el_dot | 16 years ago | on: An NBA Superstar with No Stats (2009)
el_dot's comments
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: Mark Cuban: place a 25 cent-per-share transaction fee on Wall St. trades
eh, then Wall St. will just pass the extra expense on to Main St. in the end.
its a lose-lose solution
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: The Genius in All of Us
According to Shenk, we are erroneously led to believe that stars like Tiger Woods and cellist Yo-yo Ma were born to climb to the top of their fields, when in fact the environments they grew up in are just as responsible (if not more so) for their spectacular feats.
I would love to see this Shenk guy raise a Tiger Woods/Yo-yo Ma 2.0. Do that and you have an immensely more powerful argument, otherwise you're just another wave in the ocean.
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: Why Ad Blockers Work
You can outsource what you suck at, but its a bad idea to outsource to someone who sucks at it as well.
I think what the post was getting at was that most people buy fashion magazines for the ads, because the ads are well crafted and made by the best photographers in the field. Some of them are pretty damn close to art. The ads are actually part of the magazine and not just a money-maker. You'd think this type of integration would be easier on the web, but no most sites would rather just throw a banner on the sidebar, another on top of the navigation and call it a day.
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: Advertising is devastating to my well-being
While I am in agreement with the sentiment, these "its good for society" arguments don't really move anybody. Just look at the music industry and it's pleas against piracy. Most people don't view their actions at such a global level; they do what's best for them and those close to them. If ads disturb them, then guess what? Ars technica will be releasing a few more staff. And most people won't care either, they'll just move on to the next thing. Thats just nature my friend. A taste of natural selection: adapt or die.
It would be much more practical to create things that boost advertising's strengths, but mute the weaknesses, rather than trying to convince people that current ads are good/tolerable. Like you pointed out, Google Ads are a step in the right direction, but obviously still lacking. The market always points you in the right direction, better to listen than to fight it.
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love
Well it's a big enough minority that ars technica is noticing it. And most people just tend to tolerate ads, it doesn't mean they like them.
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love
Exactly. There is a major opportunity lurking here. Online ads suck, actually ads in general suck, but how does one fix them? Sounds like a good challenge.
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: This Apple-HTC Patent Thing
Don't file patents, which often make it much easier for competitors to see how you solved a given problem. If they reverse engineer your product, that means they are late to market. You will always have a competitive advantage if your rivals are trying to build today what you built yesterday.
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: This Apple-HTC Patent Thing
“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”
"Good artists copy. Great artists steal." said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO.
You know this whole business of patents, and IP as a whole, is fundamentally flawed in that there is no objective way to decide what is influence and what is blatant copying/theft. The Justice route simply doesn't work. And because patents are public documents, you are basically inviting competitors to modify your inventions.
I can think of two better ways to protect your IP. One is to do what Google does and keep the knowledge of your best stuff to yourself. Up to now nobody can crack their search black box. And two, keep innovating. If you do those 2 things in conjunction, I doubt you'd have to worry about people "stealing" your IP.
I believe that it’s good business, in the long run, for a company’s acts of aggression to take place in the market, not in the courts. My concern regarding this litigation against HTC is that it looks like an act of competitive aggression, not defense.
I completely agree. The sad part is it maybe too late for them to reverse course.
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: Apple stepping up pressure on music labels to snub Amazon
"We're the largest mobile device company in the world. Larger than Sony, bigger than Samsung. And by revenue... even bigger than Nokia." - Steve Jobs when introducing the iPad.
It looks like they are satisfied with what they've done, now they're just counting their chips. They are one of the big boys, the fat cats. Apple, as we used to know it, is dead.
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: This is why (college) old media is failing
Applicants need a working knowledge of ASP/ASP.net, MySQL, Movable Type, HTML/CSS and general web server experience. Knowledge of JavaScript, LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) servers, iPhone development knowledge, Adobe Flash/Flex is a plus.
I guess this is what PG meant when he said:
The pointy-haired boss has no idea how this software has to work, and can't tell one programming language from another, and yet he knows what language you should write it in.
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: How to begin to teach yourself how to code, starting from scratch
I would also suggest Introduction to Computer Science and Programming from OpenCourseWare:
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Electrical-Engineering-and-Compute...
It's the right approach, they teach you the concepts so that you can pick up any language and run with it. It uses Python but it's not about Python, which is a clean language that has a great support system (perhaps the most essential part in learning how to code).
el_dot | 16 years ago | on: How To: Read more books
The question to ask yourself is what exactly were you trying to learn from philosophy, sociology and literature critique? And why did you think such books would benefit you?
If you read the wrong types of books, the ones that do not resonate with your goals, then you will gain nothing. Reading Tolstoy, when your goals are in physics, will seem like a waste of time, a mere pleasure, sort of like watching a movie or taking a walk. But when your goal is to become a good writer, a better teller of stories, then reading Tolstoy can be an epiphany of sorts. You see how his stylistic effects can be applied to your own writing; how a novel can capture the spirit of the times much more effectively than any historian could, and so on and so forth.
Knowledge is only good when applicable, otherwise it is useless.
page 1
"a good deal of detail, and outright truth, is sacrificed to back-up the original thesis and offer a more compelling reader narrative." I think your comment is spot on, case in point:
The Grizzlies went from 23-59 in Battier’s rookie year to 50-32 in his third year, when they made the N.B.A. playoffs, as they did in each of his final three seasons with the team. Before the 2006-7 season, Battier was traded to the Houston Rockets, who had just finished 34-48. In his first season with the Rockets, they finished 52-30, and then, last year, went 55-27 — including one stretch of 22 wins in a row.
What Michael Lewis failed to mention is that in Memphis, Battier played with Gasol, the same Gasol who made the Lakers an instant contender and eventual champion. And in Houston he played with 2 perennial all-stars in Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. This year Houston did not have either Yao or Tracy and they sucked, Battier is still there...