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Comment identify the issues (Score 1) 192

a general complaint that the UX stinks is not actionable. if you can collect information documenting the pain points - tech support had to spend a whole hour with a customer because of a misunderstanding about this button, end users are making 10 clicks to do a common action when it could be reduced to 6, and so on - those issues can and should be filed in a tracker where they can get attention and be prioritized alongside the company's other concerns.

the relevant quote is: "quality is a feature, too." (-caskey dickson)

Comment RDF/OWL route (Score 1) 134

you might want a tool storing claims in the form of RDF triples; these can be used as the basis for deductive reasoning. one standard in this area is the Web Ontology Language. several software reasoners are named in the wikipedia article. also, for existing knowledge bases, see: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWeb_Ontology_Language%23Public_ontologies

Comment do your own analysis (Score 1) 196

as you work, collect lists of everything you think went wrong in your programs and programming practices (both practical and academic). you will then be prepared to sit down with your notes from the last quarter and identify broader themes. once you can frame issues in common terms - e.g. your web API mangles UTF-8 input, or you find that you are creating new bugs at an unpleasant rate, or your users aren't understanding your documentation well - you can look up how others have addressed these problems. then the action items will become apparent (eliminate operations that assume input is 8859-1, or adopt a unit testing framework, or work with a technical writer to clarify the text).

Image

Mexico Wants Payment For Aztec Images 325

innocent_white_lamb writes "Starbucks brought out a line of cups with prehistoric Aztec images on them. Now the government of Mexico wants them to pay for the use of the images. Does the copyright on an image last hundreds of years?"

Comment universidad de chile (Score 1) 386

while working on my B.S. at johns hopkins, i spent the year 98-99 at the engineering college ("beaucheff") of the university of chile in santiago. this is the country's premier technical school. the curriculum was quite rigorous, and i studied with some very serious professors including the current head of yahoo! research in spain and the director of the chilean council on nuclear power. lectures and projects are in spanish, textbooks are in english. like anywhere, the bureaucracy was a challenge. it comes recommended because i had a hell of a year.

Comment superpowers (Score 1) 1540

non-windows users hate microsoft. non-US citizens hate the US. coincidence? i think it's impossible for a sole superpower to be well-liked. their actions are extra scrutinized and they are held to higher standards. so both microsoft and the US suck, according to best practices. they are doing pretty well according to looser "good" practices.
 
The Almighty Buck

Richest 2% Own Half the World's Wealth 1330

kop writes "The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of all household wealth, according to a new study by a United Nations research institute. Most previous studies of economic disparity have looked at income, whereas this one looks at wealth — assets minus debts. The survey is based on data for the year 2000. Many figures, especially for developing countries, have had to be estimated. Nonetheless, the authors say it is the most comprehensive study of personal wealth ever undertaken." The study itself is available from the World Institute for Development Economics Research.

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