At 5:30am I was updating and installing the new software to my system and Zune. By 6:30 I was frustrated and pissed off because I realized and learned that anything the press had been up M$ arse about regarding the 4.0 software and features were, for the most part, left out for anyone with an "old" device. Unless of course you pay $15/month for DRM in your music collection, then you can certainly get more features.
...is how this time, M$ decided to leave behind their prior Zune models with any new features in the update. Discontinuing them should have been the sign. As a 18-month owner of a Zune80, I'm seriously disappointed. The only new features we legacy Zune (18months is legacy now?) users get are for the desktop app, which personally I only use to manage my device, and nothing more. Since I have it running on a Windows Media Center PC, why do I need yet another app that does pretty much the same thing, especially from the same vendor. Even more, in a time of recession, where I don't want to drop another couple hundred for a replacement device that's hardly showing its age or need for replacement, why would I possibly want to replace it?
If you read the Zune forums, its full of device feature requests for simple things...unicode support, crossfade, better playlist management, better integration with Windows apps (there is currently none for WMP or WMC). All of these pretty much since Gen-1 of the device, and all have been disregarded since the Zune marketing team felt it necessary to take this route instead.
Its simply a sad example of greed overtaking common sense at the expense of a bit more hard work. A philosophical example of modern capitalism and American excess too?
Anyone wanna buy a Gen-2 Zune80 is Good condition? I'll use the $ to buy a MiniSD for my cellphone to consolidate my gadgets instead.
Of all my toys I used to have...
on
Old Toy Modding?
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· Score: 2, Informative
I can't believe this one remains so popular. I actually went through two of these due to the poor quality of the keypads. Once they were dead and gone, I went through about five or more years of withdrawls.
In retrospect, I suppose that toy was the start of my interest in robotics and AI, though I have yet to officially toy with anything beyond an A.L.I.C.E or eggy bot.
My problem is I also lack the attention span to be able to sit down and teach myself ICs, programming, you know, all that brainy nerdy stuff.
From what I remember of my BigTrak(s), I remember the plastic tires being pretty crappy, though the 'suspension' it had was pretty badass when it came to driving on pavement and the like. A set of rubber tires would have made it much more rugged and versatile.
my wife and I decided to procreate while i was a DOD security admin. Because that job entailed about 75-100% travel, the physical restrictions on procreation had me re-evaluate my current employer and search for something that would allow me to be a bit more local. Luckily, I was established enough in the town we were living in that I was able to find a job that required zero travel, and from there, beautiful sophia was born on April 11th.
Because we chose a method of childbirth that required me to be my wife's sole coach during the entire birth, I was glad that my employer gave me the time and dedication to be there for her during the entire term.
Bottom line, don't let your career stand between you and your becoming a father. In the grand the scheme, nothing is more important. When all is said and done, the computer and the code may be gone or obsolete, but your son or daughter will still need you.
As I type, little Sophie, now over a year old, is grooving to some reggae and "helping" me type. My little hax0r.
your manager, or your manager's manager, or your manager's manager's manager, reads some article in some stupid trade magazine while sitting on the toilet... and an idea is spawned...
several stupid meetings later, you're trying to figure out how this stupid product, which doesn't quite work right, or isn't quite ready for prime time, is going to work in your environment...and if it doesn't, its your fault!
i usually get stuck attending some webinar or the like spawned by management reading some ad from a trade magazine on the toilet... the idea should usually be flushed with the rest of the BS that comes from them....
decisions are never made, conclusions are never drawn, and usually too many man hours are usually wasted with little more than an increased stress level on our part...
and its our fault we couldn't make it work in our $@#&*@'d up environment... stupid salesmen...
On the fictional side of this type of thing, those of you into this kinda stuff (like me) should read Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code'. I've read that and 'Angels and Demons'. Both fantastic reads. More Info Here
What about OT laws effecting 'computer professionals' such as myself who have to goto bed each night with our beeper/cellphone attached to our boxers in case an application server goes down at 3am? Do network administrators fall under the Federal exemption?
I work for a software company in a state with no labor laws, so i'm assuming we fall under federal regs. One thing I know for sure is that we are expected to respond to an outage 24/7, though we get zero to little compensation for it.
As a network security engineer for the US govt., I think it would be great to see a salary increase. Crappy hours, 90% travel to the ugliest places on the earth, and poor disorganization comprise my work day every day. Unfortunately, the US Govt. is so wrapped up in deadlines, budgets and changing their minds every 30 seconds, it wouldn't surprise me if they never kept their word. Someone should keep close tabs on this statement from them, i'll believe it when I see it! OK, so i'm a little bitter. Anyone have any openings? =)
I've owned a Netdrives Brujo (http://www.netdrives.com)since I first read about them ages ago. It's been absolutely wonderful putting ONE cd into the unit for 10 hours of pure tunage satisfaction. I'm in the process now of burning my 450 music CDs to mp3 so that my bookshelves are full of books instead of cds. 10 music CDs fit on one mp3 cd. MP3s at 192kbps sound incredible, and also save me about 3ft in book shelf space! I'd recommend the Brujo to anyone looking for a good addition to their home theatre/component system.
Slashdot Mirror
srsly..
At 5:30am I was updating and installing the new software to my system and Zune. By 6:30 I was frustrated and pissed off because I realized and learned that anything the press had been up M$ arse about regarding the 4.0 software and features were, for the most part, left out for anyone with an "old" device. Unless of course you pay $15/month for DRM in your music collection, then you can certainly get more features.
Way to go Zune marketing...way to go.
...is how this time, M$ decided to leave behind their prior Zune models with any new features in the update. Discontinuing them should have been the sign. As a 18-month owner of a Zune80, I'm seriously disappointed. The only new features we legacy Zune (18months is legacy now?) users get are for the desktop app, which personally I only use to manage my device, and nothing more. Since I have it running on a Windows Media Center PC, why do I need yet another app that does pretty much the same thing, especially from the same vendor. Even more, in a time of recession, where I don't want to drop another couple hundred for a replacement device that's hardly showing its age or need for replacement, why would I possibly want to replace it?
If you read the Zune forums, its full of device feature requests for simple things...unicode support, crossfade, better playlist management, better integration with Windows apps (there is currently none for WMP or WMC). All of these pretty much since Gen-1 of the device, and all have been disregarded since the Zune marketing team felt it necessary to take this route instead.
Its simply a sad example of greed overtaking common sense at the expense of a bit more hard work. A philosophical example of modern capitalism and American excess too?
Anyone wanna buy a Gen-2 Zune80 is Good condition? I'll use the $ to buy a MiniSD for my cellphone to consolidate my gadgets instead.
I can't believe this one remains so popular. I actually went through two of these due to the poor quality of the keypads. Once they were dead and gone, I went through about five or more years of withdrawls.
In retrospect, I suppose that toy was the start of my interest in robotics and AI, though I have yet to officially toy with anything beyond an A.L.I.C.E or eggy bot.
My problem is I also lack the attention span to be able to sit down and teach myself ICs, programming, you know, all that brainy nerdy stuff.
From what I remember of my BigTrak(s), I remember the plastic tires being pretty crappy, though the 'suspension' it had was pretty badass when it came to driving on pavement and the like. A set of rubber tires would have made it much more rugged and versatile.
Oh to be 7 again...
my wife and I decided to procreate while i was a DOD security admin. Because that job entailed about 75-100% travel, the physical restrictions on procreation had me re-evaluate my current employer and search for something that would allow me to be a bit more local. Luckily, I was established enough in the town we were living in that I was able to find a job that required zero travel, and from there, beautiful sophia was born on April 11th.
Because we chose a method of childbirth that required me to be my wife's sole coach during the entire birth, I was glad that my employer gave me the time and dedication to be there for her during the entire term.
Bottom line, don't let your career stand between you and your becoming a father. In the grand the scheme, nothing is more important. When all is said and done, the computer and the code may be gone or obsolete, but your son or daughter will still need you. As I type, little Sophie, now over a year old, is grooving to some reggae and "helping" me type. My little hax0r.
your manager, or your manager's manager, or your manager's manager's manager, reads some article in some stupid trade magazine while sitting on the toilet... and an idea is spawned...
several stupid meetings later, you're trying to figure out how this stupid product, which doesn't quite work right, or isn't quite ready for prime time, is going to work in your environment...and if it doesn't, its your fault!
i usually get stuck attending some webinar or the like spawned by management reading some ad from a trade magazine on the toilet... the idea should usually be flushed with the rest of the BS that comes from them....
decisions are never made, conclusions are never drawn, and usually too many man hours are usually wasted with little more than an increased stress level on our part...
and its our fault we couldn't make it work in our $@#&*@'d up environment... stupid salesmen...
On the fictional side of this type of thing, those of you into this kinda stuff (like me) should read Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code'. I've read that and 'Angels and Demons'. Both fantastic reads. More Info Here
What about OT laws effecting 'computer professionals' such as myself who have to goto bed each night with our beeper/cellphone attached to our boxers in case an application server goes down at 3am? Do network administrators fall under the Federal exemption?
I work for a software company in a state with no labor laws, so i'm assuming we fall under federal regs. One thing I know for sure is that we are expected to respond to an outage 24/7, though we get zero to little compensation for it.
As a network security engineer for the US govt., I think it would be great to see a salary increase. Crappy hours, 90% travel to the ugliest places on the earth, and poor disorganization comprise my work day every day. Unfortunately, the US Govt. is so wrapped up in deadlines, budgets and changing their minds every 30 seconds, it wouldn't surprise me if they never kept their word. Someone should keep close tabs on this statement from them, i'll believe it when I see it! OK, so i'm a little bitter. Anyone have any openings? =)
I've owned a Netdrives Brujo (http://www.netdrives.com)since I first read about them ages ago. It's been absolutely wonderful putting ONE cd into the unit for 10 hours of pure tunage satisfaction. I'm in the process now of burning my 450 music CDs to mp3 so that my bookshelves are full of books instead of cds. 10 music CDs fit on one mp3 cd. MP3s at 192kbps sound incredible, and also save me about 3ft in book shelf space! I'd recommend the Brujo to anyone looking for a good addition to their home theatre/component system.