Submission + - Apple's Steve Jobs Dead (apple.com)
Rick Zeman writes: Reading Apple's home page, it is apparent that Steve Jobs, Ex-CEO, has passed away.
Submission Summary: 0 pending, 121 declined, 56 accepted (177 total, 31.64% accepted)
Submission + - "Hypnotizing Chickens"
Rick Zeman writes: PowerPoint goes to war as told by the New York Times, saying 'The amount of time expended on PowerPoint, the Microsoft presentation program of computer-generated charts, graphs and bullet points, has made it a running joke in the Pentagon and in Iraq and Afghanistan.'
'It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control,' says one General officer, but, 'There’s a lot of PowerPoint backlash, but I don’t see it going away anytime soon,' says a Captain.
Senior officers say the program does come in handy when the goal is not imparting information, as in briefings for reporters. 'The news media sessions often last 25 minutes, with 5 minutes left at the end for questions from anyone still awake. Those types of PowerPoint presentations, Dr. Hammes said, are known as “hypnotizing chickens.”'
'It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control,' says one General officer, but, 'There’s a lot of PowerPoint backlash, but I don’t see it going away anytime soon,' says a Captain.
Senior officers say the program does come in handy when the goal is not imparting information, as in briefings for reporters. 'The news media sessions often last 25 minutes, with 5 minutes left at the end for questions from anyone still awake. Those types of PowerPoint presentations, Dr. Hammes said, are known as “hypnotizing chickens.”'
Submission + - Kicking the "Crackberry" Habit
Rick Zeman writes: "The New York Times talks about how technologically savvy President-elect Barack Obama, rarely seen without his Blackberry, must seriously consider giving up his Blackberry because he '...faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas.' not to mention the security implications."
Submission + - The Moby Equation
Rick Zeman writes: "This tongue-in-cheek article says, 'It seems as if every commercial these days has a rock band in it. What was once the mark of utter uncoolness, a veritable byword of selling out, has become the norm. More than a decade ago we became inured to the most unlikely parings. Led Zeppelin in a Cadillac ad. The Clash shilling for Jaguar. Bob Dylan warbling for an accounting firm, or Victoria's Secret. An Iggy Pop song about a heroin-soaked demimonde accompanying scenes of blissful vacationers on a Caribbean cruise ship.....'
Fret no more as to who's a bigger sellout as The Moby Equation has been conceived. The Moby equation '...determines the degree to which artists besmirch their reputations when they lend their music to hawk products or companies. (The name salutes the techno artist Moby, who took the practice to new extremes with his 1999 album "Play.") The Moby Equation seeks to quantify just who is the bigger sellout out based on many variables, from 'sacredness of the song' to 'time since artist's heyday.' There's even a calculator to calculate your own sell-out!"
Submission + - French to Blackberry Users: Don't!
Rick Zeman writes: "According to the Washington Post, French Government workers are forbidden to use Blackberries because 'BlackBerry data are routed through servers in the United States and its closest ally, Britain' and the French government is afraid the the National Security Agency is tapping into the data streams."
Submission + - 'Major' Anti-Spam Lawsuit to Be Filed in Virginia
Rick Zeman writes: "According to the Washington Post, a John Doe suit will be filed in U.S. District Court Thursday in spam-unfriendly Alexandria, Virginia on behalf of Project Honey Pot seeking the identity of individuals responsible for harvesting millions of e-mail addresses on behalf of spammers.
From the article: 'The company is filing the suit on behalf of some 20,000 people who use its anti-spam tool. Web site owners use the project's free software to generate pages that feature unique "spam trap" e-mail addresses each time those pages are visited. The software then records the Internet address of the visitor and the date and time of the visit. Because those addresses are never used to sign up for e-mail lists, the software can help investigators draw connections between harvesters and spammers if an address generated by a spam trap or "honey pot" later receives junk e-mail.'"
From the article: 'The company is filing the suit on behalf of some 20,000 people who use its anti-spam tool. Web site owners use the project's free software to generate pages that feature unique "spam trap" e-mail addresses each time those pages are visited. The software then records the Internet address of the visitor and the date and time of the visit. Because those addresses are never used to sign up for e-mail lists, the software can help investigators draw connections between harvesters and spammers if an address generated by a spam trap or "honey pot" later receives junk e-mail.'"
Submission + - Hiring For The First Time
Rick Zeman writes: "For the first time ever, I have to interview and hire (I'm not management, so an exception is being made) what we call a "PC Technician" which is an entry-level IT person. While actual computer knowledge and how we do things can be taught, how to think, and the aptitude for troubleshooting can't be.
Question: In the readers' experiences, what are the best (legal in the US!) questions to ask an entry-level candidate to really evaluate them? They don't have the resumes, the skills, or the experience yet, so I think they have to be judged on other factors that are harder to qualify."
Submission + - You're Not Wiki-Worthy!
Rick Zeman writes: "What makes someone or something worthy of remaining in Wikipedia after an article on them appears?
From the article: 'Casual readers might assume that Wikipedia's goal is a complete account of all earthly knowledge, but the site maintains a rather elaborate set of criteria for admission. The several thousand unpaid volunteers who write and edit Wikipedia spend a lot of energy ensuring that people, bands, companies, and everything else meet what it calls "notability guidelines."' These volunteers are '...just over 1,000 administrators at any one time, and none of them are paid. Generally, they are men in their 20s or 30s with jobs in the computer field, according to Wales, who is guessing based on his own informal travels to meet admins, as he calls them. It's also safe to assume these are people with a lot of time on their hands.' While not addressed in the article, I wonder if male computer geeks have too narrow of a view of the world and what's important, and whether more broadening of the pool is desirable."
From the article: 'Casual readers might assume that Wikipedia's goal is a complete account of all earthly knowledge, but the site maintains a rather elaborate set of criteria for admission. The several thousand unpaid volunteers who write and edit Wikipedia spend a lot of energy ensuring that people, bands, companies, and everything else meet what it calls "notability guidelines."' These volunteers are '...just over 1,000 administrators at any one time, and none of them are paid. Generally, they are men in their 20s or 30s with jobs in the computer field, according to Wales, who is guessing based on his own informal travels to meet admins, as he calls them. It's also safe to assume these are people with a lot of time on their hands.' While not addressed in the article, I wonder if male computer geeks have too narrow of a view of the world and what's important, and whether more broadening of the pool is desirable."
Submission + - Novell Now In Bed With Microsoft
Rick Zeman writes: "According to Novell's Ron Hovespian's email today, 'Microsoft and Novell, starting today, have agreed to build and market solutions so that Novell's technology works on Microsoft and vice versa. Specifically, customers will now be able to run virtualized SUSE Linux Enterprise on Windows or Windows on SUSE Linux Enterprise. This landmark agreement also calls for both Microsoft and Novell to provide patent coverage to each others' customers for our respective products.'
Read the Novell press release here."
