Messages

26

Living Room / Re: GPS Unit Recommendations?

« on: May 21, 2010, 08:38 AM »

This is what I meant about common sense and why no one should trust 100% a GPS device:

http://news.bbc.co.u...bradford/7962212.stm
http://news.bbc.co.u...i/europe/8173308.stm

27

Living Room / Re: GPS Unit Recommendations?

« on: May 21, 2010, 05:59 AM »

You cannot trust a GPS unit (phone or stand-alone) 100%. You must also use common sense. For example, if the road configuration changes, it will be different from the map on the GPS unit, until the map is updated.

I wouldn't say that a cell phone GPS is "less safe", it is "less powerful". For example, my phone showed me that I am in an intersection which was actually about 20-30 meters away. This can be due to a poor map or because of weak signal, or both. But when traveling, especially outside of towns, I get indications from the phone in advanced and it is hard to make mistakes.

One advantage of cell phone GPSes would be that you can also use them when walking without creating a discomfort.

28

Living Room / Re: GPS Unit Recommendations?

« on: May 21, 2010, 03:29 AM »

I have a Nokia E52 smartphone with integrated GPS with 2 navigation programs installed on it:
1) Nokia (or Ovi) Maps -> which are free!!! and are quite good for western Europe, but only basic for eastern Europe (do not know for Australia, but I guess it must be as good as for western Europe/USA)
2) Garmin for smartphones -> the maps are better for countries not yet covered by Nokia Maps (I think it is the same map as for stand-alone Garmin GPS devices)

Both are offline, you can download the maps from the internet on your PC and then transfer them on your phone.

I am fairly satisfied with my phone, but I think that the GPS unit from the phone is not as powerfull as a dedicated one. So you can have less precision and more waiting for connection time than for a dedicated GPS (the position is acquired in about 2-3 minutes if I am in a open space). Also, the battery dies quickly when using the GPS (which is normal), but in a car you can connect it to 12V and load it by using a special cable which can be found at a Nokia distributor. And you have to find a way to mount it in your car, so you can see the display while you drive.

Some friends of mine have a Garmin GPS and they are very pleased with them (even though they had once or twice some problems).

In a big city such a device is an excellent tool.

But I do not rely 100% on them. I have a very detailed map of my country and when I travel somewhere I first study the route on it. I also study online maps and services such as Google Street View or www.norc.eu (in order to orientate myself in cities). So when I start traveling I have a kind of mind map of the route. But, this is only because I like geography and because I do not like to fully rely on technology.

29

Living Room / Re: Ergonomic mouse and keyboard

« on: May 02, 2010, 08:56 AM »

Thanks for the replies!

I try to have a correct posture at the desk, but I cannot stay in that position all the time. A vertical mouse seems a very interesting idea, I'll give it a try, and I will also try the Microsoft ergonomic 4000 keyboard.

30

Living Room / Ergonomic mouse and keyboard

« on: April 29, 2010, 09:07 AM »

Hi there. I stay many hours in front of computers, both at work and at home. A few months ago I started to feel pain in my right wrist, so I moved the mouse in my left hand. My left wrist now hurts also, so I decided to buy an ergonomic mouse and keyboard.

So, my question is, do you use such devices? Could you make some recommandations?

Thanks,
bgd77

31

General Software Discussion / Re: Here we go again with false positive antivirus actions bricking computers

« on: April 27, 2010, 01:21 AM »

Why not simply require each executable to be digitally signed?

-rxantos (April 26, 2010, 11:07 AM)

You mean, as it happens for Symbian OSes?

I don't think it is a great idea. It would mean that every freeware application would need to be signed and I don't think that a lot of the developers would have the money to do this. I think this is one of the advantages of Windows, being able to create your little, useful application at home, run it, and then being able to distribute it around the world, on other Windows OSes where (hopefully) it will work.

32

General Software Discussion / Re: Here we go again with false positive antivirus actions bricking computers

« on: April 22, 2010, 04:54 AM »

Ok, I understood. I thought it was more than that... In this case, shame on them.

33

General Software Discussion / Re: Here we go again with false positive antivirus actions bricking computers

« on: April 22, 2010, 03:03 AM »

I wonder if/how do they test their updates.

Just as with the BitDefender issue, this is something that would be trivially detected with even basic QA, which makes the regularity of such problems perplexing.

Does this mean they do not have QA? I can't believe this. I am pretty sure they lost a lot of customers/money because of this problems.

Does this issue appear on some particular XP SP3 configurations? Or it is a general issue?

34

General Software Discussion / Re: Alternatives to AnVir Task Manager

« on: April 19, 2010, 06:22 AM »

Both Process Explorer and Process Hacker are very good and can be configured to show cpu, memory and other things in system tray.
For managing startup programs, things are a little more complicated. I use CodeStuff, which is quite good and easy to play around, or Autoruns from SysInternals, which is for advanced users. Unfortunately, this programs do not monitor in real-time for applications that want to auto-start. For this I used Mike Lin's Startup Monitor: http://www.mlin.net/StartupMonitor.shtml but it does not work on my 64 bit Windows 7 (but, if I remember correctly, it worked on Vista 32 bit).

35

Living Room / Re: UK amateur photographers: if you're good, don't use Boots!

« on: April 16, 2010, 06:30 AM »

If you use proxies, they will still be able to intercept the traffic when it "exits" the country on its way to the proxy. So, if the traffic is not encrypted will it be of any help?

36

Living Room / Re: Which prize would you choose?

« on: April 16, 2010, 04:31 AM »

Is this some kind of sociological study? 

Someone said that choosing 250$ over 1000$ shows that you are not greedy. But I think that in fact, you are greedy no matter what variant of this 2 you choose. If you consider that a person that goes for 1000$ in this kind of game is greedy, then everyone that plays this kind of game, no matter what the outcome, is greedy.

Also, this is not gambling. You do not pay for entering the draw, from what I understood. And even if you had to pay, it resembles more with lottery than with gambling.

I choose 1000$, but I think that Eoin is right, one has better chances when choosing the 250$ draw.

37

Living Room / Re: UK amateur photographers: if you're good, don't use Boots!

« on: April 16, 2010, 02:41 AM »

It seems not. 

And even what happens in France does not compare with what happens in China, or what the government wants in Australia (some kind of huge firewall that filters specific things/sites, as it happens in China).

38

Living Room / Re: UK amateur photographers: if you're good, don't use Boots!

« on: April 16, 2010, 02:03 AM »

I think that it is a good thing that courts are used. I think that this approach is ok. In the french version, if I remember correctly, there was a governmental agency that was able to close your internet connection. No court involved, not ok.

39

Living Room / Re: UK amateur photographers: if you're good, don't use Boots!

« on: April 14, 2010, 09:17 AM »

The problem of the Euro is that you cannot have a monetary union without some kind of common economic governance.

It means that the UK is freer to decide its economic policies in its own interests rather than having to be limited by the needs/preferences of other countries.

-Dormouse (April 14, 2010, 08:27 AM)

This is true, from what I know the UK saved its economy by undervaluing its currency. It would not have been able to do that if it used the euro.

And if some countries (ie Ireland) had not been in the Euro, then they would not have had such a big bubble in the first place.

-Dormouse (April 14, 2010, 08:27 AM)

I don't think this is correct. Can you give a source, a analysis that demonstrates this? If every country from the eurozone would have respected the EU rules probably the problems would not have been so great for them (but of course, the EU cannot take action against those that behave bad because some fear loosing their independence).
Take into account the fact that Iceland wants to join EU just because it would have been less severe hit by the economic downturn if it would have been a member of the eurozone.

Of course, being a member of eurozone has both advantages and disadvantages. It is up to every country to weight both and to make a decision if to join or not this zone. For the continental countries, I think that the advantages are greater than the disadvantages.

40

Living Room / Re: UK amateur photographers: if you're good, don't use Boots!

« on: April 14, 2010, 08:16 AM »

I have to agree with tomos. In my country's case, if it wouldn't have been for the EU, we would have not progressed at all since 1990. The EU has a great merit in the democratization of my country.

41

Living Room / Re: UK amateur photographers: if you're good, don't use Boots!

« on: April 14, 2010, 06:31 AM »

It seems to me that only a small percent of the youth population still read books. What they read now is ... facebook (or any other socialization site).

On the other hand, do you think that Brussels is to blame for it? I don't think that the euro-politicians have to much power on individual states, especially on topics like this.

42

Living Room / Re: UK amateur photographers: if you're good, don't use Boots!

« on: April 14, 2010, 05:01 AM »

Well, I leave in a country from the "New Europe" but I never heard of the things that happen in UK to be happening over here...

-bgd77 (April 14, 2010, 03:54 AM)

i sincerely hope it remains that way. i have no idea why this country is determined to head down the path of making Orwell's 1984 a reality - maybe it's as a tribute to the man, or we can just become a giant living theme park for the novel.

-nudone (April 14, 2010, 04:06 AM)

My country is an ex-communist one. And I read 1984, there are some close resemblances of what happens in the novel with what happened. Your description is funny, but not so funny if you consider that it reflects what is currently happening.

43

Living Room / Re: UK amateur photographers: if you're good, don't use Boots!

« on: April 14, 2010, 04:07 AM »

And I totally agree with JavaJones. It seems to me that our basic rights start to be less important, in certain circumstances, and this is not good. Probably denouncing this kind of behavior to a court of law would stop it.

44

Living Room / Re: UK amateur photographers: if you're good, don't use Boots!

« on: April 14, 2010, 03:54 AM »

Well, I leave in a country from the "New Europe" but I never heard of the things that happen in UK to be happening over here...

45

General Software Discussion / Re: which system tray network monitor - like a graph or something.

« on: April 13, 2010, 10:31 AM »

Thanks for sharing. This could be very useful!

46

Living Room / Re: How do *you* tell when your OS is booted/ready?

« on: April 07, 2010, 02:54 AM »

On my computer, many programs start automatically, so it can take a lot of time until the OS is ready to be used. If I do not wait, even if everything appears to be normal, the computer works very hard, it opens the Start menu or another application after a log time, very slowly.

So I use Process Explorer to see when everything is OK. It autostarts at boot and I look at what it displays. Usually, even if it appears that all programs are started and that the OS is ok, PE still indicates a lot of activity. The parameters I monitor are CPU activity and I/O Bytes. When they get close to 0 for a few seconds it usually means that the OS and the applications have done their startup activities and I am able to use the PC.

47

Living Room / Re: Cheers as Large Hadron Collider smashes atoms

« on: April 01, 2010, 11:50 AM »

or 'Hardons' as the telegraph so elegantly put it!

-Stephen66515 (April 01, 2010, 11:35 AM)

I can't stop laughing! If the LHC will destroy Earth, at least I had a good laugh because of it (and of some professional journalists).

48

Living Room / Re: Cheers as Large Hadron Collider smashes atoms

« on: April 01, 2010, 11:30 AM »

I think that the title of this post is incorrect. The Large Hadron Collider does not smash atoms, it smashes ... hadrons.

49

Living Room / Re: Cheers as Large Hadron Collider smashes atoms

« on: April 01, 2010, 08:33 AM »

I read the initial post again, in 2012 they will stop the LHC for repairs, so how will it generate a black hole if it is stopped? 

50

Living Room / Re: Cheers as Large Hadron Collider smashes atoms

« on: April 01, 2010, 08:29 AM »

Yeah, sure...  I hope they will analyze all the data until then with their Linux machines and discover something groundbreaking so that the Earth destruction will not be in vain.