Like many other commenters, I started on del.icio.us â" and from there moved to Instapaper as that made the content searchable.

I looked at Pocket but didnâ(TM)t see anything that it provided that Instapaper didnâ(TM)t offer.

I at first thought that was true. See http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3839675&cid=43947687 (the first response to subject "For JDK6"). Latest JRE doesn't have the latest timezone data.

Son of a gun, Todd, you're right.

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/tzdata-versions-138805.html

Timezone Tzdata Version
Introduced in JRE Update Release
TZUpdater Version
Main Changes in this Timezone Data Release

tzdata2013c
1.3.56
Palestine observed DST starting March 29, 2013.
Changes in Paraguay's DST rules.

tzdata2013b
1.3.55
Haiti uses US daylight-saving rules this year, and presumably future years.
Paraguay will end DST on March 24 this year.
Morocco does not observe DST during Ramadan;try to predict Ramadan in Morocco as best we can.

tzdata2013a
1.3.54
Chile's 2013 rules, and we guess rules for 2014 and later, will be the same as 2012, namely Apr Sun>=23 03:00 UTC to Sep Sun>=2 04:00 UTC.
New Zones Asia/Khandyga, Asia/Ust-Nera, Europe/Busingen.

tzdata2012j
1.3.53
Libya moved to CET on Nov 10th weekend, but with DST planned next year.

tzdata2012i
  6u38
  7u10
1.3.52
DST changes in Cuba to first Sun of Nov.

I started out in IT after graduating with a Bachelor's of Business Administration in Information Systems. Sneaker-net / phone support / ripping apart computers / etc. I worked my way up to server admin (earning MCSE in the process) with a dabbling in network admin (earning CCNA in the process). Programming wasn't anywhere near a major part of my work other than shell scripting.

But I saw the writing on the wall: the systems were becoming more and more stable; it was easier and easier to defend against computer attacks; it took less IT people to support more and more users/servers. IT also is an expense -- and expenses are to be minimized in the business world.

Hence I went back to school, got a BS and then a MS in Information and Computer Science so I could become a revenue source -- and finally fix the bugs that I had been finding. The problem was, though, that my decade-long IT experience meant nothing in the programming industry, other than leadership experience because I had become a supervisor and then a manager while working in IT.

So I started out as a junior programmer; after 3 years of learning a heck of a lot that they DO NOT teach in school, I finally had enough programming experience to land a job as a lead contract engineer. After 7 months of that, I'm now a senior developer at my current position.

IT experience is almost completely different than CS experience; only at a small company will there be overlap. At medium to large companies, specialization is the key and often the IT folks and CS folks don't trust each other.

So be careful. If you do end up taking an IT job -- hey, you have to eat -- make sure to get some programming in on the side. Join an open source community and start contributing code -- it's valuable experience that will get you portfolio material for when you apply for a CS position.

I sent the following fax to Verizon yesterday. A Verizon exec yesterday afternoon called me back who said that "it was a business decision to require a data plan for all smartphones."

They're willing to let this 10+ year customer go. When my wife and I change carriers to something with a less pricey plan, I will send them pictures of us ex-Verizon customers enjoying our new smartphones.

Please send faxes to Verizon explaining that requiring a data plan is wrong. Maybe they'll listen if more people complain.

Thank you for your assistance.

BEGIN FAX:

Lowell McAdam
President & CEO
Verizon Wireless, Inc.
VIA FAX: 1-949-286-7570

Subject: why can I not get a Windows Mobile, Android, or Blackberry phone without a data plan?

Dear President and CEO McAdam or To Whom It May Concern,

My name is [name redacted]. I have been a Verizon Wireless customer since Verizon bought AirTouch San Diego back in the late 1990's.

My wife and I both need cell phones for phone calls, SMS, and MMS. My enV and my wife's VX8300 handle these functions well.

In addition to carrying our phones, we've both been also carrying around Palm Pilots. Why? Because our BREW-based don't offer -- and there are apparently no apps that offer:
- calendar applications that can display daily and weekly information well on the screen, as well as make it easy to set up appointments (the ones listed don't seem to cut it)
- a task manager
- the ability to back up the calendar and task manager data

Now I'm a software developer; I have both a Bachelors of Science and a Masters of Science in Information and Computer Science from UC Irvine. So I don't think I'd have a problem writing BREW apps to handle those functions. But there's a $400 entry fee to get BREW apps approved even though I only want to write programs for our personal phones. I sent an email through your customer service page to you asking if there is some way to get around this ridiculous expense; so far, I have not heard back.

We recently went to our local store ([city redacted], CA). We looked at the BREW-based phones; none of them offer the improved calendar that I'm seeking, a task manager, or the ability to back up the calendar and task manager data.

We poked at the Windows Mobile, Android, and Blackberry phones. My wife likes the calendar on the Windows Mobile 6.1 phones and I'm going to try to find a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone for her to play with. But all three of these types of phones require a $30 monthly data plan -- which would be $60 a month total -- on top of the $70 a month for our current phone plan. We have cable Internet at home; both of us agree that we can do without Internet or email on our phones.

I emailed your customer service team (the reply came back with the code [code redacted]). Basically, they told me nothing I didn't know.

So I am now faxing you, appealing to you to figure out a way for us to not have to purchase a monthly data plan. We are truly considering moving to a different service as our 2 year contract is up at the end of this month.

Please let me know if there is anything you can do to help. You can reach me on my Verizon Wireless cell phone at [number redacted].

Thank you,

[name redacted]

I can tell you that as a MS in ICS student, I wouldn't have passed my courses or comprehensive exam if not for my Toshiba Tecra M4 combined with JPG exports of classroom slides and M$ OneNote. (drag and drop the JPG slides into OneNote, then mark them up -- all while recording using OneNote)

As the team leader of a team that was eliminated at the site visit because our car didn't work (and then 2 weeks later we finally got it working consistently without a hitch), I'm kinda bummed that 4 (and probably 5) teams will complete the race. We were hoping that there would be a 2007 race.

We started with zero funding and a small team of undergrad students in July 2004 - our first funding was $3,525, which we received in January 2005. Needless to say, we busted our butts and used a ton of ingenuity and we're proud to say that we can turn any car into a fully autonomous vehicle that will complete DARPA's site visit rules with about $14,000 (kinda cheap compared to CMU's rumored $3.5 Million for the March 2004 race).

Now that there won't be a 2007 race (unless some mass disqualification occurs or DARPA just decides to be nice), we're aiming to recenter ourselves and aim for areas and applications that nobody else has done before.