A news story at The New York Times, Boss, I Need a Bigger Screen. For Work Efficiency, of Course., professes the benefits of using multiple displays or a bigger screen while computing. The article’s writer, Farhad Manjoo, points to research at the University of Utah that observed a 44% increase in productivity when multiple bigger displays were used.
I can personally attest to the usability of multiple large displays. Rather than spend time manipulating application windows to fit a screen. I can quickly open two application windows that can be viewed simultaneously. It’s as easy as drag, drag, double-click, double-click. I can have software documentation open in one screen while software implementation is performed on another screen without derailing my train of thought or suffering from a mental context switch that is induced by window shuffling.
A recent news article reports that a communications cable has been cut, affecting Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. This has happened before, but it did not seem likely to me that it would be something that would reoccur. The article on BBC quotes Interoute’s Jonathan Wright, “For this to happen twice in one year, on the same cable, is a serious cause for concern.”
As network disruptions become common, the disconnection of transoceanic lines should be a concern to IT administrators that manage company networks that are distributed worldwide. Distributed networks should be implemented in such a way and as much as financially feasible to allow for continued operation of the distributed sites when connections are severed. Outages occur and may last several days, if not weeks. Without a resilient company network in place, a lot of resources may be underutilized resulting in an increase in operating costs. A resilient company network shall minimize the loss of utility from company resources in the event of a network outage.
I’ve been looking for an API for cross-platform application development in my spare time. I would like to target GNU/Linux environments for an application that I am looking to develop as a hobby, but I would also like to make the application available to the larger pool of Microsoft Windows users. I am seriously considering GTK+. The GTK+ project described GTK+ as “a highly usable, feature rich toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces which boasts cross platform compatibility and an easy to use API.”
On February 7, 2004, I bought my 2004 Honda Civic LX sedan from Honda of Hollywood. I put down 3500USD, got a 2.9% APR, and received a total financing cost of 1571.70USD. It was my very first car purchase. I went at it alone, and needless to say, I got slammed hard.
On July 25, 2004, I bought a 2004 Honda Accord EX sedan for my mom and sister from Norm Reeves Honda Super Store. I put nothing down, got a 3.9% APR, and received a total financing cost of 2733.43USD.
On October 22, 2008, I bought a 2008 BMW 335i sedan from Long Beach BMW. I put nothing down, got a 0.9% APR, and received a total financing cost of 1027.31USD.
Let’s just say that BMW Financial Services allowed me, at a considerably lower financing cost, to borrow twice as much money as American Honda Financial Services lent to me for my Honda Civic. I let a 0.9% APR offer from BMW expire on September 2nd, and saw how quickly the APR jumped to 4.9%. I had an idea of how much financing cost me at 2.9% and 3.9% for smaller financed amounts, and I could only imagine how much more significant the financing costs would be for a BMW at a higher rate. I was already planning to purchase a BMW 3-series sometime next year, but when another 0.9% APR offer was made available again in October along with a compelling purchase price from Long Beach BMW, I snapped up the deal.
08 335i E90 A22 KASW ZSP 205 2XA 4AB 6FL
