149€ for a box containing a celeron system 512MB RAM, 512MB solid state memory, a DSL modem and router, plus special keyboard and mouse, compatible with all VGA monitors and some printers ('cause it runs linux).
sold by www.easyneuf.fr (subsidiary of neuf cegetel, a French telecom and internet provider).
and the open-source part is www.easyneuf.org (English and French).
and look what a great start menu they have.
27 October 2007
cheap laptops for the third world.... and me
CBC.ca story about ASUS
they sell a laptop with Solid State Memory instead of an Harddisk for $199.
Obviously that's a good thing for less developed countries.
And why is it good for me? Well, only theoretically... I figured that if I'd ever write my own Operating System this will only be possible by sacrificing compatibility with all kinds of hardware. An OS written from scratch is best written for only one hardware. This means that every user of the OS has to buy that hardware. And that's why cheap hardware is essential.
Okay, I'll stop dreaming and go back to work.
they sell a laptop with Solid State Memory instead of an Harddisk for $199.
Obviously that's a good thing for less developed countries.
And why is it good for me? Well, only theoretically... I figured that if I'd ever write my own Operating System this will only be possible by sacrificing compatibility with all kinds of hardware. An OS written from scratch is best written for only one hardware. This means that every user of the OS has to buy that hardware. And that's why cheap hardware is essential.
Okay, I'll stop dreaming and go back to work.
20 October 2007
postal coincidence
Here's a story that happened to me, I am learning of it right now. My questions are: do you believe this? Can you explain this?
On about 20th August 2006 I sent a postcard from Munich, Germany to a friend in Taipei, Taiwan. I only had her office address so I sent it there.
On Saturday, two weeks ago (6th October 2007) I sent her another card from Toronto to her apartment in Taipei. Now, from last Tuesday to Friday she was away on a business trip. When she came back on Friday night, she got my card that I sent some days ago. She complimented my Chinese writing, since I had copied the characters comprising her address, like little pictures one at a time.
Now, today. Saturday. She went to her office and on her office table she found -- the card that I had sent over one year ago. It had arrived in the mail just the same week as my other card! Two postcard sent to two different adresses one year apart... arrive in the same week!
That's the story.
How can that happen?
On about 20th August 2006 I sent a postcard from Munich, Germany to a friend in Taipei, Taiwan. I only had her office address so I sent it there.
On Saturday, two weeks ago (6th October 2007) I sent her another card from Toronto to her apartment in Taipei. Now, from last Tuesday to Friday she was away on a business trip. When she came back on Friday night, she got my card that I sent some days ago. She complimented my Chinese writing, since I had copied the characters comprising her address, like little pictures one at a time.
Now, today. Saturday. She went to her office and on her office table she found -- the card that I had sent over one year ago. It had arrived in the mail just the same week as my other card! Two postcard sent to two different adresses one year apart... arrive in the same week!
That's the story.
How can that happen?
16 October 2007
Facebook vs Big Brother
Having your Real Name, collecting some other information on you, gives a personal profile much more detailed than even the best intelligence agency could have done ten years before.
Things have change in the Internet age.
Fundamentally changed.
Do you have a Facebook? by Vishal Agarwala
Things have change in the Internet age.
Fundamentally changed.
Do you have a Facebook? by Vishal Agarwala
the wicketh language
Dear audience,
for today's course, please read the paper Advice for Foreign Students Wishing to Pursue Graduate Study in Computer Science at UCSC by Jim Whitehead.
This paper is only the top of an iceberg, the big issue that I am thinking about. So let's just grab the main points:
Now, an emotional reaction to the paper: If I am, as an international student, going to be an extra burden for my advisor, taking up his precious funding money and his scarce working time, but my work will be worse than other student's work anyway, why then should I go to that great foreign university at all?
Of course, I see that for many students in many countries, going to an international university is seen as a way to get them a degree that will assure them a well-paid job and a save future. And I think it is okay for him, to inform those people about his side of the equation and encourage them to be more responsible when doing their applications. But has he ever thought what impact his writing has on the average shy genius, that wants to go to an international school just because that's the best place to nourish his interests and his talent? Won't that poor shy guy be quite scared by reading such a statement?
Okay, this was the top of the iceberg. When you've finished thinking about it, come on and dive into the deep water.
Imagine you are an international student doing PdD research in a great international university. What do you think about the suggestion that your research will be worse on average than that of domestic students? How important do you think is language for research?
For my part, the researches that I admire most, are also Great Masters of their language. And in Computer Science that means: Great Masters of the English language. Several people come into my mind whose writings I adore for their clarity and also their imagination when it comes to including "real-life" analogies or even making word-plays on idiomatic expressions. And it's true: most of the people that I remember for doing this are native speakers of English. Although there is one exception that I cannot forget, one French engineer who became not only a Great Master of Computer Science, but also a Great Master of the English language. Perhaps the latter is easier for life-savouring perfectionists. Like Bertrand Meyer.
I just can't stop wondering how people like Bertrand or some of my friends who are foreigners in Germany can achieve such a mastery of the language, being better writers and better talkers than many native speakers, while others can spend years of the life in a foreign country and still have some problems with basic communication!
Well, I see that not everyone can be as talented for languages as a Bertrand Meyer and Pavol Kurina. And I know that some people just get frustrated at some point, being misunderstand so often they perhaps give up on improving their language? And if I tell them how important language is then they feel even more bad about themselves and rather want to ignore the subject.
Okay, I know that I can write a positive ending here, but not at this time of day. Thanks for reading up until here and please come back soon to read my optimistic outlook which I'll hopefully write until then.
Yours sincerely,
Jack the foreigner
for today's course, please read the paper Advice for Foreign Students Wishing to Pursue Graduate Study in Computer Science at UCSC by Jim Whitehead.
This paper is only the top of an iceberg, the big issue that I am thinking about. So let's just grab the main points:
- the department of computer science at UC Davis receives many hundred applications from foreign students each year (my remark: so does the University of Toronto and many other schools in North America)
- it is a lot of work to select students out of these masses and that's why students should write applications that make the selection fast and easy
- taking international students is more expensive for a professor and demands more advisory work and more reviews of the student's writings, but still the finished papers of international students are usually not as good as those of domestic students.
Now, an emotional reaction to the paper: If I am, as an international student, going to be an extra burden for my advisor, taking up his precious funding money and his scarce working time, but my work will be worse than other student's work anyway, why then should I go to that great foreign university at all?
Of course, I see that for many students in many countries, going to an international university is seen as a way to get them a degree that will assure them a well-paid job and a save future. And I think it is okay for him, to inform those people about his side of the equation and encourage them to be more responsible when doing their applications. But has he ever thought what impact his writing has on the average shy genius, that wants to go to an international school just because that's the best place to nourish his interests and his talent? Won't that poor shy guy be quite scared by reading such a statement?
Okay, this was the top of the iceberg. When you've finished thinking about it, come on and dive into the deep water.
Imagine you are an international student doing PdD research in a great international university. What do you think about the suggestion that your research will be worse on average than that of domestic students? How important do you think is language for research?
For my part, the researches that I admire most, are also Great Masters of their language. And in Computer Science that means: Great Masters of the English language. Several people come into my mind whose writings I adore for their clarity and also their imagination when it comes to including "real-life" analogies or even making word-plays on idiomatic expressions. And it's true: most of the people that I remember for doing this are native speakers of English. Although there is one exception that I cannot forget, one French engineer who became not only a Great Master of Computer Science, but also a Great Master of the English language. Perhaps the latter is easier for life-savouring perfectionists. Like Bertrand Meyer.
I just can't stop wondering how people like Bertrand or some of my friends who are foreigners in Germany can achieve such a mastery of the language, being better writers and better talkers than many native speakers, while others can spend years of the life in a foreign country and still have some problems with basic communication!
Well, I see that not everyone can be as talented for languages as a Bertrand Meyer and Pavol Kurina. And I know that some people just get frustrated at some point, being misunderstand so often they perhaps give up on improving their language? And if I tell them how important language is then they feel even more bad about themselves and rather want to ignore the subject.
Okay, I know that I can write a positive ending here, but not at this time of day. Thanks for reading up until here and please come back soon to read my optimistic outlook which I'll hopefully write until then.
Yours sincerely,
Jack the foreigner
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)