Remember the 80's - space invaders, asteroids etc etc - just load up MAME, buy some proper arcade controls, stick it all in a shiny wooden box and then finally try and get those high scores that eluded you in your youth.
I had a right laugh building my last arcade machine and even included a jukebox of 80's music just to complete the effect.
I've just been spending the last week moving all my documents to Google Docs and I think it's great.
I want to keep my docs forever
I moved everything over simply because my docs are spread across multiple machines some of which are ancient. I suddenly found myself wanting an ancient document that was stored on a laptop that didn't have any Internet connection. Luckily it still worked but it was a game getting the docs to a more modern PC. With Google docs I won't care what media the docs stored on, nor what computer or OS.
Backups
Sure I can all hear you smugly saying just get it off your backups but in those days I'd probably of used a plate sized floppy disk and would now be wondering where I insert the thing into a modern PC. Now I don't have to care about backups as they do it for me.
Accessibility
I can access all my files from any computer, any OS, anywhere in the world (as long as I have some form of Internet connection).
Sharing
I can keep my docs private or give access to specific people. I can also make them public if there is anyone out there sorry enough to read my ramblings.
Collaborate
I can work with others on the same documents.
Permanence
OK Google might not be here for ever but I bet they'll be here longer than MS and certainly longer than any of my PC's will last.
Features
I'm one of those users who probably only uses 80% of the features in Word so a reduced feature set doesn't matter to me. The formatting features are roughly the same as those offered by web based email systems.
Is it perfect
No - it can be a bit clunky in places and it seems to prefer shorter documents to larger ones. I figure it will probably get better over time and I was happy to switch with just the benefits as they stand at the moment. Oh, did I mention it was free?
The handcuffed child was being a brat - I suspect very poor parenting judging by the behaviour of the child and the fact the mother is more interested in looking for someone else to sue for her child's behaviour rather than herself. The teacher could easily of stopped the issue at the start by giving the child a smack but of course this is now illegal so we now you to put up with brats like that.
The tasered kid has cutting himself with broken glass and threatening those trying to calm him down. Obviously it would be better to disarm the child in a less electrical manner but seeing as the kid had already cut his face and limbs then I suspect it was better to stop him immediately. It seems kids like that need to be looked after outside of a normal school environment.
I once found someone in a doorway not far from my home, covered in blood and cutting their arm down to the bone with a razor blade. They were doped out on drugs and only half my size but I felt highly at risk while getting the blade of them and calming them down - I can fully understand people using tasers etc on people in a similar position. Most distressing was that it was quite a pretty young girl of around 14 and also the fact that the ambulance people seemed quite used to such sights.
I know a moderate amount about the subject matter and wanted to know more so I bought the book. These are my opinions...
Editing: Each page of text appears to be split into 3 equal sections -
Text telling you what he's going to say, what he's just said, and perhaps why he won't be explaining a particular thing until chapter 9. I found this confusing and it just led me to hate the editor.
Some general waffle that neither helped explain the current subject or made the text easier to read.
An interesting fact was always buried in there somewhere.
Diagrams: Successful diagrams should explain a given point at a glance. These diagrams are just colourful interludes between the text.
TLA's: The text is full of TLA's yet little help is given to the reader to explain them. If a new TLA is introduced on a page then it should appear in a coloured text area to make it easy to find. A glossary of TLA's should be given at the back of the book as well.
Coverage: I thought he covered a lot of ground through the book (even if the book could of been a 1/3 the size) but I'd liked to of seen a little bit more about different types of processors (microcontroller processors, mainframe processors etc) just so I felt I had a wider knowledge.
You can learn a lot from this book but the author certainly isn't making it easy for you.
Slashdot Mirror
I had a right laugh building my last arcade machine and even included a jukebox of 80's music just to complete the effect.
MAME http://mamedev.org/about.html
My arcade box http://www.bikesandkites.com/mame2.html
Mike
I've just been spending the last week moving all my documents to Google Docs and I think it's great.
I want to keep my docs forever
I moved everything over simply because my docs are spread across multiple machines some of which are ancient. I suddenly found myself wanting an ancient document that was stored on a laptop that didn't have any Internet connection. Luckily it still worked but it was a game getting the docs to a more modern PC. With Google docs I won't care what media the docs stored on, nor what computer or OS.
Backups
Sure I can all hear you smugly saying just get it off your backups but in those days I'd probably of used a plate sized floppy disk and would now be wondering where I insert the thing into a modern PC. Now I don't have to care about backups as they do it for me.
Accessibility
I can access all my files from any computer, any OS, anywhere in the world (as long as I have some form of Internet connection).
Sharing
I can keep my docs private or give access to specific people. I can also make them public if there is anyone out there sorry enough to read my ramblings.
Collaborate
I can work with others on the same documents.
Permanence
OK Google might not be here for ever but I bet they'll be here longer than MS and certainly longer than any of my PC's will last.
Features
I'm one of those users who probably only uses 80% of the features in Word so a reduced feature set doesn't matter to me. The formatting features are roughly the same as those offered by web based email systems.
Is it perfect
No - it can be a bit clunky in places and it seems to prefer shorter documents to larger ones. I figure it will probably get better over time and I was happy to switch with just the benefits as they stand at the moment. Oh, did I mention it was free?
The handcuffed child was being a brat - I suspect very poor parenting judging by the behaviour of the child and the fact the mother is more interested in looking for someone else to sue for her child's behaviour rather than herself. The teacher could easily of stopped the issue at the start by giving the child a smack but of course this is now illegal so we now you to put up with brats like that.
The tasered kid has cutting himself with broken glass and threatening those trying to calm him down. Obviously it would be better to disarm the child in a less electrical manner but seeing as the kid had already cut his face and limbs then I suspect it was better to stop him immediately. It seems kids like that need to be looked after outside of a normal school environment.
I once found someone in a doorway not far from my home, covered in blood and cutting their arm down to the bone with a razor blade. They were doped out on drugs and only half my size but I felt highly at risk while getting the blade of them and calming them down - I can fully understand people using tasers etc on people in a similar position. Most distressing was that it was quite a pretty young girl of around 14 and also the fact that the ambulance people seemed quite used to such sights.
Mike
Editing: Each page of text appears to be split into 3 equal sections -
Diagrams: Successful diagrams should explain a given point at a glance. These diagrams are just colourful interludes between the text.
TLA's: The text is full of TLA's yet little help is given to the reader to explain them. If a new TLA is introduced on a page then it should appear in a coloured text area to make it easy to find. A glossary of TLA's should be given at the back of the book as well.
Coverage: I thought he covered a lot of ground through the book (even if the book could of been a 1/3 the size) but I'd liked to of seen a little bit more about different types of processors (microcontroller processors, mainframe processors etc) just so I felt I had a wider knowledge.
You can learn a lot from this book but the author certainly isn't making it easy for you.
Mike