
Just take a look at professional athletes. They're bigger, stronger, and faster than even just two generations ago.
This has more to do with conditioning (and steroids) than genetics. If you spent the time that professional athletes do working out you could achieve some 'bigger, stronger, faster' results as well. Even 20 years ago, professional baseball players weren't lifting the weights like they do now. Take a look at the '86 Mets and tell me that weight lifting was big. Daryl Strawberry had 27 HRs that year - those were huge numbers. Now if you don't break 40 or 50 it's not even a blip on the radar.
With internal drive and/or talent you could possibly be (or could have been) a professional athlete too. I will say though that some sports require different builds to compete. You aren't going to play professional football (american football) or basketball if you are 5'5" 130lbs. You could certainly play a less contact sport like baseball or possibly soccer.
We're starting to see more and more offspring of atheletes following in the footsteps of their parents.
Bringing up a child within the family of professional sports can result in the child being more adapted to the sport, although it's definitely not a guarantee. Plenty of kids of professional athletes didn't get to the bigs and I think it's more difficult than you think. I can only think of a couple off the top of my head in football and baseball. I can't think of maybe one in basketball. I personally knew a guy in college who's dad played in the NFL however he didn't even play college ball.
And to top it off, they make more money and have more prospects for reproducing.
A few make tons of money. A long career in sports is uncommon. At 35 in almost all sports you are a has-been, but only if you make it that long. If you do you deserve the big bucks otherwise I hope you saved your pennies because it's going to be a long 20-30 until you get social security.
As for reproducing, anthropologically women want a mate that can take care of their offspring. If that person is a cab driver or an NFL quarterback it doesn't matter. There is no direct correlation between the number of children a person can have with how many they choose to have. Professional sports figures simply have the public's attention and therefore give the appearance of more opportunities.
The Massive Entertainment still amazes me. 15 years ago, who knew there would be money in MUDs?!? Ok, maybe you did, but I would have laughed.
I did although honestly it wasn't really that far out from Ultima Online so really it was already on it's way. I had friends who played MUDs and were simply addicted to them. I played too but I just couldn't get around reading all that text. I got my characters to level cap but didn't quit because it was how I kept in contact with my high-school friends during college (free internet, 28kbps WOOT! - man, I'm old).
Really, until WoW, MMOs have been a fringe thing but the social aspect of them was always what made them big. I think the only thing that truly held some of the early MMOs back from being huge was the lack of home internet connection speed too.
The director is that of "Mr. 3000" and "Drumline". The writer did "Tomb Raider". A winning pair we have here for a fighting game movie. I expect this to be on the people's lists of top 10 worst video games.
Both "Mr. 3000" and "Drumline" were solid movies. Not blockbusters by any stretch but both were very well directed.
"Tomb Raider" wasn't a great movie but I think the writing was pretty good for the subject matter. Too much shooting and and too little adventure, maybe a little to formulaic.
Advertisers and corporations don't care that you grew out of those fads.
Oh, they care. You are correct that advertisers will move on, however, Myspace can't. If they lose their user base because they were a fad it's just as bad as losing their user base to competition. Without eyeballs on the ads no one is going to pay them very much to advertise on their site. Without money there is no business.
Like I said, Myspace isn't Google. Maybe it's just me but they look like a 1-trick pony with nothing to fall back on. Can you see them doing anything that will keep their poularity up or expand their user base other than word of mouth and hype? They are doing things that aren't really that novel and aren't trends - they're fads. That's a good way to make money in the short run but long term I think they are in trouble.
They only care that the current batch of teenagers is into it and kids will get into it when they get a little older.
But that's the problem with fads, there is no tomorrow. They are gone and no one even remembers. The kids who would get into it have moved on to a different fad and we can have the same conversation about that one. Think about music, which is a very fad-driven industry. Grunge, boy-bands, latin music, even swing was popular for a while. Sure those genres are still there but are they even a fraction of what they were? The difference is that business model is sustained on fads much like the fashion industry.
Don't misread what I am saying though. Social networking is not the fad - Myspace is the fad. Social networking will eventually find a new leader and people will move on.
This isn't an EBay or a Google, it's just entertainment and no one is more fickle than the 18-24 demographic. Besides, it's just a matter of time. Kids grow up, trends change. Think about one of the hottest fads that were around when you were 18 and think about how much they affect you now.
I honestly can't think of any fads at all. Maybe that's because 18-24 was college and college was a pretty good time on it's own:)
Some parents however are 'enthusiastic laptop proponents', one saying 'the laptop has helped her twelve-year-old son master critical professional skills like how to compile a PowerPoint presentation.'
If this was the late 90s this kid would already be making tens of thousands of dollars at a dot-com, maybe even running one himself!
A long time ago, back when I was in middle school, I remember watching 'Inside Edition'. Remember all those sensationalist 'news' programs? Anyways they had a story similar to this (but in the US of course).
Boyfriend & girlfriend are having sex and during partake in 'auto-erotic asphyxiation'. It's where you choke your partner, and the lack of oxygen to your brain is supposed to make the orgasm better. The girlfriend proceeded to die and the boyfriend went to prison for manslaughter.
The British incident could've been different, but they didn't say he was necessarily a violent individual. Maybe she was into it too and knew the complications? He's serving time for murder when it seems like this is a definite manslaughter case.
I'm just glad we have a Constitution in the US. It makes censorship and personal liberties easier to protect. Even with all the shit the current administration is trying to pull, a lot of it is getting overturned because of the Bill of Rights.
Slashdot Mirror
Did Apple remake the commercial with an IPod because if you watch the Ms. Thor is wearing one when she throws the hammer.
So did he use the original old commercial (and add the IPod himself) or a newer, updated commercial?
I didn't get the feeling that they are talking about the difference between a BA in CS or a BS in CS. I felt that they were saying that they would be more interested in people who were non-vocationally taught than those who were.
For example, I see commercials for some vocational school (like ITT, or it might actually be ITT) for their video game education track. Now this might seem like it's more focused and more desired in the field but from what the employers are saying is that these applicants are less rounded and aren't as able to solve more complex problems that arise from large-scale software projects.
In the end, a bad interface will make people believe your data is wrong, even if it's not.
Amen.
And heaven forbid they try to do interface design (which is the best marriage between visual design and software development). They may be smart enough to piece together some Java or C# clips off the Internet into a program that, technically, produces the proper data output, but that's it.
I'm glad someone has said it.
I'm a UI engineer in my career, educated as a software engineer. I am in no way a graphical designer, but I do my best, having taken many classes and read many books on UI, graphics, layout, HCI. While I understand why (lack of funds, its a startup), my company won't hire a graphical designer to help out with the things I need help with even though I feel this is very important.
People just don't have 'it' sometimes and I have to actively ban them from creating UIs. A lot of engineers think of just data in/data out and that's not right, it's about presentation. Honestly, our company wouldn't be were it is without me pushing back on a lot of poor visual design choices. And that has unfortunately made me a very unpopular person around the office, even though I've helped the bottom line instead of hurting it.
Screw it though, I won't be responsible for something that is visually unappealing and difficult to use.
Here at MIT we have 4 intro courses. The first, the famous Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, is taught entirely in Scheme, a purer and more pedagogical dialect of Lisp. You learn how to do all the high-level algorithms (e.g., sorting) in a purely mathematical/logical fashion, since Scheme has automatic object creation / memory handling, no code-data distinction, etc. At the end of the class you work with a Scheme interpreter in Scheme (the metacircular evaluator), which, modulo lexing, teaches you how parsing and compiling programs works.
/.'ers hate on Java?
That sounds fine. At my less-prestigious college (Washington State University) we started with C and an asshole of a professor. He was the best thing our CS department had as a filter. The ones who could do it or were tenacious enough to get through it learned a lot and moved on, those who didn't went into something else.
We didn't do compilers or use non c-based languages for about a year. In hindsight, I definitely think that was a little late.
The next two are EE courses. The fourth starts EE and quickly moves to CS. You use a SPICE-like simulator to build gates directly from transistors. (You've done so in real life in previous classes.) Then you use the gate simulator to build up more interesting circuits, culminating in an entire, usable CPU. From gates. Which you built from transistors. The end result is, not only are you intimately famliar with assembly, you know exactly why assembly works the way it does and what sort of electrical signals are occurring inside your processor.
I think this seems a little redundant. I don't like EE and I'm not interested in it. I really don't care about how a computer works internally and I shouldn't really have to if my focus is on software engineering. Circuits don't directly affect me in my career one bit and I doubt many CS people think about them.
In no way are these classes a waste of time though. I did have a few friends who ended up moving more into Computer Engineering instead, although it moved me away.
So yes, blame Java, if you're trying to teach memory allocation or algorithm design with it.
Memory allocation sure, but algorithm design? I can show complexity of algorithms in Java as well as any other language. And please don't say that CS students are getting soft because of algorithm libraries - all languages have libraries to make things easier, not just Java.
Why do so many
The cloak sold for more than any of the other movie costumes the article listed, beating out Sean Connery's dinner jacket from Thunderball and a helmet worn by Terry Jones in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Shocking. How about comparing it to some good memorabilia? If it was say up against the golden gun that would be a good comparison. A dinner jacket? Meh.
This reminds me of when my wife and I were on vacation. We were in Honolulu and ate at the Planet Hollywood there. They have memorabilia but most of it is crap. We tried to find the most obscure thing we could and sure enough: the 'costume' (a t-shirt and shorts) worn by Andrew McCarthy in "Weekend at Bernies 2". We were truly in the presence of greatness...
WoW had it's share of 'release now/fix later' features.
Blackwing Lair was pretty much beta tested on the live servers. After that debacle Blizzard went to having longer public test realm segments. Ahn'Qiraj was also questionable. It required a long 'gate opening' world event that kept people out for at least a few weeks before they could even start the encounters. Once people got to the bosses a lot of changes were made because they were somewhat difficult if not impossible.
From another perspective, Gates is saying that current market rates are ~100k. This is about right for mid-level software engineers with 2-4 years of experience, in that area.
Is it the mid-90s again? That's the only possibility if someone is making that much with only 2-4 years experience. And 100k+, even in an expensive city as Seattle, is still awesome money.
The simple fact is that I've know many people, some very qualified and some not so much, who applied to MS and didn't get so much as a second look. I've known 1 person who's been hired, and he was very young (just turned 22 at the time) and very arrogant.
I think if you want to work for MS you need to be young, show that all you care about is working long hours at the expense of your social life, and be an asshole. They like assholes who know it all. That's why there's a lot of shit that get spewed from Redmond. If you're a foreigner it's even better because they can pay you more than you'd get in your own country but less than a resident and you'll probably work very long hours because you're just happy to be making 'the big bucks'!
... if you could type it with one hand.
When Vger returns we are all hosed.
IANAL but frankly I don't see the 'mischaracterizes' part of this whole story. From what I can tell, AOL matched one or more IPs directly to the defendant - name, street address, state and ZIP. If they didn't have an account with AOL how did they know that information?
Looks like the RIAA has probable cause to continue litigation because AOL did in fact correlate an IP that downloaded the music to the defendant. It doesn't prove anything but the RIAA still should have the right to continue with the lititgation, as much as it pains me to say it.
Maybe I'm just not seeing the problem here. Maybe I need someone to clear it up or just put on the 'Evil RIAA' blinders that I guess I'm supposed to wear when reading slashdot.
Giving up a Broadway musical for WoW? Sounds like he made the right call.
There are about a million things I would rather do than sit through a Broadway musical. Even given the choice of a colonoscopy or a Broadway musical I would still choose the colonoscopy.
What is important is money for big corporations.
Why should we use television technology that hasn't been updated in over half a century?
Sure I can watch sports in the current non-HD and like it but I like it more in HD. I would still watch whether it's HD or not though so of course the networks can't charge advertisers more. Suck it up and improve your equipment because if TV looks better won't consumers possibly watch MORE?
You are right on the money. There is way too much hinging on 'not knowing' in IV-VI to ruin them by watching I-III first.
:)
Episode IV is fine and stands alone, no biggie. Once we hit 'Empire', if you know why Vader is so obsessed with finding Luke that takes away from it all. The reveal is a huge plot twist that complicates the rest of the movie and has repercussions in 'Return'. Yoda's training with his hippy-ish description of The Force is great, not ruined by midichlorians or however you spell that BS. Sure, 'Return' is mostly Ewoks - Jar Jar precusors, only not as annoying and with fewer lines - but it at least ties everything up by the end. Luke's a Jedi, Lando becomes a hero, Han gets laid, and Anakin redeems himself. Huzzah!
Then you can watch I-III to see how Anakin became an asshole and the apparently gazillion Jedi's were wiped out.
Throw in the first 10 minutes of 'Chasing Amy' for Hooper X's rant about how the series is racist and you have a complete series right there
What's funny is that the World Bank is where LBJ 'pushed' Robert McNamara after he felt he was no longer useful with dealing with Vietnam.
Please don't blame it on WoW, this is about individuals.
Let me just say that I play a few hours a night and was raiding a little before the expansion news which caused a lot of guilds to 'take a break'. I'm currently levelling up a shaman and a hunter for the expansion.
When I started college (back in '95) a few friends introduced me to a MUD. I played it mostly to keep in contact with them (at other colleges) but just didn't really like the interface. It was all typing commands and reading text, like an online D&D session except without actually playing with other people. So, I reached the level cap, albeit slowly, and quit, only logging in to talk with my friends. However, one of my friends played all the time. He was always on. He failed out of school.
So, is Blizzard responsible for creating something that can be addictive? What about EQ, DAoC, AC, UO? They all have elements that can make people who are more susceptible become addicted. But couldn't Battlefield 2/2142? Remember that in BF1942/Vietnam you didn't have ranks. There wasn't a time commitment. You could leave at anytime. But with ranks you are need to grind your way up. The more games that contain these 'RPG' elements the more of this addiction stuff we are going to hear about.
Just take a look at professional athletes. They're bigger, stronger, and faster than even just two generations ago.
This has more to do with conditioning (and steroids) than genetics. If you spent the time that professional athletes do working out you could achieve some 'bigger, stronger, faster' results as well. Even 20 years ago, professional baseball players weren't lifting the weights like they do now. Take a look at the '86 Mets and tell me that weight lifting was big. Daryl Strawberry had 27 HRs that year - those were huge numbers. Now if you don't break 40 or 50 it's not even a blip on the radar.
With internal drive and/or talent you could possibly be (or could have been) a professional athlete too. I will say though that some sports require different builds to compete. You aren't going to play professional football (american football) or basketball if you are 5'5" 130lbs. You could certainly play a less contact sport like baseball or possibly soccer.
We're starting to see more and more offspring of atheletes following in the footsteps of their parents.
Bringing up a child within the family of professional sports can result in the child being more adapted to the sport, although it's definitely not a guarantee. Plenty of kids of professional athletes didn't get to the bigs and I think it's more difficult than you think. I can only think of a couple off the top of my head in football and baseball. I can't think of maybe one in basketball. I personally knew a guy in college who's dad played in the NFL however he didn't even play college ball.
And to top it off, they make more money and have more prospects for reproducing.
A few make tons of money. A long career in sports is uncommon. At 35 in almost all sports you are a has-been, but only if you make it that long. If you do you deserve the big bucks otherwise I hope you saved your pennies because it's going to be a long 20-30 until you get social security.
As for reproducing, anthropologically women want a mate that can take care of their offspring. If that person is a cab driver or an NFL quarterback it doesn't matter. There is no direct correlation between the number of children a person can have with how many they choose to have. Professional sports figures simply have the public's attention and therefore give the appearance of more opportunities.
The Massive Entertainment still amazes me. 15 years ago, who knew there would be money in MUDs?!? Ok, maybe you did, but I would have laughed.
I did although honestly it wasn't really that far out from Ultima Online so really it was already on it's way. I had friends who played MUDs and were simply addicted to them. I played too but I just couldn't get around reading all that text. I got my characters to level cap but didn't quit because it was how I kept in contact with my high-school friends during college (free internet, 28kbps WOOT! - man, I'm old).
Really, until WoW, MMOs have been a fringe thing but the social aspect of them was always what made them big. I think the only thing that truly held some of the early MMOs back from being huge was the lack of home internet connection speed too.
Tekken
The director is that of "Mr. 3000" and "Drumline". The writer did "Tomb Raider". A winning pair we have here for a fighting game movie. I expect this to be on the people's lists of top 10 worst video games.
Both "Mr. 3000" and "Drumline" were solid movies. Not blockbusters by any stretch but both were very well directed.
"Tomb Raider" wasn't a great movie but I think the writing was pretty good for the subject matter. Too much shooting and and too little adventure, maybe a little to formulaic.
Have to agree. My wife loves that movie and it is highly tolerable.
But what do you expect from a lot of people? They don't bother to think about the target audience - if they aren't it then the movie must suck.
Advertisers and corporations don't care that you grew out of those fads.
Oh, they care. You are correct that advertisers will move on, however, Myspace can't. If they lose their user base because they were a fad it's just as bad as losing their user base to competition. Without eyeballs on the ads no one is going to pay them very much to advertise on their site. Without money there is no business.
Like I said, Myspace isn't Google. Maybe it's just me but they look like a 1-trick pony with nothing to fall back on. Can you see them doing anything that will keep their poularity up or expand their user base other than word of mouth and hype? They are doing things that aren't really that novel and aren't trends - they're fads. That's a good way to make money in the short run but long term I think they are in trouble.
They only care that the current batch of teenagers is into it and kids will get into it when they get a little older.
But that's the problem with fads, there is no tomorrow. They are gone and no one even remembers. The kids who would get into it have moved on to a different fad and we can have the same conversation about that one. Think about music, which is a very fad-driven industry. Grunge, boy-bands, latin music, even swing was popular for a while. Sure those genres are still there but are they even a fraction of what they were? The difference is that business model is sustained on fads much like the fashion industry.
Don't misread what I am saying though. Social networking is not the fad - Myspace is the fad. Social networking will eventually find a new leader and people will move on.
This isn't an EBay or a Google, it's just entertainment and no one is more fickle than the 18-24 demographic. Besides, it's just a matter of time. Kids grow up, trends change. Think about one of the hottest fads that were around when you were 18 and think about how much they affect you now.
:)
I honestly can't think of any fads at all. Maybe that's because 18-24 was college and college was a pretty good time on it's own
Some parents however are 'enthusiastic laptop proponents', one saying 'the laptop has helped her twelve-year-old son master critical professional skills like how to compile a PowerPoint presentation.'
If this was the late 90s this kid would already be making tens of thousands of dollars at a dot-com, maybe even running one himself!
Autoerotic Asphyxiation is where you choke yourself while masturbating
:)
Heh, sorry, I'm not familiar with what the kids are doing these days. Good to know, good to know
A long time ago, back when I was in middle school, I remember watching 'Inside Edition'. Remember all those sensationalist 'news' programs? Anyways they had a story similar to this (but in the US of course).
Boyfriend & girlfriend are having sex and during partake in 'auto-erotic asphyxiation'. It's where you choke your partner, and the lack of oxygen to your brain is supposed to make the orgasm better. The girlfriend proceeded to die and the boyfriend went to prison for manslaughter.
The British incident could've been different, but they didn't say he was necessarily a violent individual. Maybe she was into it too and knew the complications? He's serving time for murder when it seems like this is a definite manslaughter case.
I'm just glad we have a Constitution in the US. It makes censorship and personal liberties easier to protect. Even with all the shit the current administration is trying to pull, a lot of it is getting overturned because of the Bill of Rights.