Ultimately though one thing is making me stay away from this update, Facebook Home, and probably Facebook entirely on my phone
Yup. I've removed it, or disabled it where pre-installed. The mobile version of the web site along with a third-party photo uploader pretty much covers everything I need Facebook to do.
I know there are apps out there that let you do this or similar but it should have been built in from the start.
I have this funny feeling that's going to be one of Google's responses to Facebook Home. Maybe some combination of "required" permissions that the app always requires (i.e. ad-supported stuff needs to download ads) with "negotiable" permissions that the user can toggle on and off. And, obviously, some scheme in the Play Store to flag apps which get too greedy, or which require classes of permissions which few should really need.
Actually, I wasked "why" myself. It's in Facebook's best interest to make Home run on every stinking device out there, including Blackberries via whatever Android-to-BB magic they're using, so it's just a matter of time before they release a works-on-every-device version. So why in the world would anyone bother hacking it to allow what's inevitable?
I bet my Samsung tablet has ram that is as good as or better then whats in the iPad.
I don't consider Samsung as being a major part of the "race to the bottom" that I was responding to. Of the "major" Android tablet vendors, I'd have to point at Acer, ASUS and Lenovo being most likely to cut some corners... the ASUS Transformer Infinity, for example, is considered by hobbled by a second-rate I/O controller on its SSD, and that was until recently their top-of-the-line tablet.
if flash gets tight the ones I see it hurting are those Droid tablets that are in a race to the bottom right now.
If flash gets tight, Adnroid tablet makers don't have many qualms about reducing internal flash and externalizing storage costs via (micro-)SD cards. As it is, a lot of those tablets might already be using lower capacity/spec flash that Apple wouldn't touch if it was free...
"In return over the next two days roughly 400 of those "people who mattered" had followed me -- in part I am sure because my Twitter account said it had over 10,000 followers."
So... we're talking about people who think "people who mattered" are those who follow Twitter feeds mostly because of follower counts?
Um... this may explain why I've never understood the appeal of Twitter.
First there was the Streisand (unintentionally calling attention to what you don't want publicized),
then the reverse Streisand (intentionally calling attention by demanding suppression of ostensibly unwanted but actually desired publicity),
and now comes the meta-Streisand (unintentionally calling attention to intentional demands that caused unintentional publicity of what you didn't want publicized.)
Now we just need the Streisand-effect version of Godwin's law (i.e. "As an online discussion about censorship grows longer, the probability of a mention of Streisand approaches 1.") and we'll achieve... something.
Just be careful with what kinds of adjectives you apply to Streisand.
that's not the point of teaching programming that early. The point is that nearly all jobs of the future will require programming ability.
Well, not so much as require programming ability as much as having people who treat computers as more than magical black boxes.
Basically, your capacity to learn, use and troubleshoot stuff (software, hardware, machinery, whatever) is increased dramatically when you have a mental model of how that stuff operates that best approximates how it actually works.
Heck, if the only outcome is that there's never a Vietnamese tech support call that stretches an extra 15 minutes because someone doesn't understand the difference between rebooting a computer and turning the monitor on and off, I figure the world is ahead just a little...
We already know we can use algae, and that it is superior in a variety of ways.
"Can use it" and "are ready to use it on a massive scale" are two entirely different things. There's a ton of traditional farmers out there who could transition from corn to beets in a single season. Algae farmers... not so many.
Do not cheer this. There is nothing good about this. It is merely less evil than using corn as a fuel feedstock.
Well, it's not great, but it is a crack in the monoculture-for-fuel mindset.
That being said, I don't know enough about beets to say whether it's much improvement over corn. They tout a doubled energy output, but without knowing the comparable energy, pesticide and water inputs it's a bit tough to determine whether there's any economic advantage, particularly after factoring in corn production subsidies.
Having both of these links acting simultaneously would be great and I could see a lot of people being excited about it.
Well, "both" links won't work too well.
One of the main problems with using your one redundant link as just a regular link is your bandwidth "needs" tend to grow to include some or even all of the bandwidth available from the now non-redundant link. Then not only do you not have a redundant link, but you've doubled your bandwidth requirements and made it that much harder to provision in an emergency.
Now, getting back to multipath TCP, the picture changes when you've got n links and your day-to-day bandwidth requirements only depend on a total of, say, n-2. Of course, in practice getting n truly independent links into any given facility is a bit of a trick...
It would be nice if they open-sourced these projects and then let the "minority of people" who actually use it maintain it themselves.
Easier said than done. A lot of the value isn't in the software as much as the service.
Google Reader being a good example. A web-based RSS reader as well as mobile versions... The web-based interface is decent, but quite frankly the Android version is weak, not to mention buggy. The main advantage to both as RSS interfaces is that they don't really get in your way.
The real value of Google Reader is the cloud synchronization service that Reader and a whole host of third-party RSS readers work against. That's the part that allows you to bounce your news feed addiction between multiple devices, platforms, readers and browsers, and most people seem to consider that the most critical aspect. Google could probably open source the whole kit and kaboodle, but running a cloud service as well as Google isn't exactly a casual weekend job.
Personally, given that I suspect that all their "cloud data" services are going to converge on Drive (i.e. it's not like to disappear), it might be nice to see a Reader replacement using Drive as a back end.
As for Keep... I'm not particularly worried. Actually, I expect it to go away. Specifically, I expect that it's going to get merged into the Drive core at some point. It's fundamentally just a minimalist Drive viewer.
Once that happened, no one wanted to let Apple get the upper hand and so started making their own watch, to which Apple said, hey, we need an iWatch too!
It's not exactly rocket science.
The interest in the Pebble shows there's a market. Sony's had a smartwatch out for quite a while, although apparently while it's great when it works, their software is buggy as hell. Too bad, because they jumped in early enough that they could have owned the market.
The trend towards larger and larger phones means that the whip-out-ability of the average smartphone has been rapidly dropping, to the point where pulling out your phone to check the time isn't even close to handy or discrete. On top of that, with always-on connectivity and a boatload of online services, the notification/interruption rates are increasing.
So there's arguably a place for a small, always visible "front end" that allows the phablet to live in a pocket or purse until the larger display is needed.
So please, when it comes to Putin, Assad and their like, don't reproach me with your "lets be intellectual about this" fair and balanced view. These guys are scumbags as everyone with eyes on their foreheads should be able to see.
Of course they're scumbags. You don't even have to mention names or specific countries and we know they're scumbags. Assad is running a middle eastern country, and Putin is operating a kleptocracy. You do not get to operate at that level in those environments without being more brutal, smarter and generally being willing to pull the trigger first.
But history has shown that for every dictator at the top of his game, there's a horde of wannabes who do anything, including jumping in front of a revolution, to be the next in power. Afghanistan and Iraq being obvious recent examples of running scumbags off only to replace them with other scumbags. Add in the nasty background tribalism in the middle east, and you're basically looking at a bunch of scumbags twisting a popular cause (assuming it's a popular cause and not just another managed crisis) into taking out another scumbag, with the support of other major powers who are mostly run by scumbags.
Although I still prefer the expression "lying sacks of shit".
Slashdot Mirror
Yup. I've removed it, or disabled it where pre-installed. The mobile version of the web site along with a third-party photo uploader pretty much covers everything I need Facebook to do.
I have this funny feeling that's going to be one of Google's responses to Facebook Home. Maybe some combination of "required" permissions that the app always requires (i.e. ad-supported stuff needs to download ads) with "negotiable" permissions that the user can toggle on and off. And, obviously, some scheme in the Play Store to flag apps which get too greedy, or which require classes of permissions which few should really need.
Actually, I wasked "why" myself. It's in Facebook's best interest to make Home run on every stinking device out there, including Blackberries via whatever Android-to-BB magic they're using, so it's just a matter of time before they release a works-on-every-device version. So why in the world would anyone bother hacking it to allow what's inevitable?
Yes, but what do you expect? Mess with a Canadian's bacon, there's going to be consequences...
I don't consider Samsung as being a major part of the "race to the bottom" that I was responding to. Of the "major" Android tablet vendors, I'd have to point at Acer, ASUS and Lenovo being most likely to cut some corners... the ASUS Transformer Infinity, for example, is considered by hobbled by a second-rate I/O controller on its SSD, and that was until recently their top-of-the-line tablet.
If flash gets tight, Adnroid tablet makers don't have many qualms about reducing internal flash and externalizing storage costs via (micro-)SD cards. As it is, a lot of those tablets might already be using lower capacity/spec flash that Apple wouldn't touch if it was free...
Heh. I guess now we know what it looks like when Fortune 500 companies prank each other...
I imagine they're not including tablets in their complaint. Otherwise, they'd have to explain away the much higher market share of the iPad.
The only way it could get better would be for the two of them to partner up and build a Facebook Windows Phone. Called the "Kinzune".
So... we're talking about people who think "people who mattered" are those who follow Twitter feeds mostly because of follower counts?
Um... this may explain why I've never understood the appeal of Twitter.
We're talking about Rupert Murdoch; it's a pretty solid bet that robots.txt won't be part of his solution.
Now we just need the Streisand-effect version of Godwin's law (i.e. "As an online discussion about censorship grows longer, the probability of a mention of Streisand approaches 1.") and we'll achieve... something.
Just be careful with what kinds of adjectives you apply to Streisand.
If your typical 100lb woman packs the same way my wife does, I'd say it's more likely that he's subsidizing her ticket.
I don't know whether Google will abuse it... use it, certainly, but calling it "abuse" might be a stretch.
What I do know is that others will try very hard to abuse it.
You know who I'm talking about...
Well, not so much as require programming ability as much as having people who treat computers as more than magical black boxes.
Basically, your capacity to learn, use and troubleshoot stuff (software, hardware, machinery, whatever) is increased dramatically when you have a mental model of how that stuff operates that best approximates how it actually works.
Heck, if the only outcome is that there's never a Vietnamese tech support call that stretches an extra 15 minutes because someone doesn't understand the difference between rebooting a computer and turning the monitor on and off, I figure the world is ahead just a little...
"Can use it" and "are ready to use it on a massive scale" are two entirely different things. There's a ton of traditional farmers out there who could transition from corn to beets in a single season. Algae farmers... not so many.
Well, it's not great, but it is a crack in the monoculture-for-fuel mindset.
That being said, I don't know enough about beets to say whether it's much improvement over corn. They tout a doubled energy output, but without knowing the comparable energy, pesticide and water inputs it's a bit tough to determine whether there's any economic advantage, particularly after factoring in corn production subsidies.
Well, "both" links won't work too well.
One of the main problems with using your one redundant link as just a regular link is your bandwidth "needs" tend to grow to include some or even all of the bandwidth available from the now non-redundant link. Then not only do you not have a redundant link, but you've doubled your bandwidth requirements and made it that much harder to provision in an emergency.
Now, getting back to multipath TCP, the picture changes when you've got n links and your day-to-day bandwidth requirements only depend on a total of, say, n-2. Of course, in practice getting n truly independent links into any given facility is a bit of a trick...
Easier said than done. A lot of the value isn't in the software as much as the service.
Google Reader being a good example. A web-based RSS reader as well as mobile versions... The web-based interface is decent, but quite frankly the Android version is weak, not to mention buggy. The main advantage to both as RSS interfaces is that they don't really get in your way.
The real value of Google Reader is the cloud synchronization service that Reader and a whole host of third-party RSS readers work against. That's the part that allows you to bounce your news feed addiction between multiple devices, platforms, readers and browsers, and most people seem to consider that the most critical aspect. Google could probably open source the whole kit and kaboodle, but running a cloud service as well as Google isn't exactly a casual weekend job.
Personally, given that I suspect that all their "cloud data" services are going to converge on Drive (i.e. it's not like to disappear), it might be nice to see a Reader replacement using Drive as a back end.
As for Keep... I'm not particularly worried. Actually, I expect it to go away. Specifically, I expect that it's going to get merged into the Drive core at some point. It's fundamentally just a minimalist Drive viewer.
They tried watches years ago. I expect that this time, they're going to wait until Apple shows them how to actually make money at it...
Uh... sorry. I guess I've been around so long now that I forget that when I write "Sony fucked up", not everyone automatically adds "again".
It's not exactly rocket science.
The interest in the Pebble shows there's a market. Sony's had a smartwatch out for quite a while, although apparently while it's great when it works, their software is buggy as hell. Too bad, because they jumped in early enough that they could have owned the market.
The trend towards larger and larger phones means that the whip-out-ability of the average smartphone has been rapidly dropping, to the point where pulling out your phone to check the time isn't even close to handy or discrete. On top of that, with always-on connectivity and a boatload of online services, the notification/interruption rates are increasing.
So there's arguably a place for a small, always visible "front end" that allows the phablet to live in a pocket or purse until the larger display is needed.
Of course they're scumbags. You don't even have to mention names or specific countries and we know they're scumbags. Assad is running a middle eastern country, and Putin is operating a kleptocracy. You do not get to operate at that level in those environments without being more brutal, smarter and generally being willing to pull the trigger first.
But history has shown that for every dictator at the top of his game, there's a horde of wannabes who do anything, including jumping in front of a revolution, to be the next in power. Afghanistan and Iraq being obvious recent examples of running scumbags off only to replace them with other scumbags. Add in the nasty background tribalism in the middle east, and you're basically looking at a bunch of scumbags twisting a popular cause (assuming it's a popular cause and not just another managed crisis) into taking out another scumbag, with the support of other major powers who are mostly run by scumbags.
Although I still prefer the expression "lying sacks of shit".
Mostly, but every once in a while smart people get paid. Still, the trends aren't looking good...
I guess I'm a nerd, because I'd just leave the door locked and call it "Schrodinger's peace negotiations".
You realize that the probable result is that only the absolute dumbest couples on the planet would likely get married and have children, right?