Interesting new facebook ui

Here we’re covering Arrays & Objects. I’m also testing out the some code display plugin for Live Writer. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than no color.

---

Arrays

Arrays are a typical programming paradigm. It allows us to store multiple values into one variable, usually the values are related in some way or another. Let’s say we want to store a list of our grades for a particular class:

Part 4. For some odd reason, editing my posts via wordpress isn't quite working...

Firefox 3.5 is here. Don't know if it'll replace my chrome though...

Adobe Systems has shut its North American operations for the week as part of a cost-cutting effort that the company said it will repeat at least once more this year. The San Jose software company, which makes editing, graphic design and Web development tools, said the shutdowns are part of a larger effort to control costs in the face of a global recession. Adobe's sales have declined for the last two quarters, although it still reported $126.1 million in profit on $704.7 million in revenue for the quarter that ended May 29.

NYTimes and Wikipedia Save Reporter’s Life By NOT Reporting On His Capture

88 Comments

by Guest Author on June 28, 2009

This post was written by Gagan Biyani.

Earlier last week, New York Times reporter David Rohde escaped from a Taliban prison. He had been a Taliban hostage for the last seven months, but the general public had absolutely no clue. In a joint effort by The New York Times and Wikipedia, the story was kept quiet until his daring escape.

In November 2008, Rohde was captured and held hostage by the Taliban, along with a local reporter, Tahir Ludin, and their driver, Asadullah Mangal. But until he managed to escape, most of the general public had absolutely no clue. To prevent Rohde’s value in the eyes of his captors from rising, the New York Times kept more than 35 major news organizations from reporting on the story. They believed that the publicity from reporting his capture would inflate the value of Rohde’s life, increasing the difficulty of negotiating for Rohde’s release. Keeping 35 news organizations quiet was actually not the hard part - but staving off Wikipedia users from publishing the news? That was a bit trickier.

Through an elaborate and ongoing battle between Wikipedia editors and an anonymous contributor from Florida, the New York Times and the Wikipedia Foundation managed to keep the story quiet. For seven months, Wikipedia editors were in a constant back-and-forth with this user to delete news of Rohde’s capture off of the site. They were unable to contact the user directly, as s/he was anonymously posting on Wikipedia, and thus could not explain to the user why they were trying to keep the news quiet. Infuriated, the user threw insults at the editors who were deleting his addition, and blindly continued their futile fight.

All of this ended when Rohde and Ludin managed to climb over a wall and escape the Taliban’s clenches. In an interesting twist, the driver chose to join the Taliban and thus stayed behind, according to Rohde. This is a truly inspiring story, and the efforts of the Wikipedia editors and the New York Times are beyond laudable. In a recent tweet, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said that preventing the news from breaking may have saved his life. Regardless of the merits of this comment, it made Rohde’s escape more likely, and was a downright impressive feat of coordination by all parties involved.

Very impressive

Before I continue this article, I’ll emphasize that I’m open to comments and corrections. I apologize if I don’t get back to you, I have a job with a long commute times (~2 hours), but I do read them. And now back to your program…

Part 3 for my JavaScript tutorial (I keep forgetting to share these)

The data seems pretty clear. Prior to June 8th we have a fairly low adoption rate of ~3%. Starting on June 9 this jumps up to 6-8%, which can be directly tracked to the developer release at WWDC. Starting on June 17th we get a huge jump as all the non devs start upgrading. We’re currently running at an overall 75% upgrade rate which is pretty insane considering the number of devices and the fact that its only been 5 days.

Overall Upgrade Rates

This graph adds up both the iPhone and iPod devices and just measures overall upgrade rate for both devices.

iPhone Upgrade Rate

Given how many more iPhone devices there are vs iPod Touches it isn’t very surprising that this graph looks fairly similar to the Overall graph. The iPhone upgrade rate is a bit higher then the overall rate, currently sitting at 79%.

iPod Touch Upgrade Rate

This is somewhat more interesting and shows the impact of that annoying $10 fee that Apple charges for upgrades. While the iPhone upgrade is almost 80% the iPod Touch has just passed 50%.

Nickel and diming Jason Jun 24

42 comments Latest by Happy

Over the years I’ve seen a lot of proposals from professional services firms. Designers, architects, lawyers, consultants, and others.

Many of them included a small price list at the end. Here’s one from a recent proposal I received from a landscape architect I’m considering hiring:

These nickel and dime items have always rubbed me the wrong way. I’m about to pay someone many thousands and they’re about to bill me $0.15 for a copy.

Plenty of people bitch about ATM fees, but these copy and print fees feel even more obscene to me. I recognize paper costs money and toner costs money and machines cost money, but come on – isn’t this just part of the cost of doing business? It feels like they’d charge for bandwidth used to email you a file if they were sophisticated enough to track it.

Further, many of these professional services get annoyed when their clients cut back budgets or say they can’t afford this or that. But then the professional services themselves pinch pennies even tighter by trying to pass the cost of a piece of paper on to their client. The disconnect couldn’t be more obvious.

I can’t recall if I’ve ever actually been billed for any of these items, but it just seems unnecessary. Perhaps they are worried about clients that require thousands of pages or hundreds of plots. If that’s the case, ok – how about saying “After 100 copies, we will bill $0.15/copy” or something like that. Absorb the routine costs and bill the excessive costs. That feels reasonable and respectful on both sides.

At the end of the day another $15 here or $36 there isn’t going to break a client’s bank, and complaining about $0.15 feels petty – and in some ways it is – but these nickel and dime fees put up a sign that says “we’re passing every little cost on to you, no matter how insignificant.” That just doesn’t seem like the right way to start a business relationship.

Credit-risk scores: These are the credit scores most of us know. The leading credit score, the FICO, was created by Fair Isaac and ranges from 300 to 850, with scores over 700 generally considered to be low risk.

Response score: This score predicts the likelihood a consumer will respond to an offer of credit, such as a new card or a balance transfer offer. Credit card issuers use response scores to decide whom to target and how to customize offers to appeal to particular consumers, said Chisoo Lyons, vice president for analytic research at Fair Isaac, which created the leading FICO credit score as well as many other scoring formulas.

Video on MSN Money

Boost your credit scores
You need to have great credit to take advantage of today's lower interest rates. MSN Money's Liz Pulliam Weston shares some of her favorite tips.

Application score: This score scoops up data from your credit application that's not included in your credit scores, said Ulzheimer, who worked for Fair Isaac and for credit bureau Equifax before joining Credit.com. That data include how much you earn, how long you've lived at your current address and how long you've worked for your current employer. Application scores are typically used in combination with other scores, such as credit and bankruptcy scores, to determine whether to open the account, what rate to give and how much credit to extend.

Bankruptcy score: Credit scores typically predict the chance you'll miss a payment in the next two years. Bankruptcy scores predict the likelihood you'll throw in the towel on your debt entirely and file for Chapter 7 liquidation or a Chapter 13 repayment plan, said David Rubinger, spokesman for credit bureau Equifax, which produces the leading Bankruptcy Navigator Index or BNI. BNIs range from 1 to 300, with the higher the score, the lower the predicted risk. Most lenders use both credit scores and bankruptcy scores, Ulzheimer said, to help assess the risk that you won't pay.

Revenue score: Lenders want to maximize the profitability of each account, and one way they do that is to gauge how much money each account is likely to generate.

Continued: 4 more scores

Attrition-risk score: Attrition risk refers to the likelihood a user will stop using a card, and attrition-risk scores are typically used in combination with other scores to determine what to do next if you look ready to bolt. If your account generates a lot of revenue and is deemed at low risk for default or bankruptcy, for example, the issuer might aggressively try to keep your business by jacking up your credit limit, lowering your rate and pelting you with convenience checks. If your account isn't that profitable or is deemed risky, on the other hand, the issuer might just let you go.

Behavior score: Credit scores provide a snapshot of how a consumer is handling all of his or her credit accounts. Behavior scores, by contrast, typically focus on a single account (the one you have with that particular creditor) but take in a broad view. Does the user pay off her bills every month, carry a balance occasionally or frequently pay only the minimums on her cards? That information typically isn't available on a credit report, but is contained in the issuer's databases, along with other data that helps the score describe how she handles her account. A behavior score might be used in conjunction with other scores, such as credit or bankruptcy scores, to decide whether an overdue payment is an aberration (maybe he's traveling?) or a sign of impending financial crisis (maybe we should call the consumer today and find out what's going on).

Transaction score: These are the scores run each time you use your plastic to determine whether the transaction should be approved. Issuers are typically looking for signs the transaction might be fraudulent, but transaction data can be used in other ways as well (more on that in a minute).

Collection score: You've failed to pay for long enough that your card has been turned over to a collection agency. These agencies use collection scores to assess the likelihood that you'll be able to pay them and sort their list of debtors accordingly. Collection agencies watch for all kinds of evidence that your financial situation may be improving, Ulzheimer said, from better credit scores to another collector's account suddenly being reset to 0, indicating it's been paid off.If, on the other hand, your credit is in the dumps or the amount involved is small, the collection agency may make minimal effort.

"Why spend time and effort to track you down if you're not likely to pay?" Ulzheimer said. "Probably the most cost-effective (tactic) is to write you a letter, put it on your credit report and wait for you to call them."

Doctors Baffled, Intrigued by Girl Who Doesn't Age

Years Pass, but Brooke Greenberg Remains a Toddler. No One Can Explain How or Why.