Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 19th Jun 2012 00:10 UTC
So, the Microsoft announcement - taking place as I write this, 01:45 in my timezone - turns out to be a bigger deal than expected. Microsoft just announced it's going full-on hardware - the company announced a new tablet called 'Surface', and boy, is this thing something to behold. Microsoft's hardware partners? They're not happy right now. Update: Here's Microsoft's official Surface site. I believe someone coined the phrase 'sexy as a succubus' in the comments about Vizio? Stealin' it! Update II: They aren't just taking the iPad head-on - this is a straight-up MacBook Air competitor.
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RE[2]: Not with a ten foot pole
by Priest on Tue 19th Jun 2012 12:39
in reply to "RE: Not with a ten foot pole"
Member since:2006-05-12
>human rights abuses in China
People flipped out when foxcon employees commit suicide but they have 1.2 million employees. The suicide rate for Foxcon employees is less than the national average in China and isn't terribly different than the US but the suicides makes a nice sensationalist story for ad revenue so reporters ignore that.
Because of the media attention they have restricted workers' overtime to 36 hours a month (max) from 80 hours a month. You think 36 hours of over time in a month is a human rights abuse? There were several times where I have worked more overtime than that in a week in the US.
RE[3]: Not with a ten foot pole
by ncgmac on Tue 19th Jun 2012 13:31
in reply to "RE[2]: Not with a ten foot pole"
Member since:2011-09-22
I remember being in college in the 80's and watching our generation, and others, change Apartheid thru boycotts, and even took on the Chinese sweatshops thru boycotts, bringing on some changes. The global efforts of the consumer brought about changes for the better then. It's sad today that we are so wrapped up in our stuff that we try to simply justify abhorrent behavior by companies and countries.
RE[3]: Not with a ten foot pole
by tomcat on Tue 19th Jun 2012 18:57
in reply to "RE[2]: Not with a ten foot pole"
Member since:2006-01-06
>human rights abuses in China
People flipped out when foxcon employees commit suicide but they have 1.2 million employees. The suicide rate for Foxcon employees is less than the national average in China and isn't terribly different than the US but the suicides makes a nice sensationalist story for ad revenue so reporters ignore that.
Because of the media attention they have restricted workers' overtime to 36 hours a month (max) from 80 hours a month. You think 36 hours of over time in a month is a human rights abuse? There were several times where I have worked more overtime than that in a week in the US.
People flipped out when foxcon employees commit suicide but they have 1.2 million employees. The suicide rate for Foxcon employees is less than the national average in China and isn't terribly different than the US but the suicides makes a nice sensationalist story for ad revenue so reporters ignore that.
Because of the media attention they have restricted workers' overtime to 36 hours a month (max) from 80 hours a month. You think 36 hours of over time in a month is a human rights abuse? There were several times where I have worked more overtime than that in a week in the US.
Seriously, you don't know WTF you're talking about. You don't live in a dormitory under armed guard. You are able to go home at night and relax. These people are herded like cattle, and forced to work large amounts of overtime, with little time and space to rest. They can't leave. They can't go home to see their families. All in the name of Apple profits. Yay! Feel better? You--like many other Apple sycophants--are in denial.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 7:37 UTC
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Linked by fran on 05/18/13 1:38 UTC
Google added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 23:35 UTC, submitted by kragil
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
Linked by MOS6510 on 05/17/13 22:22 UTC
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 22:15 UTC, submitted by Tom
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 21:41 UTC
Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 17:04 UTC
"But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 13:17 UTC
"Android and iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems worldwide, combined for 92.3% of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013 as Windows Phone crept past BlackBerry for 3rd place. According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million units worldwide during 1Q13, up 59.1% from the 125.4 million units shipped during 1Q12." Windows Phone doubles from a few to twice few, iOS loser market share as its growth is slower than that of the overall market. BlackBerry continues slide into irrelevance.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 12:06 UTC
"According to the latest research from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies service, global Android smartphone profits reached US$5 billion in total during the first quarter of 2013. Samsung dominated and captured an impressive 95 percent share of all Android smartphone profits." Wow.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/15/13 23:03 UTC
"During its Keynote today, Google announced new features coming to its flagship search function - you know, that thing we all started using Google for. VP Amit Singhal spent some time discussing what Google's search functionality will eventually morph into. Google's strategy is summarized by three words: answer, converse, and anticipate. Singhal explained that many of the pieces of these upcoming changes can already be seen in products that Google has recently introduced - namely, Google Knowledge Graph and Google Now, with perhaps a splash of Google Glass, too." I hold on to my hat every time Google changes Search. It's such a vital product in my daily life.More News »
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2006-01-06
Oh, right, you only use stuff from "principled" companies like Google (who spies on you, forces its G+ social networking POS on you, trying its damnedest to de-anonymize you, cooperates with government surveillance and censoring, etc, pays zero corporate taxes, etc) and Apple (who sues everyone who dares to compete with them, locks down its hardware to prevent competing software like Flash, turns a blind eye to human rights abuses in China in order to maximize profits, files ridiculous design patents when there is clearly prior art, etc)...