I usually buy things right before they get popular:
A few months after I bought my first CD player, all my friends and classmates bought one.
I was the first kid in my class to hand in essays written on a computer. (I remember asking for permission, fearing that the teacher wouldn't like getting something that wasn't handwritten.
I bought a hybrid car right before they became popular.
People used to make fun of me in College when I told them I was doing my projects in C#.
Addictions aren't manageable, by definition. They take over all aspects of your life. Just because you blow off a social function so you can play a game, that means nothing. It's when you blow off something that actually matters, whose blowing off has stark consequences, that you need to think about addiction.
... I disagree. I remember when my High School Psych teacher was talking about addiction, she described the "Weekend Alcoholic". If I remember correctly, the weekend alcoholic usually has a decent job and a decent domestic life... It's just that when the weekend comes around they will only pick activities where they can drink. If you invite them to a family function where no alcohol is present, they will politley decline.
In other words, don't tell them you can take 5 days to deliver a "good" implementation that delivers the same functionality as working 2 days to deliver a "cruddy" implementation.
But sometimes you just don't have the extra 3 days. For example, I have very strict release cycles, yet what goes into a release is negotiable.
For example, I currently am developing a class where the database takes about 0.25 seconds to return the corresponding row. For 99% of my program, this is fast enough because I'm only loading 1 row at a time.
Recently, I had a scenario where I needed to return many rows quickly for a very simple report. As we're getting close to a release, I really don't have time to re-engineer this class to load quickly. Instead, I put in a crufty "Fast" version of the class for this single use case. The "Fast" class does not impact any of the existing code, which is very close to release.
Later, I might decide that we want the regular version of the class to load quickly. This is ok, but as it does impact many parts of the system, I will save the effort for the next version so I don't blow my release cycle. Or, I might decide that I like having a "Fast" class, as it keeps ugly cruft out of the other class.
My point is that sometimes you really don't have time to Do It The Right Way; but you can isolate the cruft enough so that it doesn't impact the good code.
Essentially, he was browsing the web on a tablet PC. What really gets me is that when I first watched 2001 in 1992, I thought it was just silly sci-fi dreaming. When I watched 2001 AGAIN in 2001, I still thought it was sci-fi geekery. It didn't occur to me until recently that I can now go out and buy a tablet PC and use it exactly like David did.
I like the idea of Blue Ocean Strategy, but it's too easy to end up drinking the spiked blue kool-aide. Last year I briefly worked for a company that was so into the Blue Ocean Strategy that they pretended their competators didn't exist as a way of justifying their business and product design descisions.
IMO, Blue Ocean Strategy is about finding a way to differentiate your product such that it's in a class of its own instead of, getting into the better, faster, cheaper routine. When people in the company can't agree on who the competators are, then there's a problem.
All they did was buy motion sensing technology and designed a controller. They should just release it for PS3 and 360, and sell it for $200:)
I don't think I've ever seen a console upgrade fare well. Remember the Sega CD and 32X? When upgrades cost almost as much as a new console, they end up locking out many potential customers who don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars all the parts.
Perhaps in HTPCs become common, we'll see consoles replaced with cool controllers, but such a shift is at least 5-10 years away, if not more.
What I hate is when I buy a new device because it has a must-have feature, and the device sucks so much that I can't wait to replace it. Examples are my old LG phone, (I bought it because it had simple PDA functionality,) and my Motorolla HDTV-DVR from Comcast.
The need for patents is obvious: Let's say I spend a billion dollars developing a widget that costs 1 dollar to manufacture. In order for me to recoup my costs, I need to sell my widgets at 10 dollars apeice. The patent system prevents someone else from selling exact replicas of my widget for 2 dollars apiece.
Granted, there are flaws. Perhaps the patent system should allow for compulsary liscensing schemes? Perhaps the length of protection should be negotiable? Perhaps it should be more difficult to get a patent?
I once slowly realized that I disagreed with the moral implications of a job. It was a case where I realized that the fruits of my labor could be used to make drugs that could potentially harm someone. I kept the job.
I later went to work for a major corporation that I consider a moral do-gooder. Very quickly on my job I realized that the fruits of my labor could be used to build a nuclear bomb and that they would be used to create hate propganda. (My employer makes general-purpose computer products.)
Ultimatly, anything I create can be used to do evil. It can also be used to do good. I hope that the people using my creations make the right choice, but there is no way to force them to do so.
I really don't like the comparison of the HDTV rollout to Color TV and Stereo TV. HD is just Color++ and Stereo++, yet it isn't a smooth upgrade. Back when Color came out, B&W TVs worked with Color broadcasts, and Color TVs worked with B&W broadcasts. Anyone could go out and buy a Color TV, plug it in, and it Just Worked(TM). The same applies for the Stereo transition.
Granted, it's time that we (the US) give up NTSC.
I think the real problem is that the HDTV standards and protocols are so complex that they're what's holding back adoption. (The Cable Guy couldn't set up my run-of-the-mill sub $1000 HDTV! One of my friends happened to have his HDTV set up when I was visiting, so I could set it up correctly.) Hopefully this problem won't happen with Internet video, as you'll be able to download new software to handle incremental changes in video and audio protocols.
You do realize that most of the world isn't interested in starting an antique electronics museum. Besides, you're just procrastinating. Someday, someone will want to dump the stuff.
A couple of weeks ago I helped a local antique computer museam put its exhibit in storage for the winter. Even the owner was trying to get rid of some parts; he offered me a 600lb component for a Cray power supply.
Shhhh... You just hit on Microsoft's naming secret: Trademark the generic term!
A couple of years ago, (before I started working with MS SQL), I had the generic term "SQL" on my resume. I remember when an idiot recruiter called me and couldn't understand that SQL wasn't an exclusive Microsoft product.
Lesson learned: If you make a product that competes head-on with a Microsoft product, include the generic in your name. For example, Oracle should call their "DB Oracle SQL." OpenOffice should call their word processor "Open Word."
Now, the cool thing about magnetic core memory is that it saves its state, just like Flash. When the Computer History Museam restored a PDP-1, they were able to inspect the old contents of its RAM.
I remember reading an article published in the 80s instructing people not to bother with CDs because they would soon be replaced with solid state devices. Such devices didn't become practicle until flash-based MP3 players came out in the late 90s, yet they still relied on (honest) people to purchase CDs.
Thus, I really do believe that at some point it will be possible to buy an ipod-like device that holds entire archives of video and audio... It just might not be readily available until after I retire!
That being stated, Auther C. Clark did successfully predict a computer capable of storing the world's music collection. (He mentions it in one of the 2000+ books, I think the third one.) Remember that the movie 2001 successfully predicted the World Wide Web and tablet computers in the scene where David reads the morning news on the electronic newspaper. (OK, Tablet computers came out in 2002...)
If only I could get a Startac that would store email addresses and had a camera... I upgraded from my Startac because I wanted very minimal PDA function. My current phone has a camera, which I find very convenient because I take pictures instead of jotting down notes. I miss my Startac.
I can just see that some bean counter will decide that an entire company will use this kind of paper... Really, they need to extend the lifespan to be indefinate in order for this to succeed.
Listener who bought CD > Listener who wouldn't/couldn't buy CD > Someone who doesn't listen
Kinda funny. Yesterday I was shopping in Fry's (a local chain of electronics stores in CA,) and I grabbed an SACD of some guy playing Bach on a harpsichord. When I got to the cashier, he informed me that I needed to go back into the store, and lead me halfway through the store.
I followed him because I thought there was a problem with the sticker. When he brought me to some computer, it became clear that he wanted me to fill out some paperwork TO BUY A CD. I told him no and we walked back to the checkout counter.
I then asked him, can't you sell me the CD? He asked for my phone number, and I said no. I told him that I wanted to buy the CD without giving my phone number. His manager came over and told me that I needed to give them my name and phone number. I said no. She took the CD because she needed to get permission.
Step 3: require patent holders to defend their patents, as is the case with trademarks. If the patent holder could reasonably be expected to be aware of a violation -- as IBM certainly could be expected to be aware of Amazon -- require them to begin legal action within one (1) year or forfeit the claim.
Actually, patent holders do have to defend their patents; it is the patent holders who always accuse other parties of violating patents.
I think the real problem is that one company will buy another company that bought another company that bought another company that bought another company that bought another company and will go digging through the archives and find an old & questionable patent that they think means they own the entire industry. There's no consequences for being a patent troll.
Basically, using one of these chips in a laptop is an analogy for putting a turbo in a car. The tubro uses the force of the exhaust to pump more air into the engine; and the chip would use the heat of the CPU/GPU to extend battery life.
What I really want is one of these that can work at room temperature. Just imagine a laptop that gets cold when it gets really busy!
I think it depends on what the choices are. Who here loves going to a bar with 100 beers on tap? (I do!) Who here knows a girl who loves going to a shoe store and trying on 100 different pairs of shoes? Don't get me started on the number of choices you have for the color of your home!
Ultimatly, I think the proper number of choices has to do with the implications of making the wrong choice. If I'm making an important descision on something that I'm unfamilar with, I want few options that are easy to understand and differentiate. If I'm making a trivial descision on something that I'm familar with, then I want lots of choices.
Actually, come to think of it, I have no idea how come religion (specifically, christianism) is so powerful in such a developped country as the USA...
Two reasons:
Most of the early immigrants to the US were from various sects of Christianity escaping prosecution. For example, the Pilgrims were trying to create a religous utopia. Their children are Congregationalists who are very common in many towns in New England.
In my opinion, the real reason that Christianity survives is that a lot of people *LIKE* going to church. They like getting up on a Sunday morning, singing songs, and being part of something. For many Americans, their church is a core foundation of their social group.
What one needs to consider is that Churches often play a practicle role in peoples' lives. For example, I once briefly attended services at an interfaith church. (It didn't impose a belief system like Christianity does.) What it did do was provide a support system for families in dealing with domestic issues. I once attended a session where one of the ministers described how she and her husband were able to work at their communication issues and have a happy marrige.
Slashdot Mirror
... I disagree. I remember when my High School Psych teacher was talking about addiction, she described the "Weekend Alcoholic". If I remember correctly, the weekend alcoholic usually has a decent job and a decent domestic life... It's just that when the weekend comes around they will only pick activities where they can drink. If you invite them to a family function where no alcohol is present, they will politley decline.
But sometimes you just don't have the extra 3 days. For example, I have very strict release cycles, yet what goes into a release is negotiable.
For example, I currently am developing a class where the database takes about 0.25 seconds to return the corresponding row. For 99% of my program, this is fast enough because I'm only loading 1 row at a time.
Recently, I had a scenario where I needed to return many rows quickly for a very simple report. As we're getting close to a release, I really don't have time to re-engineer this class to load quickly. Instead, I put in a crufty "Fast" version of the class for this single use case. The "Fast" class does not impact any of the existing code, which is very close to release.
Later, I might decide that we want the regular version of the class to load quickly. This is ok, but as it does impact many parts of the system, I will save the effort for the next version so I don't blow my release cycle. Or, I might decide that I like having a "Fast" class, as it keeps ugly cruft out of the other class.
My point is that sometimes you really don't have time to Do It The Right Way; but you can isolate the cruft enough so that it doesn't impact the good code.
Essentially, he was browsing the web on a tablet PC. What really gets me is that when I first watched 2001 in 1992, I thought it was just silly sci-fi dreaming. When I watched 2001 AGAIN in 2001, I still thought it was sci-fi geekery. It didn't occur to me until recently that I can now go out and buy a tablet PC and use it exactly like David did.
I like the idea of Blue Ocean Strategy, but it's too easy to end up drinking the spiked blue kool-aide. Last year I briefly worked for a company that was so into the Blue Ocean Strategy that they pretended their competators didn't exist as a way of justifying their business and product design descisions.
IMO, Blue Ocean Strategy is about finding a way to differentiate your product such that it's in a class of its own instead of, getting into the better, faster, cheaper routine. When people in the company can't agree on who the competators are, then there's a problem.
I don't think I've ever seen a console upgrade fare well. Remember the Sega CD and 32X? When upgrades cost almost as much as a new console, they end up locking out many potential customers who don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars all the parts.
Perhaps in HTPCs become common, we'll see consoles replaced with cool controllers, but such a shift is at least 5-10 years away, if not more.
Does being able to download Vista count? There's a link here, assuming MS didn't stick a funky cookie that tells them I'm an MSDN subscriber.
Why am I reminded of the episode of Family Matters where Urkel builds a nuclear bomb?
What I hate is when I buy a new device because it has a must-have feature, and the device sucks so much that I can't wait to replace it. Examples are my old LG phone, (I bought it because it had simple PDA functionality,) and my Motorolla HDTV-DVR from Comcast.
Ex-post-facto laws are unconstitutional. You can't make something illegal after it was already performed.
The need for patents is obvious: Let's say I spend a billion dollars developing a widget that costs 1 dollar to manufacture. In order for me to recoup my costs, I need to sell my widgets at 10 dollars apeice. The patent system prevents someone else from selling exact replicas of my widget for 2 dollars apiece.
Granted, there are flaws. Perhaps the patent system should allow for compulsary liscensing schemes? Perhaps the length of protection should be negotiable? Perhaps it should be more difficult to get a patent?
I once slowly realized that I disagreed with the moral implications of a job. It was a case where I realized that the fruits of my labor could be used to make drugs that could potentially harm someone. I kept the job.
I later went to work for a major corporation that I consider a moral do-gooder. Very quickly on my job I realized that the fruits of my labor could be used to build a nuclear bomb and that they would be used to create hate propganda. (My employer makes general-purpose computer products.)
Ultimatly, anything I create can be used to do evil. It can also be used to do good. I hope that the people using my creations make the right choice, but there is no way to force them to do so.
I really don't like the comparison of the HDTV rollout to Color TV and Stereo TV. HD is just Color++ and Stereo++, yet it isn't a smooth upgrade. Back when Color came out, B&W TVs worked with Color broadcasts, and Color TVs worked with B&W broadcasts. Anyone could go out and buy a Color TV, plug it in, and it Just Worked(TM). The same applies for the Stereo transition.
Granted, it's time that we (the US) give up NTSC.
I think the real problem is that the HDTV standards and protocols are so complex that they're what's holding back adoption. (The Cable Guy couldn't set up my run-of-the-mill sub $1000 HDTV! One of my friends happened to have his HDTV set up when I was visiting, so I could set it up correctly.) Hopefully this problem won't happen with Internet video, as you'll be able to download new software to handle incremental changes in video and audio protocols.
A couple of weeks ago I helped a local antique computer museam put its exhibit in storage for the winter. Even the owner was trying to get rid of some parts; he offered me a 600lb component for a Cray power supply.
Shhhh... You just hit on Microsoft's naming secret: Trademark the generic term!
A couple of years ago, (before I started working with MS SQL), I had the generic term "SQL" on my resume. I remember when an idiot recruiter called me and couldn't understand that SQL wasn't an exclusive Microsoft product.
Lesson learned: If you make a product that competes head-on with a Microsoft product, include the generic in your name. For example, Oracle should call their "DB Oracle SQL." OpenOffice should call their word processor "Open Word."
I knew this silicon thing was such a fad!
Now, the cool thing about magnetic core memory is that it saves its state, just like Flash. When the Computer History Museam restored a PDP-1, they were able to inspect the old contents of its RAM.
I remember reading an article published in the 80s instructing people not to bother with CDs because they would soon be replaced with solid state devices. Such devices didn't become practicle until flash-based MP3 players came out in the late 90s, yet they still relied on (honest) people to purchase CDs.
Thus, I really do believe that at some point it will be possible to buy an ipod-like device that holds entire archives of video and audio... It just might not be readily available until after I retire!
That being stated, Auther C. Clark did successfully predict a computer capable of storing the world's music collection. (He mentions it in one of the 2000+ books, I think the third one.) Remember that the movie 2001 successfully predicted the World Wide Web and tablet computers in the scene where David reads the morning news on the electronic newspaper. (OK, Tablet computers came out in 2002...)
If only I could get a Startac that would store email addresses and had a camera... I upgraded from my Startac because I wanted very minimal PDA function. My current phone has a camera, which I find very convenient because I take pictures instead of jotting down notes. I miss my Startac.
I can just see that some bean counter will decide that an entire company will use this kind of paper... Really, they need to extend the lifespan to be indefinate in order for this to succeed.
Kinda funny. Yesterday I was shopping in Fry's (a local chain of electronics stores in CA,) and I grabbed an SACD of some guy playing Bach on a harpsichord. When I got to the cashier, he informed me that I needed to go back into the store, and lead me halfway through the store.
I followed him because I thought there was a problem with the sticker. When he brought me to some computer, it became clear that he wanted me to fill out some paperwork TO BUY A CD. I told him no and we walked back to the checkout counter.
I then asked him, can't you sell me the CD? He asked for my phone number, and I said no. I told him that I wanted to buy the CD without giving my phone number. His manager came over and told me that I needed to give them my name and phone number. I said no. She took the CD because she needed to get permission.
I didn't buy the CD.
Filler
I actually enjoyed reading the article as I only recently became aware of the device. BT named a song after it on his new album, This Binary Universe.
Actually, patent holders do have to defend their patents; it is the patent holders who always accuse other parties of violating patents.
I think the real problem is that one company will buy another company that bought another company that bought another company that bought another company that bought another company and will go digging through the archives and find an old & questionable patent that they think means they own the entire industry. There's no consequences for being a patent troll.
Basically, using one of these chips in a laptop is an analogy for putting a turbo in a car. The tubro uses the force of the exhaust to pump more air into the engine; and the chip would use the heat of the CPU/GPU to extend battery life.
What I really want is one of these that can work at room temperature. Just imagine a laptop that gets cold when it gets really busy!
I think it depends on what the choices are. Who here loves going to a bar with 100 beers on tap? (I do!) Who here knows a girl who loves going to a shoe store and trying on 100 different pairs of shoes? Don't get me started on the number of choices you have for the color of your home!
Ultimatly, I think the proper number of choices has to do with the implications of making the wrong choice. If I'm making an important descision on something that I'm unfamilar with, I want few options that are easy to understand and differentiate. If I'm making a trivial descision on something that I'm familar with, then I want lots of choices.
Two reasons:
What one needs to consider is that Churches often play a practicle role in peoples' lives. For example, I once briefly attended services at an interfaith church. (It didn't impose a belief system like Christianity does.) What it did do was provide a support system for families in dealing with domestic issues. I once attended a session where one of the ministers described how she and her husband were able to work at their communication issues and have a happy marrige.