Um ... this app isn't all that original. It's the first app of many (I wrote it while I was learning the platform), and was even the first app that Sergey Brin on Android. He even discussed it at the Android launch press conference "much to the chagrin of some folks on stage, like Andy and whatnot". It's dead simple: measure how long the measured acceleration is 0, and then use the ballistics formula you learned in high school physics to calculate how long the device was in the air, and thus how high it went.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_IFIqGf4ZM

Which begets a question ... how do Slashdot posts get approved? I would like to advertise a few trivial/minor apps too.

Good point! I do use the terms "millennial" and "hipster" interchangeably. My bad.

So yes, there is a group of tech workers, frequently referred to as "hipsters" that want to live in the urban areas and do their hipster things. However, if you are a tech work with kids, which is actually the majority, you don't want to live in these crime-ridden, urine-scented, no-parking-available urban areas with bad school systems. The pattern I see is that one these hipsters get married and start popping out kids, they move to what people think of as the suburbs. But, they don't necessarily stop being tech workers. And I don't know why TFA says Mountain View isn't having a construction boom. I can count 2 new office buildings and 3 new housing complexes being constructed in its downtown area.

I agree with this, but that doesn't mean we should stop doing business there. China's society is in the process of evolving. Most Western societies have already gone through this phase. If we step in and prevent the evolution by removing the demand (that is, if there is no prospect for better paying jobs, which foxxcon is), there will be no incentive for societal changes. Also, technically, all the foxxcon workers already belong to a union.

I am frequently full of shit, but we also probably have different different hiring standards.

I agree, but the problem is that there is more demand for these engineers than there are engineers, especially in certain areas of the nation.

So, as a hiring manager, I would say most media views on this really miss the mark. Reduced wages is not what motivates H1-B support (at least in my experience), because there is typically a legal cost to the company in supporting that hire, especially if they decide they want to get a green card and your want to retain them. The reality is simply this: finding good people in the tech sector is very hard. You see many candidates who claim to have the skills, but when you test the candidate they frequently disappoint. When you finally find a candidate that you feel would be a fit for the position, you don't want anything to stand in the way of hiring them, like their visa status.

The (older == wiser) || (older == expensive) versus (younger == cheaper) debate is kind of misrepresented too. What it frequent turns out to be is (older == set in their ways) versus ( younger == eager to learn). Now I'll be the first to say I've hired older candidates that were eager to learn new things and their prior experience typically makes that process go much faster and smoother than for younger candidates. But (my perception of) reality is that "older and more experienced" candidates typically come to the interview looking to do what they know rather looking to grow. Maybe some employers like that, but tech companies tend to prefer people who will grow with the company.