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Apple why I won t bite

Apple - why I won't bite Mrs Resourceful is an outdoor kind of lady. She can name plants. Her favourite novelist is Jack Bivouac (favourite novel: Off the Road). She enjoys the kind of walks where you have to stop and bang your shoes against stiles to get the mud off. It was on one of these walks that I had my one fleeting experience of owning an Apple iPhone.We found it in some forest or other, just lying there, an Apple in the woods. In order to find the owner, I had to pretend for about half an hour that it was my phone. Hundreds of phone calls, some wildlife photography and a little internet browsing later, we arranged a meeting with the owner, who met us by a church I'd sent his wife photographs of. I think I also sent her a Wikipedia entry and a map. The owner showed up almost sobbing with gratitude. His child was in the back of the car, also sobbing with joy. The owner gave us a bottle of wine. I could see why he was happy to have the iPhone back - my phone doesn't even have a camera.Imagine! A phone without a camera!Here's the thing, though: all this happened a few months ago. That guy's phone is now old news. It's nowhere near as flashy as the new iPhone, which has greatly increased capabilities and a toaster. Imagine! A phone without a toaster!Radio 4 this morning had a feature about how Apple is set to become the biggest corporation on the planet, and things that big exert a lot of gravitational pull. And yes, I would love, say, an iMac. But even though I consider their products veritable style icons, I can't get into Apple.My problem is this: I don't want to buy a style icon only to find that it is superseded a few months later. A few years ago I came close to buying an iMac, back in the days when I considered buying expensive things. But by the time I'd sold a kidney to fund the purchase (not mine, thankfully), there'd been a press release about a newer version, which was thinner and had some sort of black trimming. Imagine if I'd bought the old one!Imagine! A computer without black trimming!Style icons shouldn't evolve too quickly. Sinclair brought out some variations on the ZX Spectrum, but everyone knows what the real thing looked like; there was only one definitive model. But Apple try to keep us perpetually frothing at the chops over their next release, and I don't want to do all that frothing, thanks. Until they slow down, I'll stick with a cheap laptop that works, and view the Apple parade from afar.Interestingly, I managed to convince an owner of the old iPhone last weekend that my phone is the new iPhone. My phone is actually a Doro Easyphone, which I got, truth be told, as a joke. It has big buttons, a deafening ring tone, an emergency button on the back that you can press if you fall down and break your hip. No internet, no camera, no toaster. But my interlocutor clearly believed me. I had to explain to the iPhone owner that I was kidding. In retrospect, I should have sold it to her.You see, if the cool companies change their flagship products every other week, nobody knows if your piece of crap is, or isn't, the latest incarnation of something ultra desirable.You could have some fun with that.

asking questions dammit part two

asking questions (dammit) part two You are expected to ask questions at job interviews. It's the law. To neglect asking questions is one of the cardinal sins of job interviews - I'd place it somewhere between turning up late and sneezing into your hand then wiping it on the chair. Not asking questions can count against you, resulting in a failed interview, or even, in some cases, death by impalement*. A good question shows you're interested in the job and the company. It also uses up time that your interviewer might otherwise spend asking you difficult questions about your lack of semiconductor knowledge or your unsuccessful attempt to join the Foreign Legion in 1998. Asking questions gives you time to sit back and listen to someone else talk while you eat your digestive biscuit. Simply, questions WORK.The question is: what counts as a good question?Good question.A good question is one that a) shows you've done your research or b) shows you've been listening.Conversely, a question is bad if it reveals that you haven't done your research, or if it shows you haven't been listening.In other words, don't ask questions about stuff you should have googled prior to turning up at the interview. Ask questions that require the interviewer to go deeper into things you've already researched, or into things s/he has already said.Good: 'I noticed that your product has over one million conical nozzles. What kind of machining techniques do you use to make these?'Bad: 'So, what do you make around here, anyway? Is it... light bulbs? No - wait - cat flaps?' Next: more about questions. * rare, admittedly Follow the link to our popular blog: www.hts.typepad.com

Is it a good idea to start a new job right before christmas

Time, eh? It's both linear and cyclical. I've noticed that it's especially cyclical when you're facing the prospect of embarking on some awful self-improvement regime. 'How am I supposed to start dieting on a Wednesday?' you cry. 'I should wait till next Monday. Or perhaps a different Monday, an auspicious one some time after the next solstice.' Then you read that the world is going to end in 2012, so perhaps you should wait until then before joining a gym -Of course, when it comes to stuff you want to do, time is linear. Nobody waits till the new moon to start wearing their new winter slipper socks with the special traction soles that aid footing. (I'm wearing mine as I type.)Here at HTS we've been experiencing a lull in applications for jobs that are usually tres populaire - particularly development jobs. Given the economic climate (blustery with hail) I'd expected to spend my work-days sobbing at callers to hold the line while pressing five phone receivers to my face. Alas no! The floodgates have not yet opened. And while there are many possible reasons for this, it's common wisdom that people don't like to move jobs right before Christmas.Now, I'm not entirely sure of the reason for this reluctance. True, a late-year move means attending a Christmas party full of strangers. But on the other hand, a late-year move means attending a Christmas party full of strangers. You'll be the wo/man of mystery (see picture). You'll be an unknown quantity. More important, you'll be an unknown quality. You can stand in the corner eating scotch eggs all night and people will understand completely - you're just shy because you don't know anyone yet. Everyone will be duty-bound to talk to you. Nobody there will make jokes about the frankly despicable way you comported yourself last Christmas. The nickname 'Gropy McGrope' will have no currency there. And best of all, you can probably turn up at your old workplace's party as well! Wear a long coat, look unhinged and slightly retributive, and nobody will dare eject you.The pre-Christmas season is a fantastic time to jump ship and get a job you actually like. Nobody expects anybody to leave right before Christmas, so if you want to make a point of leaving, you can. Conversely, nobody expects anybody to leave right before Christmas, so if you want to slip away while everyone else is arguing over where to have this year's knees-up, you can.And hark. The New Year is a lousy time to look for a new job. Everyone's looking for a new job in January. And even if you of all people succeed in actually getting a new job, the New Year is an equally lousy time to announce your departure to the people you're abandoning. Everyone's grumpy enough as it is; they don't need an excuse to grumble about you.So what's left to discuss? Send your CV to nick@hts.co.uk, especially if you like the look of any of the jobs on our site, or currently on Twitter.Come on, all you programmers considering jumping ship in 2010. Look to the skies! The stars are already aligned.

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