I don't know what job market you're talking about. Me, I'm straight out of college (only a lowly undergrad), making well above average starting wage for a software developer, working a solid 40 hours per week, and I had multiple excellent offers to choose from. If my employer started demanding constant unpaid overtime, I could easily leave and have a new job in no time. And no, I had no special connections or friends in high places. I attended career fairs and applied to online job postings. Disclaimer: this is in Canada, but I work for a US corporation, and I'm always hearing about how everyone in the US is desperate for talented programmers.
>> "Note that the Galaxy S runs the same hardware as the Nexus S, which is already receiving the Android 4.0 update."
Yes, the Nexus S has ICS; I'm running it on my Nexus S, and it's fantastic. However, you can really, really feel the fact that the phone only has 512 MB of RAM. If you open a memory intensive app (web browser, for example), pretty much everything else gets swapped out; when you next press Home, you have to wait a second or two for the launcher to be restarted, or worse, for the keyboard to load.
Since TouchWiz would add even more bloat, I can totally see how 512 MB just won't cut it.
Only if you're idiotic enough not to save your important data to persistent storage. Did you know unsaved Word documents are lost when the power goes off?
On the keyboard note, I find that with SwiftKey for Android, touch-screen keyboard complaints are a thing of the past. I can tap out a full length, properly written (no txt abbreviations) message in no time, with little effort. Granted, I was never a BlackBerry user for more than a few days, so I can't compare directly, but I think I can type on my Galaxy S just as fast as anybody with a BB.
On my Galaxy S, which uses a similar screen to the Nexus One used in this study, the screen consumes > 90% of all power. 3G, WiFi, GPS and everything else are just drops in the bucket.
You have to do more than just claim that something is evil. You have to make an actual point about why this is evil.
Put yourself in their shoes. You're a business, and want to operate in some jurisdiction. They have rules you don't like. You can either a) abide by the rules, b) choose not to operate there, or c) campaign to have the rules changed. All of these area reasonable options, none of them are evil, and Google chose B.
Wow, how do you mange to sound more like a dick with each word you write?
You realize this isn't some vigilante man hunt, right? It's just people looking at pics of crimes in progress and seeing if they recognize anyone. If they do, they report them to the police and let justice take its course.
As to this:
"At least rioters are just violent pricks and adrenaline-fueled idiots; you guys sound like the sort of vengeful, soulless libertarians who would shoot a man rather than let him walk away with your TV"
I don't even know what to say. People smashing property for no reason are worse than people trying to defend their own property. Go fuck yourself.
Without having to resort to reviewing third party code like Apple does, I see one possible way in which Google could solve this problem without dedicating too many people to it. My solution is this:
By default, a developer account on the Market is "unverified" - when people try to install apps from an unverified account, they receive a huge, scary warning that states that this application could contain malware, please make sure you trust the author, etc.
To become "verified", a developer must contact Google personally and verify their identity, including full contact details (phone number, address, etc.), and sign a form that states something to the effect of "You are liable for all malicious code published through this account, even if your account is hacked." Punishment for publishing malware could include a financial penalty, and possibly criminal charges depending on what your malware did and what jurisdiction you live in.
The author's set up their own pay-by-the-minute number (like with phone sex services). They set the rate to the maximum possible amount, which is something ridiculous like $99 per minute.
I agree - I dislike most of the content farm results, but eHow has a nice clean design, and gets straight to the point. I wouldn't trust them for any advanced topic, but for many simple questions the answer is clearly presented.
The big deal is that Windows might finally have centralized package management, including updates, for all software rather than just core Windows stuff.
Unacceptable case: "The earth is billions of years old, but God directly created all of its creatures" - evidence contradicts this.
Acceptable case: "The earth is billions of years old, and God created the Universe and its finely tuned laws that allowed evolution to create the variety of life that we see today"
Just buy the phone outright. Consider the following cost breakdown, which I did for myself:
TMobile Vibrant from eBay: $500 Wind service: $35 + tax for voice/text/data = $39.20 after tax Three years of service and a phone: $1911.2
Subsidized Vibrant from Telus: $200 w/ 3 year contract Similar service plan, after hidden fees and taxes: approx. $55-$60 per month Three years of service and a phone: $2180-$2360
Wind wins, even with a crappy in-store phone selection.
Actually, if you watch videos of guitar players performing, even world-class guitarists like Jimi Hendrix or Steve Vai often look at the fretboard. Not all do, but it's not uncommon.
As soon as I started using FF4 at the last beta (12), I started using all of those features. I keep GMail and Google Calendar in app-tabs, I love sync because I have Firefox instances in many VMs and on many machines, and the Panorama tool (which I thought would be gimmicky before I actually tried it) turns out to be very useful. I am happy with such "Feature Bloat" - what the hell to I have 4 gigs of RAM for anyways?
Let the gas prices rise. Fine by me. Currently $1.30/liter in Vancouver, BC - bring on $2.00/liter, I drive a small car and fuck you if you drive a big one. Suck it up, that's the cost of your choice of vehicle. Yes, the cost of everything will go up, but you'll be amazed how fast we suddenly find solutions to problems we've been "trying" to solve for last 30 years.
Just because oil is purchased on futures contracts doesn't mean that current gas prices can't be affected by current events. If you're an oil company, you would rightly predict that, based on current events, future oil prices will be higher and supply will be lower. Thus, you need to make your current stockpile of gasoline last longer by raising its price, because the output from your refineries is going to slow down soon. Of course, I believe there is definitely an element of opportunistic price gouging too, but that's not the whole story.
Why? Simple - a single device for all purposes. I can't wait until this technology has matured, and is common place.
Most of the day, you'd be in Android using your smartphone for the things it's good at. If you need to get work done, you plug your phone into a screen/keyboard/mouse/speaker station via HDMI or something, and you're ready for serious work.
The problem is simply that HTML isn't good enough yet.
Two apps that I use in lieu of their mobile website equivalents are "Reddit is fun" and "XDA developers" on Android. The user experience is simply dramatically better than the web versions can create. Simply the ability to long-click/right-click on items to bring up a context menu, the ability to bring up a global context menu via the menu keys, the ability to search the current content via the search key, and the ability to more quickly and easily collapse comment threads or scroll quickly without having to wait for more AJAX requests and HTML rendering is completely worth it. Even though Android's browser is based on Chrome, it's still much slower than a native app.
"I'm pretty sure 500MB falls below the "basically usable for most people" line."
Actually it doesn't. Most people use less than 250 MB per month. Even I, as a "power user" (aka geek) use less than 500 MB per month. Of course, I don't regularly stream video or radio; people that do will obviously exceed the cap. Most people use their phone for e-mail, IM, and navigation.
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I don't know what job market you're talking about. Me, I'm straight out of college (only a lowly undergrad), making well above average starting wage for a software developer, working a solid 40 hours per week, and I had multiple excellent offers to choose from. If my employer started demanding constant unpaid overtime, I could easily leave and have a new job in no time. And no, I had no special connections or friends in high places. I attended career fairs and applied to online job postings. Disclaimer: this is in Canada, but I work for a US corporation, and I'm always hearing about how everyone in the US is desperate for talented programmers.
Regarding this line:
>> "Note that the Galaxy S runs the same hardware as the Nexus S, which is already receiving the Android 4.0 update."
Yes, the Nexus S has ICS; I'm running it on my Nexus S, and it's fantastic. However, you can really, really feel the fact that the phone only has 512 MB of RAM. If you open a memory intensive app (web browser, for example), pretty much everything else gets swapped out; when you next press Home, you have to wait a second or two for the launcher to be restarted, or worse, for the keyboard to load.
Since TouchWiz would add even more bloat, I can totally see how 512 MB just won't cut it.
Only if you're idiotic enough not to save your important data to persistent storage. Did you know unsaved Word documents are lost when the power goes off?
On the keyboard note, I find that with SwiftKey for Android, touch-screen keyboard complaints are a thing of the past. I can tap out a full length, properly written (no txt abbreviations) message in no time, with little effort. Granted, I was never a BlackBerry user for more than a few days, so I can't compare directly, but I think I can type on my Galaxy S just as fast as anybody with a BB.
On my Galaxy S, which uses a similar screen to the Nexus One used in this study, the screen consumes > 90% of all power. 3G, WiFi, GPS and everything else are just drops in the bucket.
You have to do more than just claim that something is evil. You have to make an actual point about why this is evil.
Put yourself in their shoes. You're a business, and want to operate in some jurisdiction. They have rules you don't like. You can either a) abide by the rules, b) choose not to operate there, or c) campaign to have the rules changed. All of these area reasonable options, none of them are evil, and Google chose B.
Stop being so alarmist.
Wow, how do you mange to sound more like a dick with each word you write?
You realize this isn't some vigilante man hunt, right? It's just people looking at pics of crimes in progress and seeing if they recognize anyone. If they do, they report them to the police and let justice take its course.
As to this:
"At least rioters are just violent pricks and adrenaline-fueled idiots; you guys sound like the sort of vengeful, soulless libertarians who would shoot a man rather than let him walk away with your TV"
I don't even know what to say. People smashing property for no reason are worse than people trying to defend their own property. Go fuck yourself.
Actually, reddit is pretty anti-Apple, but your main point about the hive mind is correct.
Without having to resort to reviewing third party code like Apple does, I see one possible way in which Google could solve this problem without dedicating too many people to it. My solution is this:
By default, a developer account on the Market is "unverified" - when people try to install apps from an unverified account, they receive a huge, scary warning that states that this application could contain malware, please make sure you trust the author, etc.
To become "verified", a developer must contact Google personally and verify their identity, including full contact details (phone number, address, etc.), and sign a form that states something to the effect of "You are liable for all malicious code published through this account, even if your account is hacked." Punishment for publishing malware could include a financial penalty, and possibly criminal charges depending on what your malware did and what jurisdiction you live in.
The author's set up their own pay-by-the-minute number (like with phone sex services). They set the rate to the maximum possible amount, which is something ridiculous like $99 per minute.
I agree - I dislike most of the content farm results, but eHow has a nice clean design, and gets straight to the point. I wouldn't trust them for any advanced topic, but for many simple questions the answer is clearly presented.
The big deal is that Windows might finally have centralized package management, including updates, for all software rather than just core Windows stuff.
It would depend on the kind of ID:
Unacceptable case: "The earth is billions of years old, but God directly created all of its creatures" - evidence contradicts this.
Acceptable case: "The earth is billions of years old, and God created the Universe and its finely tuned laws that allowed evolution to create the variety of life that we see today"
Just buy the phone outright. Consider the following cost breakdown, which I did for myself:
TMobile Vibrant from eBay: $500
Wind service: $35 + tax for voice/text/data = $39.20 after tax
Three years of service and a phone: $1911.2
Subsidized Vibrant from Telus: $200 w/ 3 year contract
Similar service plan, after hidden fees and taxes: approx. $55-$60 per month
Three years of service and a phone: $2180-$2360
Wind wins, even with a crappy in-store phone selection.
Actually, if you watch videos of guitar players performing, even world-class guitarists like Jimi Hendrix or Steve Vai often look at the fretboard. Not all do, but it's not uncommon.
After you get through the socket, you need to avoid the poison-filled firewall.
The days of Windows XP are over, man. Windows 7 has functional drivers for damn near everything.
As soon as I started using FF4 at the last beta (12), I started using all of those features. I keep GMail and Google Calendar in app-tabs, I love sync because I have Firefox instances in many VMs and on many machines, and the Panorama tool (which I thought would be gimmicky before I actually tried it) turns out to be very useful. I am happy with such "Feature Bloat" - what the hell to I have 4 gigs of RAM for anyways?
Or lets try not continuing business as usual.
Let the gas prices rise. Fine by me. Currently $1.30/liter in Vancouver, BC - bring on $2.00/liter, I drive a small car and fuck you if you drive a big one. Suck it up, that's the cost of your choice of vehicle. Yes, the cost of everything will go up, but you'll be amazed how fast we suddenly find solutions to problems we've been "trying" to solve for last 30 years.
Just because oil is purchased on futures contracts doesn't mean that current gas prices can't be affected by current events. If you're an oil company, you would rightly predict that, based on current events, future oil prices will be higher and supply will be lower. Thus, you need to make your current stockpile of gasoline last longer by raising its price, because the output from your refineries is going to slow down soon. Of course, I believe there is definitely an element of opportunistic price gouging too, but that's not the whole story.
Why? Simple - a single device for all purposes. I can't wait until this technology has matured, and is common place.
Most of the day, you'd be in Android using your smartphone for the things it's good at. If you need to get work done, you plug your phone into a screen/keyboard/mouse/speaker station via HDMI or something, and you're ready for serious work.
What, you don't think Apple will make a second iPad, which will be better than the first iPad, and cost roughly the same?
But then, who uses a smartphone that can receive e-mail as a bomb detonator? I'd use a $15 Nokia, the one with the black and white 15x20 display.
The problem is simply that HTML isn't good enough yet.
Two apps that I use in lieu of their mobile website equivalents are "Reddit is fun" and "XDA developers" on Android. The user experience is simply dramatically better than the web versions can create. Simply the ability to long-click/right-click on items to bring up a context menu, the ability to bring up a global context menu via the menu keys, the ability to search the current content via the search key, and the ability to more quickly and easily collapse comment threads or scroll quickly without having to wait for more AJAX requests and HTML rendering is completely worth it. Even though Android's browser is based on Chrome, it's still much slower than a native app.
"I'm pretty sure 500MB falls below the "basically usable for most people" line."
Actually it doesn't. Most people use less than 250 MB per month. Even I, as a "power user" (aka geek) use less than 500 MB per month. Of course, I don't regularly stream video or radio; people that do will obviously exceed the cap. Most people use their phone for e-mail, IM, and navigation.