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I'm sorry to inform, but I simply haven't found the time to work on this project. Maybe next year, maybe separate from NANY... I'll have to see. I enjoy this idea a lot and got a very basic carcass done, but it just didn't happen this year, and is nowhere near alpha testing even.

Enjoy your new year guys, and have fun!

I have emailed with them, and besides being a wonderful quick response, they offer good service too. They made me a very nice offer, and while I don't want to post it on a public forum (for fear of everyone going to them being all 'but X got that deal!') I can say it is more than generous on their part. I just have a few more (financially inclined) questions for them, and once those are answered I'll likely order right away.

Once I get set up and everything, I'll let you guys know how well they work out in practice.

[+Domain]

@40hz: I tried searching for email hosters, but it's sorta tricky. Fact of the matter is that old fashioned web hosters also advertize with email hosting, so most of the google results go to them. (At least for as far my experiences today have gone.) While $7-$10 isn't much, I still feel it is a lot given my list of requirements. There's no abundant amounts of bandwidth involved (unlike the average website), nor is there a lot of storage capacity involved. (Unlike the average photo album that just keeps on collecting and collecting...)

@Eóin: That hoster does look good, especially the IMAP part. Their website sort of lacks an easy overview that I've been able to tell. Basically, I think the Email-Only+Domain is what I am looking at, which basically covers the first four points on my list, and not the very optional fifth. Then again, their pricing plan for that seems to link to some @mval.net domain, rather than my own. Can that be combined and such?

If you do not know, I'll contact them; but it is nice to know these things that are pretty much the prime advertising numbers for every other service out there.

[If you don't pay, you aren't the customer. You are the PRODUCT.]

Why do all webhosters insist on selling me shit I have no interest in? Sure, cheap packages are cheap, but they are only cheap if you use what they offer! And fate has it that what I want isn't in their packages, unless I pay through the nose for shit I don't want.

What I _do_ want:

• One POP3 box, minimum of 100mb. More are nice, but not required.
• Wildcards for all addresses. (worstje+test@... and worstje+crap@... both go to worstje@...)
  
• Aliases and/or mail-forwards. (abc@... and def@... to either worstje@... or even someone@otherdomain.com)
• Optional-and-probably-nice-to-have: Webmail access.
• Optional-and-on-the-edge-of-unwanted: Really basic html webpage.

What I do not want nor need:

• Tons of webpage host space.
• PHP support.
• Upto 10 MySQL databases.
• Subdomains
• Sitebuilders.
• Guestbooks.
• Blogs.
• Visitor trackers
• Photo gallery.
• Etc etc etc.

In other words: I've got a domain already in my possession. I just need somewhere to point it that allow me to do the shit I want without paying for 'cheap' packages that aren't cheap to me because they sell me shit I have no need for. Think of a post office box, but digital. That's all I seek.

Oh, and Google is not an option. Besides the very annoying multiple-domains-are-not-supported-for-simultaneous-logins-anymore thing, they are free and an adfest. If you don't pay, you aren't the customer. You are the PRODUCT. As I want to use this for my private and semi-businesslike dealings, that is not an amount of trust I'm giving to them.

Anyone able to help out with suggestions for good hosters and such?

[Donationware]

I think there is a difference.

Donationware: This program is free, but hey, if you feel like donating, that's great!
Pay what you want: This program costs money, but we'll let you decide how much.

My feeling for the terms is that the latter states in no uncertain terms that the maker is committed and depends on money to fund supporting and extending this application. Donationware has less incentive and promise to it: oh, hey, if I have spare money then sure, I'll give some. So in other words, one attaches money to a product. The other attaches money to a good feeling.

People like products more than they do feelings. Sad truth.

[Oh god... can you imagine how difficult some software would be with no GUI? Nightmarish...]

I don't care too much for the details of this discussion as I am really tired, but I need to reply to one question asked...

* A GUI is not a functional part of the software because anything that you can do through a GUI can be done through a command line. (Oh god... can you imagine how difficult some software would be with no GUI? Nightmarish...)

It would likely be easy to use, given some time to get used to the interface. Why? Because they would use a PBAD interface. Right, 'pretty bad' by todays standards. But I think a Physical Button And Dial interface works wonders for many applications. Ask DJs and soundmixers, toy racing cars/planes/boats operators, your olde TV set, or the TARDIS. Buttons and dials are epic and timeless.

Your battery-or-memory problem is impossible to answer as you have it stated right now. The real question is: how much battery on the plain model vs how many songs on the plain model?

I have an ipod with tons of memory, and I've barely added any music since getting it. Mind you, with 30,000 songs on it, I already don't listen to most of it. So, how many songs can you put on yours? If it is enough, then go battery. If you can't, then start to think about the problem. (Unless you intend to use it as a portable HD as well; mine doubles as temporary-backup-during-reinstalls, for example.)

Sounds like a good challenge. I particularly like the art I saw in the trailer video on its steam page; I'm a sucker for clean art like that.

If you ever need something coded (Coding Snack, whatever), give me a holler and I'll see what I can do!

I'm quite interested in Vertex Dispenser, if I'd be eligible. It looks interesting and is not a TD clone. (I hate Tower Defense.)

Thanks for this great initiative. More people should do this. If I had any spare games, I definitely would.

[XKCD 927: Standards]

4wd reminded me of this particular comic:

XKCD 927: Standards



It was just begging to be posted, sorry for slightly-offtopic comment.

I think #7 should be "Have you ever noticed that worstje can't count?"

As I already informed you on IRC, I was mousering that particular one. You have been successfully mousered in good DonationCoder tradition.

My experience according to those five tips:

Guilty, Not So Guilty, Yes, W000000000000000000t, eBay sucks.

I never cared about WebOS as I haven't been in touch with it. But given the fact people seem convinced it was a nice rival to iOS, I am sad. But given HPs history for total crapware in both the manufacturing and software bits for at least consumer products, I can only hate them more. HP servers might be their only good product.

I've got a patent on the active process of exchanging oxygen with carbondioxide in the bloodstream by means of hemaglobine, and using a regular pumping spasm in the heart of moving around these interesting little molecules. I demand compensation for your rights to breathe. I PUT WORK INTO READING THIS THREAD AND WRITING THIS PARAGRAPH, THAT'S WHY.

[what the hell did I do to deserve this blabberage of non-sensiility?!]

Ok, I presume everyone knows those bots roaming the instant messenger networks that operate under actual people their accounts based on the credentials obtained from an unsuspecting victim (read: clueless user who wants free shinies) typing said credentials where they shouldn't have. This is one such a tale I just experienced.

What makes me want to share this particular one is because it stood out to me personally in more ways than one. For one, my list of contacts is ancient, and I have contacts on there that I haven't spoken to in 10 years or more. This is one relatively old contact, the user being a girl (at the time?) who was never particularly bright. Hell, let me expand: she is an idiot. And like all of those people on that list that you really can't get rid of (because you are too lazy to clean up your eternally hidden 'offline contacts' list as well as 'old contacts' list), they message you once a year to tell you how epicly awesome their lives are while you are trying to figure out what the hell did I do to deserve this blabberage of non-sensiility?!.

0:45 Emma: Hey! You there?

That is how it started. I feigned afk-ness. I really had no interest in another case of the yearly mental slumps. Sadly, it was not to be.

2:33 Emma: Hi You there?

Ok. While this girl tends to crave attention, she usually is in a bit more of a hurry and spams me with non-stop messages till I reply rather than waiting nearly two hours. Either that, or she is bored. As I am in a particularly vindictive mood having realized that, regardless of her identity as a spambot or a person, I really don't want to deal with her insanity in my usual gentlemanly way, I launch a counter-offensive. The human captcha.

2:34 Me: Maybe. What do you want? (Also, finish this sequence: 1,1,2,3,5,8,...; I don't know who messaging me is or is not a spambot anymore.)

The catch? Emma the person is easily the sort of person who would fail something like this, thus providing me amusement in that particular case. The Fibonacci sequence always has been a personal favorite of mine, if only to weed out the idiots of life.

2:35 Emma: noo its me
2:35 Me: Finish the sequence. Prove you are human, evil spambot!

I still didn't actually know who or what I was talking to. Whichever is the case, it definitely does sound like the human variety.

2:35 Emma: Im on my new iPad 2 right now Its so cool
2:36 Me: Ok, that leans towards spambot. Tell me, where do I buy that wonderful device you are advertising?

Here is where I doubt myself. Is she messing with me? She never seemed like the type. But there was no link either. Hmm. Better safe than sorry, and continue down this lane of simple entertainment.

2:36 Emma: I think you can also get one if you hurry, its a limited promotion.. I got it from http://giftparadise235.com/?id=68549bfb409113fe

Finally, I can decide. Spambot!

2:37 Me: That's really awesome. I think.
2:38 Emma: Well, let me know if you need any help with it. I gotta leave for a bit though, so Ill talk to you later.
2:38 Me: Take care, Spambot Emma.

And it is confirmed by the immediate ending of the conversation to avoid seeming less human. Now - most of you will agree, it is a somewhat typical discussion with a typical im-spam-bot. But for me it stood out in several ways, the 'victim' Emma being an obvious first in that as one might guess by my commentary above.

What also entertained me on a scientific level is that this one had me going for so long that I truly thought I had found my match for the Turing test. Now, in hindsight I obviously should have picked some worse questions rather than to play along, but simply knowing a human can sound like such an idiot really lowers the bar for the creators of conversation bots like these.

But the cherry on the cake that I determined only after laughing and considering this whole exchange? The spam-link does not work. The domain is not registered, a.k.a. completely out of order... defect... BROKEN. Either it has been taken offline already, has yet to come online, or more hilariously, this bot has strayed from the farm of its peers that instructs it about its spam messages.

All of this only tempts one to wonder... How many loose unmanaged bots have to be out there at this point? How many spam messages out there have no chance of ever being successful even if a user/potential victim is fooled successfully? Did Emma ever actually get her iPad!?

This message was brought to you by the gentleman with the white hat. URL addresses and identification numbers have been anonimized for safety & security purposes. Any opinions are merely the opinions of the author that usually wears the white hat, but did not today as the hat was totally offended by the lack of appreciation and manners towards a (presumably) fine young lady. The white hat itself, obviously, is opinionless. Although it does demand you treat the other sex with the appropriate amount of respect, or it will clamp down on your head so hard that your brain will die off due to a lack of oxygen... beware!

Next patent buttons in queue - +1 and Like.

Now those I could live without. Those social media buttons are the bane of my 2k1x browsing existence.

Opera suffered from bad marketing and a bad approach to selling it. The fact the free version had builtin ads for most of its life meant people simply didn't try it; those were the worst of the worst days when adblockers were in their infancy, regularly windowbombed the crap out of your pc so that it crashed, and so forth. The fact it had builtin advertising simply meant people were like 'no damn way am I adding more ads to my browsing experience!' Add to that that they never had the free advertising of simply being a popular opensource package, and they were always the minor lone wolf fighting Internet Explorer after the demise of Netscape (ok, there was Seamonkey, but that sucked donkey balls). Eventually, Mozilla got its act together and released Firefox. Opera had its chance, but to be fair: there were no successful business models for free browser software. Internet Explorer ruined that market, and there was no Google to play sugar-contract-daddy either.

Software-wise, it is very difficult to add good features, especially given that users tend to request visual things. Windows in particular is a crazy layer of cogwheels that work together to make the interface work. To provide a seamless experience, you need to support Windows Classic (with custom colours!), Windows Themes (visual styles, XP style), and Windows Aero. Doing that consistently on W7 is a huge headache on its own, then add support for older versions like XP. (Or start out for XP, go to W7.. my point remains similar.) Then throw in stuff like DPI, multi monitor support and perhaps even an inhouse style/configuration your application has to conform to, and you've got a huge feature matrix of hell already. Some applications are like 'hey, let's recreate all controls in our own custom theme'... and then you end up with a really crappy experience as a user. This is one of the reasons I dislike WPF - recreates all standard Windows controls, and I plain notice the little differences between the real win32 control and the WPF faked varieties. It makes it easier to make special custom controls, but it just as easily makes it possible to design those things so that the feature matrix tests want to cry. Ask cranioscopical - it took me a fair number of builds/versions just to get DPI handling right in JottiQ. Or JoTo for the partially unsolved issue with his High Contrast themes. JottiQ is one big chain of bugfixes/workarounds/etc for merely visual issues, and that really is a hell most easily avoided by sticking to the standard controls without fancy colours, images and the sort. (And then your application looks boring, making for crap screenshots and no downloads. )

[Oh, you ninja'd this post to say you fixed it. Well done!]

I just took a quick glance around.. and I noticed that in my Network and Sharing Center, there is a 'Connection' header with the name of the adapter/network-thingy behind it, which says 'Local Area Connection' in my case. The interesting bit though is that right before it it has an icon that resembles a RJ-45 plug used for networking to signify it is wired. What does it show for you? (Disclaimer: this pc does not have a wireless connection...)

Either way, I think clicking around there should fix your problems. My computer was never configured for a Homegroup or whatever, and I did not have any issues interfacing with old XP computers, so you can at least ignore the settings involving that.

Oh, you ninja'd this post to say you fixed it. Well done!

If I can give any tips  to a new W7 user, it is to move the taskbar to either the left or the right side of your screen so that it becomes vertical. It is a change that takes a day or two of getting used to, but I find that I really love the vertical space all my windows get this way - especially on those wide screens nowadays. As an added advantage, I find my taskbar ends up wasting less screen space because in W7 I am not nearly as dependant on window labels.

Is it merely a 'wrong description' issue? In other words, when you click on your 'Wired' connection settings, can you choose wireless networks? Do the physical devices/drivers match up with their improper names (thus confirming it is just a naming issue!) ? If it is just a matter of a wrong name, you can very likely just F2 (=rename) and forget about it in terms of finding the error there... although I still am of the opinion it is weird as hell.

Ok, call me naive, but how about going to Device Manager and the Network screens, and deleting your network cards and the likes? After a reboot, Windows ought to recognise them again... except you should  hopefully get rid of whatever wrong choices you make. I never heard of Windows confusing wireless and wirey, and I'd prefer to hit it with a good stick of sanity in such a situation.

[t]

I don't use SC... but I have to ask because my curiousity is killing me . Is it -prompsave or -promptsave? One of them is rather misspelled..

I stopped breathing as those claws... damn. I just found out what it is like at the bottom of the foodchain, and I am in awe. (Which explains how predators survive - they awe their prey!)

Deozaan has got a server running. If you want to know it, give me a PM and I'll give you the addy. (It's 'just for friends', and I'll leave it to you to decide if you are amongst those! )

Fair enough.

That is why I still advocate trying the drive, and if it makes those noises, send it back immediately. It is your right. (At least, over here it is your right to return it if it is not to your satisfaction.)

I am usually the last person to jump to the defense of a company, even in the face of faulty hardware... but in this case, I feel I need to defend Samsung just a little. Like you, I have had tons of Samsung harddrives, even sent two (or was it three?) in for RMA after they got bad sectors after a few years (there isn't much anyone can do about that!) and have had all around good customer service. Even for that typical customer who had his drive go AWOL two months past the warranty.

The problem with something like an 'annoying noise' that is at the edge of ones hearing is that it is nigh impossile to diagnose. If you send it back, you just have to hope the technician(s) can hear it, or you'll get it returned with an 'it works as advertized'. Similarly, some harddrives are created for performance, and as such are put to less demanding silencing tests. Companies simply have to accept the fact not all products coming from the assembly line are perfect, no matter how much QA they throw at it. Thus, when you have such a problem, you should be able to return it to the shop within a week or so of your purchase date and get the frustration over with, or get another drive - possible from another manufacturer. (I assume that the USA has some sort of laws about returning goods within some period since purchase.)

The last thing I want to touch upon is that I consider it a bit short-sighted to blame a whole company for one defective product. You say tons of people have the problems you experience, which is allright. The problem is that if you'd look, I bet you could find similar complaints about every hard drive manufacturer. Google makes it pretty easy to find the dissatisfied <0.01% of customers that has your disapproval, after all. (Sadly, I speak from first-hand experience there; I was in a rather similar situation to you a year ago with another product.) Hard drives spin at 5400/7200/10000RPM: that is bound to generate noise. With everything getting smaller-faster-bigger-better, hardware simply becomes more sensitive. Maybe your drive was jostled a bit in its shipping; who knows!

I don't discount your experience. But especially given your good history with them, I'd either have given them another try or simply returned it. I absolutely hate you is a strong statement for something that the customer service concept was invented for.

(Btw, I know you are a usually totally relaxed person, so I'll blame the noise for driving you batty and upset. )