Thanks, that might be just what I am looking for. It has almost the same profile as my Logitech one so it should fit my hand well. The extra 2 buttons are huge for gaming. I might check that one out.
I always use the Logitech Trackman. I even purchased one for work. Since I am on a PC all day, these have saved my wrists. My wrist used to get sore for days when I was using a normal mouse full time. Since I switched to the trackman, I haven't had any soreness since.
The Trackman fits your hand like a glove, and your thumb sits right on the ball and is super easy to use. My only gripe is that I wish it had another button or 2. That would make it much nicer for gaming. I use this for WoW, and it is good enough, but for an FPS game it's not perfect.
SQL, on the other hand:
1) Reasonably simple API
2) Scales to very large databsaes
3) Cross-platform/architecture
4) Performs very well.
Given the insane amount of inertia SQL has, it will extend into an object model, rather than be replaced by one. (EG: C/C++)
SQL is a language for set operations. By itself it isn't a database or storage utility. There are some different versions similar to what you describe. Oracle's PL/SQL allows you to make temporary tables and materialized views. Neither solves the overall problem the article describes.
SQL by itself doesn't perform. It is based on the database engine, and how good the developer is. I have gotten SQL queries that took minutes to exectue in seconds by adding indexes, analyzing tables, and totally rewriting inefficient code. It is only "cross-platform" if you follow the ANSI SQL standard. Each database has it's own set of handy functions that make the code database centric.
SQL doesn't really have an API. It is a specification that is sometimes followed by database designers, and sometimes ignored. For example, in Oracle you can either use the ANSI joining sytax (LEFT OUTER JOIN) or use the (+) in the where clause.
It scales to large databases only when they are designed properly. I work with 18 terabytes of data. My sql code wouldn't work so hot if the tables weren't designed correctly. Indexing, partitioning, and table structure have more to do with performance at that level than the code. The code can make a large difference too, but if the underlying structure is wrong, even the best SQL won't help you.
Yeah. I know some journals are copywritten. Others are not. That's why it I am not sure. I know that some journals are extremely expensive, therefore they could greatly suffer if they lost money to Google.
...and I suppose anyone who can't defend themselves deserves to get mugged? And anyone who hasn't done a law degree deserves to be sued? And anyone who can't grow their own food deserves to starve?...
...Please, can you show a little more respect for the other people you share the world with. They are not as stupid as you think.
Those are silly analogies, and don't see how they even remotely apply to my argument that teaching someone to secure their identity is the best approach.
I beleive by definition that anyone who is caught in a phishing scam is exactly as "stupid" as I think. That's why we need to teach them about how to avoid them.
I guess it depends on what they are scanning. If it is mostly scientific journals used for research it might not infringe on copyrights. If they are scanning the NY Times Bestseller list for public distribution, that would be a huge violation. I have to assume that Google has a team of lawyers looking into every aspect of this project. It would be a very bad business move to be one of the most popular sites on the Internet and provide illegal content.
Maybe they will register googlez.com and start a warez site for this project.
I would venture a guess that among the vulnerable are the parents and/or grandparents of most of the people who read Slashdot. You don't see an ethical obligation on the party of the technically savvy to care about and protect the technically unsavvy? Shame on you.
You are absolutely correct. That is why I have attempted to teach my parents about the dangers of phishing, malware, and viruses. It still doesn't stop my father from installing Gator 3 times a day, but at least I am trying.
Like I said in a previous post, this isn't a technical problem. It is a philosophical problem, using a technical vehicle. Teaching people not to disclose personal information at all is the answer. We'll never build technology that always protects people from themselves without making it overly intrusive.
One thing I don't understand about phishing is why it works so well. I imagine it is probably just the volume of the attacks, so they are more likely to catch an idiot than in the past.
Consider:
Most people wouldn't give out a credit card number randomly over the phone
Most people wouldn't return junk mail that asked for a social security number
Most people wouldn't walk up to a complete stranger on the street and hand them their ATM card and PIN
I think computers mystify older people to the point where they lose their mind. I see it in general. My friend's father-in-law had a "computer question" for me about ebay. He wanted me to tell him how to determine the price he should sell something for. I tried to explain to him that his question had nothing to do with ebay itself, but he was so caught up in the process of selling on ebay, he was totally confused.
Maybe phishing works so well because some people are so confused by computers in general, they simply assume that their bank would ask them for this information over email (from an account named bank_stealer@hotmail.com).
Dealing with this kind of leads to the appropriate saying:
You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or teach him to fish and feed him for the rest of his life.
You can't get rid of phishing by blocking sites. You have to do it by educating people not to enter their info.
Re:I can see you've never run a small company
on
Layoffs at OSDL
·
· Score: 1
I can see you've never run a small company. If you had, you'd realize that a good (or bad) receptionist can make (or break) your business. Think about it--here is one person who typically talks to every employee several times a day, and most of your customers every week or two. The person who watchs who and what enter and leave, gets to see the unguarded moments, the body language, hear the idle gossip--in short, the best clue catcher you'll ever have.
I'm always amazed at the money people will pay consultants for clues they could have gotten in far less time just by asking the recptionist. Often, the receptionist is the only person in the whole outfit that sees the big picture.
I have worked for 3 small companies. I agree that a good receptionist is essential for smooth operations. 2 of the companies had the worst receptionists I ever saw, because the guys in charge decided to hire cheap instead of good. They sent the wrong information to the wrong clients, and one almost cost us thousands of dollars by holding a legal document her boss specifically told her not to hold for any reason.
All I am saying is that a good engineer is far more important that a good receptionist. You won't need a receptionist at all if your product is garbage. You clients won't be calling anymore if you don't fix bugs. A bad receptionist is a burden, but a bad programmer is utterly useless. I've worked with both. At least a bad receptionist can (usually) handle basic tasks. Bad developers ruin a whole project.
Anyone that falls for a phishing scam is too dumb to have their money anyway.
At work, the security guys put together a phishing test. It looked exactly like our normal web page, they made is sound official by calling it some kind of Task Force, and then they emailed everyone a link to the password checker. It supposedly tested your password for security difficulty. You enter your ID and password and it would email you back the results.
I sent the link to the security guys and got an "Attaboy". About half of the people ended up on the list of idiots that handed out their secure passwords over the internet.
What goes through someone's head to enter passwords, bank account info, or personal identity information over the Internet? Don't people consider that the companies supposedly asking for this stuff should already have it. You bank is never going to ask you for your account number over email. They already have it!
Not only the things they said, but the violence. Tom and Jerry were extremely violent. Most of the Bugs Bunny cartoons included someone being blown up or shot.
Somehow we all managed to watch them and not turn out to be homicidal maniacs. Today, if a cuddly teddy bear trips and lands on his butt that might get banned for promoting the dangerous act of falling on ones rump.
This sounds like a good plot for a movie with Harrison Ford and Sandra Bullock.
Call it "Ransom". The tagline could be "When your porn gets locked, you lock and load."
Re:Most typical line ever
on
Layoffs at OSDL
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
"We had some dead weight around here, and we wanted to avoid lawsuits for firing them. So, we decided to call it a layout due to restructuring."
That's a common one too. I worked for a startup that laid off about 20% of their workforce because the CEO was an idiot and didn't get enough business. To save face, he told some of his buddies that ran the other programming firms in the area that he cut out some dead weight. The 20% of the people let go were mostly really good developers that were let go because they weren't on any projects. They had a hard time getting new jobs because some of the other area companies thought they were dead weight. If it were me, I probably would have sued my previous employer for slander.
Re:Probably not a big deal.
on
Layoffs at OSDL
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
When you have a small shop, you don't need extra receptionists. When your main function is to turn out code, all that matters is that you have talented programmers and someone with a direction for the company.
I never said that receptionists were useless. On the other hand, if a company doesn't need receptionists then it isn't thier duty to hire them just so they can pay rent. If you need to downsize, you get rid of non-critical personnel first. Receptionist are definitely in that category, especially since they are most easily replaced out of any staff members.
Downsizing is never a fun thing, but there is a clear pecking order.
Probably not a big deal.
on
Layoffs at OSDL
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Anyone that has ever worked for a small programming shop knows this probably isn't a huge event. It sounds like of the 9 people let go, most were not programmers. They probably got rid of some sales and marketing people to prepare themselves for an investment. A lot of times to take larger amounts of venture capital, you have to clean house to prepare to take on execs from the VC firm. We had to name one of their board members our President. They also gave us a marketing guy, and sales guy. It is part of selling your soul to make money.
Hopefully they didn't ditch anyone too integral to the programming. Also, they mentioned consulting positions, so they might have simply decided to not renew some contracts. Without the breakdown of what positions were downsized, it's hard to tell what they are doing.
The one thing that happened to our company during this process is that some of the engineers got fed up (myself included) and left. We had about 15 people total and only 5 were programmers by the time the restructuring finished. Imagine this: 10 people telling you that we need Product X yesterday, and it gets added to your list of 10 other things that were promised to your top clients.
Can anyone else think of a better idea to get lonely gamers (the kind that would go to E3 to begin with) to check out their booth? These are just good looking girls is tight outfits. Depending on where you live, you can see that in any bar/club anyway. Just check out the girls that come around on promos or sell shots.
Most likely, they are girls that are looking for modeling/acting jobs. I guess that is a modeling job, but I guarantee they could make more money on the pole. At least strippers don't have to pose next to a fat bald guy so he can show the pictures to his friends as proof of his story that he made out with a hot chick.
Nowhere did I say anything about promoting piracy. Modchips can be used for piracy, but a lot of their features actually make the Xbox more useful. Don't forget that a large percentage of Modchips do nothing besided unlock the region code of an import. There is nothing wrong with that at all, assuming you purchased the original.
My point is that MS might actually reduce the amount of modding by giving us features we seek out in the modchips. Obviously they aren't going to support hacked games, but supporting emulators (some of which are legal) makes my Xbox much more fun.
I wonder if they are going to make it super easy for the FBI, and just let them type in "Illegal Downloads". The only saving grace is that the list will be so long it will probably freeze up the FBIs network.
A search engine is a decent idea, but if you can't find your files already, you aren't doing something right. I'm not sure BitTorrent is the kind of thing that should be catering to the dumb computer user. Part of the reason it hasn't been locked down totally is because the masses haven't figured it out. Make it as easy to use as Napster, and it will be shutdown as fast as possible.
Most Xbox owners fall in the 20-30 year old age range.
True, but the majority of the 20-30 year olds probably don't impulse buy things just because a flashy graphic pops up. A 14 year old might just purchase the game without caring that a parent is going to get billed. It's kind of like all of the cigarette ads. They might not be targeted directly at teens (even though they really are), but teens are the most impacted by them because older individuals already have formed an opinion one way or the other. Most marketing campaigns go after the younger people because they will either purchase it or make their parents' lives a living hell until they get it.
I also see a lot of other areas where they are turning their Xbox into a web-whoring machine. Banner ads are one thing. Take a look at the content they offer. There are downloadable games, kind of like the PopCap stuff on the internet. There is also some kind of iTunes feature that may appear in the future. Nice ideas, but I am assuming there will be fees to download new content.
All of this is targeted at teens that play video games and will rack up the bill on Mommy's credit card. Who wants to also be that the new Xbox keeps track of purchases and delivers banner ads based on purchases? Who also wants to be that MS has a database to track this and sell your info to other marketers?
What kind of world do we live in when your game console needs a pop-up blocker?
Slashdot Mirror
I want to win just to pull the old Chris Farley interview from SNL.
Me: Remember that time you released windows?
Bill: Yeah
Me: That was awesome!
Thanks, that might be just what I am looking for. It has almost the same profile as my Logitech one so it should fit my hand well. The extra 2 buttons are huge for gaming. I might check that one out.
I always use the Logitech Trackman. I even purchased one for work. Since I am on a PC all day, these have saved my wrists. My wrist used to get sore for days when I was using a normal mouse full time. Since I switched to the trackman, I haven't had any soreness since.
The Trackman fits your hand like a glove, and your thumb sits right on the ball and is super easy to use. My only gripe is that I wish it had another button or 2. That would make it much nicer for gaming. I use this for WoW, and it is good enough, but for an FPS game it's not perfect.
SQL, on the other hand:
1) Reasonably simple API
2) Scales to very large databsaes
3) Cross-platform/architecture
4) Performs very well.
Given the insane amount of inertia SQL has, it will extend into an object model, rather than be replaced by one. (EG: C/C++)
SQL is a language for set operations. By itself it isn't a database or storage utility. There are some different versions similar to what you describe. Oracle's PL/SQL allows you to make temporary tables and materialized views. Neither solves the overall problem the article describes.
SQL by itself doesn't perform. It is based on the database engine, and how good the developer is. I have gotten SQL queries that took minutes to exectue in seconds by adding indexes, analyzing tables, and totally rewriting inefficient code. It is only "cross-platform" if you follow the ANSI SQL standard. Each database has it's own set of handy functions that make the code database centric.
SQL doesn't really have an API. It is a specification that is sometimes followed by database designers, and sometimes ignored. For example, in Oracle you can either use the ANSI joining sytax (LEFT OUTER JOIN) or use the (+) in the where clause.
It scales to large databases only when they are designed properly. I work with 18 terabytes of data. My sql code wouldn't work so hot if the tables weren't designed correctly. Indexing, partitioning, and table structure have more to do with performance at that level than the code. The code can make a large difference too, but if the underlying structure is wrong, even the best SQL won't help you.
Yeah. I know some journals are copywritten. Others are not. That's why it I am not sure. I know that some journals are extremely expensive, therefore they could greatly suffer if they lost money to Google.
...and I suppose anyone who can't defend themselves deserves to get mugged? And anyone who hasn't done a law degree deserves to be sued? And anyone who can't grow their own food deserves to starve?...
...Please, can you show a little more respect for the other people you share the world with. They are not as stupid as you think.
Those are silly analogies, and don't see how they even remotely apply to my argument that teaching someone to secure their identity is the best approach.
I beleive by definition that anyone who is caught in a phishing scam is exactly as "stupid" as I think. That's why we need to teach them about how to avoid them.
I guess it depends on what they are scanning. If it is mostly scientific journals used for research it might not infringe on copyrights. If they are scanning the NY Times Bestseller list for public distribution, that would be a huge violation. I have to assume that Google has a team of lawyers looking into every aspect of this project. It would be a very bad business move to be one of the most popular sites on the Internet and provide illegal content.
Maybe they will register googlez.com and start a warez site for this project.
It looks like Open Office didn't open the presentation properly. Look at all of those crazy symbols.
I would venture a guess that among the vulnerable are the parents and/or grandparents of most of the people who read Slashdot. You don't see an ethical obligation on the party of the technically savvy to care about and protect the technically unsavvy? Shame on you.
You are absolutely correct. That is why I have attempted to teach my parents about the dangers of phishing, malware, and viruses. It still doesn't stop my father from installing Gator 3 times a day, but at least I am trying.
Like I said in a previous post, this isn't a technical problem. It is a philosophical problem, using a technical vehicle. Teaching people not to disclose personal information at all is the answer. We'll never build technology that always protects people from themselves without making it overly intrusive.
Consider:
I think computers mystify older people to the point where they lose their mind. I see it in general. My friend's father-in-law had a "computer question" for me about ebay. He wanted me to tell him how to determine the price he should sell something for. I tried to explain to him that his question had nothing to do with ebay itself, but he was so caught up in the process of selling on ebay, he was totally confused.
Maybe phishing works so well because some people are so confused by computers in general, they simply assume that their bank would ask them for this information over email (from an account named bank_stealer@hotmail.com).
Dealing with this kind of leads to the appropriate saying:
You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or teach him to fish and feed him for the rest of his life.
You can't get rid of phishing by blocking sites. You have to do it by educating people not to enter their info.
I can see you've never run a small company. If you had, you'd realize that a good (or bad) receptionist can make (or break) your business. Think about it--here is one person who typically talks to every employee several times a day, and most of your customers every week or two. The person who watchs who and what enter and leave, gets to see the unguarded moments, the body language, hear the idle gossip--in short, the best clue catcher you'll ever have.
I'm always amazed at the money people will pay consultants for clues they could have gotten in far less time just by asking the recptionist. Often, the receptionist is the only person in the whole outfit that sees the big picture.
I have worked for 3 small companies. I agree that a good receptionist is essential for smooth operations. 2 of the companies had the worst receptionists I ever saw, because the guys in charge decided to hire cheap instead of good. They sent the wrong information to the wrong clients, and one almost cost us thousands of dollars by holding a legal document her boss specifically told her not to hold for any reason.
All I am saying is that a good engineer is far more important that a good receptionist. You won't need a receptionist at all if your product is garbage. You clients won't be calling anymore if you don't fix bugs. A bad receptionist is a burden, but a bad programmer is utterly useless. I've worked with both. At least a bad receptionist can (usually) handle basic tasks. Bad developers ruin a whole project.
Anyone that falls for a phishing scam is too dumb to have their money anyway.
At work, the security guys put together a phishing test. It looked exactly like our normal web page, they made is sound official by calling it some kind of Task Force, and then they emailed everyone a link to the password checker. It supposedly tested your password for security difficulty. You enter your ID and password and it would email you back the results.
I sent the link to the security guys and got an "Attaboy". About half of the people ended up on the list of idiots that handed out their secure passwords over the internet.
What goes through someone's head to enter passwords, bank account info, or personal identity information over the Internet? Don't people consider that the companies supposedly asking for this stuff should already have it. You bank is never going to ask you for your account number over email. They already have it!
I had a much safer idea for my video.
To save money on storm trooper outfits, I made them out of broken glass and used syringes. Even I am not crazy enough to petrol-fire-rods though.
I wonder what you would say about Itchy and Scratchy!
:)
I would say that they are a parody of how violent Tom and Jerry were.
Not only the things they said, but the violence. Tom and Jerry were extremely violent. Most of the Bugs Bunny cartoons included someone being blown up or shot.
Somehow we all managed to watch them and not turn out to be homicidal maniacs. Today, if a cuddly teddy bear trips and lands on his butt that might get banned for promoting the dangerous act of falling on ones rump.
This sounds like a good plot for a movie with Harrison Ford and Sandra Bullock. Call it "Ransom". The tagline could be "When your porn gets locked, you lock and load."
"We had some dead weight around here, and we wanted to avoid lawsuits for firing them. So, we decided to call it a layout due to restructuring."
That's a common one too. I worked for a startup that laid off about 20% of their workforce because the CEO was an idiot and didn't get enough business. To save face, he told some of his buddies that ran the other programming firms in the area that he cut out some dead weight. The 20% of the people let go were mostly really good developers that were let go because they weren't on any projects. They had a hard time getting new jobs because some of the other area companies thought they were dead weight. If it were me, I probably would have sued my previous employer for slander.
When you have a small shop, you don't need extra receptionists. When your main function is to turn out code, all that matters is that you have talented programmers and someone with a direction for the company.
I never said that receptionists were useless. On the other hand, if a company doesn't need receptionists then it isn't thier duty to hire them just so they can pay rent. If you need to downsize, you get rid of non-critical personnel first. Receptionist are definitely in that category, especially since they are most easily replaced out of any staff members.
Downsizing is never a fun thing, but there is a clear pecking order.
Anyone that has ever worked for a small programming shop knows this probably isn't a huge event. It sounds like of the 9 people let go, most were not programmers. They probably got rid of some sales and marketing people to prepare themselves for an investment. A lot of times to take larger amounts of venture capital, you have to clean house to prepare to take on execs from the VC firm. We had to name one of their board members our President. They also gave us a marketing guy, and sales guy. It is part of selling your soul to make money.
Hopefully they didn't ditch anyone too integral to the programming. Also, they mentioned consulting positions, so they might have simply decided to not renew some contracts. Without the breakdown of what positions were downsized, it's hard to tell what they are doing.
The one thing that happened to our company during this process is that some of the engineers got fed up (myself included) and left. We had about 15 people total and only 5 were programmers by the time the restructuring finished. Imagine this: 10 people telling you that we need Product X yesterday, and it gets added to your list of 10 other things that were promised to your top clients.
So when can I import them into Sim City? (that would be a kickass version, esp. if it worked in real-time).
Would that mean if you click on the natural disaster button, you would see real-time fires, tornados and earthquakes?
Can anyone else think of a better idea to get lonely gamers (the kind that would go to E3 to begin with) to check out their booth? These are just good looking girls is tight outfits. Depending on where you live, you can see that in any bar/club anyway. Just check out the girls that come around on promos or sell shots.
Most likely, they are girls that are looking for modeling/acting jobs. I guess that is a modeling job, but I guarantee they could make more money on the pole. At least strippers don't have to pose next to a fat bald guy so he can show the pictures to his friends as proof of his story that he made out with a hot chick.
Nowhere did I say anything about promoting piracy. Modchips can be used for piracy, but a lot of their features actually make the Xbox more useful. Don't forget that a large percentage of Modchips do nothing besided unlock the region code of an import. There is nothing wrong with that at all, assuming you purchased the original.
My point is that MS might actually reduce the amount of modding by giving us features we seek out in the modchips. Obviously they aren't going to support hacked games, but supporting emulators (some of which are legal) makes my Xbox much more fun.
I wonder if they are going to make it super easy for the FBI, and just let them type in "Illegal Downloads". The only saving grace is that the list will be so long it will probably freeze up the FBIs network.
A search engine is a decent idea, but if you can't find your files already, you aren't doing something right. I'm not sure BitTorrent is the kind of thing that should be catering to the dumb computer user. Part of the reason it hasn't been locked down totally is because the masses haven't figured it out. Make it as easy to use as Napster, and it will be shutdown as fast as possible.
Most Xbox owners fall in the 20-30 year old age range.
True, but the majority of the 20-30 year olds probably don't impulse buy things just because a flashy graphic pops up. A 14 year old might just purchase the game without caring that a parent is going to get billed. It's kind of like all of the cigarette ads. They might not be targeted directly at teens (even though they really are), but teens are the most impacted by them because older individuals already have formed an opinion one way or the other. Most marketing campaigns go after the younger people because they will either purchase it or make their parents' lives a living hell until they get it.
I also see a lot of other areas where they are turning their Xbox into a web-whoring machine. Banner ads are one thing. Take a look at the content they offer. There are downloadable games, kind of like the PopCap stuff on the internet. There is also some kind of iTunes feature that may appear in the future. Nice ideas, but I am assuming there will be fees to download new content.
All of this is targeted at teens that play video games and will rack up the bill on Mommy's credit card. Who wants to also be that the new Xbox keeps track of purchases and delivers banner ads based on purchases? Who also wants to be that MS has a database to track this and sell your info to other marketers?
What kind of world do we live in when your game console needs a pop-up blocker?