if someone finally made a workable video phone with optional image broadcast with a decent display and ratio adjuster, that just worked everywhere. It would sell, believe you me.
Try a Mac with Skype. Both the iMac and the Macbooks have built-in video cameras. I flew with my Macbook Pro to Europe, pluged it into an Ethernet jack, and had a perfect Skype video conversation with loved ones living in the US.
At this point, the obstacle to video calls isn't hardware. It's that networking doesn't work very well. Once networking works as well electricity, video calls will be easily marketed.
Download it, keep MS Office around for awhile as a backup, and start using OpenOffice. Try using it exclusively for a week, or month, or however long until you feel comfortable that it can do all you need it to do. Them, and only then, should you give MS the boot.
A lot of people don't have the luxury of trying a product for a month. A month of someone's time is very valuable!
For an office worker making 40K a year, a *month* is worth well over $3000!
The real reason why companies pay big bucks for Office is that, in the long run, the value of the productivity outweights the cost of the application.
The little () about consultation is your answer. You need to talk to a lawyer.
It's a good thing that this post was made on Slashdot. I'm sure there are other slashdotters who've (cough) accidentally used images from Corbis or another firm.
It would seem the only solution in the end is to entirely bypass the legacy PSTN system and encourage the people you call to switch to a VoIP solution so no calls are terminated by Verizon.
I'm getting tempted to refuse to talk on anything but free VOIP. Skype video works perfect for free international calls, so why should I PAY to talk to someone else?
I actively force myself to be a segmentor; yet I'd rather work as an integrator. After four years in the professional world, I've found that the only projects worth working as an integrator are those of my own choosing. I've always forced myself to work as a segmentor because I've never been paid to work on a project that's really fun.
It's distracting as all hell - your students will spend all their time customizing/scoping out each others' avatars
I don't know about you, but when I went to school in first life, I spent a lot of time scoping out female avatars... I'd much rather leave my room to go to class if it means that I'm more likely to get laid!
I took assembly in college. I think that it's important that programming students are exposed to the differences between the stack and heap; and that they understand registers. It's really not vital that all programmers are expert assembly coders; I was one of the best in my class, yet I haven't looked back since.
You really only need to know how to program assembly if you want to be a good programmer. If you want to be a crappy one, learn Java or C#, pretend pointers are magical, and be happy with your life. (I'm not saying those are bad languages, I'm just saying they're opposite from assembly)
Java and C# really aren't the opposite of assembly. They're just abstractions, as they end up getting compiled to assembly for a virtual machine. Languages like LISP and Prolog are more likely to be considered the opposite of assembly. Likewise, any interpreted language is the opposite of assembly.
People understand economics better than you give them credit for. Given extra middle-men and the cost of production and shelf space, the per-unit cost of a CD is probably fairly high. On the other hand, it costs very little to send a copy of a song over the internet. People know this, and they know the dollar per song price point is high. Lower it. Hell, try cutting it to 25 cents, and you may find that you sell more than four times as many songs. Call it a promotion and see how it works out for you.
Exactly! A physical CD is only worth about $5, not $18!
Look, I know many people here might not like what he says... Some of his points are justified, even if you don't agree with them. For example, there are 7 different Linux builds of GAIM for various distros. Also, the moderation of this article (when browsing at 5) demonstrates that saying anything critical of Linux causes a barrage of flames.
In that case, I'd walk away. Just say no; I've realized that negotiating with people who try to enslave me is futile. I wouldn't even give the company a chance to alter the contract or give me a higher offer; there's plenty of other jobs out there.
the mp3 format has been extended and changed so much, and had stuff added and removed (vbr, abr, and tagging.... tagging shouldnt have even been there, since mp3 is a datastream not a container), over time. its hardly the same format now.
I think MP3 uses something like the RIFF container format. (I'd have to double-check.) For example,.wav files use the RIFF container format, which allows for lots of metadata to be shoved in. Assuming that the MP3 player follows RIFF specifications, (as opposed to just hardcoding addresses in the file,) it'll safely ignore unrecognized data.
Your users don't really know what they want. Chances are they view you as some "smart computer guy" who "has all the answers (tm)". They're primarily talking to you because their boss told them to talk to you.
If you had someone generating requirements for you, (like I have in the past,) he'll become disconnected with reality and give you a document that really isn't useful. You'll build a machine that has 4 tires and a steering wheel, but it won't be a car... He'll assume that a major task is trivial, or that a computer has some magic AI, and thus add requirements that have very little ROI.
You're lucky, in a way. You have the oppertunity to do rapid prototypes! You can put a prototype rather quickly into your users' hands. By putting a prototype into their hands, they'll be able to give you feedback like, "I need a button to do this," or "this is too confusing." It'll give your discussions a frame of reference, and help quickly prioritize the most important features for success.
As a software / web developer, many of our potential employers are NOT in competition with each other. Who are the competators? For example, I've signed similar non-compete clauses where there were only 4-5 "competators". Likewise, if the company is selling trinkets, the non-compete clause may not consider a company selling widgets to be a competator.
Thus, it's a good idea for your friends to understand who the competators really are. My guess is that the competators are a very narrow range of companies.
I don't know if anyone ever had portable 8-track players commonly available enough to make an aux input useful. I *do* know that Motorola was started as a company making record players for cars, hence the name: Motor Victrola. I don't think those record players were particularly portable, however.
Actually, the 8-track was invented for use in the car. It showed up in the car (1965) before the home (1966).
He licensed popular music albums from the major record companies and duplicated them on these 4-track cartridges, or "CARtridges", as they were first advertised.
The popularity of both 4-track and 8-track cartridges grew from the booming automobile industry. In September 1965, Ford Motor Company introduced dealer-installed 8-track players as an option on most models.[1] By 1966, all of their vehicles offered this upgrade.
Home players were introduced in 1966 that allowed consumers to share tapes between their home and portable systems.
Back when I was in college, I stuck a passive cellphone booster antenna on my window. It helped. You might be able to stick a passive cellphone antenna outside, and run a wire inside.
I hate to say this, but you can watch the movie "Panic Room" for a Hollywood example of what I described.
Acid2 does not guarantee conformance with any specification.
The Acid test is rather, uhm, contrived. Don't get me wrong; I'd like to see IE7 properly implement standards. It's rather irresponsible to use the Acid test as a judgement of standards complience because a browser could pass the Acid test, yet botch every other page.
Back when electricity was new, (and the electric companies were fighting between AC and DC,) companies would have "directors of electricity," much like companies have directors of IT. Now that electricity is standardized, companies just call electricians on an ad-hoc basis. Major electric companies hire engineers to design their transmission networks.
The same will happen to networking. It'll get to the point where it "just works" when you plug your computer into the wall. People who design corporate networks will gradually merge with run-of-the-mill electricians.
On the other hand, people who design large-scale networks; much like the people who design large-scale electric transmission networks, will be in demand. In order to do this, you'll need a degree from a good university, and plenty of experience. You might also need some practical experience as well, from related engineering and non-engineering fields.
Validate your client's concerns about viruses, but make sure that your client realizes that an outright block on sites like MySpace is equivilent to treating employees like children. Content blocks also create problems from real work because they end up creating a huge mess of red tape when someone really needs to use a blocked site.
The other weekend a 10-year-old girl asked me, "Can I play with your Wee?" My eyes bugged out of my head, and I almost gave her mother a WTF look... Until I realized that she was looking at my Wii's box!
The George Phillies for President site looks very nicely done, in my opinion. I would vote for the Libertarian candidate in the 2008 election unless Ron Paul wins the nomination for the Republican Party.
Yikes! He was my Freshman physics professor, and I actually had lunch with him one day while he discussed "how to win any election."
On the first day of class, he sent out an email advertising a "pyrotechnics demonstration" that would occur at the end of class. He then led about 100 students outside of the building, where there was a portable grill. Prof. Phillies then explained that, after financual aid, each of us was paying about $X.00 dollars per lecture.
To further emphasise his point, he then instructed a T.A. to lay X $1.00 bills on the grill.
I'll never forget his exact words, "And this, is a class cut!" as he lit the money on fire!
He also used to run circles around his desk and talk about rocket-powered VW buses during his lectures. I bearly passed the class, but I was always entertained!
What I do is buy consumer electronics from Fry's, which has a very liberal return policy. If a device doesn't work, I return it for store credit. When they ask why I returned it, I state that it just doesn't work and probably shouldn't be sold to the general public. I've used this technique for graphics cards, sound cards, and keyboards with malfunctioning drivers.
I also try to buy from stores that are a bit more selective about their merchandice.
There's one important fact that the free culture argument tends to neglect. Sure, a copy of a movie costs effectively zero. But the original has a cost that's decidedly nonzero. Information doesn't grow on trees, it takes energy to set it in a meaningful pattern that enables all those free copies.
True, but the cost to generate information is also going down. For example, in low-budget movies, it used to be that most of their budget went to buying celluloid film. Now, using digital technology, the same film can be made with a fraction on the budget. The same applies to music; a consumer-grade Macintosh is as powerful as the recording studios of the 60s.
Likewise, when you purchase a book or CD, only a small fraction of the price goes to the artist / author. Most of the price goes to manufacturing, shipping, and the physical stores' overhead. In electronic distribution, these costs do not need to be captured in the purchase price.
Slashdot Mirror
Try a Mac with Skype. Both the iMac and the Macbooks have built-in video cameras. I flew with my Macbook Pro to Europe, pluged it into an Ethernet jack, and had a perfect Skype video conversation with loved ones living in the US.
At this point, the obstacle to video calls isn't hardware. It's that networking doesn't work very well. Once networking works as well electricity, video calls will be easily marketed.
A lot of people don't have the luxury of trying a product for a month. A month of someone's time is very valuable!
For an office worker making 40K a year, a *month* is worth well over $3000!
The real reason why companies pay big bucks for Office is that, in the long run, the value of the productivity outweights the cost of the application.
It's a good thing that this post was made on Slashdot. I'm sure there are other slashdotters who've (cough) accidentally used images from Corbis or another firm.
I'm getting tempted to refuse to talk on anything but free VOIP. Skype video works perfect for free international calls, so why should I PAY to talk to someone else?
I actively force myself to be a segmentor; yet I'd rather work as an integrator. After four years in the professional world, I've found that the only projects worth working as an integrator are those of my own choosing. I've always forced myself to work as a segmentor because I've never been paid to work on a project that's really fun.
I don't know about you, but when I went to school in first life, I spent a lot of time scoping out female avatars... I'd much rather leave my room to go to class if it means that I'm more likely to get laid!
I took assembly in college. I think that it's important that programming students are exposed to the differences between the stack and heap; and that they understand registers. It's really not vital that all programmers are expert assembly coders; I was one of the best in my class, yet I haven't looked back since.
Java and C# really aren't the opposite of assembly. They're just abstractions, as they end up getting compiled to assembly for a virtual machine. Languages like LISP and Prolog are more likely to be considered the opposite of assembly. Likewise, any interpreted language is the opposite of assembly.
I'd use Skype with video for most of my VOIP needs. It's free, easy, and it works.
Exactly! A physical CD is only worth about $5, not $18!
I know someone's going to mod me as a troll...
Look, I know many people here might not like what he says... Some of his points are justified, even if you don't agree with them. For example, there are 7 different Linux builds of GAIM for various distros. Also, the moderation of this article (when browsing at 5) demonstrates that saying anything critical of Linux causes a barrage of flames.
In that case, I'd walk away. Just say no; I've realized that negotiating with people who try to enslave me is futile. I wouldn't even give the company a chance to alter the contract or give me a higher offer; there's plenty of other jobs out there.
Last night I cloned my passport by putting it in a color copier.
Serisouly, someone who has access to the mail can just open the envelope, copy it, and then re-seal the envelope.
I think MP3 uses something like the RIFF container format. (I'd have to double-check.) For example, .wav files use the RIFF container format, which allows for lots of metadata to be shoved in. Assuming that the MP3 player follows RIFF specifications, (as opposed to just hardcoding addresses in the file,) it'll safely ignore unrecognized data.
Your users don't really know what they want. Chances are they view you as some "smart computer guy" who "has all the answers (tm)". They're primarily talking to you because their boss told them to talk to you.
If you had someone generating requirements for you, (like I have in the past,) he'll become disconnected with reality and give you a document that really isn't useful. You'll build a machine that has 4 tires and a steering wheel, but it won't be a car... He'll assume that a major task is trivial, or that a computer has some magic AI, and thus add requirements that have very little ROI.
You're lucky, in a way. You have the oppertunity to do rapid prototypes! You can put a prototype rather quickly into your users' hands. By putting a prototype into their hands, they'll be able to give you feedback like, "I need a button to do this," or "this is too confusing." It'll give your discussions a frame of reference, and help quickly prioritize the most important features for success.
As a software / web developer, many of our potential employers are NOT in competition with each other. Who are the competators? For example, I've signed similar non-compete clauses where there were only 4-5 "competators". Likewise, if the company is selling trinkets, the non-compete clause may not consider a company selling widgets to be a competator.
Thus, it's a good idea for your friends to understand who the competators really are. My guess is that the competators are a very narrow range of companies.
Actually, the 8-track was invented for use in the car. It showed up in the car (1965) before the home (1966).
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_cartridge
Back when I was in college, I stuck a passive cellphone booster antenna on my window. It helped. You might be able to stick a passive cellphone antenna outside, and run a wire inside.
I hate to say this, but you can watch the movie "Panic Room" for a Hollywood example of what I described.
From: http://www.webstandards.org/action/acid2/guide/
The Acid test is rather, uhm, contrived. Don't get me wrong; I'd like to see IE7 properly implement standards. It's rather irresponsible to use the Acid test as a judgement of standards complience because a browser could pass the Acid test, yet botch every other page.
Back when electricity was new, (and the electric companies were fighting between AC and DC,) companies would have "directors of electricity," much like companies have directors of IT. Now that electricity is standardized, companies just call electricians on an ad-hoc basis. Major electric companies hire engineers to design their transmission networks.
The same will happen to networking. It'll get to the point where it "just works" when you plug your computer into the wall. People who design corporate networks will gradually merge with run-of-the-mill electricians.
On the other hand, people who design large-scale networks; much like the people who design large-scale electric transmission networks, will be in demand. In order to do this, you'll need a degree from a good university, and plenty of experience. You might also need some practical experience as well, from related engineering and non-engineering fields.
Validate your client's concerns about viruses, but make sure that your client realizes that an outright block on sites like MySpace is equivilent to treating employees like children. Content blocks also create problems from real work because they end up creating a huge mess of red tape when someone really needs to use a blocked site.
The other weekend a 10-year-old girl asked me, "Can I play with your Wee?" My eyes bugged out of my head, and I almost gave her mother a WTF look... Until I realized that she was looking at my Wii's box!
You could try putting a flash drive in your laptop and using it as swap space.
Yikes! He was my Freshman physics professor, and I actually had lunch with him one day while he discussed "how to win any election."
On the first day of class, he sent out an email advertising a "pyrotechnics demonstration" that would occur at the end of class. He then led about 100 students outside of the building, where there was a portable grill. Prof. Phillies then explained that, after financual aid, each of us was paying about $X.00 dollars per lecture.
To further emphasise his point, he then instructed a T.A. to lay X $1.00 bills on the grill.
I'll never forget his exact words, "And this, is a class cut!" as he lit the money on fire!
He also used to run circles around his desk and talk about rocket-powered VW buses during his lectures. I bearly passed the class, but I was always entertained!
What I do is buy consumer electronics from Fry's, which has a very liberal return policy. If a device doesn't work, I return it for store credit. When they ask why I returned it, I state that it just doesn't work and probably shouldn't be sold to the general public. I've used this technique for graphics cards, sound cards, and keyboards with malfunctioning drivers.
I also try to buy from stores that are a bit more selective about their merchandice.
True, but the cost to generate information is also going down. For example, in low-budget movies, it used to be that most of their budget went to buying celluloid film. Now, using digital technology, the same film can be made with a fraction on the budget. The same applies to music; a consumer-grade Macintosh is as powerful as the recording studios of the 60s.
Likewise, when you purchase a book or CD, only a small fraction of the price goes to the artist / author. Most of the price goes to manufacturing, shipping, and the physical stores' overhead. In electronic distribution, these costs do not need to be captured in the purchase price.