September 29, 2008
Graduate School
I recently started my application for graduate school (again), this time with North Carolina State University [ncsu.edu]. I chose them because they offer an all online Masters degree for Computer Engineering. Sure there were other choices (namely Purdue), but NCSU had the right combination.
- Cheaper
- Less classes
The first point (cheaper) is because their classes are all 3 credits at 700 USD / credit, so 2100 USD per class. Compared to other schools, Purdue for example, where credits are 875 USD / credit or 2625 USD per class. Right off the bat that's a savings of 525 USD per class; spread that over 30 credits (10 classes) and you're looking at a difference of 5250 USD.
The second point (less classes) is important to me because I really don't want to still be doing this in 5 years. Some schools, Drexel for example, require 15 classes or 45 credits for a Master's degree. True they are only 10 week classes, but they charge 875 USD / credit.
The discrepancies in pricing between universities has me wondering if you're just paying for the name or are you paying for the education? The answer, of course, is that it depends on the school. I learned more about fuzzy math and combinatorics are SUNY IT than I think I would have at Syracuse, but the Real Time Systems class I took at SUNY was par with my undergrad classes. Hopefully NCSU will live up to my expectations.
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March 14, 2008
Update: next.yahoo.com
It looks like next.yahoo.com [yahoo.com] has been updated and redirects you to next.yahoo.net. It looks like some sort of design group either working with or for Yahoo. Here's what the site says it is:
* * Tasty bits of hacker goodness
* * A steady stream of small delights
* * Ideas, experiments and the people behind them
Posted by Guy at 08:23 AM | Permalink
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February 11, 2008
WTF Facebook?
After being bombarded with friend requests on MySpace for obvious spam accounts I pretty much stopped using it. Now I'm all into Facebook, but tonight I got a Friend request from someone I (or any of my friends) didn't know. Okay, so I checked out their profile and wouldn't you know...Check out my 18+ pictures...
What a PITA! I hope Facebook fixes this soon or at least comes up with a better solution than MySpace. Actually almost any solution is better than MySpace's.
Posted by Guy at 09:14 PM | Permalink
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January 13, 2008
Tata Unveils 1 lakh Car
The $2500 Tata Nano, Unveiled in India [jalopnik.com]: I just back from India today and there was mixed emotion about this. Some people are excited about being able to buy a cheap vehicle that gets great gas mileage. Others, mostly the middle class who already have cars, are kind of pissed because the roads are already crowded with people, rickshaws and cows/goats. This is probably only going to exacerbate the existing situation.
Also, 1 lakh (Rs. 100,000, also known as Indian Rupees, INR) is not necessarily 2500 USD. The exchange rate I was quoted was 1 USD = 38.50 INR, which comes out to more like 2600 USD. Sure it's only 100 USD, but I'm a stickler for details.
Posted by Guy at 09:12 PM | Permalink
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October 15, 2007
Bubble 2.0?
Bubble 2.0 Coming Soon [pcmag.com]: I call BS on some of those "bubble contributions", search is mundane, come on. Also, IMHO companies aren't making the same sorts of promises, IPO-ing without any product or service and are (on the whole) more business savvy than the nuttiness that accompanied the dot-com bubble. I'm not saying it's not the beginning of a bubble or not, just that it doesn't matter much. Despite the failures of the dot-com bubble there were some world changing successes (Amazon, eBay, etc) too.
Posted by Guy at 06:42 PM | Permalink
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September 24, 2007
Something New From Yahoo?
Every once and a while I troll the new technology and "lab" sites of the major players (MS, Google, Yahoo, etc) keeping an eye out for what's new. Today I ran into this from Yahoo! [yahoo.com]
Posted by Guy at 07:07 PM | Permalink
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September 17, 2007
Instant Technology
I was in the car today thinking about consequences of time travel. Assuming that all things can be worked out or created given a sufficient amount of time it can be argued that a consequence of time travel (even one way) could result in (what I'm terming) Instant Technology. For example, I want some basic research done that enabled me to create a solid state battery that can be recharged via solar power with an efficiency of 90%. This would take a long time using conventional research methods, but if I could send someone (or a team) back in time to perform the research for me then it wouldn't matter because I could have the research completed instantaneously after I sent them back (or before). Even if they couldn't complete the research in time for my deadline they could just go back again and continue their work.
This thinking could be applied to lots of different areas and eventually we would all probably end up dieing at some lunatic's hands. Another example, apply the same principal to generating weapons. I need 100 nuclear warheads, send back the required personnel, let them acquire the raw materials, build the warheads and stash them somewhere where I could pick them up. Bam! Instant nuclear arsenal.
There are some other interesting applications of this thinking also. Consider this applied to computing, instant unlimited computational power. Consider this applied to food, instant field of grain. And so on.
It's really all in the eye of the beholder though because these things aren't "instant" for the people doing them. They have effectively sacrificed their lives for someone else's "instant" gratification. Could it be for the greater good, sure, but it could just as easily be for nefarious purposes.
Posted by Guy at 06:53 AM | Permalink
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