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G+ is frankly still in early stages I'd say. Where is the Events system (integrated with Google Calendar)? Where are company pages? As soon as these and a few other major features of FB make it onto G+, there will be another big surge. Surprisingly, FB's event system still pretty much sucks (can I have it email me a reminder of events? no. is there a simple calendar view of events I'm invited to? no. etc.). Google can leverage the power of existing GCalendar for this, just as an example. For businesses, Google already has "Places", integrate that with G+ and you have a powerful platform for companies to relate to their customers.  I'm honestly surprised Hangouts haven't gotten more attention actually, especially as it gains features. It's more powerful as a business tool than a personal tool now actually. They should introduce shared photo album viewing like the new Flickr feature and then promote Hangouts as a killer feature (because it is). Now I'm not saying Google will do all this, but they're sensible steps with powerful potential.

Basically I think it's foolish to compare G+ now to FB now (yes, even though they are theoretically competing in the same market already). All it takes is one or two "must have" new features and a few more related population explosions to gain critical mass. Many people use FB primarily for photo sharing and event organizing. Right now G+ only has 1 of those functions. Introduce the other and it makes a big difference, people no longer have to split their attention. This is especially true since G+, unlike FB, can optionally share with people by email address only, so it can be an excellent event organizer even if your friends aren't on it.

So bring on the new features Google! Let's hope you have a better "platform vision" than Mr. Yegge fears.

- Oshyan

Not funny, but interesting... am I the only one who thinks this would make for an awesome locale for a heist movie?

Yeah, they should steal the golden cow!

- Oshyan

Let me clarify that when I said "outdated dead tree publishers" (admittedly with the charged "dead tree" term), I was not so much saying that physical, printed material should or will die, rather than the monolithic industries built around traditional print publishing systems should. On-demand printing is but one example of a potentially good way forward for independent authors. Or simple printing houses, which aren't going away. An author buys, say, 500 copies of their book and hires a local sales rep to hawk them to local book stores, or sells them easily through an online portal. They can choose to deal with shipping themselves or pay a service to deal with it for them. Dismantling the mainstream publishing empires into component pieces that people can deal with as they need (and as they please) makes the industry more flexible, more diverse, potentially more capable, certainly leaner and meaner, lower costs, less overhead.

In short, I am not dreaming of an exclusively digital future. Just one without huge companies having their way with every bit of media and art I want to enjoy.

As someone who has actually helped publish a book through on-demand publishers as well as Amazon, I can tell you it's actually quite easy to straddle the digital/real-world divide and utilize Amazon for what it's good for and book stores for what they're good for. Amazon may not want to deal with book stores, but I believe they do offer (and certainly other on-demand book publishers do) a service that can put your book into the main catalogs that book stores reference and buy from. Actually getting a store to buy it is another matter, that's where a sales agent and/or PR come in. I'm certainly not saying that doing things yourself should be the only way or that it will be easier or more successful than traditional methods. However the average author stands to benefit more from self-publishing *provided they take advantage of additional services like editing and sales agents* than they do in a traditional publishing model. This is because they know the actual cost of materials and services and can price their product however they want and, critically, they reap all profits. It's potentially riskier, but more rewarding (percentage-wise at least) as well if they succeed. The chances of success are also higher, though again "success" generally doesn't mean "millionaire author" (it very seldom does in the current publishing world either, but the chance is there, just like in music, which puts stars in the eyes of some writers).

I also take issue with the idea that digital-only/self-published music is unnoticed and consists mostly of crap. There's tons of crap, of course, just as there is in any artistic/expressive medium. But to say that only record execs or publishing houses or whatever can properly decide what should actually get attention is silly. It's easy to create systems that fairly rank and reward quality, or at least popularity. There are many modern examples of quality winning popularity contests and I would in fact argue that much of the trashy pulp, both in print and in music (and elsewhere) is actually promoted and made successful by the industries I'm pointing the finger at here, by the A&R people, the publishing reps, etc. "Ooo, sparkly teenage vampires? We'll sell millions!". Going independent isn't going to ruin our chances of finding good material and more than it already is, and it stands a good chance of improving it. It's democratization of publishing and promotion, essentially.

- Oshyan

The walled garden isn't much like the FedEx example because it's being done for completely different reasons in a different business/client relationship. In the case of FedEx, they are a homogeneous business purchasing a device for specific purposes, requesting the vendor to implement this "lock down". It is the customer asking for that control, not the vendor, or their hardware or software provider, or even their service provider. In the case of the mobile phone market you have at least 2 major entities vying for control, the hardware/software manufacturer (not always the same, but often essentially so) and the carrier/service provider. Usually the service provider wins, at least in the US, because they are the main way to get the hardware/software manufacturer's product into the hands of consumers. But one look at how this stuff works in other countries shows that this has nothing to do with the hardware or software or even the fundamental nature of the cell phone business. It has everything to do with how the USA treats businesses and the skewed balance it allows in business vs. customer.

- Oshyan

Do you all actually agree with what this person is saying? It's retarded. ARM is a generalized CPU architecture, based on RISC, that essentially has as much flexibility as x86. All the components that go into your average smart phone or tablet are no less capable of end-user update/modification/whatever than their PC counterparts *except* when it comes to *physical* upgrade. But in this sense they are much like a laptop. Few laptops let you switch out the graphics card or CPU, for example.

This person seems to be making the argument that because ARM CPUs and the related hardware used to be used almost exclusively in embedded devices that were entirely "managed" (i.e. the end user is not in control), that this is the way it *must* be. That this is somehow intrinsic to the hardware, or even the software/OS. iOS as one example, yes it's built with "lock down" in mind, but this is a conscious choice, and the mere fact you can jail break shows that the fundamental underlying OS is not so deeply locked down that it's not relatively easy to bypass. In other words the lock down is a layer on top of the OS. True "locked down" systems are embedded and actually have only the minimal functions necessary to support their intended purpose. iOS is relatively general-purpose, as is Android (also running on ARM).

In short, there is noting intrinsic to the hardware or software that makes things this way. In the case of Android that is especially so. Look at "Google Experience" devices and you see they're pretty open; look at the Cyanogen ROMs and similar Android OS branch releases and you can see it even more so. There is tremendous power, flexibility, and openness possible. It's the carriers and, I think to a somewhat lesser extent, the hardware manufacturers that demand lock-down. This is a business problem, not a technical one.

The whole quote seems painfully ignorant to me. Am I missing something?

- Oshyna

Or, optimistically speaking, the editors will go freelance or have editing companies of their own, the outdated and unnecessary dead tree publishers will die over the next 15 years, and we'll be left with a leaner, meaner system that's just as good at creating quality work but is also higher bandwidth. Mass voting and review output from readers will decide what succeeds. Yes, this means absolute bullshit could well be the most popular and make the most money. That's just down to the nature of modern society, possibly even human nature, but the underlying systems are - in my opinion - still better. Potential for less restriction, less bureaucracy, etc, etc. Then again it could all go to crap.

- Oshyan

I wonder if certificate signing really is the solution, do we have any definitive knowledge that it is? If so, I understand the intention, but really don't agree with the methodology. As the recent rash of compromised CAs has shown, this is hardly an effective security measure. What good is "trust" when the trusted parties don't care enough to implement proper security on their trust-granting systems?!

The idea of offering certification assistance to freeware authors who host their stuff here is interesting and worth further consideration I think.

Btw wraith, I do think they flag exes specifically with this, so your downloads probably weren't triggered precisely because they're zips. This is not an antivirus scan being run by IE, it's pattern matching, with exe as a likely component that increases risk assessment. Scanning inside ZIPs probably isn't done. That job is really up to your antivirus.

Edit: Ran some tests, interesting results. A download of one of Skwire's programs from here in ZIP format did not show the same message. A download of Terragen in MSI (installable) form from planetside.co.uk also did *not* trigger the message. To the best of my knowledge the Terragen installer is not signed, but it's also not an EXE. It may also be more popular than FARR, though that's debatable.

- Oshyan

I haven't had a chance to look closely at this but the quoted description sounds quite promising, similar to something I was looking for a while back. Thanks for posting, I'll check it out!

- Oshyan

FTFY (Fixed That For You) is quite common on Slashdot and I'm familiar with it as a result. Same use as IFYP.

- Oshyan

I started feeling hungry half-way through. What's wrong with me?

Seriously though, crazy stuff. I don't get why he's stepping next to the holes in the concrete, I would be stepping on the metal sides at those parts. Oh well, he survived...

- Oshyan

This is a really amazing post by a Google employee, supposedly intended originally for a private Google audience but "accidentally" posted publicly and now, apparently, allowed to remain public. Read it while it lasts!
https://plus.google.com/1...1889851/posts/eVeouesvaVX
Some choice quotes:

I was at Amazon for about six and a half years, and now I've been at Google for that long. One thing that struck me immediately about the two companies -- an impression that has been reinforced almost daily -- is that Amazon does everything wrong, and Google does everything right... But there's one thing [Amazon] do really really well that pretty much makes up for ALL of their political, philosophical and technical screw-ups.

That one last thing that Google doesn't do well is Platforms. We don't understand platforms. We don't "get" platforms. Some of you do, but you are the minority. This has become painfully clear to me over the past six years. I was kind of hoping that competitive pressure from Microsoft and Amazon and more recently Facebook would make us wake up collectively and start doing universal services. Not in some sort of ad-hoc, half-assed way, but in more or less the same way Amazon did it: all at once, for real, no cheating, and treating it as our top priority from now on. But no. No, it's like our tenth or eleventh priority. Or fifteenth, I don't know. It's pretty low.

It's a long write-up but well worth reading all of it. Please do!

I don't really have much to add except to say that I've never really understood this issue as clearly as he states it here. I've had some sense of it, but the way he lays it out makes it blindingly obvious. I hope Google learns from this because I like their products and the general way they do things, but it's true that they are slowly losing the platform wars. I honestly thought G+ must have had a strong platform vision internally that was slowly being exposed to the outside world, but it sounds like maybe that's not the case. Eek!

- Oshyan

Does your printer driver not have a built-in preset or setting memory management function? Or do you just want to make it a little quicker to access something like that?

- Oshyan

Silent updates and EULA changes are separate issues. A new EULA should always notify the user, regardless of whether the app it applies to updates silently. Keep in mind a EULA can be updated without the software being updated and - probably much more the norm anyway - software can be updated without the EULA changing.

- Oshyan

Looks like I'll be going with Puget Systems for this one. I'll be sure to let you all know how my post-purchase experience goes, but so far the pre-purchase service has been great.

Can't wait to play with this thing. Anyone else looking forward to Battlefield 3?

- Oshyan

Chrome did it not because of not wanting admin rights for *install*, but so it could support their silent auto-update feature, something which a lot of Chrome users actually appreciate (some even though they don't know it, hehe). It made me uncomfortable when I found that out, kind of like installing an app accidentally into My Documents or something (which I've done before long ago). Very messy. I do wish there was a better way to achieve what Google is trying to do with Chrome though. If they could sort out a way to establish "trust" for a given exe and then positively determine if a request to change that exe *originated from the exe itself* (or a process spawned by the exe), as in the case of an update, then it could auto-trust that perhaps. Yeah, probably an exploitable security risk. I don't know what the solution is but I think there will be a consistent push to have apps that keep themselves updated more easily and I'm more or less in favor of that.

- Oshyan

Excellent. Added to my RSS!

- Oshyan

Thanks for the input guys. I'm guessing people here tend to either build their own fancy machines, or just get something a bit more stock/standard from a more major vendor. My primary interest was in finding out about people's preferred system builders, but I think I've got a decent handle on my options at this point. Puget is courting me pretty well still, there's a few hundred dollar price premium, but their OC offering combined with incredible ratings and good customer service vs. the major cheap competition of CyberPower and iBuyPower probably means they'll get my business.

I'll be sure to come back and post details of what I actually end up with, especially in terms of the from-the-factory overclock. They promise 30-45% which could be up to 4.9Ghz on the i7 2600k. Sweet!

- Oshyan

I've heard surprisingly good things about Host Monster in the past. Supports PostgreSQL, but not sure of PHP 5.x version. http://www.hostmonster.co...cgi/info/hosting_features

- Oshyan

Fascinating! I'm quite interested in the philosophy behind, yet totally repulsed by the reality of addictive, mindless gaming a la Facebook and Zynga. I'm curious to see what Bogost makes of all this after some more thought.

- Oshyan

Interesting idea(s), promising that you've already got some code put down. Unfortunately I have no spare time to contribute, but I'll be watching the progress with great interest.

- Oshyan

5.0 now supports disk-to-disk cloning which is a very nice addition.

- Oshyan

Thanks nudone. The OCZ seemed like a slightly better option, but much less available at the system builders I've seen. The difference from the Intel 510 didn't seem huge in real world benchmarks, though in synthetic benches it was more noticeable.

Interesting that they'll OC to that level on air cooling, that's roughly 30%. You sure it won't have to be noisy? As for foam padding, yeah that's an option at some places, I'll definitely do that if available.

- Oshyan

I've decided to buy a kick ass new gaming and 3D render box. I've got most of the parts picked out but, while in the past I would have built it myself, I'm not going to bother this time. One reason for that is I am hoping to get it overclocked from the system builder. I've never really messed with overclocking seriously and I'd rather have it arrive at my door in a known-working overclocked state.

I'll get to my parts list in a minute, which I'd welcome feedback on. But since I'm going to have the thing built for me, my biggest decision at the moment is what system builder to go with. I have a number of options I've found mostly through looking at Reseller Ratings' top rated businesses but would appreciate some more personal recommendations from DC-ers. Remember I'm hoping to have it overclocked by the system builder so they'll need to be experienced with that. They'll also need to carry the critical components of my build, of course. Finally, they should be US-based and ideally not located in California (for tax reasons).

Here are the retailers in current consideration, in no particular order. All have an 8 out of 10 or above on ResellerRatings.com and at least 20 reviews each:

• AVADirect
• Puget Systems
• Digital Storm
• Main Gear
• Stealth Machines
• CyberPowerPC
• Origin PC

Parts List:

• High quality case, good cooling, preferably no side windows or front door (cases available depend on system builder)
• 700W+ PSU with 80+ cert (Antec, Enermax, Silverstone, PC Power and Cooling, Thermaltake, Coolermaster)
• Decent, reasonably priced socket 1155 motherboard with USB3 and eSATA (ASUS, Gigabyte, etc. - not too particular about this)
• Core i7 2600k overclocked 20-50% (promised overclocking level available depends on system builder)
• Liquid or high-end quiet air cooling (noise is a definite factor)
• 16GB RAM (4x4GB, preferably 1600Mhz)
• 120GB or larger SSD (probably Intel 510, though possibly OCZ Vertex 3, Crucial M4, or Kingston HyperX)
• 2-3TB 7200RPM SATA HD (Western Digital Caviar Black or Seagate Barracuda XT, the latter being available in 3TB so preferable)
• Geforce GTX 570
• Basic SATA CD/DVD-RW
• Onboard audio
• Built-in memory card reader supporting SD and Compact Flash

As I said, noise is a consideration, so whenever possible I'm adding quieter case fans, fan gaskets, etc.

So far Puget is looking pretty strong. They have an excellent rep, great customer service (one of their reps contacted me directly via email after I saved a quote on their site to see if I had any questions and he was able to bring down my build cost a few hundred with some intelligent suggested changes), and while they're more expensive than some other options, they're definitely not out of the park on that. They also offer 30-45% overclocking, among the highest available that I've seen so far. Cyberpower is less well rated, but definitely comes in with the best price and options, including superclocked graphics card and some other freebie extras.

Edit: Any info on the imminent release of new hardware that may affect price or ideal components in this price/performance bracket is also useful. I know the i7 2700k is coming soon but from what I hear it will not slightly more expensive than the 2600k and as a result won't necessarily affect the latter's price. The 2600k has a known OC capability and I don't see it worth taking a risk nor waiting for the 2700k in that regard.

I also know AMD's new Bulldozer is coming out in just a week or so. From what I can see the fastest available version initially will be 3.6Ghz and will be a little bit cheaper than the 2600k. But judging by preliminary benchmarks I don't think it will reliably topple the 2600k, especially when the latter is overclocked. It does have an interesting "all cores turbo" feature that's sort of like built-in overclocking, but I haven't seen much as far as detail or performance on that. Also new AMD/ATI graphics card, the 7000 series, but I don't know much about it...

All feedback is welcome!

Thanks,

Oshyan

As others, I can only offer my opinion. I'm glad you asked the question actually because my answers were a bit of a surprise - or at least not already known - to me.

What I realized is that, for me, "donate" gives me the psychological impression of a "weaker" and somehow less appealing offer (vs. "pay what you want"), regardless of the product in question. This is what I think is going on in my head.

Donating to me is associated with non-profits and, less commonly but as a greater extreme, the street performer or anyone else looking for a "hand out". If DC were a registered non-profit with tax decuctable status maybe my feelings would shift but since it's not, it *feels* like any other commercial enterprise asking for donations, i.e. not as "justified" as non-profits. Now I don't see mouser and donationware authors in general as actually looking for a "hand out", they produce real work in exchange, yet somehow the impression is not so different when the word "donation" is used. It has somehow a slightly negative, almost "pathetic", connotation. Let me be clear, I do not like that feeling on my part, I express it solely because it is true and it is interesting and hopefully it helps inform those who are seeking to find equitabl, non-traditional compensation models for their work.

On the other side, "pay what you want" has a rather impishly enjoyable, flippant quality to it, a casualness that perhaps obscures the true underlying similarity in the request ("support me"). Perhaps I should say more about it, but I think that captures my *impression* fairly accurately. Essentially, that there is a "heavyness" to "donation" and a "lightness" to "pay what you want". One is guilt, the other is freedom.

What I can't say for sure is which actually motivates me to donate more. Is it more compelling to feel guilty about not donating, or to feel like it's truly my choice and I am free either way? Honestly I lean toward the latter intellectually, but practically I have no actual evidence to base such a conclusion on.

Interesting topic, good question.

- Oshyan

I haven't really noticed any problems with MSE myself, but I'm always curious to try new things. Though I'm not a big fan of PCMag, their recent freeware antivirus comparison brought Lavasoft's freeware solution to my attention. I'm currently testing it on my laptop, so far memory use seems a bit higher than MSE, but otherwise fine. Let's see how it does in long-term use...

- Oshyan