Similarly, I think most people are unconsciously aware of technology used over the decades in recording studios. As recording equipment has evolved over time, periods of time have come to have their own sound that I think we easily pick up on.
I'm not talking about the instruments, but the electronics that the signals pass through on the way to making an album. A solo guitar record from the 60s *sounds* different from one made in the 80s or 00s. (Maybe that's a weak example-- the more complex the recording, the more obvious the imprint of the gear, probably.) Its the microphones, the mixing board, the compressors, the mastering process, etc. All of it has, and will, change over time.
I'm not a scientist but I think alot of people can tell in their gut what decade a song is from, even if they've never heard it before. And I think its really interesting that these differences can come through on even the crappiest of stereo systems.
Deciding *what* email you want to save/track and *why* you want to save/track it will lead you toward the how. Is there a need to reference the whole archive of past email? Or delegate these emails to various members for follow up? (Probably both, I'd guess.)
I think no matter what is used, things will turn into a mess again without some sort of discipline and authority (even if the authority is just a set of rules for the users to follow). Along these lines, someone in the group should have admin duty and be able to clean up or veto tags or folders made by other group members.
By the way -- I'd consider smart folders (aka saved searches) because they are not mutually exclusive like folders, and they update themselves as new mail comes in. They can even work on top of or in spite of other folder structure. The drawback is that they depend on message content. I.e., if a message does not match the criteria, it is not included. Also, they require more work than tags, which gets back to the idea of an admin/janitor who specializes in this.
At this year's American Society for Information Science and Technology, I saw a presentation on the evolving use of libraries and the internet. The statistics that stuck with me were that the percentage of people who use both libraries and the internet for information needs has been unchanged over the last several years. Of course, internet usage is ever increasing and library usage has been declining. The implication is that the folks who have abandonded the library entirely for the internet never were fond of the library to begin with.
What does this have to do with eBook readers?
I'm shooting from the hip here, but aren't these readers perfect only for people who love to read, but dislike going to the lilbrary or bookstore? I could be wrong, but that's a real niche! I mean, who are the people who aren't *already* satisfied with real books and magazines, but really want to read more? Seriously, who are these people?
(Which reminds me of the Segway-- How many people are unable or unwilling to walk, but can still stand up and need to use the sidewalk?)
This is an awesome example.
The company-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken decided there was a right way to manage laptops that was best for the organization. The Right Way meant a lot more work and infrastructure for the IT to handle (ergo, extra costs). At this point, its not about a laptop being "handy" and "only a little more money." It about the laptop costing a lot more money (to manage). So is it still worth it?
If that laptop at BestBuy came with a mandatory $100 per month charge attached to it, I bet people would think about its value a little more.
This company decided yes. For others, the answer could probably be no.
I may not have the full picture here, but it seems like trimming 40 lbs. down to 2 lbs. could start with triming the power requirements of the electronics themselves. I know most military gear is completely over-built for a reason, but maybe they could trim a few kilowatt-hours off the 25 lb. satellite phone?
>However for the last 4 years, we are increasingly having erratic weather to the extremes that old people are much anxious about. > >this winter, there was NO winter. really. it was spring/autumn all along.with very rare rain.
A major reason global warming will take hold of public opinion is that people are beginning to think about it *every* time the weather does something unexpected. Doubly so if it feels unusually warm. Even if people are skeptical, the idea will cross their synapses.
I'm not saying this proves or disproves any actual effects of global warming. I just think it will be a self-reinforcing idea for most people. And that's a tough thing to shake.
I didn't like the color of flourescent blubs at first, but I've found that you get used to them just fine.
I wouldn't pick them in an A/B comparison with an incandescent, but after a couple of days you stop noticing/caring. Its not really that big a deal.
Plus, a nice, full-spectrum, lower-wattage incandescent can be used in a desk-lamp or chairside. This would just be on as-needed. And the warmer color makes reading seem special. Mmm, reading...
I love this idea of the "vector for mass-propagation".
A good friend of mine went through the Masters of Public Health program at our local university a few years ago. The one big thing that I learned from him is that the severity of a disease on a population is a function of a lot of factors added together. No one factor can be held up as the most important. The bird flu is very deadly, but is very difficult to catch from another person (so far-- knock on wood). The regular, run-of-the-mill flu will kill more people this year than the bird flu ever has. Why? It spreads easily.
What's the difference between the bacteria in yogurt and the bacteria in uncooked meat? Why does my body care? Why am I confident that neither one will make me sick (as long as I'm cooking for myself)? No two bugs/exploits are alike.
The devil is in the details, and with computer exploits and viruses it seems very similar. The idea of "disease vectors" applied to OSes and software seems so appropriate.
...I think there is something to learn from Mr. Taylor's comments. Squeaky wheel syndrome: its easy to focus on what's not working and forget about the things that do.
Roads get paved, mail magically shows up, and this mysterious place called the library buys books so we don't have to. If something unjust happens to us, there is generally a method of recourse.
How much of these services we need can be debated, but its pretty great in general.
Elected officials definitely seem like the worst offenders, and something needs to change, I agree. But there's a whole underbelly of people in government who take their job fairly seriously and do a lot of really beneficial things, all to our benefit.
I agree it was a story told from pretty much one side. But I disagree that it was pointless:
Ballot tapes were shown being pulled from the trash that by law should have been in storage for many months. Ballot tapes with incorrect dates and different results were presented by county voting officials as the real thing. It was also clearly shown that a pre-loaded memory card would be undetectable to any ballot official. So now the (unanswered) question is: what was/is the security of those cards *before* the election?
Maybe this is old news to everyone but me, but it really made me angry.
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Similarly, I think most people are unconsciously aware of technology used over the decades in recording studios. As recording equipment has evolved over time, periods of time have come to have their own sound that I think we easily pick up on. I'm not talking about the instruments, but the electronics that the signals pass through on the way to making an album. A solo guitar record from the 60s *sounds* different from one made in the 80s or 00s. (Maybe that's a weak example-- the more complex the recording, the more obvious the imprint of the gear, probably.) Its the microphones, the mixing board, the compressors, the mastering process, etc. All of it has, and will, change over time. I'm not a scientist but I think alot of people can tell in their gut what decade a song is from, even if they've never heard it before. And I think its really interesting that these differences can come through on even the crappiest of stereo systems.
Exaclty!
Deciding *what* email you want to save/track and *why* you want to save/track it will lead you toward the how. Is there a need to reference the whole archive of past email? Or delegate these emails to various members for follow up? (Probably both, I'd guess.)
I think no matter what is used, things will turn into a mess again without some sort of discipline and authority (even if the authority is just a set of rules for the users to follow). Along these lines, someone in the group should have admin duty and be able to clean up or veto tags or folders made by other group members.
By the way -- I'd consider smart folders (aka saved searches) because they are not mutually exclusive like folders, and they update themselves as new mail comes in. They can even work on top of or in spite of other folder structure. The drawback is that they depend on message content. I.e., if a message does not match the criteria, it is not included. Also, they require more work than tags, which gets back to the idea of an admin/janitor who specializes in this.
At this year's American Society for Information Science and Technology, I saw a presentation on the evolving use of libraries and the internet. The statistics that stuck with me were that the percentage of people who use both libraries and the internet for information needs has been unchanged over the last several years. Of course, internet usage is ever increasing and library usage has been declining. The implication is that the folks who have abandonded the library entirely for the internet never were fond of the library to begin with.
What does this have to do with eBook readers?
I'm shooting from the hip here, but aren't these readers perfect only for people who love to read, but dislike going to the lilbrary or bookstore? I could be wrong, but that's a real niche! I mean, who are the people who aren't *already* satisfied with real books and magazines, but really want to read more? Seriously, who are these people?
(Which reminds me of the Segway-- How many people are unable or unwilling to walk, but can still stand up and need to use the sidewalk?)
This is an awesome example. The company-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken decided there was a right way to manage laptops that was best for the organization. The Right Way meant a lot more work and infrastructure for the IT to handle (ergo, extra costs). At this point, its not about a laptop being "handy" and "only a little more money." It about the laptop costing a lot more money (to manage). So is it still worth it? If that laptop at BestBuy came with a mandatory $100 per month charge attached to it, I bet people would think about its value a little more. This company decided yes. For others, the answer could probably be no.
I may not have the full picture here, but it seems like trimming 40 lbs. down to 2 lbs. could start with triming the power requirements of the electronics themselves. I know most military gear is completely over-built for a reason, but maybe they could trim a few kilowatt-hours off the 25 lb. satellite phone?
>However for the last 4 years, we are increasingly having erratic weather to the extremes that old people are much anxious about.
>
>this winter, there was NO winter. really. it was spring/autumn all along.with very rare rain.
A major reason global warming will take hold of public opinion is that people are beginning to think about it *every* time the weather does something unexpected. Doubly so if it feels unusually warm. Even if people are skeptical, the idea will cross their synapses.
I'm not saying this proves or disproves any actual effects of global warming. I just think it will be a self-reinforcing idea for most people. And that's a tough thing to shake.
I didn't like the color of flourescent blubs at first, but I've found that you get used to them just fine.
I wouldn't pick them in an A/B comparison with an incandescent, but after a couple of days you stop noticing/caring. Its not really that big a deal.
Plus, a nice, full-spectrum, lower-wattage incandescent can be used in a desk-lamp or chairside. This would just be on as-needed. And the warmer color makes reading seem special. Mmm, reading...
I love this idea of the "vector for mass-propagation".
A good friend of mine went through the Masters of Public Health program at our local university a few years ago. The one big thing that I learned from him is that the severity of a disease on a population is a function of a lot of factors added together. No one factor can be held up as the most important. The bird flu is very deadly, but is very difficult to catch from another person (so far-- knock on wood). The regular, run-of-the-mill flu will kill more people this year than the bird flu ever has. Why? It spreads easily.
What's the difference between the bacteria in yogurt and the bacteria in uncooked meat? Why does my body care? Why am I confident that neither one will make me sick (as long as I'm cooking for myself)? No two bugs/exploits are alike.
The devil is in the details, and with computer exploits and viruses it seems very similar. The idea of "disease vectors" applied to OSes and software seems so appropriate.
...I think there is something to learn from Mr. Taylor's comments. Squeaky wheel syndrome: its easy to focus on what's not working and forget about the things that do.
Roads get paved, mail magically shows up, and this mysterious place called the library buys books so we don't have to. If something unjust happens to us, there is generally a method of recourse.
How much of these services we need can be debated, but its pretty great in general.
Elected officials definitely seem like the worst offenders, and something needs to change, I agree. But there's a whole underbelly of people in government who take their job fairly seriously and do a lot of really beneficial things, all to our benefit.
I just finished watching as well.
I agree it was a story told from pretty much one side. But I disagree that it was pointless:
Ballot tapes were shown being pulled from the trash that by law should have been in storage for many months.
Ballot tapes with incorrect dates and different results were presented by county voting officials as the real thing.
It was also clearly shown that a pre-loaded memory card would be undetectable to any ballot official. So now the (unanswered) question is: what was/is the security of those cards *before* the election?
Maybe this is old news to everyone but me, but it really made me angry.