Topics

676

Living Room / Save Stargate Universe

« on: May 05, 2011, 04:22 PM »

Does anyone watch Stargate Universe?

http://www.facebook.com/SaveSGU

It's last show is coming up, sadly. It's a fantastic show.

The SyFy channel has some amazing super-powers that enable it to cancel all the greatest shows it comes out with, and they're going to use their super-powers to cancel SGU.

If you like SGU, then go like the FB page and spread the word. SGU is on it's last legs, but there's still hope...

Also:

http://www.facebook....Universe/61338771473

http://www.facebook....ateuniverseaustralia

A couple other pages to like.

677

Living Room / You're Only As Young As... Oh... Scratch That...

« on: May 04, 2011, 08:14 PM »

Wow... As they say, there's the Good, The Bad, and the Ugly...

678

Developer's Corner / WTF is Wrong with Web Developers? (Rant)

« on: May 04, 2011, 09:52 AM »

I've been trying to be positive, but I just can't take this anymore...

It's virtually impossible to find a web site that actually works properly.

What is wrong with web developers?

Looking at web APIs with some of the worst documentation... Consistently seeing pages that don't display properly...

But what's worse, is it seems like nobody has heard of error checking. I estimate that probably 20% or more of non-major sites, but still regular commerce sites, don't know how to handle a post properly.

I'm just really tired of seeing, "Oh, sorry, we don't do any error checking, and don't know what regular expressions are, so we're just going to puke in your face instead. Thank you for your understanding."

Sigh...

Is it just me? Or do other people find that the web is still crap?

(My main gripe is the inability to properly process a form.)

679

Developer's Corner / Code Samples from Microsoft

« on: May 02, 2011, 10:46 PM »

I'd not seen this before:

http://1code.codeplex.com/

•    Are you frustrated by the lack of code samples for a certain programming task?
  
•    Have you ever struggled to quickly get started with a technique?
  
•    Have you expected someone to write code samples for you based on your requests for free?
  
•    Is a one-stop code sample library for all Microsoft development technologies attractive to you?

If your answer is YES to any of these questions, the Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework is for you!

The Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework is a free, centralized code sample library driven by developers' needs. Our goal is to provide typical code samples for all Microsoft development technologies, and reduce developers' efforts in solving typical programming tasks.

Very nice!

#3 in the list was funny. I hate people that say, "I want to do this. Please send me the complete code. No part. Must be full." Grrr...

680

General Software Discussion / Free Antivirus for Android

« on: May 02, 2011, 08:53 AM »

ALYac is now available for Android:

https://market.andro...id=com.estsoft.alyac

It's quite nice to use. Fast & easy.

(For those that don't know - I used to work for that company.)

681

General Software Discussion / Pirated Software and Viruses? Ahem... No. I don't want to help you...

« on: May 02, 2011, 12:14 AM »

So I'm sitting outside for a smoke, and my neighbor tells me that he's having trouble emailing me a link to something because of viruses, and then asks if I can help him out because he bought a CD of pirated software and can't figure out how to install it from the readme.txt file.

I kind of stare at him in disbelief, then mention that pirated software is a good attack surface for viruses and the like, and explain how anti-virus software signatures work, and that it's quite easy to slip a virus past them. (There are few programmers that have done desktop software that haven't used the same kinds of techniques used in viruses, e.g. keyhooks.)

He still wants help with it, so I say, "To be honest, I really just don't want to help you with pirated software." He sort of nervously laughs and that's the end of that.

Like really?

It's one thing to use a crack for software that you have already licensed, but...

682

General Software Discussion / Misconfigured Servers from Tech Companies

« on: May 01, 2011, 10:55 AM »

A long time ago I encountered a little hiccup:

http://renegademinds...ryID/30/Default.aspx

That's a symptom of a different problem -- It's a bad idea to allow compression for compressed files.

Compressing files on the fly disables the ability of a server/client to calculate the download time. For a web page, this isn't really important, but for a large download of several MB or many MB or even GB, this is an increasingly serious problem.

In layman's terms: When you see a download that has no calculated time estimate for the download, THIS is the problem.

But I'm still seeing this configuration problem at different "tech" sites.

I don't consider myself a guru in this area, so I'm surprised that so many sites still compress files on the fly that they shouldn't be.


Is anyone else seeing this? Or am I just noticing it?

683

General Software Discussion / Playing With UI Design... (Looking for comments)

« on: May 01, 2011, 06:54 AM »

I've been playing with some UI design, and thought I'd try some fun. I don't have a lot of time to do it, so I took some shortcuts and just "got it done".

This portion of the application here uploads a resized or cropped photo to TwitPic with a comment (111 chars) then tweets it on Twitter.



Now, you can of course cancel, but I thought I'd add in a warning. But the regular warning icon of a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark seemed a bit boring, so I went with this:



I like the smiley. It seems fun. I think it will be entertaining for people, and should solicit a few laughs.

Does it work?

684

General Software Discussion / Xerox Business of Your Brain

« on: April 29, 2011, 11:48 PM »

This is kind of funky:

http://www.businessofyourbrain.com/

It's to help visualize what you're doing in Outlook.

I've not tried it yet, but I'm sure it would be useful for some people.

Where I found it

I got an OpenCandy email that this is one of the new advertisers.

685

Living Room / Anarchists! Unite! Or whatever... :)

« on: April 28, 2011, 11:00 AM »

This is fun:

Poll reveals regular internet users are less likely to respect the law

http://www.news.com....frfro0-1226046534296

FREQUENT internet users are less likely to respect the law, serve on a jury or do volunteer work, a study has found.

...

“Those who use the internet more frequently actually know more about politics in general,” Dr Pietsch said.

And perhaps that last part there is the reason that they have no respect for the law~!

Hehehehe~!

686

Living Room / iPhone in White

« on: April 28, 2011, 03:18 AM »

Ok, this just kills me... Almost a year to get "white" right. Like how dumb is that?



And they can't even get a menu working properly on their site either... Sigh...

I do wonder though if it isn't some experiment to find out just how sycophantic and moronic people are, by launching something as idiotic as a different color a year late, then seeing if people buy it and "upgrade" from black to white.

I'd bet that there are people that will do it. I just wonder how many, and was it all intentional on Apple's part. Seriously. A year to get "white" right? Nobody is that stupid or incompetent. It simply can't be an accident...

687

Developer's Corner / Trial Pay

« on: April 27, 2011, 10:02 PM »

Not sure if anyone uses TrialPay, but it's a good way to convert non-buying customers.

I got an email from them with a link to some interesting case studies and marketing information:

http://info.trialpay.../top_touchpoints.pdf (PDF)

Anyways, just passing that along as it may help someone.

688

Living Room / Techno-Addicts

« on: April 24, 2011, 06:40 AM »

http://www.independe...n--asia-2274247.html

A baby girl starves to death as her parents raise a virtual child online; a boy scolded for excessive gaming kills his mother then commits suicide - technology addiction is taking a toll in Asia.

Nutty.

689

General Software Discussion / Searching for Warez/Crackz and Pleasantly Suprised

« on: April 23, 2011, 05:21 AM »

Well, I had a little look at some warez, and found this:

http://hotfile.com/dl/41815113/bf0d010/6VYMGuitar_And_Drum_Trainer_4.rar.html

This file is either removed due to copyright claim or is deleted by the uploader.

YAY~!

I didn't even have to do any work~!

This you might find funny:

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4481058/Guitar_and_Drum_Trainer_v4.0_with_crack

RenegadeMinds at 2009-06-07 18:43 CET:
C'mon guys! If you like it, please buy a license. That's how I put food on the table. You don't want to eat my lunch now, do you? Cut the poor boy some slack~!

All things considered, it's pretty cheap for what you get. It does a lot more than others and it's the same price or less. It's about dinner for 2 at a cheap restaurant.

If you don't decide to buy a license, make sure to tell lots of friends about GDT, but just don't tell them about the cracks. Maybe some of your buddies will help put food on my table!

Anyways, I hope people like it~!

Ryan

patyork at 2009-06-15 19:13 CET:
wow. That's awkward... Yeah we love it, and I'm sure you'll get plenty of business from this torrent. Adobe actually *allows* us to download Photoshop (and other products) because it drums up business. (The poorer people get the cracked version, and use it the most. the richer people buy it (for a cool grand i might add) and don't really use it.)

Anyways... Everyone loves it.

Hahahaha~!

I only wish that I'd get more business from it. Food is expensive here~!

690

Living Room / Hoppy Easter~!

« on: April 22, 2011, 02:42 AM »

Hoppy Easter everyone~!

I have 1 and only 1 joke, but it's visceral and in steps... (Potentially offensive...)

Step 1

Stand up and stick your left arm out straight to the left.

Step 2

Stick your right arm out straight to the right.

Step 3

Tilt your head to one side.

What is that?

Punch line

A shitty way to spend Easter!

691

Living Room / Hungarian Bubble-Sort

« on: April 20, 2011, 08:15 AM »

I was going to post this in the Developers' Corner, but figured enough people will get a kick out of it:

They have more as well.

Programming... Proof that it makes you want to dance~!

692

Living Room / Wasting Ink in Your Printer?

« on: April 20, 2011, 06:14 AM »

This isn't exactly recent (2009), but it is interesting:

http://www.atomicshr...tent/inkjet_printer/

(There's a video on the page - not YouTube, so I can't embed it.)

I can't very well quote the video, but it shows how inkjet printers waste ink.

693

Living Room / A Kitty Video for Mouser

« on: April 20, 2011, 03:09 AM »

My sister just uploaded a little video of her cat playing in the sink:

I immediately thought that you'd like this one, mouser.

694

Living Room / Apple is Still Apple - Sue After Stealing...

« on: April 19, 2011, 11:20 PM »

Oh god... Apple is at it again... Bigger, badder, and douchier than ever! 

Apple sues Samsung for 'slavishly copying' its iPhone and iPad designs

http://www.dailymail...ml?ito=feeds-newsxml

Apple said in court papers: 'Samsung has made its Galaxy phones and computer tablet work and look like Apple's products through widespread patent and trade dress infringement...

'By this action, Apple seeks to put a stop to Samsung's illegal conduct and obtain compensation for the violations that have occurred thus far.'

Apple sues Samsung for patent violation and design plagiarism

http://www.easternew...d-design-plagiarism/

In the letter of demand Apple stated that:”Instead of innovating and developing its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smartphones and tablets,Samsung chose to copy Apple’s technology,user interface and innovative style in these infringing products.’In its petition, which was submitted to the District Court of North Carolina,Apple ​​mentioned the patents registered in 2009 and 2010,and refers to the aesthetic design,both in form and icons.In addition,Apple stated that the Galaxy Tab has a rectangular design very similar to iPad,with its rounded black edges.

But...




Verifuckation:

http://www.gsmarena....amsung_f700-1849.php

I have ZERO respect for Apple.

I won't say what I really think because it involves obscene acts with... Well... Use the darkest and most perverted recesses of your imagination...

695

Living Room / Proof That People Cannot Read (EULAs)

« on: April 18, 2011, 11:03 AM »

Prepare to piss yourself laughing...



And from JoS:

...I added text with coupon code (40% off) to the EULA... It was at about half scroll down and masked inside the text, so only people who actually read it will get the discount...

Results, as many of you may already propose: no one bought using this coupon!

(Go look at the screenshot again... you probably didn't read it... :p )

Hahahahaha~!

That's just way funny!

696

Living Room / When Growing Online Pressures Backfire

« on: April 15, 2011, 12:02 AM »

I'm looking for camera lenses, and this is one that I checked out:

http://www.sigmaphot...-apo-dg-os-hsm-sigma

(But only because I found it somewhere for almost half price.)

Now, there's a video from a Sigma tech rep there, and man... Painful...

She's obviously not comfortable with the taping, and the video really isn't doing much justice to the product. There a reason for hiring actors and voice actors: the rest of us tend to bugger it up with stuttering, pauses, bad intonation, etc.

It seems like there's always more and more pressure from technology to "do things", but, a few things seem to get lost in the message.

It's really hard to get some things done properly.

Does anyone get those kinds of pressures at work? Where you're asked to do things that you *can* get done, but you know it won't be quite right? Ever have to settle for "good enough"?

697

Developer's Corner / Virtualization to Create Single EXEs from Mixed Assemblies

« on: April 14, 2011, 10:25 PM »

This might be a useful heads-up for some people.

http://boxedapp.com/



It lets you create a single EXE file from multiple and mixed DLLs, so you can have a .NET program that pulls in native DLLs, but package it all as a single EXE.

BoxedApp Packer is a developer utility for converting your regular full-fledged applications to single self-sustaining executable files that don't require the installation in order to be run. That literally means that you can squeeze all ActiveX controls, dynamic libraries, and just all kinds of files that your original application depends on into a single executable file and run it just as if that was a regular application installed the regular way...

I've given it a quick few tests, and it pans out. Works very nicely.

Now, you can't use it for something like this call:

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("blah.exe");

But boohoo. Everything else seems pretty slick.

698

Living Room / Old Computer Ads - This is way cool!

« on: April 13, 2011, 11:38 AM »

This is just way cool, to look back at what all too many of us remember.

http://www.techrepub...0413&tag=nl.e098

Being a massive fan, I can't help but post this pic:



But this pic:



Reminds me about work I did THIS WEEK that is just making that a reality.


It all kind of reminds me of:

And yes... I learned how to play that once upon a time...


But the old ads are fun!

699

Living Room / 5 Reasons to Hate Google - Interesting Article

« on: April 11, 2011, 07:50 PM »

I'm not trying to spread Google hatred or anything, but this article raises some interesting points:

http://www.imediacon...om/content/28827.asp

Free products kill innovation

There are unintended consequences to Google's success and approach to business that are insidious. Because its core business is so damned profitable, the company can dabble in other segments (that might or might not be core to its long-term strategy). In so doing, the company perverts the economics of that market.

Much more there though.

700

Developer's Corner / Looking for Browser Add-in/Plug-in/Extension Plaforms - Advice?

« on: April 11, 2011, 12:48 AM »

Does anyone have any experience with browser plug-ins or extensions?

I'm looking to develop some software, but want to integrate it with the browser. i.e. As you're surfing around, you find something, then the extension acts as a front-end for the software.

This would let me do some things that simply aren't practical inside the browser. e.g. JavaScript and AJAX are not a replacement for C# and desktop power.

In the past, I've written custom browsers, but I'd like to switch direction there.

Thanks for any advice, links, or anecdotes.