If you're handy with programming, you can do a lot with a few Raspberry Pis.
Currently, I've got a Pi setup as a dedicated video player for the big LCD in the den. It's running OpenELEC and networked via a WRT54g running dd-wrt (which doubles as a wireless range extender), so it can play media from any other networked device in the house. Plays full 1080p HD wirelessly and flawlessly.
I have thought about doing something similar to what you mention with the family calendars. I still have some details to work out, but I envision all of our smartphones and a tablet in the kitchen on a quick-release wall mount synchronized using an exchange-like system. I've already got a web server running at home with a dynamic DNS service, so the synchronization could could conceivably be location-agnostic.
The Raspberry Pi's GPIO makes cheap home automation only a small leap of imagination.
As for the PS3, sorry, I'm not a gamer, so I don't know what the options are in that regard.
Is there any profession that comes to mind that *doesn't* have a whiff of arrogance about it?
Just about everyone -- not just nerds and college students -- thinks they're hot sh*t at the start of their career or field of endeavour.
Think of young cops who think they're going to save the world through over-enforcement, mechanics who see their customers as idiots or construction workers who think all we hoity-toity geeks do is sit in a chair and press buttons.
The learning curve of a lot of fields causes a sort of psychological tunnel vision, which, in turn causes you to believe that the whole world revolves around your field, more or less.
But, if you learn to take off your blinders, you realize that most fields (not just yours) have detailed knowledge and nuance, and that they're much more than they appear to be on the surface. Once you accept this, treating everyone more respectfully becomes a lot easier.
Experience in one field can be an asset in another due to inherent interdependent qualities! Wow!
But as many others here have pointed out, the last thing businesses need is another job to dump on the IT department while continuing to tighten their budget (because, hey, computers are just computers, if you know about them, you know everything about them, right?)
There are just too many unpredictable situations that a computer just can't calculate.
Just like ABS, traction control, stability control... they're all just ways of allowing drivers to become stupid, lazy and less involved. If it were up to me, automatic transmissions would be illegal (except for special cases like disabled drivers, etc.), I really think it caused drivers to pay too little attention.
We need to stop trying to mitigate stupid drivers and just get rid of stupid drivers, either by improving the training regimens or getting them off the road and providing them with viable transportation alternatives.
Yes, what happened is tragic.
Yes, the guy who talked her into exposing herself is a creep (and possibly a pedophile)
But does she really have anyone to blame but herself? Seriously, some random guy on the Internet asks her to show her tits and she does it? Really??
Additionally, "cuber-bullying" is just the next wave of technophobic, attention-grabbing idiocy by the media. People get bullied every day in school and we just expect that. But this is happening on THE INTERNET, OH NO!!.
By any measure, "cyber-bullying" is a whole lot easier to shrug off because... well, y'know that little X in the top, right-hand corner of your chat window? Click it.
Ignore the problem as long as possible and, when it no longer be ignored, look for the fastest, easiest fix without considering the long-term consequences (because, hey, it'll be someone else's problem by then, right?)
It's easier to shove pills down their throats than it is to foster a supportive and productive environment (that takes time and effort... who wants to do *that*?), but how will these kids cope in the future when their minds haven't learned how to function without psychoactive drugs?
So, four major players in the tech market, at least three of whom have quite clearly demonstrated a very vested interest in closedness, are "joining forces for openness"?
So? Get an SSD for OS, software and frequently accessed files and an HDD for large capacity.
I've been seriously toying with the idea of buying an SSD for my laptop and installing a media bay adapter for an HDD to replace the optical drive that I almost never use.
Right up until the point where they require licensing for any devices with this capability (or just outright ban them), no doubt ignoring the vast array of unintended consequences.
Sure, having the simpler.uk TLD makes sense, but charging extra for it is pretty clearly a cash grab. The explanation for the higher fee is transparent BS.
You were off to a good start there. I have mod points and I almost used them.
Yes, "probable cause", "suspicion" and alike pretexts are indeed a real problem because they are fake crimes. They are completely open to interpretation by enforcers who have a vested interest in abusing them.
Yes, we need a mass disposal of things that aren't real crimes, because pretend crimes still create real criminals.
But then you quickly went downhill. Have you ever thought of what causes people to commit atrocities or do you just assume everyone who does is just a bad person?
It stems from circumstances of birth and upbringing. Those born with a mental disorder, those raised in poor conditions or with poor morals... these are the people who populate prisons for real crimes.
But does sticking them in a box solve anything? Occasionally, yes, but only by accident. Tough-on-crime stances, permanent records, registries and you're-on-your-own attitudes only cause the problem to snowball. Someone makes one mistake, one bad choice and the legal system sees to it that they never have the opportunity to become productive... where is the logic in that?
You want to stop crime from happening in the first place? Wipe pretend crimes off the books, decriminalize pretexts, equalize society, get rid of poverty, treat the mentally ill with genuine care for their well-being and forgive wrongdoings by purging records.
We have a system that reacts and punishes bad behaviour. We need an absolute reversal of that: one that is proactive and fosters good behaviour.
But, is any of that actually going to happen? Unlikely, as it would actually involve critical thought and hard work, two things you can be sure you'll never see from a politician. It's just easier to lock people in a box and let the next elected jerkoff deal with it.
Honestly, you have to be quite naive and downright stupid to expect anything else.
If you provide your attacker (advertisers), who have a vested interest in ignoring the flag, with the means to ignore the flag, it's not going to work.
If Alice asks Charlie, a known snooper, to deliver a message to Bob and she expects Charlie not to take a peek, it's going to take more than writing "don't look, Charlie, tee hee hee!" at the top of the message.
This was dumb idea from the very beginning and destined to explode on the launch pad. Besides, browsers already have an in-built functionality to reject third-party cookies, which pretty much takes care of the problem. Yes, there are some clever and covert ways of doing it without cookies (hidden iframes, forms and whatnot), but there's no reason browsers can't reject those on a whitelist basis (some online software will use these hidden elements legitimately).
Should non-coders write code? Absolutely. It teaches logic, strengthens problem solving, encourages efficient thinking and, above all else, develops a respect for the core employees of the business. Even just having programming experience enables you perform unrelated job tasks more efficiently. Learning to automate some of your work can mean the difference between spending days editing a document or minutes writing a quick script to do it for you.
But, should that code be used in a production environment? Not without critical review by professional programmers.
Conversely, it wouldn't hurt for the programmers to learn some accounting, sales or management. Just don't put actually them in that job position (just like you won't have marketing or finance writing production code).
Imagine if every business would dedicate half-a-day per week to assigning everyone a different job at random (perhaps not in a production environment, but in a pseudo scenario). I think it could lead to a much more cohesive and cooperative workplace, where the employees have a better understanding of each other and aren't working in a vacuum.
Sure, they wouldn't really get a lot of actual work done in that half-day, but I think the improvements they would see over the other four-and-a-half would more than make up for it.
Now, my history may be a bit rusty (do please correct me if I am mistaken), but as I understand it, radio started out with people playing their records and / or live music over the air. The rights holders got pissy, so the radio operators figured out a way to generate income and compensate creators.
Is file sharing really any different? I know I've read about file sharing services trying to come up with ways to do the same thing (compensate creators), but nope... the MAFIAAs want total control over everything so they can keep ripping off artists in quasi-secrecy.
I can't tell you how many times a day I have to stop myself from swearing up a blue streak because the entire UI of an application (or the ENTIRE BLOODY OPERATING SYSTEM) has been locked up by a file read/write.
...or by connecting a USB drive, or loading a network share, or waiting for a CD to spin up, or for a friggin' javascript function to execute...
How is it that we've had the personal computer for decades and are just beginning to realize that the UI needs to be threaded completely separately from background processes?
It is a software problem and I fear it will only continue to escalate: hardware gets faster, programmers get proportionately lazier. How long is going to be before software becomes such an incredible kludge that even SSDs get bogged down?
Slashdot Mirror
If you're handy with programming, you can do a lot with a few Raspberry Pis.
Currently, I've got a Pi setup as a dedicated video player for the big LCD in the den. It's running OpenELEC and networked via a WRT54g running dd-wrt (which doubles as a wireless range extender), so it can play media from any other networked device in the house. Plays full 1080p HD wirelessly and flawlessly.
I have thought about doing something similar to what you mention with the family calendars. I still have some details to work out, but I envision all of our smartphones and a tablet in the kitchen on a quick-release wall mount synchronized using an exchange-like system. I've already got a web server running at home with a dynamic DNS service, so the synchronization could could conceivably be location-agnostic.
The Raspberry Pi's GPIO makes cheap home automation only a small leap of imagination.
As for the PS3, sorry, I'm not a gamer, so I don't know what the options are in that regard.
Is there any profession that comes to mind that *doesn't* have a whiff of arrogance about it?
Just about everyone -- not just nerds and college students -- thinks they're hot sh*t at the start of their career or field of endeavour.
Think of young cops who think they're going to save the world through over-enforcement, mechanics who see their customers as idiots or construction workers who think all we hoity-toity geeks do is sit in a chair and press buttons.
The learning curve of a lot of fields causes a sort of psychological tunnel vision, which, in turn causes you to believe that the whole world revolves around your field, more or less.
But, if you learn to take off your blinders, you realize that most fields (not just yours) have detailed knowledge and nuance, and that they're much more than they appear to be on the surface. Once you accept this, treating everyone more respectfully becomes a lot easier.
I was going to say roughly the same thing. I recall seeing exactly this on an episode of Top Gear.
Experience in one field can be an asset in another due to inherent interdependent qualities! Wow!
But as many others here have pointed out, the last thing businesses need is another job to dump on the IT department while continuing to tighten their budget (because, hey, computers are just computers, if you know about them, you know everything about them, right?)
It's an email client that can be configured with multiple accounts ... just like all the other ones.
There are just too many unpredictable situations that a computer just can't calculate.
Just like ABS, traction control, stability control ... they're all just ways of allowing drivers to become stupid, lazy and less involved. If it were up to me, automatic transmissions would be illegal (except for special cases like disabled drivers, etc.), I really think it caused drivers to pay too little attention.
We need to stop trying to mitigate stupid drivers and just get rid of stupid drivers, either by improving the training regimens or getting them off the road and providing them with viable transportation alternatives.
You're a liar! No, you're a liar! No, *you* are! Yakity yak, blah, blah, blah, argue, argue, talk over eachother ...
No actual substance, just sound bites and hot air.
Yes, what happened is tragic.
.
... well, y'know that little X in the top, right-hand corner of your chat window? Click it.
Yes, the guy who talked her into exposing herself is a creep (and possibly a pedophile)
But does she really have anyone to blame but herself? Seriously, some random guy on the Internet asks her to show her tits and she does it? Really??
Additionally, "cuber-bullying" is just the next wave of technophobic, attention-grabbing idiocy by the media. People get bullied every day in school and we just expect that. But this is happening on THE INTERNET, OH NO!!
By any measure, "cyber-bullying" is a whole lot easier to shrug off because
Ignore the problem as long as possible and, when it no longer be ignored, look for the fastest, easiest fix without considering the long-term consequences (because, hey, it'll be someone else's problem by then, right?)
It's easier to shove pills down their throats than it is to foster a supportive and productive environment (that takes time and effort ... who wants to do *that*?), but how will these kids cope in the future when their minds haven't learned how to function without psychoactive drugs?
Oh, that's right, nobody's thought that far.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Creatively Animated Cartoon Animals.
Or just: PETCACA.
Although I quite agree with you, they don't necessarily need to be underlined, just significantly differentiated from norrmal text.
So, four major players in the tech market, at least three of whom have quite clearly demonstrated a very vested interest in closedness, are "joining forces for openness"?
OK, what's the hidden agenda?
I was passed on this handy list. Sort by disk rating or rank to get the best one.
So? Get an SSD for OS, software and frequently accessed files and an HDD for large capacity.
I've been seriously toying with the idea of buying an SSD for my laptop and installing a media bay adapter for an HDD to replace the optical drive that I almost never use.
Right up until the point where they require licensing for any devices with this capability (or just outright ban them), no doubt ignoring the vast array of unintended consequences.
Traffic tickets are not a "service". A service implies that you actually get something useful in return.
Sure, having the simpler .uk TLD makes sense, but charging extra for it is pretty clearly a cash grab. The explanation for the higher fee is transparent BS.
You were off to a good start there. I have mod points and I almost used them.
... these are the people who populate prisons for real crimes.
... where is the logic in that?
Yes, "probable cause", "suspicion" and alike pretexts are indeed a real problem because they are fake crimes. They are completely open to interpretation by enforcers who have a vested interest in abusing them.
Yes, we need a mass disposal of things that aren't real crimes, because pretend crimes still create real criminals.
But then you quickly went downhill. Have you ever thought of what causes people to commit atrocities or do you just assume everyone who does is just a bad person?
It stems from circumstances of birth and upbringing. Those born with a mental disorder, those raised in poor conditions or with poor morals
But does sticking them in a box solve anything? Occasionally, yes, but only by accident. Tough-on-crime stances, permanent records, registries and you're-on-your-own attitudes only cause the problem to snowball. Someone makes one mistake, one bad choice and the legal system sees to it that they never have the opportunity to become productive
You want to stop crime from happening in the first place? Wipe pretend crimes off the books, decriminalize pretexts, equalize society, get rid of poverty, treat the mentally ill with genuine care for their well-being and forgive wrongdoings by purging records.
We have a system that reacts and punishes bad behaviour. We need an absolute reversal of that: one that is proactive and fosters good behaviour. But, is any of that actually going to happen? Unlikely, as it would actually involve critical thought and hard work, two things you can be sure you'll never see from a politician. It's just easier to lock people in a box and let the next elected jerkoff deal with it.
And I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.
One arm of government decides in favour of another.
Water is wet, grass is green and space is big.
Honestly, you have to be quite naive and downright stupid to expect anything else.
If you provide your attacker (advertisers), who have a vested interest in ignoring the flag, with the means to ignore the flag, it's not going to work.
If Alice asks Charlie, a known snooper, to deliver a message to Bob and she expects Charlie not to take a peek, it's going to take more than writing "don't look, Charlie, tee hee hee!" at the top of the message.
This was dumb idea from the very beginning and destined to explode on the launch pad. Besides, browsers already have an in-built functionality to reject third-party cookies, which pretty much takes care of the problem. Yes, there are some clever and covert ways of doing it without cookies (hidden iframes, forms and whatnot), but there's no reason browsers can't reject those on a whitelist basis (some online software will use these hidden elements legitimately).
Should non-coders write code? Absolutely. It teaches logic, strengthens problem solving, encourages efficient thinking and, above all else, develops a respect for the core employees of the business. Even just having programming experience enables you perform unrelated job tasks more efficiently. Learning to automate some of your work can mean the difference between spending days editing a document or minutes writing a quick script to do it for you.
But, should that code be used in a production environment? Not without critical review by professional programmers.
Conversely, it wouldn't hurt for the programmers to learn some accounting, sales or management. Just don't put actually them in that job position (just like you won't have marketing or finance writing production code).
Imagine if every business would dedicate half-a-day per week to assigning everyone a different job at random (perhaps not in a production environment, but in a pseudo scenario). I think it could lead to a much more cohesive and cooperative workplace, where the employees have a better understanding of each other and aren't working in a vacuum.
Sure, they wouldn't really get a lot of actual work done in that half-day, but I think the improvements they would see over the other four-and-a-half would more than make up for it.
Now, my history may be a bit rusty (do please correct me if I am mistaken), but as I understand it, radio started out with people playing their records and / or live music over the air. The rights holders got pissy, so the radio operators figured out a way to generate income and compensate creators.
Is file sharing really any different? I know I've read about file sharing services trying to come up with ways to do the same thing (compensate creators), but nope... the MAFIAAs want total control over everything so they can keep ripping off artists in quasi-secrecy.
Agreed. A thousand times agreed.
...or by connecting a USB drive, or loading a network share, or waiting for a CD to spin up, or for a friggin' javascript function to execute...
I can't tell you how many times a day I have to stop myself from swearing up a blue streak because the entire UI of an application (or the ENTIRE BLOODY OPERATING SYSTEM) has been locked up by a file read/write.
How is it that we've had the personal computer for decades and are just beginning to realize that the UI needs to be threaded completely separately from background processes?
It is a software problem and I fear it will only continue to escalate: hardware gets faster, programmers get proportionately lazier. How long is going to be before software becomes such an incredible kludge that even SSDs get bogged down?
"...made my point."
Derp.