Okay...this is my opinion...not my employer's...so take it for what it's worth:
I have been writing software and building systems for the Federal government for the better part of 20 years...and frankly, these clients set the stage for failure consistently...and the situation is only getting worse.
Government agencies (yes folks, the Fed is not monolithic) normally send out an RFP for a system that contains a range of requirements that are both vague and contradictory...at times with excessive implementation detail about select areas, but normally with very little detail for what is actually required for the majority of the system. The desire for omniscience and omnipotence as well as infinite flexibility for the future is normally in there somehow...which obviates the need for them to do much groundwork to establish what they really want. Contractors are then stuck trying to scramble to determine what the client actually wants (and/or needs) in the middle of their design cycles...and the government does not acknowledge this reality in their dictated delivery schedules.
Imagine telling a custom home builder that you want a cool new house that smells like grandma's, has window boxes, and a new modern floor plan...and then saying "go." Hmmm...perhaps we should have first paid an architect to help us better define our requirements, catch things that we have missed, mockup prototypes, and then create a blueprint (with cost estimate) for the final product...and THEN we could decide if we wanted to move forward...and, if so, provide that level of detail to one or more builders as input to their bid. Nah. That takes work. Why then would you bid on something like this? Well, in my area, it's because you either bid on the project or starve...because someone else will if you don't.
DHS is perhaps the amongst worst. They now issue RFPs for ill-defined projects and the RFP states that your proposal must indicate how you will have an initial system in the field within 60 days. 60 days? Hell, I need longer than that to engage with the client over a series of spiral requirements meetings, document their business processes/domain, generate use cases, and mock something up for additional comment.
You want something fast? You tell me when it is due? You also tell me how much money I have (and hence, my staffing)? Those are my independent variables and you arrived at them without significant analysis? The only significant variable that I can modify is quality.
It's an interesting link...but I think that a suggestion for a $350 reader fails to address the OP's primary criterion - "CHEAP" (i.e., inexpensive).
While some may find the Treo's 320x320 screen to be inadequate, the device may qualify as (sic) "cheap". Frankly, I actually like the screen on my Treo. It's bright and very responsive. I find eInk displays to be dull and slow to refresh. Sure, they are normally larger...and many may prefer them...but I find the Treo screen to be excellent for reading text-based documents (i.e., docs without images)...and I already own it...and normally have it with me.
I do appreciate the link though. I had not heard of that product. Seems like they have an uphill battle to fight with the latest Sony Reader and the Kindle...especially at that price point.
Well...this solution is only inexpensive if you already own it - a phone with a high resolution screen.
I have read literally dozens of eBooks on my two Treos (formerly a 650 and now a 700p). The palm OS versions of the Treo have 320x320 screens, which makes the text crisp and clear. The responsive color screen is bright with adjustable backlighting...and the SD card slot allows you to store hundreds of books easily. Whether I am at home in bed with the wife or in the bunkroom at the fire station, the folks trying to sleep in the same room really appreciate that I can read without needing to use a lamp. BTW, all of my content is unprotected...through one means or another.
Personally, I love using the phone-based solution...since I only need to carry (and charge) one extremely portable device. Well, yes, it's larger than a razr...but it's a hell of a lot smaller than a Kindle or Sony Reader. For this reason, I also use the same phone as my MP3 player, streaming internet radio, and video player. Of course, it's also a PDA, email client, browser client, and, of course, a phone.
If you don't have such a phone, how about a new Palm Centro? It has a 320x320 display (albeit somewhat smaller than a standard Treo screen), is very portable, and is available from a range of carriers with prices ranging from $99 to free...depending on contract.
We have a teenage daughter...and the Internet is to her what TV was to me. Fortunately, she is young enough that the internet is not also the equivalent of the damp stack of mags that my friends and I kept in the woods...but that's a story for another day.
She loves IM...and MySpace and Facebook. She also loves text messaging...and frankly, it is somewhat scary. Unlike when I grew up, parents are often no longer the gatekeepers for communication. When I was a child, friends had to call my house...and thus, my parents generally knew with whom I was speaking outside of school. All bets are off now with such varied and ubiquitous communication devices at their disposal. That said, we are still parents...and we make them available...so we have responsibilities.
Our strategies:
1) The family computer is kept in a high-traffic public place in the house
2) My office computer is kept locked
3) The internet turns off at 9:00 pm (per the router config)
4) The cell phone is a privilege...that gets pulled when necessary. Ditto the internet.
5) And, without a doubt, the most important strategy - we stay involved. We talk every day...and make an effort to both be parents (not friends), but also people on whom she can rely and trust. I know pretty much all of her friends' names...and what went on each day...and we go to school functions (football games, etc.) to help stay in touch. We also do our best to not be incredibly embarrassing so she does not mind still having us around and involved (don't discount this one). We also try our best to balance her need for privacy with our need to know what's going on to support her best interests. Finally, we talk frequently (in casual conversation) about a wide range of related topics, including the potential dangers of internet access...and posting info that you don't want to come back to bite you...either next week or when she is applying for college or a job.
It's a daily struggle and I don't intend to imply that we think we have everything worked out. We are doing well for now...but like any other plan, it's got to be dynamic. What it cannot be, however, is apathetic. That said, she is maturing a little more each day...and we need to recognize both her increasing need for independence and our continued responsibilities as parents. She won't become a responsible adult on her 18th birthday. In some respects, she is becoming closer to that person each day...and any applied strategy must accommodate that reality...and hormones.
BTW, neighbors with unprotected wireless access points are a pain in the ass to parents.
Couldn't answer, but I will say this - I work for NGC...at the HQ facility where we created and showcase this technology...along with a wide range of other interactive information and intelligence fusion systems...and we have been marketing and selling touchtable products and services for years. DoD uses our system for a wide range of applications...and I also wondered what was up when I saw the MS announcement earlier in the year. Fortunately, we have several hundred lawyers...so no worries.
Opera Mini 3 and beta 4 are very impressive browsers...and beta 4 shares many of the same features of Safari, including page zoom.
A HUGE advantage of PalmOS-based and Windows-based phones is that you can actually add software to them. Thus, such a comparison is meaningless. Don't like Blazer? Replace it with Opera. What are you doing on the iPhone? Sure Safari is great...but let's talk about the datebook application that takes half a dozen clicks to set the time of an appt (rather than me just clicking on the time band on a PalmOS unit)...or being forced to delete email messages one at a time (unlike a PalmOS unit...on which I frequently hit "select all" and then "delete" if I have read all the message already on my desktop). Even those advantages to palmOS are against the DEFAULT applications...and both applications can be replaced with countless other commercial, shareware, and freeware alternatives. Extrapolate to all of the other applications installed.
Yes, the Palm Blazer web browser is insanely lame...and most users will not replace it. I am not making excuses for Palm. They should have replaced this application with something more powerful years ago...and Apple is innovating...and I welcome our new overlords...if only to motivate the other slackers, but let's be fair. These love letters to the iPhone masking themselves as fair and unbiased reviews are getting tiring.
Here's my distilled version of the article...made objective...at least for the PalmOS:
- The iPhone browser rocks...and it is a good thing because you are locked into it. Oh yeah, connection speed is horrible unless you are using wifi. Not exactly a browser issue, but hard to ignore.
- Palm blazer is okay, but has problems with many sites and takes awhile to render pages.
- You can replace Blazer with Opera, but you'll have to find a JVM first, install it, and then twiddle settings forever to make it stable. Why the heck does Palm make Java apps second class citizens? Oh yeah, that is a business decision. Nevermind. Like most Palm users, I can't wait until "universe" gets out of beta...and, unlike the iPhone, I'll actually be able to install it.
Man, if Apple would just open up the iPhone and obviate the need for folks to reverse engineer every application, I would just shut my pie hole. The availability of one terminal application isn't cutting it for me. Guess I'll see what the future holds...and hopefully it's going to be a 3G future.
I know that they are there. I said as much in my original post. I also know that most Mac users don't use them. So does Apple...which is why their new pseudo two-button mouse comes configured by default such that the "right" mouse button performs a left (i.e., primary) click...and does NOT emulate Control-click...unless you go into mouse preferences and change that behavior...which my mother is not doing.
My overarching point was (and is) that although Apple added contextual menus in the OS some time ago, the integration was poor (or at least largely unnoticed) due to the failure of Apple to also include a two-button mouse with the right-button mapped (by default) to Control-click (i.e., contextual click). Thus, most developers for the MacOS have not and still do not spend much time ensuring high-quality contextual menus...and hence, most Mac users do not rely on them...and...insert chicken and egg here.
Contextual menus are (and have been) a core part of Windows for years. I don't need to hunt down a menu item in some far flung location when I manipulate an object in most Windows-based programs. Instead, I can right-click on it and see what functions are appropriate...and available, based on the object type and its state.
Here's the rub - adding that functionality to a program is not free. It takes effort. A bunch of effort...especially if you do it well...and if the program allows you to right-click on a wide range of objects. I know. I have developed applications (professionally) for Windows, (cross-platform) Java Swing, and...yes...for the MacOS. Thing is, most Mac users don't use this functionality since the two-button mouse has not been standard...and because Control click is a pain in the ass. Thus, very few Mac application developers exert the extra effort to do a halfway decent job for contextual menus. The same developers know that they MUST do a decent job on Windows since windows users expect this functionality...and have expected it for a decade. Cross-platform apps are the exception...but they are not the rule.
Feel free to flame away...about how right-clicking is a broken (and ill-advised) UI paradigm...and implies something wrong with the balance of the UI design...but frankly, I disagree...and so do many others.
Yes, you can buy a two button mouse for MacOS...but it would not change the fact that the code just isn't there in most applications to exploit the second button...at least well. BTW, most Windows users now have three button mice (center wheel click).;-
I run a commercial add-on program for the Treo called Butler (http://www.hobbyistsoftware.com/butler-more.php). It performs a wide array of tasks including one special one - lock the phone and destroy the phone's data.
How it works - I can send one of four different SMS messages to the phone containing a preselected (by me) password and an instruction, directing the phone to perform one of the following actions:
- Lock & Turn off - Wipe Ram , lock and turn off - Wipe SD Card , lock and turn off - Wipe Ram & SD Card, lock and turn off
Given that I synch to my work and home PCs, I will not lose any data in the process. I know, because I have tested it...after my last palm was stolen. Grrrr.
You can always call the carrier to disable the phone, but my larger concern is my data.
Do you really think that most US consumers want to spend $2500 on their cell phone in two years? Add the $600 initial cost to 24 months of service at the middle rate level (assuming no other hidden taxes and fees...which is most likely not a safe assumption) and that is what they will spend. Most consumers don't SAVE that much every two years.;-)
That said, if you had said "smart phone" users, that might be a different matter...especially since most smart phone users are corporate users and do not absorb the expense on their own...but this phone is not targeted at that market.
My two year expense for a Treo with 1200 prime time minutes, unlimited data, unlimited evenings and weekends (starting at 7pm), free roaming, etc...$65 (with sprint). Initial phone cost, $200. Still not inexpensive at $1750 for 24 months, but these devices are mostly owned and used by corporate users and those with larger discretionary income. The iPhone is targeted at consumers...who probably do not realize the true cost...or how long two years really is.;-)
You are just being silly. How many carriers do you use at once (well, most people only use one)
Multiple carriers equals choice and competition.
High speed network loss is a shame, but it has wifi.
Wifi is not available where I (and many other corporate users) spend most of our days - at work...because of IT security concerns. At home, I have a PC. I have been surfing the web on my phone for years...and it is almost always to get an answer to a question when I am on the move...not relaxing at Starbucks.
Do you have 8 gigs worth of sd cards? I doubt it. Even if you do, most people don't. The only reason trio has sd cards, is because it doesn't have much memory.
I do have at least that many SD cards, but I admit that I may be the exception. My PC, Laptop, phone, camera, and car stereo all accept SD cards. That said, you only need two 2GB to equal the $500 iPhone...and as another poster pointed out, SD cards keep getting bigger and cheaper. The iPhone will not. It's one thing if you are paying $79 for a shuffle with an anemic fixed amount of memory, but $500-$600?
You like hard buttons, ok. I prefer max screen space.
Then I suggest using the iPhone...and getting a call while your MP3s are playing...and then figuring out how you can quickly access the music player to turn it off...or any number of other scenarios where you wuld like to access a phone application quickly and not want to navigate through a UI on a screen. I suppose the iPhone's lack of applications makes the navigation somewhat easier however.
As I said, your mileage may vary...and I did not brand you silly for having different priorities.;-)
Excellent point. I typed the original post off the top of my head, but you are right...that is also a critical discriminator for many...myself included.
Of course, if you drink the Kool-Aid, then you'll accept that these are not the droids...I mean that you do not need this capability.
I started working on a "Mac" when it was called a Lisa. I subsequently owned many (actual) Macs and wrote software for the OS professionally (6.x, 7.x, 8.x). Okay, I'm now a Windows user (got tired of the fight...and frankly, XP is just fine)...so I am not a basher...nor am I a fan boy.
Me? I'm not buying it. Sure, the external looks are great...sexy even...as are the visual bells and whistles in the UI...but features? They just are not there for me. Not even close.
Visual voice mail is neat. I'm sure the iPod also has some other exclusive neat tricks in there...but I have a year-old Treo that does what the iPhone does and more...for $200. Start with the overlap:
- Email
- Web browser
- MP3 player
- Phone
- Addresses
- Videos
- Camera
- Google maps with integrated calling
- SMS
- MS Office compatibility (iPod?)
and a range of other similar functions. Don't bother critiquing the individual Treo apps, because unlike the iPod, I can replace them with other apps. For example, the new version of Opera Mini provides the same means to view an entire web page and zoom in. There are dozens of replacement apps for any one of the above functions.
Now let's look at some core features of the Treo that the iPod lacks:
- Multiple carriers
- High-speed 3G network
- SD card slot...for essentially infinite on-the-go storage for MP3s et al.
- Numerous hard buttons to immediately get to the phone, MP3 player, or another app...and they are all programmable
- Can record video
- Has a GLOBAL find function
- CUT & PASTE (between apps)
- IM
- Tactile sensation on keyboard for typing...or for dialing
and perhaps the most important feature:
I CAN ADD APPLICATIONS TO IT:-)...and I do...all the time. Games, JVMs, new browsers, whatever I want...from thousands of freeware and commercial titles.
Yes, Walt claims that he finds the onscreen keyboard to be acceptable...but any Treo user can dial on the screen or on the keypad...and almost everyone I know dials on the keypad when they aren't selecting an existing contact. The actual keyboard and 5-way nav key allow you to use the phone when you aren't staring right at the screen. Yes, we shouldn't dial while we are driving, but we do, and you can do it without looking while using a Treo.
Hey, the iPod raises the bar...by a large amount...and the screen is 50% larger than that of a Palm-based Treo (320x480 instead of 320x320)...but a $600 phone that is not expandable and is only offered by one carrier with a two-year lock-in? One to which you cannot add software (outside of...ahem...AJAX-based apps)? How about one that claims to be a smart phone killer yet lacks basic features like cut & paste and global find? Yes, it has wifi. Great. So do many phones.
No, this is a beauty competition. I applaud apple for getting into the market and raising the bar, but I just cannot see how someone thinks this unit is worth the expense compared to other competing devices. I suppose techno lust is powerful...and form often wins out over function. Me? I'll wait a year or two and see what the next versions can do...and how the competition responds.
I have an HP PSC 1350 all-in-one inkjet printer, scanner, and copier...with built-in card readers.
Put me in the minority, but I love it. I have had it for years and just this week replaced my first B&W cartridge. I am still on the original color cartridge. Yes, I don't print every single day, but I do print fairly regularly.
The printer was bargain at $79 (US)...and getting the scanner was a nice benefit, which I have used many times. An OEM HP B&W ink cartridge costs $17 and an OEM color cartridge costs about twice that. Given that I have only spent $17 on the printer since I bought it and that only a fraction of that money goes to HP, I think they are still in the hole on this one...and I probably don't have much to complain about.
Price per page? Who knows, but if he prints that much, then you should consider a laser. Yes, consumables are expensive, but they sell inkjet printers at a loss...and they have to make it up somehow. That is the business model. It benefits people like me and penalizes heavy print users.
If he is bothered that much by the cost, I suggest having him estimate page per month counts for printing, faxing, and copying...and then perform a TCO for various all-in-one inkjets, lasers, and dedicated devices for each task based on their initial cost and cost of consumables. Honestly, if the quality of inkjets is inadequate, I would think that some model will still win out. The consumables on my color laser printer at work aren't exactly a bargain.
Another benefit of the all-in-one inkjet approach - I have one device, which does not take up much room, and it was so inexpensive that I will not even think twice about replacing it when it eventually breaks.
At the risk of being modded redundant...I have done this for years...and it is not that tough...but it can be mildly frustrating for friends.
My last two mobile phones have allowed me to transfer someone directly to voice mail if the number from which they are calling is not in the phone's address book. This works well for me because I do not have a home phone...and I have a fairly complete address book.
So after years of use how does it fair? Great for me...less so for others...but they deal. When they are not at home, my friends tend to call me from their cell phones rather than an office phone, since the latter often yields an unknown number from larger corporations...and sends them directly to voice mail. If for some reason they cannot call from a known number, they know that if they leave a message, I will call them right back...assuming that I am available.
One other downside - I need to remember to disable the filter function if I have a scheduled delivery or service person coming to my home...since they often call to confirm immediately before arriving.
Honestly though, dropping the home phone and using a mobile phone exclusively has helped significantly, even when I temporarily disable the filter, since I am not listed in any directories.
> The five products reviewed all have backlit LCD screens, a radio bandwidth of 88.1 to 107.9MHz and switch off automatically about 60 seconds after the audio signal stops.
Very nice! (seriously)
I bought a unit that did NOT turn off after the audio signal stopped and I frequently forgot to turn it off manually...which resulted in the batteries being dead 90% of the time. Whatever unit that you buy, I suggest looking for one that has this critical feature.
Also, if you live in a populated area, make sure that you get one that has a broadcast frequency is FULLY tunable...not just selectable between a handful of discrete values. I live in DC and you are hard pressed to find an unoccupied slice of frequency.
Seriously, if they believe a printout that you created with your own printer, what's to stop you from using photoshop...or just saving off the page as "web page complete", editing the price in the (now) client-side HTML file, firing up your browser, and printing the result. You would just need to make sure that your browser wasn't printing the URL in the header to avoid the "file" (vs. "http") protocol from appearing...although one could produce the appropriate version with header without requiring the reapplication of antiperspirant.
Seems to me that they would want access to their actual web site from an in-store kiosk to verify such claims...rather than relying on a customer-provided printout. Bizarre.
The downside with this and other approaches mentioned is that they do not seem to provide a way to easily visualize, associate, correlate, cross-reference, etc.
I have a friend who is an attorney and who performs extensive research against a wide array of source material...including the web...and he swears by Microsoft OneNote:
> I paid $100 for Windows XP. The Ubantu Dell should cost at lest $100 less than the identical Windows box.
1) Dell doesn't pay the retail cost for Windows.
2) Dell defrays the cost of each PC with the additional software (aka "crapware") that vendors pay to have pre-installed on dell PCs. At the moment, the version of Ubuntu sold with Dell PCs does not include such software...so you are buying a clean PC. Thus, the price comparison noted in the original article is inappropriate. Instead, one should compare the cost of the new Dell Ubuntu models with the cost of their equivalent Windows versions with the dell "clean PC" option...which adds additional expense to the Windows PC.
3) Dell must defray a range of costs associated with these new models, including additional work with OEM vendors for drivers, building a Linux-centric support site, and providing Linux OS phone support...at least with regards to how it relates to the hardware.
4) Most people who will buy one of these models with Ubuntu will most likely not do so to save money. Thus, Dell does not need to offer deep discounts...and this is a free market.
For example, I play COD2 exclusively. I belong to a online gaming "clan" that hosts this game and a number of others (BF2, BF2142, UO). In support of these games, we maintain game servers, a Vent voice chat server, forums, and a public website. Our overall philosophy is to provide an environment for fun and cheat-free play. We do not allow in-game typed profanity or harassment of other players. As far as voice chat goes, we only allow profanity in our 16 and older Vent channels. All other channels are rated G. Also, regardless of what channel you are in, harassment (sexist, racial, or otherwise) is NEVER tolerated. How do we manage it? Mature RCONs and Vent channel admins...who are on most of the time and available via IM, email, and phone when necessary.
Are we unique? Not at all. There are many mature groups of players who have banded together to form such positive playing environments.
If you are stuck on a Blizzard server, my sympathies.
I have a Shuttle SB81P - a "P Series" Shuttle SFF - that is coming up on 3 years old...and the BIOS has a setting for the intensity of the power light...ranging from 0 to 100%. This fact is also noted in the manual. Of course, who has time for either reading the manual or at least looking around and experimenting. There is complaining to be done and blame to be assigned!
Personally, I like status lights. They convey information....and not to just techies, but anyone willing to take a minute to look at either the silk-screened explanation that appears on the device or perhaps (heaven forfend!) the manual.
I for one love COD2 (COD3 is console-only). It's a nice FPS title with simple movement controls...run, jump, lay prone, etc...and fairly simple weapon controls...aim, shoot, switch weapons, throw grenade, etc. In general, the set of key combinations that one must memorize is fairly simple.
In contrast, modern day combat titles like BF2 and BF2142 tend to have hundreds of key combinations...so you can, for example, parachute, land, pull out your knife, roll, jump into a chopper, fly the chopper, launch hellfire missiles, open your MRE, eat a cookie, cast magic missile, blah, blah, blah.
Some of us like an old school multiplayer FPS titles with simplistic controls and a world that resets every 15 to 20 minutes...rather than a BF2-like (or WoW-like) quest to amass an array of items (and/or ranks) that give you a disproportionate advantage after spending the better half of your life indoors staring at an LCD...and pounding a custom keyboard with printed overlays.
Oh well, my player's group will keep our COD2 servers running the same way that we keep our COD UO servers running...but sooner or later the guests stop coming and we have to retire the older games and move forward...as we have had to retire our Spearhead and MoH servers. *sigh*
Yes, skill-based compensation appears to be a radical concept in the halls of academia...or at least the public school variant thereof. Of course, we are talking about PUBLIC schools and teachers' UNIONS. Perhaps we are not in a dialog with a bastion of capitalists.;-)
Catherine Boudreau, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, predictably criticized Romney's proposals as ''inequitable, divisive, and ineffective." The MTA denounced the proposal as ''uniquely designed to destroy collegiality in a school," ignoring the fact that performance pay is routine in such other professions as medicine, law, and engineering, not to mention in the Commonwealth's first-rate universities, including those that are unionized by the MTA.
*sigh* Some folks need to leave the castle every now and again and see what life is like on the outside.
On that note, I have a couple of friends who are teachers. Yes they work hard and shape young minds. Granted. Good folks. That said, their stress level is about 1% of mine (working in a s/w dev field). Are they paid less? Yes, but their pay is not abysmal. Both make mid 50s...for a job with three months off in the summer, a holiday and spring break, a half dozen snow days, etc. Sure...they bring work home...and so do I. In general, they seem happier and more satisfied with their career choices than my friends in IT. So they make less. It's a choice.
We pay folks what we need to in this society. It's a fairly complex equation, but factors include skill sets, time to acquire those skills, desirability of the work, career potential, quality of life, and...yes...supply and demand. If we need better math and science teachers, we should pay for them. These are critical skills...and we should not let the grumbling art teacher get in the way of giving our children what they need (and deserve). Perhaps the economics and civics teachers should hold a brown bag on one of the snow days. They could discuss how autoworkers unions contributed to the quality of the American automobile industry...and how competition from the Japanese did nothing to help motivate the Americans to improve quality...and then discuss sarcasm.
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Okay...this is my opinion...not my employer's...so take it for what it's worth:
I have been writing software and building systems for the Federal government for the better part of 20 years...and frankly, these clients set the stage for failure consistently...and the situation is only getting worse.
Government agencies (yes folks, the Fed is not monolithic) normally send out an RFP for a system that contains a range of requirements that are both vague and contradictory...at times with excessive implementation detail about select areas, but normally with very little detail for what is actually required for the majority of the system. The desire for omniscience and omnipotence as well as infinite flexibility for the future is normally in there somehow...which obviates the need for them to do much groundwork to establish what they really want. Contractors are then stuck trying to scramble to determine what the client actually wants (and/or needs) in the middle of their design cycles...and the government does not acknowledge this reality in their dictated delivery schedules.
Imagine telling a custom home builder that you want a cool new house that smells like grandma's, has window boxes, and a new modern floor plan...and then saying "go." Hmmm...perhaps we should have first paid an architect to help us better define our requirements, catch things that we have missed, mockup prototypes, and then create a blueprint (with cost estimate) for the final product...and THEN we could decide if we wanted to move forward...and, if so, provide that level of detail to one or more builders as input to their bid. Nah. That takes work. Why then would you bid on something like this? Well, in my area, it's because you either bid on the project or starve...because someone else will if you don't.
DHS is perhaps the amongst worst. They now issue RFPs for ill-defined projects and the RFP states that your proposal must indicate how you will have an initial system in the field within 60 days. 60 days? Hell, I need longer than that to engage with the client over a series of spiral requirements meetings, document their business processes/domain, generate use cases, and mock something up for additional comment.
You want something fast? You tell me when it is due? You also tell me how much money I have (and hence, my staffing)? Those are my independent variables and you arrived at them without significant analysis? The only significant variable that I can modify is quality.
Be careful what you ask for. You may get it.
$0.02
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It's an interesting link...but I think that a suggestion for a $350 reader fails to address the OP's primary criterion - "CHEAP" (i.e., inexpensive).
While some may find the Treo's 320x320 screen to be inadequate, the device may qualify as (sic) "cheap". Frankly, I actually like the screen on my Treo. It's bright and very responsive. I find eInk displays to be dull and slow to refresh. Sure, they are normally larger...and many may prefer them...but I find the Treo screen to be excellent for reading text-based documents (i.e., docs without images)...and I already own it...and normally have it with me.
I do appreciate the link though. I had not heard of that product. Seems like they have an uphill battle to fight with the latest Sony Reader and the Kindle...especially at that price point.
cheers,
Scuba
Well...this solution is only inexpensive if you already own it - a phone with a high resolution screen.
I have read literally dozens of eBooks on my two Treos (formerly a 650 and now a 700p). The palm OS versions of the Treo have 320x320 screens, which makes the text crisp and clear. The responsive color screen is bright with adjustable backlighting...and the SD card slot allows you to store hundreds of books easily. Whether I am at home in bed with the wife or in the bunkroom at the fire station, the folks trying to sleep in the same room really appreciate that I can read without needing to use a lamp. BTW, all of my content is unprotected...through one means or another.
Personally, I love using the phone-based solution...since I only need to carry (and charge) one extremely portable device. Well, yes, it's larger than a razr...but it's a hell of a lot smaller than a Kindle or Sony Reader. For this reason, I also use the same phone as my MP3 player, streaming internet radio, and video player. Of course, it's also a PDA, email client, browser client, and, of course, a phone.
If you don't have such a phone, how about a new Palm Centro? It has a 320x320 display (albeit somewhat smaller than a standard Treo screen), is very portable, and is available from a range of carriers with prices ranging from $99 to free...depending on contract.
cheers,
Scuba
Pear Cable's world headquarters:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=134+Eliot+Ave,+West+Newton,+MA+02465,+USA&ie=UTF8&ll=42.354245,-71.223056&spn=0.001362,0.002494&t=k&z=19&iwloc=addr&om=1
If you look carefully, you can see the corporate helipad.
We have a teenage daughter...and the Internet is to her what TV was to me. Fortunately, she is young enough that the internet is not also the equivalent of the damp stack of mags that my friends and I kept in the woods...but that's a story for another day.
She loves IM...and MySpace and Facebook. She also loves text messaging...and frankly, it is somewhat scary. Unlike when I grew up, parents are often no longer the gatekeepers for communication. When I was a child, friends had to call my house...and thus, my parents generally knew with whom I was speaking outside of school. All bets are off now with such varied and ubiquitous communication devices at their disposal. That said, we are still parents...and we make them available...so we have responsibilities.
Our strategies:
1) The family computer is kept in a high-traffic public place in the house
2) My office computer is kept locked
3) The internet turns off at 9:00 pm (per the router config)
4) The cell phone is a privilege...that gets pulled when necessary. Ditto the internet.
5) And, without a doubt, the most important strategy - we stay involved. We talk every day...and make an effort to both be parents (not friends), but also people on whom she can rely and trust. I know pretty much all of her friends' names...and what went on each day...and we go to school functions (football games, etc.) to help stay in touch. We also do our best to not be incredibly embarrassing so she does not mind still having us around and involved (don't discount this one). We also try our best to balance her need for privacy with our need to know what's going on to support her best interests. Finally, we talk frequently (in casual conversation) about a wide range of related topics, including the potential dangers of internet access...and posting info that you don't want to come back to bite you...either next week or when she is applying for college or a job.
It's a daily struggle and I don't intend to imply that we think we have everything worked out. We are doing well for now...but like any other plan, it's got to be dynamic. What it cannot be, however, is apathetic. That said, she is maturing a little more each day...and we need to recognize both her increasing need for independence and our continued responsibilities as parents. She won't become a responsible adult on her 18th birthday. In some respects, she is becoming closer to that person each day...and any applied strategy must accommodate that reality...and hormones.
BTW, neighbors with unprotected wireless access points are a pain in the ass to parents.
Couldn't answer, but I will say this - I work for NGC...at the HQ facility where we created and showcase this technology...along with a wide range of other interactive information and intelligence fusion systems...and we have been marketing and selling touchtable products and services for years. DoD uses our system for a wide range of applications...and I also wondered what was up when I saw the MS announcement earlier in the year. Fortunately, we have several hundred lawyers...so no worries.
Opera Mini 3 and beta 4 are very impressive browsers...and beta 4 shares many of the same features of Safari, including page zoom.
A HUGE advantage of PalmOS-based and Windows-based phones is that you can actually add software to them. Thus, such a comparison is meaningless. Don't like Blazer? Replace it with Opera. What are you doing on the iPhone? Sure Safari is great...but let's talk about the datebook application that takes half a dozen clicks to set the time of an appt (rather than me just clicking on the time band on a PalmOS unit)...or being forced to delete email messages one at a time (unlike a PalmOS unit...on which I frequently hit "select all" and then "delete" if I have read all the message already on my desktop). Even those advantages to palmOS are against the DEFAULT applications...and both applications can be replaced with countless other commercial, shareware, and freeware alternatives. Extrapolate to all of the other applications installed.
Yes, the Palm Blazer web browser is insanely lame...and most users will not replace it. I am not making excuses for Palm. They should have replaced this application with something more powerful years ago...and Apple is innovating...and I welcome our new overlords...if only to motivate the other slackers, but let's be fair. These love letters to the iPhone masking themselves as fair and unbiased reviews are getting tiring.
Here's my distilled version of the article...made objective...at least for the PalmOS:
- The iPhone browser rocks...and it is a good thing because you are locked into it. Oh yeah, connection speed is horrible unless you are using wifi. Not exactly a browser issue, but hard to ignore.
- Palm blazer is okay, but has problems with many sites and takes awhile to render pages.
- You can replace Blazer with Opera, but you'll have to find a JVM first, install it, and then twiddle settings forever to make it stable. Why the heck does Palm make Java apps second class citizens? Oh yeah, that is a business decision. Nevermind. Like most Palm users, I can't wait until "universe" gets out of beta...and, unlike the iPhone, I'll actually be able to install it.
Man, if Apple would just open up the iPhone and obviate the need for folks to reverse engineer every application, I would just shut my pie hole. The availability of one terminal application isn't cutting it for me. Guess I'll see what the future holds...and hopefully it's going to be a 3G future.
I know that they are there. I said as much in my original post. I also know that most Mac users don't use them. So does Apple...which is why their new pseudo two-button mouse comes configured by default such that the "right" mouse button performs a left (i.e., primary) click...and does NOT emulate Control-click...unless you go into mouse preferences and change that behavior...which my mother is not doing.
My overarching point was (and is) that although Apple added contextual menus in the OS some time ago, the integration was poor (or at least largely unnoticed) due to the failure of Apple to also include a two-button mouse with the right-button mapped (by default) to Control-click (i.e., contextual click). Thus, most developers for the MacOS have not and still do not spend much time ensuring high-quality contextual menus...and hence, most Mac users do not rely on them...and...insert chicken and egg here.
Contextual menus are (and have been) a core part of Windows for years. I don't need to hunt down a menu item in some far flung location when I manipulate an object in most Windows-based programs. Instead, I can right-click on it and see what functions are appropriate...and available, based on the object type and its state.
;-
Here's the rub - adding that functionality to a program is not free. It takes effort. A bunch of effort...especially if you do it well...and if the program allows you to right-click on a wide range of objects. I know. I have developed applications (professionally) for Windows, (cross-platform) Java Swing, and...yes...for the MacOS. Thing is, most Mac users don't use this functionality since the two-button mouse has not been standard...and because Control click is a pain in the ass. Thus, very few Mac application developers exert the extra effort to do a halfway decent job for contextual menus. The same developers know that they MUST do a decent job on Windows since windows users expect this functionality...and have expected it for a decade. Cross-platform apps are the exception...but they are not the rule.
Feel free to flame away...about how right-clicking is a broken (and ill-advised) UI paradigm...and implies something wrong with the balance of the UI design...but frankly, I disagree...and so do many others.
Yes, you can buy a two button mouse for MacOS...but it would not change the fact that the code just isn't there in most applications to exploit the second button...at least well. BTW, most Windows users now have three button mice (center wheel click).
I have that capability...for my Treo.
. It performs a wide array of tasks including one special one - lock the phone and destroy the phone's data.
I run a commercial add-on program for the Treo called Butler (http://www.hobbyistsoftware.com/butler-more.php)
How it works - I can send one of four different SMS messages to the phone containing a preselected (by me) password and an instruction, directing the phone to perform one of the following actions:
- Lock & Turn off
- Wipe Ram , lock and turn off
- Wipe SD Card , lock and turn off
- Wipe Ram & SD Card, lock and turn off
Given that I synch to my work and home PCs, I will not lose any data in the process. I know, because I have tested it...after my last palm was stolen. Grrrr.
You can always call the carrier to disable the phone, but my larger concern is my data.
I think Apple did it right for 95% of consumers.
;-)
;-)
Do you really think that most US consumers want to spend $2500 on their cell phone in two years? Add the $600 initial cost to 24 months of service at the middle rate level (assuming no other hidden taxes and fees...which is most likely not a safe assumption) and that is what they will spend. Most consumers don't SAVE that much every two years.
That said, if you had said "smart phone" users, that might be a different matter...especially since most smart phone users are corporate users and do not absorb the expense on their own...but this phone is not targeted at that market.
My two year expense for a Treo with 1200 prime time minutes, unlimited data, unlimited evenings and weekends (starting at 7pm), free roaming, etc...$65 (with sprint). Initial phone cost, $200. Still not inexpensive at $1750 for 24 months, but these devices are mostly owned and used by corporate users and those with larger discretionary income. The iPhone is targeted at consumers...who probably do not realize the true cost...or how long two years really is.
You are just being silly. How many carriers do you use at once (well, most people only use one)
;-)
Multiple carriers equals choice and competition.
High speed network loss is a shame, but it has wifi.
Wifi is not available where I (and many other corporate users) spend most of our days - at work...because of IT security concerns. At home, I have a PC. I have been surfing the web on my phone for years...and it is almost always to get an answer to a question when I am on the move...not relaxing at Starbucks.
Do you have 8 gigs worth of sd cards? I doubt it. Even if you do, most people don't. The only reason trio has sd cards, is because it doesn't have much memory.
I do have at least that many SD cards, but I admit that I may be the exception. My PC, Laptop, phone, camera, and car stereo all accept SD cards. That said, you only need two 2GB to equal the $500 iPhone...and as another poster pointed out, SD cards keep getting bigger and cheaper. The iPhone will not. It's one thing if you are paying $79 for a shuffle with an anemic fixed amount of memory, but $500-$600?
You like hard buttons, ok. I prefer max screen space.
Then I suggest using the iPhone...and getting a call while your MP3s are playing...and then figuring out how you can quickly access the music player to turn it off...or any number of other scenarios where you wuld like to access a phone application quickly and not want to navigate through a UI on a screen. I suppose the iPhone's lack of applications makes the navigation somewhat easier however.
As I said, your mileage may vary...and I did not brand you silly for having different priorities.
Excellent point. I typed the original post off the top of my head, but you are right...that is also a critical discriminator for many...myself included.
Of course, if you drink the Kool-Aid, then you'll accept that these are not the droids...I mean that you do not need this capability.
I started working on a "Mac" when it was called a Lisa. I subsequently owned many (actual) Macs and wrote software for the OS professionally (6.x, 7.x, 8.x). Okay, I'm now a Windows user (got tired of the fight...and frankly, XP is just fine)...so I am not a basher...nor am I a fan boy.
:-) ...and I do...all the time. Games, JVMs, new browsers, whatever I want...from thousands of freeware and commercial titles.
Me? I'm not buying it. Sure, the external looks are great...sexy even...as are the visual bells and whistles in the UI...but features? They just are not there for me. Not even close.
Visual voice mail is neat. I'm sure the iPod also has some other exclusive neat tricks in there...but I have a year-old Treo that does what the iPhone does and more...for $200. Start with the overlap:
- Email
- Web browser
- MP3 player
- Phone
- Addresses
- Videos
- Camera
- Google maps with integrated calling
- SMS
- MS Office compatibility (iPod?)
and a range of other similar functions. Don't bother critiquing the individual Treo apps, because unlike the iPod, I can replace them with other apps. For example, the new version of Opera Mini provides the same means to view an entire web page and zoom in. There are dozens of replacement apps for any one of the above functions.
Now let's look at some core features of the Treo that the iPod lacks:
- Multiple carriers
- High-speed 3G network
- SD card slot...for essentially infinite on-the-go storage for MP3s et al.
- Numerous hard buttons to immediately get to the phone, MP3 player, or another app...and they are all programmable
- Can record video
- Has a GLOBAL find function
- CUT & PASTE (between apps)
- IM
- Tactile sensation on keyboard for typing...or for dialing
and perhaps the most important feature:
I CAN ADD APPLICATIONS TO IT
Yes, Walt claims that he finds the onscreen keyboard to be acceptable...but any Treo user can dial on the screen or on the keypad...and almost everyone I know dials on the keypad when they aren't selecting an existing contact. The actual keyboard and 5-way nav key allow you to use the phone when you aren't staring right at the screen. Yes, we shouldn't dial while we are driving, but we do, and you can do it without looking while using a Treo.
Hey, the iPod raises the bar...by a large amount...and the screen is 50% larger than that of a Palm-based Treo (320x480 instead of 320x320)...but a $600 phone that is not expandable and is only offered by one carrier with a two-year lock-in? One to which you cannot add software (outside of...ahem...AJAX-based apps)? How about one that claims to be a smart phone killer yet lacks basic features like cut & paste and global find? Yes, it has wifi. Great. So do many phones.
No, this is a beauty competition. I applaud apple for getting into the market and raising the bar, but I just cannot see how someone thinks this unit is worth the expense compared to other competing devices. I suppose techno lust is powerful...and form often wins out over function. Me? I'll wait a year or two and see what the next versions can do...and how the competition responds.
Your mileage may vary.
$0.02
I have an HP PSC 1350 all-in-one inkjet printer, scanner, and copier...with built-in card readers.
Put me in the minority, but I love it. I have had it for years and just this week replaced my first B&W cartridge. I am still on the original color cartridge. Yes, I don't print every single day, but I do print fairly regularly.
The printer was bargain at $79 (US)...and getting the scanner was a nice benefit, which I have used many times. An OEM HP B&W ink cartridge costs $17 and an OEM color cartridge costs about twice that. Given that I have only spent $17 on the printer since I bought it and that only a fraction of that money goes to HP, I think they are still in the hole on this one...and I probably don't have much to complain about.
Price per page? Who knows, but if he prints that much, then you should consider a laser. Yes, consumables are expensive, but they sell inkjet printers at a loss...and they have to make it up somehow. That is the business model. It benefits people like me and penalizes heavy print users.
If he is bothered that much by the cost, I suggest having him estimate page per month counts for printing, faxing, and copying...and then perform a TCO for various all-in-one inkjets, lasers, and dedicated devices for each task based on their initial cost and cost of consumables. Honestly, if the quality of inkjets is inadequate, I would think that some model will still win out. The consumables on my color laser printer at work aren't exactly a bargain.
Another benefit of the all-in-one inkjet approach - I have one device, which does not take up much room, and it was so inexpensive that I will not even think twice about replacing it when it eventually breaks.
At the risk of being modded redundant...I have done this for years...and it is not that tough...but it can be mildly frustrating for friends.
My last two mobile phones have allowed me to transfer someone directly to voice mail if the number from which they are calling is not in the phone's address book. This works well for me because I do not have a home phone...and I have a fairly complete address book.
So after years of use how does it fair? Great for me...less so for others...but they deal. When they are not at home, my friends tend to call me from their cell phones rather than an office phone, since the latter often yields an unknown number from larger corporations...and sends them directly to voice mail. If for some reason they cannot call from a known number, they know that if they leave a message, I will call them right back...assuming that I am available.
One other downside - I need to remember to disable the filter function if I have a scheduled delivery or service person coming to my home...since they often call to confirm immediately before arriving.
Honestly though, dropping the home phone and using a mobile phone exclusively has helped significantly, even when I temporarily disable the filter, since I am not listed in any directories.
> The five products reviewed all have backlit LCD screens, a radio bandwidth of 88.1 to 107.9MHz and switch off automatically about 60 seconds after the audio signal stops.
Very nice! (seriously)
I bought a unit that did NOT turn off after the audio signal stopped and I frequently forgot to turn it off manually...which resulted in the batteries being dead 90% of the time. Whatever unit that you buy, I suggest looking for one that has this critical feature.
Also, if you live in a populated area, make sure that you get one that has a broadcast frequency is FULLY tunable...not just selectable between a handful of discrete values. I live in DC and you are hard pressed to find an unoccupied slice of frequency.
Seriously, if they believe a printout that you created with your own printer, what's to stop you from using photoshop...or just saving off the page as "web page complete", editing the price in the (now) client-side HTML file, firing up your browser, and printing the result. You would just need to make sure that your browser wasn't printing the URL in the header to avoid the "file" (vs. "http") protocol from appearing...although one could produce the appropriate version with header without requiring the reapplication of antiperspirant.
Seems to me that they would want access to their actual web site from an in-store kiosk to verify such claims...rather than relying on a customer-provided printout. Bizarre.
The downside with this and other approaches mentioned is that they do not seem to provide a way to easily visualize, associate, correlate, cross-reference, etc.
. aspx
I have a friend who is an attorney and who performs extensive research against a wide array of source material...including the web...and he swears by Microsoft OneNote:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/default
Yes, a Microsoft product...let the flames begin.
> I paid $100 for Windows XP. The Ubantu Dell should cost at lest $100 less than the identical Windows box.
1) Dell doesn't pay the retail cost for Windows.
2) Dell defrays the cost of each PC with the additional software (aka "crapware") that vendors pay to have pre-installed on dell PCs. At the moment, the version of Ubuntu sold with Dell PCs does not include such software...so you are buying a clean PC. Thus, the price comparison noted in the original article is inappropriate. Instead, one should compare the cost of the new Dell Ubuntu models with the cost of their equivalent Windows versions with the dell "clean PC" option...which adds additional expense to the Windows PC.
3) Dell must defray a range of costs associated with these new models, including additional work with OEM vendors for drivers, building a Linux-centric support site, and providing Linux OS phone support...at least with regards to how it relates to the hardware.
4) Most people who will buy one of these models with Ubuntu will most likely not do so to save money. Thus, Dell does not need to offer deep discounts...and this is a free market.
Choose you servers more carefully.
For example, I play COD2 exclusively. I belong to a online gaming "clan" that hosts this game and a number of others (BF2, BF2142, UO). In support of these games, we maintain game servers, a Vent voice chat server, forums, and a public website. Our overall philosophy is to provide an environment for fun and cheat-free play. We do not allow in-game typed profanity or harassment of other players. As far as voice chat goes, we only allow profanity in our 16 and older Vent channels. All other channels are rated G. Also, regardless of what channel you are in, harassment (sexist, racial, or otherwise) is NEVER tolerated. How do we manage it? Mature RCONs and Vent channel admins...who are on most of the time and available via IM, email, and phone when necessary.
Are we unique? Not at all. There are many mature groups of players who have banded together to form such positive playing environments.
If you are stuck on a Blizzard server, my sympathies.
I have a Shuttle SB81P - a "P Series" Shuttle SFF - that is coming up on 3 years old...and the BIOS has a setting for the intensity of the power light...ranging from 0 to 100%. This fact is also noted in the manual. Of course, who has time for either reading the manual or at least looking around and experimenting. There is complaining to be done and blame to be assigned!
Personally, I like status lights. They convey information....and not to just techies, but anyone willing to take a minute to look at either the silk-screened explanation that appears on the device or perhaps (heaven forfend!) the manual.
Yes, I am a dreamer.
I for one love COD2 (COD3 is console-only). It's a nice FPS title with simple movement controls...run, jump, lay prone, etc...and fairly simple weapon controls...aim, shoot, switch weapons, throw grenade, etc. In general, the set of key combinations that one must memorize is fairly simple.
In contrast, modern day combat titles like BF2 and BF2142 tend to have hundreds of key combinations...so you can, for example, parachute, land, pull out your knife, roll, jump into a chopper, fly the chopper, launch hellfire missiles, open your MRE, eat a cookie, cast magic missile, blah, blah, blah.
Some of us like an old school multiplayer FPS titles with simplistic controls and a world that resets every 15 to 20 minutes...rather than a BF2-like (or WoW-like) quest to amass an array of items (and/or ranks) that give you a disproportionate advantage after spending the better half of your life indoors staring at an LCD...and pounding a custom keyboard with printed overlays.
Oh well, my player's group will keep our COD2 servers running the same way that we keep our COD UO servers running...but sooner or later the guests stop coming and we have to retire the older games and move forward...as we have had to retire our Spearhead and MoH servers. *sigh*
http://www.afternic.com/
Yes, skill-based compensation appears to be a radical concept in the halls of academia...or at least the public school variant thereof. Of course, we are talking about PUBLIC schools and teachers' UNIONS. Perhaps we are not in a dialog with a bastion of capitalists. ;-)
n /oped/articles/2006/03/29/taking_on_the_teachers_u nions/
;-)
Some are trying:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinio
Perhaps my favorite line from that article is:
Catherine Boudreau, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, predictably criticized Romney's proposals as ''inequitable, divisive, and ineffective." The MTA denounced the proposal as ''uniquely designed to destroy collegiality in a school," ignoring the fact that performance pay is routine in such other professions as medicine, law, and engineering, not to mention in the Commonwealth's first-rate universities, including those that are unionized by the MTA.
*sigh* Some folks need to leave the castle every now and again and see what life is like on the outside.
On that note, I have a couple of friends who are teachers. Yes they work hard and shape young minds. Granted. Good folks. That said, their stress level is about 1% of mine (working in a s/w dev field). Are they paid less? Yes, but their pay is not abysmal. Both make mid 50s...for a job with three months off in the summer, a holiday and spring break, a half dozen snow days, etc. Sure...they bring work home...and so do I. In general, they seem happier and more satisfied with their career choices than my friends in IT. So they make less. It's a choice.
We pay folks what we need to in this society. It's a fairly complex equation, but factors include skill sets, time to acquire those skills, desirability of the work, career potential, quality of life, and...yes...supply and demand. If we need better math and science teachers, we should pay for them. These are critical skills...and we should not let the grumbling art teacher get in the way of giving our children what they need (and deserve). Perhaps the economics and civics teachers should hold a brown bag on one of the snow days. They could discuss how autoworkers unions contributed to the quality of the American automobile industry...and how competition from the Japanese did nothing to help motivate the Americans to improve quality...and then discuss sarcasm.
BTW, I loved my art teacher.