If something like a calendar application on your phone is buggy, why should Verizon be trying to deal with it.
While I have no sympathy whatever for the bloodsucking carriers, I agree that the underlying problems is that there's some really complex software on the phones and all users needs can't be met by customer service at any one company. I don't think the OEMs can do it either though. Just like computer software the only way to really scale it is by letting users help users. And open platforms make that easier to do than closed ones.
I've been messing around with Android and I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes next. I'm hoping that the networks aren't ready for the disruptive change that's coming and we can see some real competition with some real new faces.
institute a fluid bucket system. Your personal stuff is in a bucket, each employee carries their bucket around. I have a hard enough time deluding myself into thinking I'm a professional sitting in a cubicle. Now you want me to do it while carrying all my personal belongings in a bucket???
One should click the "X" to close out such windows - or likely better yet, especially when in doubt, do so via keyboard CTRL-F4 (think that's the combo). And why is it that the close button in the corner is special? It may be the safest because normally it isn't hooked but depending on the situation it could be. Windows sends messages to the program whose window is going to be closed. What's more, an application can draw it's own window decorations (like Winamp does, for example) where the corner bit looks like a normal close but isn't.
Even in a web page, someone can make an image that looks exactly like a default message box on your OS (which can be guessed from the User Agent string) and have every part of that image tied to malicious results.
btw, yeah, Ctrl-F4 is close for a window (like a message box) and Alt-F4 is close for an application or new browser window.
Well if you consider Verizon the business entity then I guess that's true. However one could argue that Verizon is really not an individual but a bunch of people and those people would be better served by this horseshit ending.
whatever small speed difference you might gain by writing some C code
The difference might be quite large; Android does not have the same JIT as the desktop Java runtime (if it has a JIT at all). And even on the desktop, there are some things at which Java is really bad compared to native code. They do this trick in Java Micro Edition where you wrote all your code as Java but you have the option of including a compiled version of the code. You can compile some, all, or none of your code. So the whole thing about JIT compiling becomes a non-issue. Of course, so does the "write once, run anywhere" lie. I have nothing against Java as a language, I just think it's silly the way it's packaged and marketed.
I also refuse to miss out on trying new stuff just because that right now it uses some bits I don't like. So I just installed and tried out Android with the emulator. Pretty neat stuff, hope they get some diversity in the languages.
Most of the phones on the market today use Java for graphics and applications, including pretty much all of the popular cell phones in Japan that make any phones in the Western world look childish by comparison. The problem is that there is an impression among standard Windows developers that Java is necessarily slow, which is absolutely not true.
Not disagreeing with you but it's important to point out that the Java that runs on a phone is micro edition which has some important differences from standard edition. They're not exactly the same thing. And it's also important to note that there are other contenders for cell phone apps like BREW (at least that was around a while ago, not sure if it still is).
Lots of us still develop in and actually vastly prefer C apis. Even if I'm not actually using C for my development there are plenty of tools that will wrap up a C api and expose it in a language of my choice.
I currently have to use several programs and a manual fan controller to for half the capability this system offers. To read temps I have to use different programs for motherboard, case, and GPU, and several fans aren't even controllable, in hardware or software. I'd love a nicely integrated solution. I don't have a high-end GPU right now but I went through all kinds of pain just trying to figure out if SMART reports correct data for my drives (more about this). The short answer is that while I think it may have been wrong I still took the time to install some new quieter, high volume fans.
It seems like it's time for cooling solutions to enter the PnP age. Ever since MS strong-armed the industry into adopting Plug n Play it's been much simpler for computers to correctly identify newly attached hardware. Temperature sensors are hardware too, why not get the same kind of info back from them? I'm not suggesting they need ROMs with unique names but something like a bus driver that can get an ID, position and reading off of them and give that to calling software would be great.
In the long run, yes, but they can always roll out a couple generations of technology to try out on the cutting edge stuff then once the kinks are worked out rebrand it as Enterprise System Monitoring or some-such businessy sounding thing.
The "extra features" part I mentioned was actually me thinking about how great it would be to get that one extra feature in Javascript plus the ability to enforce a certain inheritance model (just for consistency within one project). This all got in to my head after listening to Bruce Johnson talking about GWT on Technometria (and fwiw I thought he said "static typing").
Well that's what GWT, OpenLazlo et al do already anyway. The thing is you can't get all the features of the underlying language that way. The key is to making the source language so much better than Javascript that my complaint sounds like saying "the problem with C++ is that you can't get all the features of assembly." (And I mean within the source language, not with things like asm blocks.)
Personally I like Javascript as a language and think it's a shame to see roadblocks to it's development happen because of the nature of the platform it usually runs on. I'd like to see something like GWT where the source language is Javascript instead of Java - that is a Javascript to Javascript compiler where you could add whatever local features you need and have the compiler throw away the fluff and stick in cross-browser compatible shims.
It's metric tonne, not ton, and that's a whole different discussion. The tonne is the stupidest unit ever invented and has been a source of great confusion, quite possibly causing real damage to real things.
The lack of driver support for common inkjet printers in Linux. I don't print a lot but when I do I do it in Windows so that I can use all the printer's features. I wish it weren't so but wishing doesn't get me a glossy photo out of that nice shiny Canon inkjet.
Sorry if this is OT but what kind of printer do you have that "just worked?" I've been looking (off and on) for a reasonably-priced inkjet that is known to have solid support for Linux and I haven't had any luck. I know that one of the Canons in my house can be made to work with some Japanese drivers but I'd rather have one where the company supports my use of the hardware I buy.
But there's no need for the "default public" policy that WHOIS historically operated on. Moreover, if someone like Microsoft wanted an anti-Linux site, it would be trivial for them to outsource its operation to some other company. The current WHOIS actually doesn't provides a robust mechanism for determining who runs and operates a domain name. You've got a good point that it's trivial to dodge the name requirement in Whois now. I think that should be a reason to fix it though, not drop it. Pro-MS/Anti-Linux or whatever is one example where astroturfing means big dollars but there are worse ones like political blogs and medical stuff.
The ability to outsource slander is a problem and not just with Whois. Look at political ads - they carry a tagline that's supposed to say who produced it but they can make up a name like "Save the Children Foundation" as a front for whichever political party they want. Tracking down who says what for whom is hard enough in that arena but outside of politics (in tech, drug, clothing, car or whatever industries) is next to impossible.
We need to be able to see who's saying what more easily, not just when there's a problem.
I definitely agree about contact information though. My whois is private to stop the junk mail and junk email, not to hide my name. Seeing who wrote something or supported the writing of something should be easy for people who want to know. Sending them an advert for your registrar doesn't need to be. Of course if Whois cost money to view, which of those interests do you think would be the ones paying to read?
Good point. The part of the bill that the title is named after really delivers a trivial return whereas the things it makes explicitly taxable are much more lucrative. Typical political double-talk.
How can they even tell the difference between a netradio stream over SSL and, say, a sftp transfer?
The fact that you can disguise it doesn't change the fact that it is (hypothetically) taxable. All it means is that you are avoiding tax which is also illegal. I think geeks need to stop thinking about how we can easily avoid stupid laws and realize that we must work in the world created by stupid laws.
How can they tax VoIP and net-radio?
As for how they can tax it, it's really pretty easy. To get the service you need an account. The organization providing the account must abide by the law. If the law says they must charge a tax and remit it to the government then that is what they will do.
This is a little misleading - the part that we often think of as "Internet access" is not taxable, several important services which are not provided by your ISP will now be explicitly taxable. This includes VoIP, Internet radio and Internet-delivered television services that don't come over email and aren't provided by your ISP as part of your account. See this thread.
While I know what you're saying happens in a lot of places, I don't think it's the general case. I know I make more than my relatives that wait tables. I also know that I make less than some of the janitors where I work with a lot of seniority. And that doesn't account for the cost of my education or the fact that while I was in school working more than 8 hours a day and paying to do it, they were already in the workforce making money.
The people I don't see or know personally are the ones that were working while I was in school but lost their job and had less fortunate outcomes. Taking a job is a gamble, sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't.
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While I have no sympathy whatever for the bloodsucking carriers, I agree that the underlying problems is that there's some really complex software on the phones and all users needs can't be met by customer service at any one company. I don't think the OEMs can do it either though. Just like computer software the only way to really scale it is by letting users help users. And open platforms make that easier to do than closed ones.
I've been messing around with Android and I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes next. I'm hoping that the networks aren't ready for the disruptive change that's coming and we can see some real competition with some real new faces.
Even in a web page, someone can make an image that looks exactly like a default message box on your OS (which can be guessed from the User Agent string) and have every part of that image tied to malicious results.
btw, yeah, Ctrl-F4 is close for a window (like a message box) and Alt-F4 is close for an application or new browser window.
Well if you consider Verizon the business entity then I guess that's true. However one could argue that Verizon is really not an individual but a bunch of people and those people would be better served by this horseshit ending.
And don't forget you could always throw in a caller id check to whitelist legit calls from your doctor's office or whatever.
The difference might be quite large; Android does not have the same JIT as the desktop Java runtime (if it has a JIT at all). And even on the desktop, there are some things at which Java is really bad compared to native code.
They do this trick in Java Micro Edition where you wrote all your code as Java but you have the option of including a compiled version of the code. You can compile some, all, or none of your code. So the whole thing about JIT compiling becomes a non-issue. Of course, so does the "write once, run anywhere" lie. I have nothing against Java as a language, I just think it's silly the way it's packaged and marketed.
I also refuse to miss out on trying new stuff just because that right now it uses some bits I don't like. So I just installed and tried out Android with the emulator. Pretty neat stuff, hope they get some diversity in the languages.
SDL is included in the android emulator source that I'm looking at.
I'm trying to figure out how the emulator runs. Now looking at the emulator package I downloaded it appears to actually include the QEMU source.
Not disagreeing with you but it's important to point out that the Java that runs on a phone is micro edition which has some important differences from standard edition. They're not exactly the same thing. And it's also important to note that there are other contenders for cell phone apps like BREW (at least that was around a while ago, not sure if it still is).
Lots of us still develop in and actually vastly prefer C apis. Even if I'm not actually using C for my development there are plenty of tools that will wrap up a C api and expose it in a language of my choice.
Eclipse is cool, I like it for development, but can you run the whole thing on an emulator like QEMU or something?
It seems like it's time for cooling solutions to enter the PnP age. Ever since MS strong-armed the industry into adopting Plug n Play it's been much simpler for computers to correctly identify newly attached hardware. Temperature sensors are hardware too, why not get the same kind of info back from them? I'm not suggesting they need ROMs with unique names but something like a bus driver that can get an ID, position and reading off of them and give that to calling software would be great.
In the long run, yes, but they can always roll out a couple generations of technology to try out on the cutting edge stuff then once the kinks are worked out rebrand it as Enterprise System Monitoring or some-such businessy sounding thing.
The "extra features" part I mentioned was actually me thinking about how great it would be to get that one extra feature in Javascript plus the ability to enforce a certain inheritance model (just for consistency within one project). This all got in to my head after listening to Bruce Johnson talking about GWT on Technometria (and fwiw I thought he said "static typing").
Well that's what GWT, OpenLazlo et al do already anyway. The thing is you can't get all the features of the underlying language that way. The key is to making the source language so much better than Javascript that my complaint sounds like saying "the problem with C++ is that you can't get all the features of assembly." (And I mean within the source language, not with things like asm blocks.)
Personally I like Javascript as a language and think it's a shame to see roadblocks to it's development happen because of the nature of the platform it usually runs on. I'd like to see something like GWT where the source language is Javascript instead of Java - that is a Javascript to Javascript compiler where you could add whatever local features you need and have the compiler throw away the fluff and stick in cross-browser compatible shims.
It's metric tonne, not ton, and that's a whole different discussion. The tonne is the stupidest unit ever invented and has been a source of great confusion, quite possibly causing real damage to real things.
The lack of driver support for common inkjet printers in Linux. I don't print a lot but when I do I do it in Windows so that I can use all the printer's features. I wish it weren't so but wishing doesn't get me a glossy photo out of that nice shiny Canon inkjet.
Sorry if this is OT but what kind of printer do you have that "just worked?" I've been looking (off and on) for a reasonably-priced inkjet that is known to have solid support for Linux and I haven't had any luck. I know that one of the Canons in my house can be made to work with some Japanese drivers but I'd rather have one where the company supports my use of the hardware I buy.
The ability to outsource slander is a problem and not just with Whois. Look at political ads - they carry a tagline that's supposed to say who produced it but they can make up a name like "Save the Children Foundation" as a front for whichever political party they want. Tracking down who says what for whom is hard enough in that arena but outside of politics (in tech, drug, clothing, car or whatever industries) is next to impossible.
We need to be able to see who's saying what more easily, not just when there's a problem.
I definitely agree about contact information though. My whois is private to stop the junk mail and junk email, not to hide my name. Seeing who wrote something or supported the writing of something should be easy for people who want to know. Sending them an advert for your registrar doesn't need to be. Of course if Whois cost money to view, which of those interests do you think would be the ones paying to read?
I think giving out the owner name to anyone that asks is very important. Other than that I agree - the contact info should be private.
Sites are already supposed to monitor a handful of well-known email addresses like abuse@ and whatever else. That should be enough.
So just as free as 1and1 and a bunch of other providers then.
Good point. The part of the bill that the title is named after really delivers a trivial return whereas the things it makes explicitly taxable are much more lucrative. Typical political double-talk.
The fact that you can disguise it doesn't change the fact that it is (hypothetically) taxable. All it means is that you are avoiding tax which is also illegal. I think geeks need to stop thinking about how we can easily avoid stupid laws and realize that we must work in the world created by stupid laws.
How can they tax VoIP and net-radio?
As for how they can tax it, it's really pretty easy. To get the service you need an account. The organization providing the account must abide by the law. If the law says they must charge a tax and remit it to the government then that is what they will do.
This is a little misleading - the part that we often think of as "Internet access" is not taxable, several important services which are not provided by your ISP will now be explicitly taxable. This includes VoIP, Internet radio and Internet-delivered television services that don't come over email and aren't provided by your ISP as part of your account. See this thread.
While I know what you're saying happens in a lot of places, I don't think it's the general case. I know I make more than my relatives that wait tables. I also know that I make less than some of the janitors where I work with a lot of seniority. And that doesn't account for the cost of my education or the fact that while I was in school working more than 8 hours a day and paying to do it, they were already in the workforce making money.
The people I don't see or know personally are the ones that were working while I was in school but lost their job and had less fortunate outcomes. Taking a job is a gamble, sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't.