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null_ptr's comments

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: Lenovo, the Treasure Hunter of Tech

On a tangential, what's the deal with glossy instead of matte screens on all mainstream laptops? Is it that they're more durable and easier to clean? Do the colors look better?

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: Code Monkey Island – board game to teach kids programming

I found that I reasoned everyday things in a more organized and structured manner once I really got into programming. I think it's an interesting and worthwhile idea to try to teach children this way of thinking, regardless if it will lead to them programming computers or not.

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: A Chinese copy of GitHub.com

Wow, that Tofugu site exemplifies the Hipster Phenomenon, with an always-there menu bar that takes a third of my browser window's vertical space!

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: Burying the URL

Usability is important, but so is the option to expose how something works under the hood to those that desire the knowledge. Computers are too important for humanity's progress to turn them into consumption-only appliances. Over-simplifying and locking everything down will deprive us of many future inventors.

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: Designer Duds

Designers are good at refining existing products for mass consumption, it's engineers that come up with new, innovative products that solve real problems. Expecting designers to be good engineers is insulting to both professions.

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: Little-Known CSS Facts

Client-side web technologies are rotten and ill-designed, a mountain of patches and inconsistencies. That's why it's so painful to see people try to shoehorn JavaScript everywhere just because it's the unfortunate status quo.

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: OnePlus One – $299 CyanogenMod 'killer' smartphone

> will receive updates for at least 2 years

I had my phone for over 3 years now and aside from some tiny screen scratches everything is great. Why can't any manufacturers really stand behind their products and support them for something like 5 years?

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: Nonprofit in Queens taught people to write apps, incomes rose from $15k to $72k

They're there because they heard they'll get a big salary they don't deserve at the end of those 4 years, not because they have any interest in the field or want to contribute anything to the world.

It's probably been like this since the dot-com era and the mediocrity has only snowballed since. The state of the software industry and the educational institutions around it is an embarrassment. If the curriculum was any good, these minimum-effort clowns would not be able to earn a degree in Computer Science.

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: Employee Equity: Too Little?

> I don't think being well comped Google, Facebook or Twitter (a friend of mine recv'd $640k in RSU's) is settling for mediocrity.

I didn't mean the compensation is mediocre, but the work you're doing. I'm sure a lot of brilliant people choose to stick it out for "just 5 more years" over and over again to get more of that $1MM, rather than go off independently and realize their ideas, or join a modest company that works on fresh things.

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: Employee Equity: Too Little?

That $1MM in stock is probably spread out over many (many) years of staying with the company. Golden handcuffs can be quite dangerous in sabotaging brilliant people's careers and making them settle for mediocrity.

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: Stock Photos That Don’t Suck

I don't see why young faces everywhere is all right. Racism is horrible, and so is ageism.

Nobody is physically young forever and you can't help that - being young is definitely not aspirational (and neither is a head full of hair, by the way). You can't work hard and "earn" your youth, or "earn" your hair. Physical fitness is another thing though, and a person doesn't have to look young in order to look healthy and attractive.

null_ptr | 12 years ago | on: Urine in Portland reservoir: How dangerous is pee in drinking water?

Still, where did society go wrong with the knucklehead who peed in the water reservoir? What causes anyone to commit such an unwarranted antisocial gesture? Is it disdain for fellow people? Disdain for the city? That's the same kind of guy that slashes public transit upholstery and smashes public restrooms - potentially dangerous to other people, and surely poisonous to society as a whole.
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