mattquinn

Definitely avoid Joomla if you can. I've been maintaining a Joomla site since 2009, and I can't update any of the core components because it would break too many plugins for which there are no newer, compatible versions.

I'm building a replacement for that site right now using Rails. If that's not an option, go with Wordpress.

As if this speaks for all start-ups. Look, if you don't value time away from business or if you ascribe significant meaning to the results of an A/B test, you should sit down and think very hard about the world around you.

With regard to this specific article: this guy needs to realize that there's many, many fascinating aspects of life outside of the data entry business.

I've used Knockout for two applications and it's great; MVVM is definitely more relevant for JS web applications than MVC in many, tho not all, cases.

No dude, think about what you're saying. The idea you've presented isn't a solution at all. Simply stating your desire to get rid of TV commercials without explaining how to do it is not a solution.

"Now, I’m going to throw something out there that might seem kind of crazy."

You managed to write a blog post that hypes up your proposed solution to "hacking" TV...then don't even have a solution? You suggested that we get rid of commercials. That's not a solution, that's an idea everyone's had at some point.

Advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry and is an inherent facet of capitalism that can't just be "hacked" out of TV, whatever that means.

The publication date was August 4, 1993. Not to say it's irrelevant, but alot has changed since then.

We are all going to disagree about how much tech is too much in education. On the other hand, very few disagree that tech has no place in hospitals, the enterprise, supply chain management, etc. That alone illustrates to me how ridiculous it is to treat education as a space needing a "reset."

> "He suggested that teachers design what interactions take place..."

This is exactly my point. Those who work with software/tech/etc often trivialize the relationship between software and people who hold completely different societal roles. No matter how intuitive you make an application, no matter how effective you seem to think your application enhances learning, there will always be a vast number of people (in this case, teachers) who have not the time, nor the desire, to "design" a set of "interactions" for their student.

Are there effective teaching aids available for tablets? Yes. Does that translate to a need for technology-guided learning in more aspects of education? Absolutely not.

The OP talks about "a complete reset on education with technology at its core." I stand by my point; this is a dangerous idea. And you don't have to believe me, most any teacher will tell you this is a bad idea. Teacher flexibility and intuition is (usually) right; software isn't going to magically determine a child's academic strengths and weaknesses.

Education is not some cookie-cutter problem you can fix with a well-designed app.

I have a lot of issues with what you just posted. Perhaps the biggest is enforcing a division between "best teachers" and "run-of-the-mill teachers" into a corporate project management of sorts. I'm not sure where you work, but just imagine if someone deemed you a "run-of-the-mill" employee and relegated you to watching people interact with tablets all day.

Some areas of life require a delicate moderation of technology, and education is one of them. Anyone who drools over education as a "start-up opportunity" likely hasn't done their research.

When you say "IT in higher ed", are you referring to personal experience? That's a pretty specific domain, just wanted to know if you have any specific anecdotes.

Actually, what I'm working on involves both front-end and back-end. I've got a UI that trades data back and forth with a web service endpoint called Integration Broker within PeopleSoft. I'm focused on enrollment right now, and currently I've got a system that allows me to enroll in classes using the new UI on a live PeopleSoft install - all without touching/modifying the business logic in the delivered vanilla PeopleSoft implementation.

Re. the PeopleSoft copy - Oracle provides all of their software (and master license codes) for download for evaluation purposes through a portal called eDelivery. I had to read a few hundred pages of documentation, but after a month I was able to get all the components to talk together. I'm trying to convince Oracle to give me a non-support license so I can cover myself legally, but I'm getting the silent treatment since it's just me and I don't have the budget of a CTO lol.

Seconded. The university I'm attending uses PeopleSoft (acquired by Oracle) as their ERP system, and it's horrendous. Not a week goes by where I don't hear students and faculty members openly complain about it.

I've got a live PeopleSoft installation running on a server in my apartment that I'm outfitting with code to do exactly what you mentioned - split out the back-end from the front-end. So far it's going brilliantly - for some sadistic reason, I enjoy trying to reduce the complexities of these applications.

Then how in the world do you ever expect to launch it in the first place? This kind of attitude always perplexes me - if your solution to a problem is excellent, there will be little incentive for others to copy it.

The only person who knows enough info to make this decision is you; as a university student myself, I understand your dilemma.

I will say that the fact that you're only making $9/hour at a company that's supposedly about to go big is a huge red flag. If you've made as many contributions as you say you have, then there's something very wrong. Either you have failed to negotiate fair compensation for yourself, or the company is banking that you will continue to break your back for the chance to go big.

The last time I made $9/hour was hauling bags of salt at a retail warehouse selling pools. If I were you, I'd go back to school. $9/hour is not only unsustainable, but a serious red flag regarding how the company views their relationship with you.

"If society tells you to go kill somebody and you do, you can't be a sociopath."

...what? I'm at a loss for words on this one. Just because society - a large, faceless group prone to rallying around propaganda and emotional bandwagons - embraces a cause, doesn't mean it's acceptable by default to kill in the name of that cause.

And it certainly doesn't mean you're not a sociopath.

You can't possibly compare biotech to the computing industry in terms of where accessibility to the former is headed. Equipment costs may go down and education may become more accessible in biotech, but the risks to humans and property associated with running an entire lab will ensure access to non-trivial equipment and materials is granted only to those who are capable.

> "Most of them are "simple" engineers well versed in current "technologies" but are uninterested or unable to break new frontiers".

I'm glad you said this because I feel as if it needs to be reiterated much more often. I'm a CS student right now, and a lot of times I look around and see my university's CS program as a factory designed to turn out by-the-book software engineers fit for corporate consumption.

I really enjoy CS, but here's my anecdote: the other day I got a chance to tour a microfabrication lab, with tons of expensive equipment and a lot of knowledgeable people milling about (who I'm sure were nervous with us being there). That really instilled an appreciation of the complexities involved with real, true innovation. I love writing software, but I won't do it forever, because the vast majority of true innovation really does require a deep understanding of scientific foundations.

Also: the guy who showed us around worked for Bell Labs for awhile before coming to the university where I'm studying. His one pre-condition for accepting the university job: the $2 million, room-size, laser-equipped system that he built for detecting flaws in silicon wafers had to come with him.

Science isn't a finite spectrum, so of course there's much to be done in all fields. But this article specifically laments the fact that the term "innovation" is no longer strongly associated with substantive breakthroughs in relatively unknown areas.

Bell Labs pioneered many practical applications of microscience; nanoscience is the next level down that remains vastly unexplored and has very few practical applications associated with it (yet).

"Regrettably, we now use ["innovation"] to describe almost anything. It can describe a smartphone app or a social media tool; or it can describe the transistor or the blueprint for a cellphone system. The differences are immense."

I cannot agree with this more. We may not be able to re-create the environment of Bell Labs, but I'm hoping to see more in terms of actual science (and it will be at the nano-scale) in the future, rather than seeing so many people create yet another social app, claiming that it's "revolutionizing" an industry.

L) Start dating her/his best friend.

Instead of worrying about trivial things like this, how about you focus on actually making your site/product available? The number of ppl these days who equate "launching" with only putting up a sign-up form (or launchrock page) is ridiculous.

GitX is good (and free), but if you're looking for the best Git client for Mac, without a doubt it's Tower (http://www.git-tower.com/).

Me: 20, male. Google Infers: 65+, male.

not sure how to take that...

Didn't expect to see familiar photos when I visited the site, I'm a 3rd-year at UVA right now. Sick site man, and for an excellent cause.

Only thing I can see is a Launchrock template and dysfunctional navbar links that don't actually take me to any informative pages...

I also vividly remember when Greenspan stepped down - the government and the media was effusive in praising the guy. For an area of study that stresses the importance of lagging indicators, most economists were content with immediately solidifying Greenspan's legacy. Looking back on that period of calm before the storm is really interesting.

Based on the transcripts, we need more innovative thinking in all walks of life, not just technology/software/etc. Economic forecasting will always have a large degree of uncertainty involved, but the frivolity with which the Fed approached the unusual signs of an aberration in the housing market shows that the Fed provided commentary on the crisis as it unfolded instead of taking action.

Money and college students always mix well, but it doesn't apply to events like this, which classify as thinly veiled marketing, however informative they may end up being.

Even if you pay ppl $15 to sit for an hour, it won't be worth it to you or the startups involved. Why? Because 70% of that audience would be people who would've come out of interest even if you paid them nothing. The other 30% would be ppl in it solely for the money, texting friends or on Facebook.

I trust you've seen the attention span of students during a lecture - the ratio of interested to distracted is even worse. Money doesn't necessarily trump other factors like basic interest level.

This article makes sweeping generalizations about what consumers want and how they react to stellar service. The majority of consumers may value painless and rapid service the most, but in the end, delighting your customers will usually win you a handful of evangelists and PR karma that no ad campaign can accomplish.

As a college student myself, I see/hear many variations of this idea all the time from people. My reaction is the same every time: you are competing for students' time, and they have barely any discretionary amount of it that they'd be willing to spend on things like this. College students eat, sleep, drink, socialize, have jobs, and occasionally study. I'm not sure why people think students will make time for attending product demos and experimenting with new products.

CTY was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this article submission. I took the spatial test back in middle school and it was fairly difficult, but that's what's to love about CTY - they make everything challenging to get a true understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. K-12 and higher education could do worse than to mirror some of the aspects of CTY.