Category Archives: Technology

UPDATE II: A Statistic That Tells A Lot About America’s Youth (Deifying Kids)

Economy, Education, Etiquette, Family, Labor, Technology

I’ve said it often: “The millennial generation will be another nail in the coffin of flailing American productivity.”

Via the senior producer at Varney & Co (Jake Novak) comes this startling statistic: “70 percent of all the jobs filled since Jan. 2010 have been filled by people 55 and older.”

Imparted in “Your Kids: Dumb, Difficult And Dispensable,” what I’ve gleaned from my sources in the high-tech industry, by way of an example, is that this “workforce—comprised as it is of local and outsourced talent—is manned, generally, by older people with advanced engineering degrees. The hi-tech endeavor is all about (older) Americans and Asians uniting to supply young, twittering twits with the playthings that keep their brainwaves from flatlining.”

UPDATE I (9/27): Deifying Kids. Excellent point is made by Tim Malone, on the Facebook thread. How often does one meet upstanding middle-aged parents, and in waltzes The Kid, who bears no resemblance to the parents in terms of manners, work ethic, alertness, etc. Malone makes the best point ever, and that what must be implicated is liberal (and I include most conservatives here, other than hardcore homeschoolers) progressive, child-centered upbringing, in which the parent cowers before the deity, The Child. Moreover, I so often see hardworking parents who seem to think that making the child learn what they do (be it bird-keeping or working on car engines) is below the miserable child’s dignity. Why do you think “your teenager can’t use a hammer”?

UPDATE II: Thanks to his old-school dad, who insisted that he hang out in the garage, doing every single thing the old man did there—from fine wood-work to fixing plumbing and installing window frames—my old man does everything in the house. Saves tons of money; is done to perfection, but it does mean that renovations take years. So what? Check out “the shower that Sean built,” his first tiling job ever:

UPDATE II: SURFACE By Microsoft (Leaves The Idiot Pad In the Dust)

America, Business, Human Accomplishment, Technology

At 15:14 into the unveiling of the Microsoft Surface tablet, Windows chief Steven Sinofsky says that Surface “provides the best WiFi reception of any tablet today.” The Surface’s dual Wi-Fi (“wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections”) antennae are the part My Contact in the bowels of the beast nailed.

Well done, genius.

Congratulations to all for bringing to market this “well-designed, very cool” product, over which industry experts are already gushing: It goes “toe to toe” with Apple’s iPad, says one, and even bests it (as “it runs as a full computer,” and sports a physical keyboard), says another.

Although I’ve been kept in the dark until now, I’m looking forward to receiving one of these as soon as possible. What piques my interest in that the Surface is a transportable PC, a facility the idiot Pad never offered. (I don’t need mindless entertainment; I want the ability to transport my work wherever I go, without the burdens imposed by a cumbersome laptop.)

UPDATE I (June 20): This is the stuff that makes one patriotic, right guys? American-coordinated ingenuity (with wise division of labor, naturally). Damn straight. (Wives are always kept in the dark … but, all I can say is that they deserve a medal. What a marathon effort The Surface has been.)

And, as someone who has never been tempted by the Idiot Pad: Yes, my instincts, on seeing what this thing accomplishes were very much, “This is a good fit for me.” And it has a keyboard and the easy ability to use a mouse with it, as opposed to the frenetic finger f-ck the traditional laptop requires.

UPDATE II (June 21): In this context, and on a personal note, the pressure of the effort above over months has had some unexpected consequences. (I heard it said that in the US there are two types of engineers: overworked or unemployed. A tough economy would indeed force increases in productivity: fewer and fewer workers are doing more and more of work.) The upshot: My husband has come down with pneumonia. I will be taking some time to look after him (and hoping to remain uninfected).

THE WND COLUMN will resume next week. RT will be featuring a golden oldie. Make sure you Click to Like, Share and Tweet it.

Keeping The Competition OUT

EU, Free Markets, Internet, Regulation, Socialism, Taxation, Technology, The State

Under the guise of upholding a fair and free-market order, uncompetitive companies, given the option, will petition centrist establishments to regulate the market. This kneecaps the competition and ensures the lobbyists retain ‘market share’ without having to compete for it. This is what ETNO is doing.

“The ETNO,” informs RT, “is made up of telecommunication companies including Swisscom and Spain’s Telefonica that are well-established in nearly three dozen European countries.” The ETNO’s Executive Board, which is a European-based lobby group, “has asked the United Nations to tax American websites that provide services abroad.”

In December, the leak reveals, the European Telecommunications Network Operators Association (ETNO) approached the United Nations with a proposal that would outline a restructuring of the Internet’s business model when taking into account Web entities with an international presence. If approved, the legislation would tax American-based content providers — such as Apple, Google and Netflix — for offering services to customers overseas. Should they get their wish, the ETNO might soon usher in some serious revisions for the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITR), a legislation that deals with cross-border communications traffic that has remained untouched since its last revision in 1988.


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Microsoft Previews Windows 8 OS

Free Markets, Internet, Outsourcing, Private Property, Science, Technology

News comes that “Microsoft has launched the most complete preview yet of its forthcoming Windows 8 operating system.” Is that good or bad? I live with a Microsofty who tries to defend the Machine as best he can. Yet, I dread each and every improvement in this indispensable technology.

I’m just a simple user; not a designer. And each and every “improvement” seems to come with added complexity.

To me, a technological “improvement” means ease of operation. I long to go back several revisions of Microsoft Word and Outlook. I swear; each and every function I once achieved with one or two clicks of the mouse, now takes nine. I’ve even documented a bug or two, which, when challenged on, my better half smiles and walks away.

This weekend we were forced to replace the home’s telephones. (The free market is fabulous. Most Americans can afford a few “telephones.”) The lines kept crackling. It turns out the noise was not the fault of the old, trusted telephones, answering and fax machines.

The upshot of the improved technology: Whereas I was once able to press a single button, and by so doing activate the answering message; I now must click through a whole process to get the same result.

I am told that this added complexity and inconvenience is due to cheap innards. Extant hardware must be made to carry as much programming as possible. Designing for customer comfort is secondary to the price of the components.

Ultimately, each time I accidentally click to update my browser or any other of the things I use to function online, I dread the complexity that will ensue.

Some things are best kept simple. Technology is one such thing.