I believe that joshv meant that the software flaw belonged to the third-party recruiting firm; it wasn't his company's product, and he wasn't doing QA on it - it was discovered by accident.
"catching the students early on will turn them into life-long users of Windows Live."
This is too late to simply turn them into Windows Live users by default. Most college student today have been using email for years, and have developed their own preferences. I know I would be frustrated by it.
I believe one reason he wanted to be killed off was was because although Data doesn't age, he (Spiner) would, so there would be a limited amount of time that he could keep playing the character before Data started to look like Noonien Soong. Perhaps knowing the producers penchant for dead-horse-beating, he wanted to avoid playing Data for the next 30 years or so.
*you* may have already seen these classics; sadly, many of the younger viewers (I'm so ashamed of my generation;) haven't, and might not even know they exist (hopefully not for King Kong, but definitely for some lesser known remakes). Besides, the new ones are soooo much cooler, because they're not black and white, and have totally awesomer special effects. And Tom Cruise.
I agree with what you're saying about the old and young crowds, but to me, the biggest problem is the assholes. Either (a) getting behind the wheel turns people into assholes, or (b) there are a lot of assholes around (most likely?). This could be because I work in Washinton, DC, but I've seen it everywhere. People act like they own the road, and everyone else (if they notice them at all - see unsignaled lane changes, etc.) is in their way.
Perfect example:
I'm eating lunch at a sidewalk cafe last weekend. Traffic is brisk on the four lane street (2x2). A black SUV has stopped in the right lane with its blinkers on for some reason (Asshole #1). A sports car pulls up behind and gets pissed because he can't get by (Asshole #2). Asshole #2 proceeds to honk at Asshole #1 for about two minutes, before managing to pull into the other lane. Asshole #2 then PULLS UP NEXT TO ASSHOLE #1 TO TELL HIM OFF for another minute, thereby holding up ten cars behind him, who then start honking. Asshole #2 then roars off. That really showed him.
they can charge money for it (eventually), either directly or indirectly? They can get windows users to buy their hardware even if they don't want to use their OS (and consequently expose them to OSX even if they wouldn't 'switch' before)?
Start turning them into footballs. I believe (possibly erroneously) that the term 'pigskin' originally refered to the pig bladders used to inflate them. 'Course, then we'd have to call them 'boonskins.
We have both Apple and Dell systems where I work, so I've spent some time on the phone with both for things like sales, repairs, etc. In terms of politeness, they're about equal. However, in terms of efficiency, Apple lags behind in my experience. Their process is a bit convoluted; I realize it is probably due to some plan for compartmentalizing each process to make the whole thing run smoothly, but I always have to talk to at least 3 different people, and often reexplain my purpose for calling. example - making a purchase: I press the button for Higher Education. an operator then verifies that I am Higher Education and transfers me (?). The next operator verifies my school and transfers me to my account salesperson. The sales person makes small talk, brings up my proposal and verifies it, then transfers me to Sales Support, who takes my payment information and transfers me back to sales (apparently typing in a credit card number is below Sales - they also do this every time, despite the fact that we make purchases all the time). Sales then verifies my shipping information, and I'm off. It takes a long time, not including time spent on hold. Once, I called with a support issue, and was given a case number by one operator and transferred to another department. The next person I talked to couldn't find my case, and when I reexplained my issue, he said "Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about; I can't fix that -click-"
Before everyone jumps on me - No, I don't prefer to make purchases over the phone; my institution is partially responsible for this process.
Dell, on the other hand, though they seem to outsource at least some of their phone support (I'm not for or against this, but it seems to piss off a lot of people), is much more efficient. I talk to one person who resolves my issue, and the *same person* even calls me back to follow up or answer my question if they couldn't when I called.
I realize this refers to only one form of customer service, and perhaps my experience as a business/educational customer is different from a home user's; it's just my $0.02. Efficiency is more important for me than the feeling that I'm "cared for." That said, I hate assholes who work in customer service; I always wonder whether they were always that way (bad career choice), or whether years of talking to asshole customers drove them to it (from my experience it could be the latter).
The disadvantage, of course, is either a plethora of tokens (one per account) or every Tom, Dick and Harry shop wanting to use your token for marketing and tracking purposes.
don't forget about stealing/copying/forging said tokens...phishing for chips? er...tokens?
"I very frequently see topics discussed on slashdot appear in the new yorker. THey most definately have someone trawling slashdot for stories. I cant remember if i ever mentioned it before, but pretty much any technical computer related story has alot of points lifted off of this site."
All of the topics/articles on/. are posted by users trawling the Internet looking for computer related stories, so the ideas aren't coming here firsthand, either. However,/. is good at leading me to articles I wouldn't otherwise have found. I enjoy reading the stories and commentary on here, but I'd never volunteer to turn on all of the comments in a/. discussion into one coherent article. If New Yorker is using/. as a window into the techie world, I'd say it's a good thing if it takes some of these stories from the realm of the geek and gets the general public to take an interest in topics like telcom regulation.
not to grouse about my previously rejected story, or run this discussioin off-topic, buuut: I was amused b the fact that two of the "worst" games reviewed were put on the "avoid" list because they contain cannibalism. This makes me wonder; ifone of the characters is a zombie, does that still count as cannibalism?
THe underlying bone structure has at least (if not more) to do with the appearance of the face than the skin on top of it, so even if someone comes out looking different than they were before, I doubt the donor's family is going to mistake them for the original person.
Remember when it was cool to have a website? Now it's not. You must have a blog to be cool (or turn what used to be your site into your blog by updating it more often with pointless minutae of your life). Granted, the content of most personal webpages wasn't much more stimulating than all of these blogs, but this blog explosion has just encouraged more people to start them and develop an undeserved sense of importance. Though, I guess I should have learned by now, based on every other media (especially television) that people like crap, therefore crap will be supplied.
Slashdot Mirror
http://m.gmail.com/ has been around for some time, as well.
I believe that joshv meant that the software flaw belonged to the third-party recruiting firm; it wasn't his company's product, and he wasn't doing QA on it - it was discovered by accident.
"catching the students early on will turn them into life-long users of Windows Live."
This is too late to simply turn them into Windows Live users by default. Most college student today have been using email for years, and have developed their own preferences. I know I would be frustrated by it.
I believe one reason he wanted to be killed off was was because although Data doesn't age, he (Spiner) would, so there would be a limited amount of time that he could keep playing the character before Data started to look like Noonien Soong. Perhaps knowing the producers penchant for dead-horse-beating, he wanted to avoid playing Data for the next 30 years or so.
*you* may have already seen these classics; sadly, many of the younger viewers (I'm so ashamed of my generation ;) haven't, and might not even know they exist (hopefully not for King Kong, but definitely for some lesser known remakes). Besides, the new ones are soooo much cooler, because they're not black and white, and have totally awesomer special effects. And Tom Cruise.
but instead of Data, there would be B4. I don't know if I could take that.
I agree with what you're saying about the old and young crowds, but to me, the biggest problem is the assholes. Either (a) getting behind the wheel turns people into assholes, or (b) there are a lot of assholes around (most likely?). This could be because I work in Washinton, DC, but I've seen it everywhere. People act like they own the road, and everyone else (if they notice them at all - see unsignaled lane changes, etc.) is in their way. Perfect example: I'm eating lunch at a sidewalk cafe last weekend. Traffic is brisk on the four lane street (2x2). A black SUV has stopped in the right lane with its blinkers on for some reason (Asshole #1). A sports car pulls up behind and gets pissed because he can't get by (Asshole #2). Asshole #2 proceeds to honk at Asshole #1 for about two minutes, before managing to pull into the other lane. Asshole #2 then PULLS UP NEXT TO ASSHOLE #1 TO TELL HIM OFF for another minute, thereby holding up ten cars behind him, who then start honking. Asshole #2 then roars off. That really showed him.
No...are you ignorant?
you're forgetting about common law. Though I am certainly NAL...
what benefit does this bring Apple?
they can charge money for it (eventually), either directly or indirectly? They can get windows users to buy their hardware even if they don't want to use their OS (and consequently expose them to OSX even if they wouldn't 'switch' before)?
Maybe he meant a replacement brain for him. That might certainly help his wife, if she's tired of doing all the thinking in the relatioinship.
Start turning them into footballs. I believe (possibly erroneously) that the term 'pigskin' originally refered to the pig bladders used to inflate them. 'Course, then we'd have to call them 'boonskins.
We have both Apple and Dell systems where I work, so I've spent some time on the phone with both for things like sales, repairs, etc. In terms of politeness, they're about equal. However, in terms of efficiency, Apple lags behind in my experience. Their process is a bit convoluted; I realize it is probably due to some plan for compartmentalizing each process to make the whole thing run smoothly, but I always have to talk to at least 3 different people, and often reexplain my purpose for calling. example - making a purchase: I press the button for Higher Education. an operator then verifies that I am Higher Education and transfers me (?). The next operator verifies my school and transfers me to my account salesperson. The sales person makes small talk, brings up my proposal and verifies it, then transfers me to Sales Support, who takes my payment information and transfers me back to sales (apparently typing in a credit card number is below Sales - they also do this every time, despite the fact that we make purchases all the time). Sales then verifies my shipping information, and I'm off. It takes a long time, not including time spent on hold. Once, I called with a support issue, and was given a case number by one operator and transferred to another department. The next person I talked to couldn't find my case, and when I reexplained my issue, he said "Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about; I can't fix that -click-"
Before everyone jumps on me - No, I don't prefer to make purchases over the phone; my institution is partially responsible for this process.
Dell, on the other hand, though they seem to outsource at least some of their phone support (I'm not for or against this, but it seems to piss off a lot of people), is much more efficient. I talk to one person who resolves my issue, and the *same person* even calls me back to follow up or answer my question if they couldn't when I called.
I realize this refers to only one form of customer service, and perhaps my experience as a business/educational customer is different from a home user's; it's just my $0.02. Efficiency is more important for me than the feeling that I'm "cared for." That said, I hate assholes who work in customer service; I always wonder whether they were always that way (bad career choice), or whether years of talking to asshole customers drove them to it (from my experience it could be the latter).
The disadvantage, of course, is either a plethora of tokens (one per account) or every Tom, Dick and Harry shop wanting to use your token for marketing and tracking purposes.
don't forget about stealing/copying/forging said tokens...phishing for chips? er...tokens?
"I very frequently see topics discussed on slashdot appear in the new yorker. THey most definately have someone trawling slashdot for stories. I cant remember if i ever mentioned it before, but pretty much any technical computer related story has alot of points lifted off of this site."
/. are posted by users trawling the Internet looking for computer related stories, so the ideas aren't coming here firsthand, either. However, /. is good at leading me to articles I wouldn't otherwise have found. I enjoy reading the stories and commentary on here, but I'd never volunteer to turn on all of the comments in a /. discussion into one coherent article. If New Yorker is using /. as a window into the techie world, I'd say it's a good thing if it takes some of these stories from the realm of the geek and gets the general public to take an interest in topics like telcom regulation.
All of the topics/articles on
That's google having a little fun. In my (empty) Spam box I'm looking at a recipe for a "Spam Hashbrown Bake".
I'm sorry, but I must put an end to this discussion, as it has become much too silly.
Google's response.
My apologies if this has been posted already.
My boss bought himself a 30-inch monitor (for way more than $466), but he's salaried. Should I tell him to be careful? ;)
It's now facebook.com as well.
not to grouse about my previously rejected story, or run this discussioin off-topic, buuut: I was amused b the fact that two of the "worst" games reviewed were put on the "avoid" list because they contain cannibalism. This makes me wonder; ifone of the characters is a zombie, does that still count as cannibalism?
THe underlying bone structure has at least (if not more) to do with the appearance of the face than the skin on top of it, so even if someone comes out looking different than they were before, I doubt the donor's family is going to mistake them for the original person.
If it's pay-per-view, there better not be any commercial breaks!
what about the toxic-dart-wielding terrorist-fighting dolphins?
Remember when it was cool to have a website? Now it's not. You must have a blog to be cool (or turn what used to be your site into your blog by updating it more often with pointless minutae of your life). Granted, the content of most personal webpages wasn't much more stimulating than all of these blogs, but this blog explosion has just encouraged more people to start them and develop an undeserved sense of importance. Though, I guess I should have learned by now, based on every other media (especially television) that people like crap, therefore crap will be supplied.