This is nice (if reactionary) but how long before we can get a court order to legally fight the botnet by 'infecting' the target computers with a patch, or at least some sort of message that warns the user to seek help?
So you're saying that the users should get, say, a pop-up, that says "Your computer may be infected. Click here to fix the problem."
Estimate how long the project will take. Double it, to account for testing. Add one month at the beginning, so that all team members can read and understand "The Mythical Man Month".
The method I was taught in school, back in the days when Arthur Andersen existed, and prior to Andersen Consulting or AssVenture (or whatever they're called now), the method that was taught to me was credited to them, and looked like this:
Estimate how long it will take, if everything goes right. Call it T1. Estimate the expected time it will take, knowing how some things usually go wrong. Call it T2. Estimate the worst possible case, if everything goes wrong, and there are lots of unforeseen issues - you are 99% sure you can get it done within this amount of time. Call it T3.
The Weighted average estimate is (T1+(4*T2) + T3)/6
This yields some very odd T values, but often works out to be a reasonable estimate. The developers may tell me "If all goes well, it'll take 2 days. I expect it to be 4 days. But worst case, it might be 40 days." And you end up with a 9.6 day estimate. (which is SIGNIFICANTLY different than the "I expect it to be 4 days".)
----
The part I learned from working for a major computer manufacturer was this:
Take whatever estimate the developers tells you, and tell the client to expect it in double that time (from today). If the lab tells you they'll have a fix by tomorrow, tell the client it'll be there the next day. If the lab tells you it'll be ready in three months, tell the customer 6 months. That way, as time goes by, the estimates become more real, and the variation from the estimate becomes more refined. And it accounts for the unavoidable time between when the lab releases the work, and when it gets installed at the customer's site.
If, in January, I was told by the developers that it'd be ready in 2 months, I will tell the customer to expect it in 4 months (May). If in February, I haven't gotten a revised time-frame, then we still expect it in four months (June).
Manage expectations, and don't let the customer down (particularly when things are outside my control).
I think that security is one niche that Google can exploit, since Facebook has failed on that front, and Google has a good reputation in that area.
Really, though, there needs to be a "feature" that is exciting for the young crowd.
Imagine something like Webkinz, where kids under 13 are already addicted. Funnel those kids into a social network when they reach 13, duplicate facebook's features, and then they'll never need to join fb. In 5 years, you have 13 to 18 year olds hooked on your fb replacement.
Google needs to find one niche for the age 13-20 crowd, and exploit it.
Facebook will fall as fast as MySpace did.
Personally, I think that niche is security. Facebook has already failed miserably on that front, and, although I hate thinking about everything that Google knows about me, they (somehow) have a reputation of protecting that information.
I do, too. I was sitting in my high school history class, and the teacher rolled in a TV so we could watch the broadcast. Come to think of it, this was probably one of the most important lessons I learned in school: our technology is impressive, but not infallible.
So basically every truck that we've bought or ran for over ten years has had an electronic throttle pedal, and there have been zero problems, except occasionally the TPS itself needs replaced
When replacing your TPS, don't forget the fax cover sheet.
If you're in a place with too much WiFi noise, try using the Japanese-only channel 14 - it doesn't overlap with any other channels, and you're pretty much guaranteed to be the only person using it.
And then use Google Translate to convert to English. Perfect.
(I know someone who didn't buy a Japanese radio back in the 70's because they were worried that they wouldn't hear any American music.)
--
The world would be a much better place if every single person tried to be just a little tiny bit more tolerant of my bigotry.
Actually I just watched the video and I think you have the pause in the wrong place.
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon [PAUSE] We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, [small pause] not because they are easy, but because they are hard
I always loved the pause in JFK's original speech:
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon.. <pause while JFK thinks> and do the other things.. (?)
He was in a tough situation, because he tossed in a comical stab about Rice's football team playing Texas just the sentence prior. I suspect that was an ad-lib, which made his "other things" somewhat trivial.
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard
Impress your friends with geek AND music knowledge. In addition to being the phone number in the Tommy Tutone song, 867-5309 is also a prime number. It's also a prime twin, so (I think) 867-5311 is also a prime number
In college I wrote a Python program capable of factoring primes up to 1024 bits long. It ran fairly quickly. I should dig out that program, and post it here for peer review. I think you'll find some cleverness in the algorithm used.
Oh here it is.
# Title: Circular Imaginary Number Prime Factorization Program. # Released under the GPL # # Uses imaginary numbers, ratio of circumference to diameter in # the calculation of the factors of a prime number. # # Able to factor prime numbers as large as 1024 bits and up # # Key in your input in either decimal or binary
# Runs in O() time.
import math
def exponentiate(num, exponent):
"""exponentiate function, starts at 1, and multiplies by num
as many times as exponent tells you to.
Needed as a function, since ^ operator doesn't work on
complex numbers."""
result = 1
for x in range(exponent.real):
result = result * num
return result
primenum = int(raw_input("Please enter a really big prime number: ")) factors = [] i = complex(0,1)
for factor_candidate in range ((exponentiate(math.e,math.pi*i)),2):
if primenum % factor_candidate == 0:
factors.extend([factor_candidate, primenum/factor_candidate]) print factors
Those galaxies have had a lot of time to develop life. Maybe prioritize that direction for SETI...
I can't make sense of this.
If we can observe these galaxies as they appeared 13 Billion years ago, then any SETI observation would be an observation of how they looked 13 Billion years ago. And so the "lot of time to develop life" is irrelevant (unless I let my SETI@Home program run for 13 Billion years...)
Slashdot Mirror
This is nice (if reactionary) but how long before we can get a court order to legally fight the botnet by 'infecting' the target computers with a patch, or at least some sort of message that warns the user to seek help?
So you're saying that the users should get, say, a pop-up, that says "Your computer may be infected. Click here to fix the problem."
Do you see the irony in this plan?
That's why we buy support contracts. If the phone breaks *for whatever reason*, it will get replaced.
These users are getting what they were promised. That's all.
With this logic, you should also buy golf balls with a credit card that replaces items if they are lost or stolen.
Your correction needs a correction.
It's www.getpaint.net.
If you're going to be annoyed by someone's mistake, try not to annoy others with your mistake.
- not annoyed.
So a better estimation process might be:
Estimate how long the project will take.
Double it, to account for testing.
Add one month at the beginning, so that all team members can read and understand "The Mythical Man Month".
The method I was taught in school, back in the days when Arthur Andersen existed, and prior to Andersen Consulting or AssVenture (or whatever they're called now), the method that was taught to me was credited to them, and looked like this:
Estimate how long it will take, if everything goes right. Call it T1.
Estimate the expected time it will take, knowing how some things usually go wrong. Call it T2.
Estimate the worst possible case, if everything goes wrong, and there are lots of unforeseen issues - you are 99% sure you can get it done within this amount of time. Call it T3.
The Weighted average estimate is (T1+(4*T2) + T3)/6
This yields some very odd T values, but often works out to be a reasonable estimate. The developers may tell me "If all goes well, it'll take 2 days. I expect it to be 4 days. But worst case, it might be 40 days." And you end up with a 9.6 day estimate. (which is SIGNIFICANTLY different than the "I expect it to be 4 days".)
----
The part I learned from working for a major computer manufacturer was this:
Take whatever estimate the developers tells you, and tell the client to expect it in double that time (from today). If the lab tells you they'll have a fix by tomorrow, tell the client it'll be there the next day. If the lab tells you it'll be ready in three months, tell the customer 6 months. That way, as time goes by, the estimates become more real, and the variation from the estimate becomes more refined. And it accounts for the unavoidable time between when the lab releases the work, and when it gets installed at the customer's site.
If, in January, I was told by the developers that it'd be ready in 2 months, I will tell the customer to expect it in 4 months (May). If in February, I haven't gotten a revised time-frame, then we still expect it in four months (June).
Manage expectations, and don't let the customer down (particularly when things are outside my control).
Maybe I should rephrase it.
I think that security is one niche that Google can exploit, since Facebook has failed on that front, and Google has a good reputation in that area.
Really, though, there needs to be a "feature" that is exciting for the young crowd.
Imagine something like Webkinz, where kids under 13 are already addicted. Funnel those kids into a social network when they reach 13, duplicate facebook's features, and then they'll never need to join fb. In 5 years, you have 13 to 18 year olds hooked on your fb replacement.
Google needs to find one niche for the age 13-20 crowd, and exploit it.
Facebook will fall as fast as MySpace did.
Personally, I think that niche is security. Facebook has already failed miserably on that front, and, although I hate thinking about everything that Google knows about me, they (somehow) have a reputation of protecting that information.
I stopped RTFB'ing when I read the word "orientated."
A friend of mine from Indiana spent a year in Japan. During the first 3 months, he felt very out of place. Then he got orientated.
A young intern, who later committed suicide in a bizarre self decapitation with a chainsaw, suggested that 1 to the 400th power was actually a gogool.
*actually its 1 to 100th power
Of course, 1 to the 100th power is the same as 1 to the 400th power, is the same as 1.
You mean TEN to the 100th power.
I do not take kindly to this researcher releasing my copyrighted chronicles of a man from Nantucket.
Is there going to be a Dying Man film festival and art show now?
I do, too. I was sitting in my high school history class, and the teacher rolled in a TV so we could watch the broadcast. Come to think of it, this was probably one of the most important lessons I learned in school: our technology is impressive, but not infallible.
Why, didn't the TV work?
So basically every truck that we've bought or ran for over ten years has had an electronic throttle pedal, and there have been zero problems, except occasionally the TPS itself needs replaced
When replacing your TPS, don't forget the fax cover sheet.
The first thing I'm going to do with this new assembler is to write a C compiler, and then write Python in C, and then I can get down to work...
I laughed.
First I laughed at the call-center joke.
Then I laughed at the douche who wrote four paragraphs accusing someone else of an "inflated sense of superiority".
If you're in a place with too much WiFi noise, try using the Japanese-only channel 14 - it doesn't overlap with any other channels, and you're pretty much guaranteed to be the only person using it.
And then use Google Translate to convert to English. Perfect.
(I know someone who didn't buy a Japanese radio back in the 70's because they were worried that they wouldn't hear any American music.)
--
The world would be a much better place if every single person tried to be just a little tiny bit more tolerant of my bigotry.
Actually I just watched the video and I think you have the pause in the wrong place.
I always loved the pause in JFK's original speech:
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon.. <pause while JFK thinks>
and do the other things.. (?)
He was in a tough situation, because he tossed in a comical stab about Rice's football team playing Texas just the sentence prior. I suspect that was an ad-lib, which made his "other things" somewhat trivial.
I'd like to know how the origional designers chose to measure probability in terms of 'minutes to midnight'.
"Information in the Libraries of Congress" and "length of three football fields" were already taken.
Impress your friends with geek AND music knowledge. In addition to being the phone number in the Tommy Tutone song, 867-5309 is also a prime number. It's also a prime twin, so (I think) 867-5311 is also a prime number
Sorry, I'm not buying it:
>>> print factors(867-5309)
1
2
2221
or did you mean the number 8675309L?
2 Blackberries for that price, here!
In college I wrote a Python program capable of factoring primes up to 1024 bits long. It ran fairly quickly. I should dig out that program, and post it here for peer review. I think you'll find some cleverness in the algorithm used.
Oh here it is.
# Title: Circular Imaginary Number Prime Factorization Program.
# Released under the GPL
#
# Uses imaginary numbers, ratio of circumference to diameter in
# the calculation of the factors of a prime number.
#
# Able to factor prime numbers as large as 1024 bits and up
#
# Key in your input in either decimal or binary
# Runs in O() time.
import math
def exponentiate(num, exponent):
"""exponentiate function, starts at 1, and multiplies by num
as many times as exponent tells you to.
Needed as a function, since ^ operator doesn't work on
complex numbers."""
result = 1
for x in range(exponent.real):
result = result * num
return result
primenum = int(raw_input("Please enter a really big prime number: "))
factors = []
i = complex(0,1)
for factor_candidate in range ((exponentiate(math.e,math.pi*i)),2):
if primenum % factor_candidate == 0:
factors.extend([factor_candidate, primenum/factor_candidate])
print factors
Firstly why is MS singled out in the slashdot version of the story? 100% of mail products failed this so called test.
New here? Best way to get to the front page of Slashdot is to bash Microsoft.
Didn't we know Google was after administrating white space for the past five years?
Those galaxies have had a lot of time to develop life. Maybe prioritize that direction for SETI...
I can't make sense of this.
If we can observe these galaxies as they appeared 13 Billion years ago, then any SETI observation would be an observation of how they looked 13 Billion years ago. And so the "lot of time to develop life" is irrelevant (unless I let my SETI@Home program run for 13 Billion years...)
Or were you going for +5 Funny?