How NOT to lead geeks

posted by   mblaster (217)   32 months ago (positivesharing.com)

This interesting blog post lists the top mistakes managers make in leading geeky people. The one that makes a big problem for me is: Don’t give them tools. Here in my company, the IT guys have to 'approve' before we install some useful tool. What about you?.. more »

Video: Mrs. World 2006 Finale GoofUp ( Crowned the wrong Contestant !)

posted by   spcwlkr (130)   31 months ago (www.youtube.com)

Here's a video of the grand finale of the 2006 Mrs World Competition. It has everything: glamour, excitement, hugs, smiles, an angel coming down from the ceiling -- and even a major mix-up. They crowned the wrong contestant! .Watch Mrs. Russia -- the real winner. She's not looking too happy as she watches Mrs. Costa Rica get the crown, the sash, ..... more »

Steve Wozniak audio - a must hear for techies

posted by   mblaster (217)   32 months ago (www.itconversations.com)

Woz talks about his life story, Apple and pranks..

"Rare and brilliant presentation by Steve Wozniak, a true geek's geek. His playing started with games and pranks, crystal-set radios, reading Popular Electronics."

"Woz wanted to be an HP engineer forever and never thought he'd start a company, but his friend, Steve Jobs, said, "Let's sell ..... more »

HowTo: Interrogate Your Boss

posted by   buster (356)   32 months ago (www.partiallobotomy.com)

When an employees starts asking these sorts of things, and they led to extremely productive, revealing, even career-changing conversations. Even if they don't turn out to be immediately productive, they'll help to open the lines of communication, give you information that may be useful later, and make it clear to your boss that you're interested in ..... more »

The Mathematical Structure of Terrorism

posted by   goofer (192)   32 months ago (www.physorg.com)

When classified according to their frequency and intensity, however, the events of any insurgent war appear to follow a power law. It should come as no surprise that weaker attacks are more common than stronger attacks, but a power law distribution makes a much more specific prediction. It turns out that if individual conflicts (for example, a ..... more »

Slashdot India scare :Network Management Outsourced to India

posted by   goofer (192)   32 months ago (it.slashdot.org)

Usual outsourcing/india bash visible on slashdot."The megacorp where I work recently outsourced netadmin to a location in Asia. The results are _horrible_! Incredibly bureaucractic and slow. " Why is outsourcing booming, if 'this; is indeed the average opinion. It shows the negative india prejudice at slashdot ;(.. more »

Motorola phones exploding because of dodgy batteries ?

posted by   goofer (192)   32 months ago (www.theregister.co.uk)

The explosion of five mobile phones in Brazil over the last two months is causing concern. The incidents, all involving Motorola phones, are being linked to dodgy batteries... more »

Boot up Windows before you even log in

posted by   buster (356)   32 months ago (www.brainfuel.tv)

If you’re sick of waiting for your environment to load after you login you would like this. Article presents tips to set your Windows desktop to boot up before you login so that you can avoid the second boot-up that occurs as your user environment loads... more »

Hans Bethe: Quantum Theory Made Relatively Simple

posted by   spcwlkr (130)   32 months ago (bethe.cornell.edu)

IN 1999, legendary theoretical physicist Hans Bethe delivered three lectures on quantum theory.The presentation makes use of limited mathematics while focusing on the personal and historical perspectives of one of the principal architects of quantum theory whose career in physics spans 75 years... more »

The Parable of the Two Programmers

posted by   ghatamos (12)   32 months ago (www.csd.uwo.ca)

For all the programmers who felt that they have been treated unfairly one time or another. This story is for you...... more »

Microsoft Research Unveils MapCruncher [for Virtual Earth] Prototype

posted by   spcwlkr (130)   32 months ago (research.microsoft.com)

MapCruncher enables a user to take existing road maps and aerial imagery and overlay particular, specialized maps to create unique mash-ups tailored to the user's specific interests. 'MapCruncher' empowers anybody in the world to take whatever data is important to them,' explains Elson, the project lead, 'and share it with everybody else in a ..... more »

Embedded: Five Technologies You Need to Know About

posted by   goofer (192)   32 months ago (www.embedded.com)

Five technologies which concerns all systems developers.. more »

Indian Voters Veto Power ... so don't miss your voting next time

posted by   sndeep (13)   32 months ago (o3.indiatimes.com)

Do you know that there is a provision in our constitution, as per the1969 act, in section "49-O" that a person can go to the polling booth,confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn’t want to vote anyone!!!!!
Now the Question you’ll ask is why should you go and say " I vote nobody"... ..... more »

Video: The pleasure of finding things out - Feynman

posted by   buster (356)   32 months ago (video.google.com)

Excellent short 40 min documentary interview with Dr Feynman- one of the greatest physicist of our times and a Nobel Laureate... more »

Video:Quantum Mechanics for Dummies

posted by   goofer (192)   31 months ago (www.youtube.com)

R A Wilson is explains the quantum theory. This video sums up the best of what he has to say... more »

Nigerian Scam : Indian loses Rs 73 lakh

posted by   buster (356)   31 months ago (www.ibnlive.com)

We have all heard about the Nigerian scam stories.This is a new one. "52-year-old Ramachandra Prabhu, an executive in a Nigerian oil company, lost his life's savings when someone closed his fixed Account at HDFC and transffered the amount abroad". Shocking !.. more »

Ajax, Java, and a huge misunderstanding

posted by   goofer (192)   32 months ago (webreakstuff.com)

Tim O’Reilly mentions how Java developers at the JavaOne conference showed signs of (and I quote) “envy and angst” against Ajax, and follows that with “Java had the vision of rich web apps long ago, and is still a great platform for building network-enabled apps with great front-ends”... more »

Judge Says Man Too Small for Prison

posted by   goofer (192)   32 months ago (www.washingtonpost.com)

A judge said a 5-foot-1 man was too small to survive in prison, and gave him 10 years of probation instead... more »

Stories for a Computer Audience

posted by   ghatamos (12)   32 months ago (www.csd.uwo.ca)

For everybody's enjoyment.. more »

Spot a Bug, Go to Jail

posted by   spcwlkr (130)   32 months ago (www.wired.com)

A new federal prosecution again raises the issue of whether computer security experts must fear prison time for investigating and reporting vulnerabilities... more »

India: Vegetable seller develops a flying machine

posted by   spcwlkr (130)   32 months ago (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

A vegetable seller in an Uttar Pradesh village has developed a two-seater "homemade helicopter", which if approved will be made available for just Rs 100,000, claims an association of innovators here... more »

Video: Space probe, Huygens descent on Saturn moon (Titan)

posted by   spcwlkr (130)   32 months ago (www.esa.int)

This descent animation lasting about 1 minute starts at an altitude of 300 km and moves eastward along the trajectory that the Huygens probe traveled on its journey to Titan's surface. The surface color is approximately what a human observer riding along with the probe would see, if she or he could see the surface through Titan's atmospheric haze.. more »

Dolphins Name Themselves With Whistles, Study Says

posted by   buster (356)   32 months ago (news.nationalgeographic.com)

Scientists say it's the first time wild animals have been shown to call out their own names.What's more, the marine mammals can recognize individual names even when the sound is produced by an unfamiliar voice... more »

How to trap an ATM robber

posted by   kjohn (224)   25 months ago (humsurfer.com)

Got this as a fwd. Not sure if it is true. Can anybody confirm?

"If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin # in reverse.

For example if your pin number is 1234 then you would put in 4321. The ATM recognizes that your pin number is backwards from the ATM card

Basic Negotiating for Fun and Profit

posted by   sunil (135)   31 months ago (www.dexterity.com)

Though this article is aimed at "individual developers", you can very well use it to negotiate pay hike at your company.
"Many independent developers eventually find themselves in a situation where they must negotiate a contract for the first time, such as for a publishing deal. And many developers are taken advantage of on their first deal ..... more »

India Reservation: Are Brahmins the Dalits of today ?

posted by   sndeep (13)   31 months ago (in.rediff.com)

"There are 50 Sulabh Shauchalayas (public toilets) in Delhi; all of them are cleaned and looked after by Brahmins (this very welcome public institution was started by a Brahmin). A far cry from the elitist image that Brahmins have!".. more »

Why use systems thinking techniques to find the best solution?

posted by   ashok (143)   31 months ago (en.wikipedia.org)

Traditional decision making tends to involve linear cause and effect relationships. By taking a systems approach, we can see the whole complex of bidirectional interrelationships. Instead of analysing a problem in terms of an input and an output, for example, we look at the whole system of inputs, processes, outputs, feedback, and controls. This ..... more »

Cricket Videos

posted by   mblaster (217)   31 months ago (www.stanford.edu)

Piyush Shanker Agram's collection of cricket videos on Google. The bowling videos contains collectors item for me. Hat-trick by Harbhajan and Irfan... more »

Driver development kit released for Linux

posted by   sunil (135)   32 months ago (trends.newsforge.com)

Kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the release of a Linux device driver development kit (DDK) on Wednesday, consisting of a CD image containing everything a device driver author needs in order to create Linux drivers. The CD image be downloaded at http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/gregkh/ddk/.. more »

Prime Numbers: How mathematician + physcist can crack this puzzle

posted by   goofer (192)   32 months ago (www.seedmagazine.com)

Why 42 is the answer to life/universe and everything? For this you have to understand the prime numbers and zeta function. Reinemann discovery of zeta function was as important as the e=mc2 by Einstein. But though, we know a lot about relativity, Reinemann hypothesis is still not proven... more »