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Comment Re:No. (Score 1) 835

by Shade of Pyrrhus (#25825257) Attached to: Interviewing Experienced IT People?
Did you even read the summary of the article? It's about "Why should I hire you, old man, versus this young person?". You did not say use age against them, but mentioning it to them may make them believe you are - which is the problem here.

I understand that the law was created to protect older candidates, but it specifically states it is illegal:

to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's age

You should read the summary and link.

Comment No. (Score 4, Informative) 835

by Shade of Pyrrhus (#25824769) Attached to: Interviewing Experienced IT People?
It's not politically correct, and it's also not legally correct. All of the other questions don't matter once you throw age out there. It'd be very easy for them to face you with a lawsuit.

For kicks, here's a clear-cut quote:

(c) It shall be unlawful for a labor organization-
(1) to exclude or to expel from its membership, or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of his age;
Businesses

Interviewing Experienced IT People? 835

Posted by timothy from the experience-is-not-just-a-euphemism dept.
thricenightly writes "After more than 20 years in IT I've learned that the most valuable people in a team are frequently the old timers. Young pups straight out of college might (think they) know all the latest buzzwords and techniques, but in the real world, where getting working products delivered on time and on budget is of paramount importance, people who have been doing the job for a decade or two tend to be the people I'd rather be working alongside. I've recently been elevated to a position where I get to interview and choose those who get hired in my department. Although I'm very much focused on choosing the right person for the role regardless of age, experience or whatever, it's probably fair to say the more mature applicants will get a more sympathetic hearing from me than they might from most other interviewers for IT roles. The question is, what do I ask older applicants to get them to demonstrate the value of their experience? My current gambit is something like 'IT is seen as a young man's game. My next applicant after you is 23 years old. What do you know that he doesn't?' This gets responses ranging from the vague to the truly enlightened. All next week I'm interviewing for a number of senior software designer and developer roles. What should I be asking of the more experienced applicants, and what responses should I be looking out for?"
Patents

Submission + - Crowdsourcing site offers rewards to bust patents

Submitted by
holy_calamity
holy_calamity writes: "Article One Partners is a new startup that offers $50,000 rewards to people that find prior art for certain valuable patents. The company's founder told New Scientist she thought the initiative would improve "patent quality" by increasing scrutiny on poor patents. She aims to profit by selling the information contributors collect, or trade stocks based on it. Current patents they are looking for help to bust include those being used by Konami to sue Harmonix over Rock Band and Guitar Hero."

Comment Re:The death of advertising (Score 1) 236

by Shade of Pyrrhus (#25765053) Attached to: Scientists Create Easier Way To Embed Objects Into Video
And here you are talking about the ad that you distinctly remember.

That apparently was an effective ad. Effective ads don't have to make you want to buy the product, simply remember the ad. Like those damn "Head On" ads that everyone hates, yet can't ignore.

In this case, the point of the ad doesn't seem to much to promote the product so much as make it seem commonplace. So, like your initial comment, I don't know how effective that is - might have to check some studies.
IBM

Former IBM Exec Ordered To Stop Working For Apple 270

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the petty-jealousy dept.
tom_guyette writes "ComputerWorld reports a federal judge has ordered former IBM executive Mark Papermaster, recently hired as Apple's vice president of hardware devices engineering, to stop working for Apple. The judge's ruling is based on a motion for preliminary injunction made by IBM, which states Papermaster's new job violates a non-compete agreement he signed in 2006. In response, Papermaster asserted to the court that 'Nothing about his new job will implicate any trade secrets from IBM.'"

Comment Yep. (Score 1) 160

by Shade of Pyrrhus (#25650865) Attached to: Critical Vulnerability In Adobe Reader
This was discussed previously, as well - the difference is that a specific vulnerability has been found at this point.

As usual, take precautions to ensure you're not automatically opening PDFs in your browser - Save by default instead, so you can scan it and actually make the decision to open it yourself.
For Firefox users:

Tools->Options->Applications. Change actions for PDFs to Save.
The Internet

ICANN Proposes New Way To Buy Top-Level Domains 198

Posted by timothy from the how-about-vending-machines dept.
narramissic writes "Late last week, ICANN put up for comment a new top-level domain (TLD) proposal that would open up the market for generic TLDs on the Internet, basically allowing anyone with $185,000 to buy a new TLD. ICANN has based the cost of a generic TLD on what it believes will be the cost to evaluate applications and protect the organization against risk, said Paul Levins, ICANN's executive officer and vice president for corporate affairs. Any excess money would be redistributed based on the wishes of the Internet community, he said. As of late Tuesday, there were only a couple of comments on the proposal."
Programming

Which Phone To Develop For? 344

Posted by kdawson from the building-a-house-around-it dept.
Rob MacKenzie writes "I have to decide on a mobile phone to develop for. We're building a house with some automation built in, and we want the mobile phone to be able to control certain aspects of it, and retrieve information on what's going on in the house. Our choices are the usual suspects: Apple's IPhone, RIM's Blackberry, Nokia's line (Symbian), any Android phone we can get in Canada, J2ME generic app, or a Web-based UI we would interact with in the phone's browser. What would you choose if you had to go with one? Which exact model? We will be buying a few to develop for, so price is a bit of an issue."
Republicans

Journal SPAM: Palin, Stevens and the Smell of Shit - She Directed His 527

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius

Palin's name is listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors. The group was designed to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in the state. She served as one of three directors until June 2005, when her name was replaced on state fi
Republicans

Journal SPAM: Table Ready, Party of Hate 3

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius

I felt a bit nauseous watching the Republican convention last night. I'm very much a give-the-benefit-of-the-doubt kind of guy, so I try to listen to the arguments people make even when they're made in over-the-top or patronizing ways. Sometimes it's good to distinguish between the rhetorical devices and the underlying substance. Even people who use manipulative language sometimes have an important point beneath their persuasion techniques (ads against smoking, for examp

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