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Apple Allowing Select Employees to Devote Time to Special Projects [Updated]
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They are not "personal projects" and there is absolutely nothing in the original article that refers to them as personal projects.
A buddy of mine interned at Google this summer (he's a CS major). He said that engineer's at Google actually don't have a determined work schedule and can work anytime a day for any period of time. But employees usually work at least 8 hours a day, most times working longer because Google treats them so well they don't want to be let go. Employees willingly work more than most people because they enjoy working at Mountain View so much
Apple spies on its customers? What evidence do you have that anyone can hear what you say to Siri? What evidence do you have that anyone can find out what you do with maps? Does anyone get told about your iTunes purchases? Or App Store purchases? Does anyone get to read or listen to your iMessages other than the person they are intended to?
Your second part: Apple reviews applications. That process is not perfect. When there are problems, they get fixed. Do you think Google stops _any_ Android app from reading contacts on an Android phone?
When I worked for Apple retail they let me spend 15-25 hours every week working on my own projects. They called it working "part-time".
At 3M if you come up with something during special project time, even utilizing 3M's facilites, they will share profit of the product with you as the creator.
Apple sells ad placements using the data they've gathered on us, just like Google.
Neither one sells any personal info.
I've kind of been wondering if the C-level moves were to open up the field for the next level(s) down to crave out some space to shine. This would seem to be another move in the same direction. Will it work, no idea without more info or time. It really could go either way.
To me it seems like a good transition plan for finding the right people to replace the top brass when the time comes.
something to think about is often times the projects are not going to make employee some money.
At where i work we are allowed to take some time to work on side projects.
Some of these projects have come back with tools that help us out in development making our lives a lot easier to change data for testing and debugging purposes. Yeah we could do it before but required jumping threw a lot of hoops and one could really screw up their system.
Hell the software I work on I have at least 5 difference version of it installed on my computer and I use a tool to switch between them a lot easier. There is a reason for this and tools make it easier.
That is some of the stuff that came out of it. None of it is going into the product ever. Mostly we got some good support and development tools out of it. Things that never would of been developed other wise.
At where i work we are allowed to take some time to work on side projects.
Some of these projects have come back with tools that help us out in development making our lives a lot easier to change data for testing and debugging purposes. Yeah we could do it before but required jumping threw a lot of hoops and one could really screw up their system.
Hell the software I work on I have at least 5 difference version of it installed on my computer and I use a tool to switch between them a lot easier. There is a reason for this and tools make it easier.
That is some of the stuff that came out of it. None of it is going into the product ever. Mostly we got some good support and development tools out of it. Things that never would of been developed other wise.
Quite true, I agree completely.
Sadly those who haven't been around for a long time are unaware that this practice was begun by Apple as far back as 1993.
It was a regular part of their creative process.
Then when the iEra dawned and sales took off, they stopped the practice.
A bit short sighted I'd say.
Maybe, maybe not. It could be that the iDevice era simply resulted in too much project work to be able to afford the 20% practice.
Oh please. This has been going on forever. They're just now making it formal. Of recent history, the Remote.app for iOS/Apple TV was developed as a side project like this.
Apple engineers switch from pet projects to major products all the time.
http://sachin.posterous.com/apple-is-run-like-a-huge-startup
If Apple's new plans are not newsworthy on an Apple news/rumors site, I don't know what is besides product launches and company statements.
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That is, of course, unless you just say "no" when it asks if it can access your contacts, location, or whatever it is. I'd say "no" for Angry Birds and such because I just don't want the apps to waste resources doing useless stuff like that.
But really, there's no reason to be afraid of anonymous data mining unless you just don't want it to be wasting your bandwidth or time. The fact that clicking a Google result takes you to a Google page that redirects you to the result in order to track your click is annoying because it slows me down.
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Was the original Apple TV one of these pet projects? I'd be surprised if it wasn't.
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I know this is supposed to be sarcastic, but it's actually true. Giving everyone the privilege to make a pet project would be anarchy somewhat by definition.
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If you want your project to not be owned by Apple, don't use Apple's resources to make it happen. More startups = good anyway.
"Too incompetent" isn't the word I'd use - the suggested improved algorithm was a very sophisticated piece of math. Indeed, the prize ended up not working as intended. It was too complex to implement in production, and not worth it given the shift to internet-based delivery vs. in-mail DVDs.
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Side projects have been shown to actually boost productivity.
Side projects develop unexpected products. Where would 3M be without the Post-It note?
Also, these could just as easily be "open problems" rather than "whatever you want" problems.
S
syd430
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What might be good for Google might not fit into Apples culture as seamlessly.Just because x% time works at Google doesn't mean its a great idea for Apple.
Everyday it seems that Tim's main mission is to make Apple more like any other tech company, rather leveraging what makes Apple unique. Their half-assed "me-to" nexus 7 clone aka ipad mini is the best example of this to date.
Everyday it seems that Tim's main mission is to make Apple more like any other tech company, rather leveraging what makes Apple unique. Their half-assed "me-to" nexus 7 clone aka ipad mini is the best example of this to date.