Comment: Doesn't matter if it goes a bit wrong (Score 5, Informative) 129
It doesn't really matter if the algorithm is wrong for an individual, as long as it it generally correct for the population.
+ - Should John Seek Overtime Pay or Insist on Maintaining His Current Arrangement? 1
Submitted
by
BronsCon
BronsCon (927697) writes "A friend of mine recently came to me for advice regarding how to handle a situation with his employer. I advised him to contact an attorney, because any advice I could provide would likely be poor. But, his situation has made me curious; so I'd like to describe it here and pose the same question to the Slashdot community.
My friend, we'll call him John, has been working for a California-based company for several years in a position covered by IWC Article 4 (PDF warning, sorry) under the assumption that he was exempt from sections 3-12 (which includes the section relating to overtime pay); he recently decided to read over the law, as well as the exemption that could possibly apply to him, the Professional Exemption and the Employee in the Computer Software Field exemption, and discovered that given the current terms of his employment, he is in fact not exempt from any provision of Article 4. He also believes that his employer sincerely mistook his position as exempt and does not wish to punish them for what he believes to be an honest mistake.
For the duration of his employ, John has more or less been allowed to come and go as he pleases and has received frequent commendation for the level of work he puts out, so it would appear that his loose schedule has been beneficial for all involved, up to now. What prompted him to review the IWC documents was a sudden insistence from his boss that he was not working reasonable hours because "every other salaried position requires 50-60hr workweeks".
Here's the rub; he does not want to pursue the unpaid overtime, because this would bankrupt the company and put him out of a job, and he is worried that suing his employer may well make him unemployable. He simply either wants things to continue on as they have been, foregoing overtime pay in exchange for a high degree of freedom in his working schedule (which typically equates to coming in between 8:00 and 8:20 rather than at 8:00 sharp, taking 20-30min breaks rather than 10min, taking an occasional long lunch, and typically staying 30-90min later than most of his coworkers to make up for all of it, as well as working weekends to get things done that didn't get done during the week), or adjusting the working relationship into full compliance with IWC Article 4.
John's development work is largely done solo, he is always present for meetings, which are not held regularly, and his work is frequently completed ahead of schedule and under budget. There are no team members twiddling their thumbs while John is out getting coffee or walking off a heavy lunch before returning to the office.
I'm curious to see how Slashdot's advice will align with John's lawyer's advice, as well as what John will actually do in his situation. So, Slashdot, what would you do?"
My friend, we'll call him John, has been working for a California-based company for several years in a position covered by IWC Article 4 (PDF warning, sorry) under the assumption that he was exempt from sections 3-12 (which includes the section relating to overtime pay); he recently decided to read over the law, as well as the exemption that could possibly apply to him, the Professional Exemption and the Employee in the Computer Software Field exemption, and discovered that given the current terms of his employment, he is in fact not exempt from any provision of Article 4. He also believes that his employer sincerely mistook his position as exempt and does not wish to punish them for what he believes to be an honest mistake.
For the duration of his employ, John has more or less been allowed to come and go as he pleases and has received frequent commendation for the level of work he puts out, so it would appear that his loose schedule has been beneficial for all involved, up to now. What prompted him to review the IWC documents was a sudden insistence from his boss that he was not working reasonable hours because "every other salaried position requires 50-60hr workweeks".
Here's the rub; he does not want to pursue the unpaid overtime, because this would bankrupt the company and put him out of a job, and he is worried that suing his employer may well make him unemployable. He simply either wants things to continue on as they have been, foregoing overtime pay in exchange for a high degree of freedom in his working schedule (which typically equates to coming in between 8:00 and 8:20 rather than at 8:00 sharp, taking 20-30min breaks rather than 10min, taking an occasional long lunch, and typically staying 30-90min later than most of his coworkers to make up for all of it, as well as working weekends to get things done that didn't get done during the week), or adjusting the working relationship into full compliance with IWC Article 4.
John's development work is largely done solo, he is always present for meetings, which are not held regularly, and his work is frequently completed ahead of schedule and under budget. There are no team members twiddling their thumbs while John is out getting coffee or walking off a heavy lunch before returning to the office.
I'm curious to see how Slashdot's advice will align with John's lawyer's advice, as well as what John will actually do in his situation. So, Slashdot, what would you do?"
Comment: We're not celebrating political sovereignty (Score 1) 375
We didn't gain that until some time later. We're celebrating the declaration of intention to gain sovereignty.
Comment: Re:If a King rules a Kingdom, (Score 1) 375
It was a pun.
Comment: Re:Why waist the money? (Score 1) 323
First, the Panama canal is driven by fresh water which is then thrown away. The redesign reuses a portion of the water (a third, I think) so that they can make more runs per day, not so that they can save any water. There are literally people dying on this planet for lack of fresh water and this is just used as hydraulic fluid and then thrown into the ocean while ships pass by.
Water in Panama does no good to people dying of thirst in Africa. Even more fresh water is wasted by letting the Amazon flow into the Atlantic Ocean. What should we do about that?
Comment: Any reason to think this was a double-blind study? (Score 1) 931
The full article is behind a paywall, but there's nothing in the abstract that makes me think the study was double-blind. It might not even be single-blind. So it's anecdotes with charts and statistics, and not rigorous.
Comment: This is why it's important to get root access... (Score 2) 176
If you have root you can turn off those permissions. If the app doesn't run without snooping permissions (as Groupon and Google Offers do not), well, it's their choice not to get my business.
Comment: Re:Sounds like Facebook handled it correctly (Score 1) 40
Yes, we're their product, but without product they won't be able to sell ads.
Comment: Sounds like Facebook handled it correctly (Score 5, Insightful) 40
More companies should do that kind of testing.
If only they would spend that much effort on building a reliable user interface...
Comment: Re:Why is webkit on Kindle so poor? (Score 1) 125
The Kindle 3G doesn't have a powerful processor or gobs of memory. The display refreshes slowly. The internet connection is not very fast. Maybe all the transactions go through Amazon's servers (as they do on the Fire unless you turn that off). Amazon probably had to make many additions to the code to adapt to the Kindle's physical interface.
In other words, there are several potential reasons. What in particular do you not like about it?
+ - Symbian officially dead.-> 1
Submitted
by
Snirt
Snirt (1908938) writes "Symbian is now officially dead, Nokia confirmed today. In the company’s earnings announcement that came out a little while ago, Nokia confirmed that the 808 PureView, released last year, was the very last device that the company would make on the Symbian platform: “During our transition to Windows
Phone through 2012, we continued to ship devices based on Symbian,” the company wrote. “The Nokia 808 PureView, a device which showcases our imaging capabilities and which came to market in mid-2012, was the
last Symbian device from
Nokia.""
Link to Original Source
Phone through 2012, we continued to ship devices based on Symbian,” the company wrote. “The Nokia 808 PureView, a device which showcases our imaging capabilities and which came to market in mid-2012, was the
last Symbian device from
Nokia.""
Link to Original Source
+ - Microsoft's Basketball Game->
Submitted
by
excursive
excursive (2823185) writes "For several years, the City of Sacramento, California, has been trying to persuade the owners of the Sacramento Kings NBA team to stay in town, offering to give the Kings' billionaire owners hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new arena (obviously a better use of tax money than such frivolities as roads, parks, police officers, and firefighters).
But those blandishments have failed, and the Kings' owners have accepted an offer from a group in Seattle that includes Microsoft head Steve Ballmer.
Local politicians don't like that because it makes them lose face, and one of those politicians, Darrell Steinberg, is president pro tem of the California Senate, and a key player in writing the state budget.
According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, Steinberg is now seeking detailed information on Microsoft's contracts with the state, the kind of information that might require Microsoft executives to answer questions under oath in public hearings.
Says a former Senate president, "You climb into their wallets and start rooting around. Who knows what you're going to find?" This could get interesting.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/23/5133836/one-possibly-futile-gesture-to.html
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/23/5134027/sacramento-mayor-johnson-discloses.html"
Link to Original Source
But those blandishments have failed, and the Kings' owners have accepted an offer from a group in Seattle that includes Microsoft head Steve Ballmer.
Local politicians don't like that because it makes them lose face, and one of those politicians, Darrell Steinberg, is president pro tem of the California Senate, and a key player in writing the state budget.
According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, Steinberg is now seeking detailed information on Microsoft's contracts with the state, the kind of information that might require Microsoft executives to answer questions under oath in public hearings.
Says a former Senate president, "You climb into their wallets and start rooting around. Who knows what you're going to find?" This could get interesting.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/23/5133836/one-possibly-futile-gesture-to.html
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/23/5134027/sacramento-mayor-johnson-discloses.html"
Link to Original Source
DHS Steps In As Regulator for Medical Device Security 123
Posted
by
timothy
from the handicapper-general dept.
from the handicapper-general dept.
mask.of.sanity writes "The Department of Homeland Security has taken charge of pushing medical device manufacturers to fix vulnerable medical software and devices after researchers popped yet another piece of hospital hardware. It comes after the agency pushed Philips to move to fix critical vulnerabilities found in its popular medical management platform that is used in a host of services including assisting surgeries and generating patient reports. To date, no agency has taken point on forcing the medical manufacturers to improve the information security profile of their products, with the FDA even dubbing such a risk unrealistic (PDF)."