Communicating a nascent idea is hard enough, but most aren't taught (and few learn) how to efficiently plan their project. Things get haphazard, and code soon becomes dense and unmanageable, as the team attempts to meet deadlines without spending the time to develop solid structure.
Most schools still have more Apple's than IBM-compatible PC's. Some schools have only Apple computers. And if you go to a public school, you aren't taught Office until high school or middle school.
I have to laugh when people refer to XO as a weak or crippled machine and how kids should get a 'real' one," Negroponte wrote. "Trust me, I will give up my real one very soon and use only XO. It will be far better, in many new and important ways."
Not to betray myself as a Microsoft-supporter on Slashdot, but...
You can write a novel or short story in MS Word; you can also email it or save it as a webpage to share it with everyone. (Isn't this considered "making things, communicating, exploring, sharing"?)
You can draw pretty graphs in Excel (Isn't this considered "making things, communicating, exploring, sharing"?)
You can create neat animations (without any prior experience in a professional software) in MS Powerpoint. (Isn't this considered "making things, communicating, exploring, sharing"?)
That's what I remember trying the first time I AOL-warez'ed MS Office to check it out back in 7th grade. I barely knew how to use Windows back then, since coming from tech-deprived roots, my family didn't own a computer until then.
Methinks the old Nick has, sadly, never tried using MS Office to create anything new.
Why is the OLPC planning on testing the product on kids in remote countries, first, without testing a few on local kids? There are plenty of inner-city-USA children who have never seen a computer before.
celebrities and movie stars are often puppets reading memorized lines written by a writer under time-constraints. as a result, you often have flunky science in movies.
people learn from what they read and memorize, so the actors reading and memorizing these scripts will, inevitably, "learn" bad science.
whose fault is it? perhaps the production's hired scientist failed in checking all the facts... But: rather than criticizing in hindsight, these same prof's really ought to help upgrade these knowledge-impoverished "textbooks" (i.e., movie scripts and prewritten speeches) of celebrities.
Sorry, I don't see what you're saying. If you type in an address like "http://anequationisforever.com/myfractal" into Google, Google will suggest that you mean "http://anequationisforever.com/my fractal" While the first address is valid, the second address, however, is not valid. Clicking on this second address will get you to another error page, "Your search - http://anequationisforever.com/my fractal - did not match any documents." In both cases, you never get to visit the site, at least not via Google.
Google does not always give you a link to a non-indexed URL if you type it into search.
one example is if the site is hosted in a subfolder, rather than on the main level domain. type in: "http://anequationisforever.com/myfractal" into google search. though the address is valid, since this folder is currently not listed on google, you won't get a link to it.
(and what if the privileged google servers are somehow down in said 3rd-world country? the way the OLPC UI is set up, the web and google are now synonymous.)
> Type a non-indexed URL into Google and you get a page with a link to it.
When you load up the browser in the OLPC UI, the default page is Google. There is no address bar, and so you're forced to have to search for your sites. (We now have a searcher application, rather than a browser, per se.)
Now, what if you can't find a site on google, but you know the address. How do you get to the site without an address bar?!
If you're in a 3rd-world country, and this is the only computer you have access to, your reality becomes essentially limited by Google. As long as something doesn't exist on Google, it doesn't exist in your world. Behold, the google conspiracy!!!!!!!!!
(other questions: can you change the homepage; can you install a different browser... can you use the eToys scripting button to recreate an actual browser?)
I agree. With the development of UI in even once-esoteric software like Flash and Dreamweaver, you have ten year olds who start making money as web designers. There's really no need to simplify the UI to get the user to use the computer. It's not about the learning curve anymore, but about whether the user actually wants to learn it. You can't give them a dumbed-down UI to make them want to learn it.
lol yah. i usually do the brackets the old skool way (though i never knew it to be that. did it just because i thought my code looked "nicer" that way. more elegant.)
however, that's usually when i'm using notepad for short jobs or phpdesigner -- IDE's that don't force the bracket format.
when i use the.NET ide (and it's a requirement for some jobs, sometimes), the program automatically formats the brackets in the textbook-way, even if you do type it the olskool way, the IDE reformats it after you enter the closing bracket. it's a pain to manually go back to make them look old skool.
when i first read the blurb, i'd assumed that they would have neuro-interfaces, i.e., direct link from brain to the VR net. however, it seems like the only new innovation is the idea of a faster network, designed for such content.
given the fact that technology already exists for this, this might not be a scam. however, making such high-speed networks both affordable and ubiquitously available to the general public might not happen for a while...
well, you can design your own games or any other sim in second life... anyway, second life is typically classified as MMOG (massively multiuser online game), so i thought it interesting it wasn't mentioned on the games list... considering the amount of news slashdot's done on SL this past year.
So that means a site with no content other than links to a bunch of ad's is easy to spot (i.e., same "class" of generic layouts). I've never seen a custom-made AdSense farm. Such things just don't exist; if anyone's willing to spend a good amount of their time designing a non-generic-looking site, they wouldn't submit to the pollution of no content.
Prove me wrong, and you'd start the next.com boom...
Slashdot Mirror
When I'm in any of my white/blonde-haired av's attending a public event, I usually get spammed by KKK International. Interesting, no?
Communicating a nascent idea is hard enough, but most aren't taught (and few learn) how to efficiently plan their project. Things get haphazard, and code soon becomes dense and unmanageable, as the team attempts to meet deadlines without spending the time to develop solid structure.
Most schools still have more Apple's than IBM-compatible PC's. Some schools have only Apple computers. And if you go to a public school, you aren't taught Office until high school or middle school.
I'd like to see him live up to his word.
You can write a novel or short story in MS Word; you can also email it or save it as a webpage to share it with everyone. (Isn't this considered "making things, communicating, exploring, sharing"?)
You can draw pretty graphs in Excel (Isn't this considered "making things, communicating, exploring, sharing"?)
You can create neat animations (without any prior experience in a professional software) in MS Powerpoint. (Isn't this considered "making things, communicating, exploring, sharing"?)
That's what I remember trying the first time I AOL-warez'ed MS Office to check it out back in 7th grade. I barely knew how to use Windows back then, since coming from tech-deprived roots, my family didn't own a computer until then.
Methinks the old Nick has, sadly, never tried using MS Office to create anything new.
Why is the OLPC planning on testing the product on kids in remote countries, first, without testing a few on local kids? There are plenty of inner-city-USA children who have never seen a computer before.
people learn from what they read and memorize, so the actors reading and memorizing these scripts will, inevitably, "learn" bad science.
whose fault is it? perhaps the production's hired scientist failed in checking all the facts... But: rather than criticizing in hindsight, these same prof's really ought to help upgrade these knowledge-impoverished "textbooks" (i.e., movie scripts and prewritten speeches) of celebrities.
Sorry, I don't see what you're saying. If you type in an address like "http://anequationisforever.com/myfractal" into Google, Google will suggest that you mean "http://anequationisforever.com/my fractal" While the first address is valid, the second address, however, is not valid. Clicking on this second address will get you to another error page, "Your search - http://anequationisforever.com/my fractal - did not match any documents." In both cases, you never get to visit the site, at least not via Google.
one example is if the site is hosted in a subfolder, rather than on the main level domain. type in: "http://anequationisforever.com/myfractal" into google search. though the address is valid, since this folder is currently not listed on google, you won't get a link to it.
(and what if the privileged google servers are somehow down in said 3rd-world country? the way the OLPC UI is set up, the web and google are now synonymous.) > Type a non-indexed URL into Google and you get a page with a link to it.
i'd wait for Z#
Now, what if you can't find a site on google, but you know the address. How do you get to the site without an address bar?!
If you're in a 3rd-world country, and this is the only computer you have access to, your reality becomes essentially limited by Google. As long as something doesn't exist on Google, it doesn't exist in your world. Behold, the google conspiracy!!!!!!!!!
(other questions: can you change the homepage; can you install a different browser... can you use the eToys scripting button to recreate an actual browser?)
I agree. With the development of UI in even once-esoteric software like Flash and Dreamweaver, you have ten year olds who start making money as web designers. There's really no need to simplify the UI to get the user to use the computer. It's not about the learning curve anymore, but about whether the user actually wants to learn it. You can't give them a dumbed-down UI to make them want to learn it.
however, that's usually when i'm using notepad for short jobs or phpdesigner -- IDE's that don't force the bracket format.
when i use the .NET ide (and it's a requirement for some jobs, sometimes), the program automatically formats the brackets in the textbook-way, even if you do type it the olskool way, the IDE reformats it after you enter the closing bracket. it's a pain to manually go back to make them look old skool.
Who has the gmail cookie? ... js
Who wants to do the spoofing? ... evilMan
How is the spoofer going to get the cookie? ... ajax
in this case, though there are dozens of existing sources for the same app, you must reinvent the /.RSS2email feed .
and when you're done, you can always share how you've suffered here, so that we can all understand how deprived you've been.
why not have a wmv decoder for *nix?
i've always wanted a brand new island made in the last fiscal year. guess i ought to buy this one... but... who owns it?
what's the "prescribed yet debatable location" for brackets?
given the fact that technology already exists for this, this might not be a scam. however, making such high-speed networks both affordable and ubiquitously available to the general public might not happen for a while...
actually, it looks like cloned-beef'd be more expensive. $17000 for a cloned cow vs $2000 for a natural-born kid...
well, you can design your own games or any other sim in second life... anyway, second life is typically classified as MMOG (massively multiuser online game), so i thought it interesting it wasn't mentioned on the games list... considering the amount of news slashdot's done on SL this past year.
Interesting that SL isn't listed, though it is labeled as a MMOG -- thus considered a game, by some.
Godfather PS2. Best game, ever, fan or not.
robots'll be having lots and lots and lots of fun XD
Prove me wrong, and you'd start the next .com boom...