Search Results

Search found 8465 results on 339 pages for '40 love'.

Page 196/339 | < Previous Page | 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203  | Next Page >

  • Super Secret Door Top Stash Hides Your Flash Drive and Cash [DIY]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Everyone needs a bit of spy-guy fun in their lives (or at least a way to hide your Sailor Moon photo collection from everyone). This clever and extremely well hidden DIY stash puts your contraband inside a door. At Make Projects, the user-contributed project blog at Make magazine, Sean Michael Ragan shares a really stealthy way to hide stuff–stashing it inside the top of the door stop. You’ll need some power tools like a drill, files, and a countersink, as well as a cigar tube for the body of your hidden drop. When you’re done you’ll have an extremely well hidden stash in a place that next to nobody would think to look–inside the top of a door. Hit up the link for a picture-filled step-by-step guide to building your own stash. Door Top Stash [Make Projects] HTG Explains: What Are Character Encodings and How Do They Differ?How To Make Disposable Sleeves for Your In-Ear MonitorsMacs Don’t Make You Creative! So Why Do Artists Really Love Apple?

    Read the article

  • How a graphic designer can get into game programming?

    - by Robert Valdez
    I'm a graphic design student hoping to pursue a career as a video game artist. However, I want to do some game development as a hobby. I'd like to develop games for the desktop or mobile phones. The only programming experience I have is that I took an intro to programming with java class in which I learned how to make web applets using java's swing library. It was awful. I think the only things I took from the class was what OOP is and how to work with variables and data types and some methods. I also learned some actionscript myself which was fun unfortunately my flash tutorial expired and it's too expensive to buy;( What I was looking to do is learn one programming language and build a game with it without having to go through so many hoops and with minimum cost. If it's possible. I would love to learn C++, but I read it's not best for a beginning programmer. What programming languages or maybe software kits/platforms would you recommend?

    Read the article

  • Contract-Popup at Login

    - by Steve
    I want to give my notebook to guests of my little Hotel as an extra service. I love the Ubuntu guest-account and I think that this is the best possible way to help my guests get free internet-access. I found out how to "design" their user-accounts with /etc/skel, but unfortunately I have no clue, how to show them a small introduction to the system and a kind of user-agreement "contract" when they login. I read of xmessage, but this is too minimalistic. I'd like to implement some pictures. Does anyone have any idea of how to make this possible? Would it be possible that the user is logged out automatically if he rejects the user-agreement? Thank you so much in advance, Steve.

    Read the article

  • How essential is it to make a service layer?

    - by BornToCode
    I started building an app in 3 layers (DAL, BL, UI) [it mainly handles CRM, some sales reports and inventory]. A colleague told me that I must move to service layer pattern, that developers came to service pattern from their experience and it is the better approach to design most applications. He said it would be much easier to maintain the application in the future that way. Personally, I get the feeling that it's just making things more complex and I couldn't see much of a benefit from it that would justify that. This app does have an additional small partial ui that uses some (but only few) of the desktop application functions so I did find myself duplicating some code (but not much). Just because of some code duplication I wouldn't convert it to be service oriented, but he said I should use it anyway because in general it's a very good architecture, why programmers are so in love with services?? I tried to google on it but I'm still confused and can't decide what to do.

    Read the article

  • Why doesn't Microsoft support virtualizing a Server OS on Windows 7?

    - by Nathan DeWitt
    Microsoft doesn't support any server operating systems in Windows Virtual PC. Virtual Server 2005 doesn't run on Windows 7. Hyper-V is great, but I don't want to run Server 2008 as my main OS, and I love having Windows 7 run on the bare metal. I don't want to mess around with a dual boot. My only option to continue developing in Windows 7 with a virtual server environment on hand is VMWare or VirtualBox. Other members in my team use Hyper-V, and VHDs are common. I'd prefer to be able to use their VHDs, so that leaves me VirtualBox. Does anyone know if Microsoft is planning on bringing server virtualization back to the workstation?

    Read the article

  • How to improve programming skills?

    - by Mike
    I'm very new to programming. I started learning PHP about half a year ago, so I do know something. I can write small functions, I can export and import information from a database and I can make a website. I don't know OOP principles and I don't know about objects and classes. Should I move to OOP principles and learn about classes, methods and objects? If not, what should I do? Continue writing simple code? How can a programmer write his/her own API? Is OOP necessary to do this? So how can i improve my skills? I love programming. I spend my 24/7 on it, so any help will be appreciated.

    Read the article

  • How-do-I Script Sample Videos

    - by Jialiang
    http://blogs.technet.com/b/onescript/archive/2012/10/14/how-do-i-script-sample-videos.aspx All-In-One Script Framework is featured by customer-driven script samples.  Each sample demonstrates how to automate one specific IT task that is frequently asked in TechNet forums, Microsoft support calls, and social media.   In order to give readers a better and quicker learning experience, the team starts to create short 5- to 10- minute videos to visually demonstrate some script samples.  These videos would show you how to accomplish the task by running the script sample, and illustrate some key script snippets in the sample project.  We sincerely hope that the IT Pro community will love our effort. The first how-do-I video has been published.  It demonstrates one of our recently released Windows 8 script sample: Get Network Adapter Properties in Windows 8 The video is embedded in the sample introduction page.

    Read the article

  • What is the best way to implement paginated text editing in Python?

    - by W.F
    I'm trying to build a formatted text editor in python. I need the editor to be paginated on edit mode. Same as in all popular word processors - when the user is editing the document what he/she sees is a representation of the actual, physical, page. I've tried looking into PySide but I can't find any ready solution to this, nor I can work out a way to do it myself. I am totally open to new technologies, so if you think Python is not the right choice here I would love to hear about new stuff (especially when I'm this new to UI coding). It only needs to be cross-platform and let me do rapid development (hence me looking for an out-of-the-box solution to this). Please suggest the best way to implement this. Please also note that I am looking for either a ready solution or an advice on how to tackle this. Thank you very much !

    Read the article

  • How do I get the Touchpad Settings working on a Dell XPS 13" Ultrabook?

    - by Dennis Wisnia
    Today I got an brand new Dell XPS 13 and I really like it. Wifi/Bluetooth/Brightness works very well. But only the Touchpad makes me insane. Okay, Multitouch is really nice and i love it on my Macbook but... i must click to click. How can I set up that is an "touch" to click? Its makes me insane. click, click, click.. Can I configure it? Update: I checked the proc/devices and got: I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0005 Version=0000 N: Name="ImPS/2 Generic Wheel Mouse" P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0 S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input11 U: Uniq= H: Handlers=mouse0 event11 B: PROP=0 B: EV=7 B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 B: REL=103 Its really bad - and anyone have an Idea that Ubuntu thinks that is an Touchpad??

    Read the article

  • Upgrade or replace a Wubi installation?

    - by Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    I've got Windows 7 with Wubi 11.10 installed. I would like to upgrade to 12.04 but I'm not sure what the best path would be. I'm not skilled enough to use Ubuntu all the time, and my iPhone requires me to run some Windows version for the damn iTunes software. I would love to run Windows XP but I can't figure out how to install it via USB -- my computer has no cd drive. I'd like to run Windows XP and Wubi 12.04 on top of that. Or, perhaps, Ubuntu 12.04 natively and Windows XP alongside of that. So I guess I have 2 questions: (lazy) Should I upgrade my Wubi from inside Ubuntu, or should I remove Wubi 11.10 from within Windows and install a brand new Wubi 12.04? (proper) How can I install Windows XP and Ubuntu 12.04 alongside each other? Update: I am going to create a separate question post about the above #2 question... I realize it's wrong to ask two questions in one post when they are that different.

    Read the article

  • Are you aware of any client-side malware that sends lots of junk requests for .gifs?

    - by Matt Sherman
    I am getting dozens of 404 errors on my site that are requests for gif's with apparently random names, like 4273uaqa.gif and 5pwowlag.gif. I see that most of them are coming from one user. I assume something is happening in the background on her machine without her knowledge -- a malware thing on the client. Have you seen this behavior before, and do you know what sort of malware might cause it? Would love to advise my customer that s/he has an issue. I'd also like to stop getting these 404 reports. (reposted from main Stack Overflow)

    Read the article

  • SQLIO Writes

    - by Grant Fritchey
    SQLIO is a fantastic utility for testing the abilities of the disks in your system. It has a very unfortunate name though, since it's not really a SQL Server testing utility at all. It really is a disk utility. They ought to call it DiskIO because they'd get more people using I think. Anyway, branding is not the point of this blog post. Writes are the point of this blog post. SQLIO works by slamming your disk. It performs as mean reads as it can or it performs as many writes as it can depending on how you've configured your tests. There are much smarter people than me who will get into all the various types of tests you should run. I'd suggest reading a bit of what Jonathan Kehayias (blog|twitter) has to say or wade into Denny Cherry's (blog|twitter) work. They're going to do a better job than I can describing all the benefits and mechanisms around using this excellent piece of software. My concerns are very focused. I needed to set up a series of tests to see how well our product SQL Storage Compress worked. I wanted to know the effects it would have on a system, the disk for sure, but also memory and CPU. How to stress the system? SQLIO of course. But when I set it up and ran it, following the documentation that comes with it, I was seeing better than 99% compression on the files. Don't get me wrong. Our product is magnificent, wonderful, all things great and beautiful, gets you coffee in the morning and is made mostly from bacon. But 99% compression. No, it's not that good. So what's up? Well, it's the configuration. The default mechanism is to load up a file, something large that will overwhelm your disk cache. You're instructed to load the file with a character 0x0. I never got a computer science degree. I went to film school. Because of this, I didn't memorize ASCII tables so when I saw this, I thought it was zero's or something. Nope. It's NULL. That's right, you're making a very large file, but you're filling it with NULL values. That's actually ok when all you're testing is the disk sub-system. But, when you want to test a compression and decompression, that can be an issue. I got around this fairly quickly. Instead of generating a file filled with NULL values, I just copied a database file for my tests. And to test it with SQL Storage Compress, I used a database file that had already been run through compression (about 40% compression on that file if you're interested). Now the reads were taken care of. I am seeing very realistic performance from decompressing the information for reads through SQLIO. But what about writes? Well, the issue is, what does SQLIO write? I don't have access to the code. But I do have access to the results. I did two different tests, just to be sure of what I was seeing. First test, use the .DAT file as described in the documentation. I opened the .DAT file after I was done with SQLIO, using WordPad. Guess what? It's a giant file full of air. SQLIO writes NULL values. What does that do to compression? I did the test again on a copy of an uncompressed database file. Then I ran the original and the SQLIO modified copy through ZIP to see what happened. I got better than 99% compression out of the SQLIO modified file (original file of 624,896kb went to 275,871kb compressed, after SQLIO it went to 608kb compressed). So, what does SQLIO write? It writes air. If you're trying to test it with compression or maybe some other type of file storage mechanism like dedupe, you need to know this because your tests really won't be valid. Should I find some other mechanism for testing? Yeah, if all I'm interested in is establishing performance to my own satisfaction, yes. But, I want to be able to compare my results with other people's results and we all need to be using the same tool in order for that to happen. SQLIO is the common mechanism that most people I know use to establish disk performance behavior. It'd be better if we could get SQLIO to do writes in some other fashion. Oh, and before I go, I get to brag a bit. Measuring IOPS, SQL Storage Compress outperforms my disk alone by about 30%.

    Read the article

  • Getting to math applications gradually

    - by den-javamaniac
    I'm currently getting a formal degree related to computation, in particular my current focus is numerical programming, scientific computing and machine learning. I'd love to apply that knowledge in game dev and expand it with statistics, probability theory, and graph theory (probably even linear algebra). The question is: which spheres of gamedev are filled with such math stuff, is it possible to advance in those without being a part of a group of people and how to get to it gradually? P.S.: I've got experience with commercial java dev and am getting my hands on C/C++ at the moment, however, I'm opened to go ahead and try Unity3D and etc.

    Read the article

  • Webcor Builders Coordinates Construction Schedules and Mitigates Potential Delays More Efficiently with Integrated Project Management

    - by Sylvie MacKenzie, PMP
    Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} With more than 40 years of commercial construction experience, Webcor Builders is a leading builder of distinguished, high-profile projects, including high-rise condominiums and hotels, laboratories, healthcare centers, and public works projects. Webcor is also known for its award-winning concrete, interior construction, historic restoration, and seismic renovation work. The company has completed more than 50 million square feet of projects to date. Considering the variety and complexity of the construction projects Webcor undertakes, an integrated project management solution is critical to ensuring optimal efficiency and completing client projects on time and on budget. The company previously used a number of scheduling systems for its various building projects. These packages provided different levels of schedule detail and required schedulers, engineers, and other employees to learn multiple systems. From an IT cost and complexity perspective, the company had to manage multiple scheduling systems and pay for multiple sets of licenses. The company looked to standardize on an enterprise project management system, and selected Oracle’s Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management. Webcor uses the solution’s advanced capabilities to schedule complex projects, analyze delays, model and propose multiple scenarios to demonstrate and mitigate delays and cost overruns, and process that information efficiently to deliver the scheduling precision that public and private projects require. In fact, the solution was instrumental in helping the company’s expansion into public sector projects during the recent economic downturn, and with Primavera P6 in place, it can deliver the precise schedule reporting required for large public projects. With Primavera P6 in place, the company could deliver the precise scheduling and milestone reporting capabilities required for large public projects. The solution is in managing the high-profile University of California – Berkeley Memorial Stadium project. Webcor was hired as construction manager and general contractor for the stadium renovation project, which is a fast-paced project located near the seismically active Hayward Fault Zone. Due to the University of California’s football schedule, meeting the Universities deadline for the coming season placed Webcor in a situation where risk awareness and early warnings of issues would be paramount. Webcor and the extended project team needed a solution that could instantly analyze alternate scenarios to mitigate potential delays; Primavera would deliver those answers.The team would also need to enable multiple stakeholders to use an internet-based platform to access the schedule from various locations, and model complicated sequencing requirements where swift decisions would be made to keep the project on track. The schedule is an integral part of Webcor’s construction management process for the stadium project. Rather than providing the client with the industry-standard monthly update, Webcor updates the critical path method (CPM) schedule on a weekly basis. The project team also reviews the schedule and updates weekly to confirm that progress and forecasted performance are accurate. Hired by the University for their ability to deliver in high risk environments The Webcor team was hit recently with a design supplement that could have added up to 70 days to the project. Using Oracle Primavera P6 the team sprung into action analyzing multiple “what if” scenarios to review mitigation means and methods.  Determined to make sure the Bears could take the field in the coming season the project team nearly eliminated the impact with their creative analysis in working the schedule. The total time from the issuance of the final design supplement to an agreed mitigation response was less than one week; leveraging the Oracle Primavera solution Webcor was able to deliver superior customer value With the ability to efficiently manage projects and schedules, Webcor can ensure it completes its projects on time and on budget, as well as inform clients about what changes to plans will mean in terms of delays and additional costs. Read the complete customer case study at :  http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/customers/customersearch/webcor-builders-1-primavera-ss-1639886.html

    Read the article

  • Space invaders clone not moving properly

    - by ThePlan
    I'm trying to make a basic space invaders clone in allegro 5, I've got my game set up, basic events and such, here is the code: #include <allegro5/allegro.h> #include <allegro5/allegro_image.h> #include <allegro5/allegro_primitives.h> #include <allegro5/allegro_font.h> #include <allegro5/allegro_ttf.h> #include "Entity.h" // GLOBALS ========================================== const int width = 500; const int height = 500; const int imgsize = 3; bool key[5] = {false, false, false, false, false}; bool running = true; bool draw = true; // FUNCTIONS ======================================== void initSpaceship(Spaceship &ship); void moveSpaceshipRight(Spaceship &ship); void moveSpaceshipLeft(Spaceship &ship); void initInvader(Invader &invader); void moveInvaderRight(Invader &invader); void moveInvaderLeft(Invader &invader); void initBullet(Bullet &bullet); void fireBullet(); void doCollision(); void updateInvaders(); void drawText(); enum key_t { UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, SPACE }; enum source_t { INVADER, DEFENDER }; int main(void) { if(!al_init()) { return -1; } Spaceship ship; Invader invader; Bullet bullet; al_init_image_addon(); al_install_keyboard(); al_init_font_addon(); al_init_ttf_addon(); ALLEGRO_DISPLAY *display = al_create_display(width, height); ALLEGRO_EVENT_QUEUE *event_queue = al_create_event_queue(); ALLEGRO_TIMER *timer = al_create_timer(1.0 / 60); ALLEGRO_BITMAP *images[imgsize]; ALLEGRO_FONT *font1 = al_load_font("arial.ttf", 20, 0); al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_keyboard_event_source()); al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_display_event_source(display)); al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_timer_event_source(timer)); images[0] = al_load_bitmap("defender.bmp"); images[1] = al_load_bitmap("invader.bmp"); images[2] = al_load_bitmap("explosion.bmp"); al_convert_mask_to_alpha(images[0], al_map_rgb(0, 0, 0)); al_convert_mask_to_alpha(images[1], al_map_rgb(0, 0, 0)); al_convert_mask_to_alpha(images[2], al_map_rgb(0, 0, 0)); initSpaceship(ship); initBullet(bullet); initInvader(invader); al_start_timer(timer); while(running) { ALLEGRO_EVENT ev; al_wait_for_event(event_queue, &ev); if(ev.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_TIMER) { draw = true; if(key[RIGHT] == true) moveSpaceshipRight(ship); if(key[LEFT] == true) moveSpaceshipLeft(ship); } else if(ev.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_DISPLAY_CLOSE) running = false; else if(ev.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_KEY_DOWN) { switch(ev.keyboard.keycode) { case ALLEGRO_KEY_ESCAPE: running = false; break; case ALLEGRO_KEY_LEFT: key[LEFT] = true; break; case ALLEGRO_KEY_RIGHT: key[RIGHT] = true; break; case ALLEGRO_KEY_SPACE: key[SPACE] = true; break; } } else if(ev.type == ALLEGRO_KEY_UP) { switch(ev.keyboard.keycode) { case ALLEGRO_KEY_LEFT: key[LEFT] = false; break; case ALLEGRO_KEY_RIGHT: key[RIGHT] = false; break; case ALLEGRO_KEY_SPACE: key[SPACE] = false; break; } } if(draw && al_is_event_queue_empty(event_queue)) { draw = false; al_draw_bitmap(images[0], ship.pos_x, ship.pos_y, 0); al_flip_display(); al_clear_to_color(al_map_rgb(0, 0, 0)); } } al_destroy_font(font1); al_destroy_event_queue(event_queue); al_destroy_timer(timer); for(int i = 0; i < imgsize; i++) al_destroy_bitmap(images[i]); al_destroy_display(display); } // FUNCTION LOGIC ====================================== void initSpaceship(Spaceship &ship) { ship.lives = 3; ship.speed = 2; ship.pos_x = width / 2; ship.pos_y = height - 20; } void initInvader(Invader &invader) { invader.health = 100; invader.count = 40; invader.speed = 0.5; invader.pos_x = 300; invader.pos_y = 300; } void initBullet(Bullet &bullet) { bullet.speed = 10; } void moveSpaceshipRight(Spaceship &ship) { ship.pos_x += ship.speed; if(ship.pos_x >= width) ship.pos_x = width-30; } void moveSpaceshipLeft(Spaceship &ship) { ship.pos_x -= ship.speed; if(ship.pos_x <= 0) ship.pos_x = 0+30; } However it's not behaving the way I want it to behave, in fact the behavior for the ship movement is un-normal. Basically I specified that the ship only moves when the right/left key is down, however the ship is moving constantly to the direction of the key pressed, it never stops although it should only move while my key is down. Even more weird behavior, when I press the opposite key the ship completely stops no matter what else I press. What's wrong with the code? Why does the ship move constantly even after I specified it only moves when a key is down?

    Read the article

  • Learn a NoSQL or become a badass with traditional RDMS - Where is/will the work be?

    - by beck
    I'm half way through my MSc and am thinking about my dissertation which I get 3 months to work on full time. Im very comfortable with the traditional Relational Database, the question is should I work on a project where I get a good understanding of something like Cassandra, or should I really push my RDMS knowledge to the limit. Getting great at something like MySQL is a solid safe option, will there really be much work for me with Cassandra in my tool belt? I would love to do either.... Thanks for your opinions and advice.

    Read the article

  • How to force Empathy Internet Messaging to change default webcam?

    - by user43430
    I just recently bought a new webcam. It is USB powered. For personal reasons, I wish to not use the built in webcam that came with my netbook. I want to use this new one. I love empathy, it is a great chat client. But, I can't seem to switch my default webcam in empathy from the built in webcam, to the one I just bought. So, is there a way to force empathy to use the USB powered webcam, rather than the built in webcam?

    Read the article

  • Clip Grab for Ubuntu 12.04

    - by John Bush
    Having issues downloading the newest version of Clip Grab http://clipgrab.de/en, I tried to install it in the terminal, tried finding the software in Ubuntu Software Center, I have even tried to extract the folder for which the software is in at, no luck... When trying to install in the terminal it gives me an error about my ppa. No luck what-so-ever. I love this program, it has worked for several months, and this is annoying that I can not use this program now. Please respond back to me, I also have had no luck with response either.

    Read the article

  • Bring the Windows 8 'Start Menu' back!

    - by ihaynes
    I've been using the the Windows 8 RTM from MSDN for a week but the more of my normal software I load onto the machine the more awkward it becomes using the new 'Metro' (yes I know that name is now not used) 'Start' screen. Yes, you can oraganise your programs in groups, or you can add them to the Quick Launch bar, or you can create alphabetic folders on the desktop but sorry Microsoft, none of these are as logical as the alphabetic Start menu of previous Windows versions.Fortunately the good people at Stardock have a solution in 'Start8', which brings the Start Menu we know and love back to Windows 8. It's still in Beta and the current one runs out in October. I'm looking forward to the final release and like lots of other users, I'll be happy to pay for this.Lets hope Microsoft either reinstate the Start Menu in the first service pack or gives us a usable alternative. In the meantime, here's an excellent solution.http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

    Read the article

  • Algorithms for rainfall + river creation in procedurally generated terrain

    - by Peck
    I've recently become fascinated by the things that can be done with procedurally terrain and have started experimenting with world building a bit. I'd like to be able to make worlds something like Dwarf fortress with biomes created from meshing together various maps. So first step has been done. Using the diamond-square algorithm I've created some nice hieghtmaps. Next step is I would like to add some water features and have them somewhat realistically generated with rainfall. I've read about a few different approaches such as starting at the high points of the map, and "stepping" down to the lowest neighboring point, pooling/eroding as it works its way down to sea level. Are there any documented algorithms with this or are they more off the cuff? Would love any advice/thoughts.

    Read the article

  • How to survive if you can only do things your way as a programmer?

    - by niceguyjava
    I hate hibernate, I hate spring and I am the kind of programmer who likes to do things his way. I hate micro-management and other people making decisions for me about what framework I should use, what patterns I should apply (hate patterns too) and what architecture I should design. I consider myself a successful programmer and have a descent financial situation due to my performance in past jobs, but I just can't take the standard Java jobs out there. I really love to design things from scratch and hate when I have to maintain other people's bad code, design and architecture, which is the majority you find out there for sure. Does anybody relate to that? What do you guys recommend me? Open up my on company, do consulting, or just keep looking hard until I find a job that suits my preferences, as hard as this may look like with all the hibernate and spring crap out there?

    Read the article

  • Watch Ask the Gu on Channel 9 Live

    Scott Guthrie was kind enough to join the Channel 9 Live crew for an discussion of everything Silverlight immediately following his Silverlight 4 launch keynote. You can check out the recorded video right on Channel 9. Scott does a great job fielding the questions from the audience and from Twitter. Charles Torre is a great moderator he asks some great questions in addition to the flurry that came in from Twitter. I love when he asks Scott how we can release Silverlight versions at such a fast...Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

    Read the article

  • Vendors: Partners or Salespeople?

    - by BuckWoody
    I got a great e-mail from a friend that asked about how he could foster a better relationship with his vendors. So many times when you work with a vendor it’s more of a used-car sales experience than a partnership – but you can actually make your vendor more of a partner, as long as you both set some ground-rules at the start. Sit down with your vendor, and have a heart-to-heart talk with them, explain that they won’t win every time, but that you’re willing to work with them in an honest way on both sides. Here’s the advice I sent him verbatim. I hope this post generates lots of comments from both customers and vendors. I don’t expect that you’ve had a great experience with your Microsoft reps, but I happen to work with some of the best sales teams in the business, and our clients tell us that all the time. “The key to this relationship is to keep the audience really small. Ideally there should be one person from your side that is responsible for the relationship, and one from the vendor’s side. Each responsible person should have the authority to make decisions, and to bring in other folks as needed for a given topic, project or decision.   For Microsoft, this is called an “Account Manager” – they aren’t technical, they aren’t sales. They “own” a relationship with a company. They learn what the company does, who does it, and how. They are responsible to understand what the challenges in your company are. While they don’t know the bits and bytes of everything we sell, they know what each thing does, and who to talk to about it. I get a call from an Account Manager every week that has pre-digested an issue at an organization and says to me: “I need you to set up an architectural meeting with their technical staff to get a better read on how we can help with problem X.” I do that and then report back to the Account Manager what we learned.  All through this process there’s the atmosphere of a “team”, not a “sales opportunity” per se. I’ve even recommended that the firm use a rival product, and I’ve never gotten push-back on that decision from my Account Managers.   But that brings up an interesting point. Someone pays an Account Manager and pays me. They expect something in return. At some point, you have to buy something. Not every time, not every situation – sometimes it’s just helping you with what you already bought from us. But the point is that you can’t expect lots of love and never spend any money. That’s the way business works.   Finally, don’t view the vendor as someone with their hand in your pocket – somebody that’s just trying to sell you something and doesn’t care if they ever see you again – unless they deserve it. There are plenty of “love them and leave them” companies out there, and you may have even had this experience with us, but that isn’t the case in the firms I work with. In fact, my customers get a questionnaire that asks them that exact question. “How many times have you seen your account team? Did you like your interaction with them? Can they do better?” My raises, performance reviews and general standing in my group are based on the answers the company gives.  Ask your vendor if they measure their sales and support teams this way – if not, seek another vendor to partner with.   Partnering with someone is a big deal. It involves time and effort on your part, and on the vendor’s part. If either of you isn’t pulling your weight, it just won’t work. You have every right to expect them to treat you as a partner, and they have the same right for your side.” Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

    Read the article

  • Revisiting the Generations

    - by Row Henson
    I was asked earlier this year to contribute an article to the IHRIM publication – Workforce Solutions Review.  My topic focused on the reality of the Gen Y population 10 years after their entry into the workforce.  Below is an excerpt from that article: It seems like yesterday that we were all talking about the entry of the Gen Y'ers into the workforce and what a radical change that would have on how we attract, retain, motivate, reward, and engage this new, younger segment of the workforce.  We all heard and read that these youngsters would be more entrepreneurial than their predecessors – the Gen X'ers – who were said to be more loyal to their profession than their employer. And, we heard that these “youngsters” would certainly be far less loyal to their employers than the Baby Boomers or even earlier Traditionalists. It was also predicted that – at least for the developed parts of the world – they would be more interested in work/life balance than financial reward; they would need constant and immediate reinforcement and recognition and we would be lucky to have them in our employment for two to three years. And, to keep them longer than that we would need to promote them often so they would be continuously learning since their long-term (10-year) goal would be to own their own business or be an independent consultant.  Well, it occurred to me recently that the first of the Gen Y'ers are now in their early 30s and it is time to look back on some of these predictions. Many really believed the Gen Y'ers would enter the workforce with an attitude – expect everything to be easy for them – have their employers meet their demands or move to the next employer, and I believe that we can now say that, generally, has not been the case. Speaking from personal experience, I have mentored a number of Gen Y'ers and initially felt that with a 40-year career in Human Resources and Human Resources Technology – I could share a lot with them. I found out very quickly that I was learning at least as much from them! Some of the amazing attributes I found from these under-30s was their fearlessness, ease of which they were able to multi-task, amazing energy and great technical savvy. They were very comfortable with collaborating with colleagues from both inside the company and peers outside their organization to problem-solve quickly. Most were eager to learn and willing to work hard.  This brings me to the generation that will follow the Gen Y'ers – the Generation Z'ers – those born after 1998. We have come full circle. If we look at the Silent Generation or Traditionalists, we find a workforce that preceded the television and even very early telephones. We Baby Boomers (as I fall right squarely in this category) remembered the invention of the television and telephone – but laptop computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs) were a thing of “StarTrek” and other science fiction movies and publications. Certainly, the Gen X'ers and Gen Y'ers grew up with the comfort of these devices just as we did with calculators. But, what of those under the age of 10 – how will the workplace look in 15 more years and what type of workforce will be required to operate in the mobile, global, virtual world. I spoke to a friend recently who had her four-year-old granddaughter for a visit. She said she found her in the den in front of the TV trying to use her hand to get the screen to move! So, you see – we have come full circle. The under-70 Traditionalist grew up in a world without TV and the Generation Z'er may never remember the TV we knew just a few years ago. As with every generation – we spend much time generalizing on their characteristics. The most important thing to remember is every generation – just like every individual – is different. The important thing for those of us in Human Resources to remember is that one size doesn’t fit all. What motivates one employee to come to work for you and stay there and be productive is very different than what the next employee is looking for and the organization that can provide this fluidity and flexibility will be the survivor for generations to come. And, finally, just when we think we have it figured out, a multitude of external factors such as the economy, world politics, industries, and technologies we haven’t even thought about will come along and change those predictions. As I reach retirement age – I do so believing that our organizations are in good hands with the generations to follow – energetic, collaborative and capable of working hard while still understanding the need for balance at work, at home and in the community! Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

    Read the article

  • Looking for full web based booking system

    - by Sandro Dzneladze
    I've searched around here but could not find any booking system that would suit my need. I hope maybe you can help me out. I've already seen question #11379 over here. Solutions provided there are not helping and scripts not interesting. I'm looking for a booking system that support infinite number of hotels/rooms/pricingschemes. There should be unlimited number of hotel owner/users, who can access control panel and set availability for their hotel. Or create seasonal prices and adjust them. I should be able to have 15% booking fee paid through credit cart. I can work on integration with my system, it just needs to have correct APi/functionality to support this. I love wordpress so if there are some nice plugins for that, I'm open for suggestions. But this is not a must. It should be php/mysql based as I'm not good at anything else :)

    Read the article

< Previous Page | 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203  | Next Page >