Topics

101

Living Room / Why Vista's DRM Is Bad For You and other jewels by Bruce Schneier

« on: November 25, 2008, 07:14 AM »

Bruce Schneier is a security guru. He's also a good writer:

Why Vista's DRM Is Bad For You
http://schneier.com/essay-157.html

In general, all essays are good:
http://www.schneier.com/essays.html


edit by jgpaiva: fixed link

102

General Software Discussion / cofundos: post a project, they will gather a team, produce OSS

« on: November 20, 2008, 01:34 PM »

http://cofundos.org/

This is similar to a website that mouser posted here. THe project died out (I cannot remember the name nor find the thread, sorry!).

This one is different in that it's still active and it produces OSS only. Interesting!

What do you think?

103

General Software Discussion / any way to add tabs to any application (adobe acrobat makes me crazy)?

« on: November 17, 2008, 12:57 PM »

I think I've seen this before here, but I cannot find the thread...
Is there any way to add tabs to any application (adobe acrobat makes me crazy)?

Thanks!

104

General Software Discussion / easy backups on linux: timevault

« on: November 13, 2008, 04:30 AM »

There's a nice review of timevault here.
I'm just configuring it myself. Will report back.

BTW, SFFS is coming to linux too!

105

Developer's Corner / F# (Ocaml) looks like a killer language on paper. Opinions?

« on: November 11, 2008, 03:26 AM »

I've looking at Ocaml since a friend told me that the programming languages I use (ruby and R) are girly . I of coruse asked "So what's not girly then for you? ... he was an Ocaml user. and I can see why he said that:

• Strong typing
  
• Types are inferred
  
• Functional, but OO possible
  
• Great compiler: Faster than C++
  
• debugger can go back in time

And if Microsoft has copied it for their future language, there must be something to it (F# is Ocaml syntax):

http://spotless-spot...11/why-i-like-f.html

The main advantage of using F# is visual studio, and the graphics libs/windows integration if that suits you.

Functional languages are associated with 'academic' and 'not practical'. This is mostly because other programming languages come with the kitchen sink (libraries for everything), and most functional languages don't. But this is changing. There is  "Ocaml batteries included":
http://dutherenverse...-alpha-2-has-landed/
http://www.reddit.co..._batteries_included/

So I'm just poking around. Threre's a free book (in beta), and Steve Yegge loved the language for a while (he then repented).

Textbook:
http://files.metaprl...g/doc/ocaml-book.pdf

Yegge:
http://steve.yegge.g...pages.com/more-ocaml

Here's some more cool things you can do with it:
http://camltastic.bl...-you-cant-do-in.html

What do you think? Anyone has any experience? Anyone feeling like jumping in?

106

General Software Discussion / phraseexpress: how does it work?

« on: November 10, 2008, 05:01 AM »

I know there are some serious users of phraseexpress here. I have tried, it watched videos, read docs, etc, and still I don't get it. How does it work? I want it to replace intellicomplete, that is, it'll do autocompletion of words, giving suggestions. But I've tried all parameter combinations and it doesn't work. It only offers silly suggestions like "I'm" (really!).

My guess is that it interacts with some other tool, because I cannot find any other explanation. I posted in their forums, but the couldn't offer any help (and my post was accidentally deleted by them; go figure).

Are there any known interactions? Do you get suggestions from the get go or do you have to wait till it learns? I tried repeating the same word several times and it didn't do anything with it.

The problem is clearly specified: do the exact same thing that intellicomplete does!

Thanks

107

General Software Discussion / beyond compare and superflexible both say I have gigs to synch, when it's kb

« on: November 03, 2008, 02:46 AM »

I have settled to use an external HD to synch work/home computers.

I'm considering whether to use beyond compare or superflexible. BC is a lot faster to index and find the differences.

But! I must have some interesting problem with file dates!.
BC and superflexible both say I have gigs to synch, when I know it's kbs only (a day of work!). BC thinks it's 18 Gb, and SFFS says it's 2.4 GB.

Looking at the list (btw, BC is infinitely better in this aspect) they all find ridiculous matches. Files that I haven't touched in ages.

I have no idea what can go wrong. Do you have any suggestions where to start looking?

After months of continuous testing, I haven't found a program that does this right. This is ridiculous. It must be something deeply wrong with my filesystem, because I don't think two of the top players would go wrong (note they are not the same!).

It's getting to the point I want to throw my computer out of the window. Technology sucks, in an expectacular way.

108

General Software Discussion / best compilation of programming tips ever

« on: November 01, 2008, 10:12 AM »

http://effectize.com...e-coolest-programmer
Example (number 26):

Follow these 10 commandments of developing user-friendly software:

• Allow immediate termination
  
• Leave start-up alone
  
• Not modify existing file associations
  
• Not ask inappropriate question
  
• Keep noise to a minimum
  
• Stay focused on the goal
  
• Make actions obvious and reversible
  
• Avoid restarts
  
• Make configurations count
  
• Adhere to the platform

109

General Software Discussion / Writing to two folders simultaneously. Possible? Tired of running synch progs

« on: October 23, 2008, 12:45 PM »

I think I've seen someone here showing a program that lets one write to two folders simultaneously. I just cannot find it. Is this possible? Tired of running synch progs, like SFFS.

The idea would be to have an external HD plugged into my home comp. Then, everything I write to the internal HD on my home computer will get instantly mirrored to the external HD.

I jump into the train, and take my external HD with me. At work, I plug it in and do a sync (with say beyondCompare). Then, every file I change in the office computer gets mirrored to the external HD as well. when back home I run sync again.

But damn! This doesn't save much time. I still have to run two synch sessions! It's so damn hard to keep to computers completely parallel, it's comical.

I have spent hours undoing stupid things I did with SFFS before; having proper backups and syncs is actually a lot of work.

The other alternative is to have everything running on the external HD only. And of course backup the hell out of it. That would save 2 syncs a day.

Why on earth is this so difficult? I was happier when I had only one laptop.

So actually, what I'm asking here (simultaneously writing to internal and external HD as if they were in RAID 2) doesn't spare me the syncs, so there's not much of a point.
Any ideas? 

Thanks!

110

General Software Discussion / South Park Mac vs. PC

« on: September 27, 2008, 02:17 PM »

http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=Id_kGL3M5Cg
http://www.youtube.c...m/watch?v=0-22EpQOm8



advise by jgpaiva: may be NSFW (as southpark usually is )
edit by jgpaiva: added screenshot and advise

111

General Software Discussion / Warning. XP service pack 3 hosed my mouse settings.

« on: September 27, 2008, 01:14 PM »

Warning. XP service pack 3 hosed my mouse settings.
I have a logitech MX610 and aIBM ultranav keyboard with mousepad. They seem to be conflicting, and both companies ignore each other.

When  I try to open the mouse settings by control panel > mouse I get:


Then:


Do you have any idea how to fix this? in a 1920 x 1200 screen the default mouse speed is too slow. I'm struggling here

112

General Software Discussion / FF and Gmail users: is there any way to assign a shortcut to 'compose message'?

« on: September 22, 2008, 12:01 PM »

This is for FF and Gmail users only: Is there any way to assign a shortcut to 'compose message'? I mean if you are not on the gmail tab; I know that c is 'compose'. But what if I'm in some other tab and I want to send a msg really quick?

Thanks!

113

General Software Discussion / intellicomplete worked on FF2, but cannot find caret in FF3. Anyone knows why?

« on: September 20, 2008, 04:27 PM »

Hmm,
Intellicomplete worked on FF2, but cannot find caret in FF3. Anyone knows why? And a workaround would be great.
Sometimes I get it to work;
I think on my office comp it does find the prompt. Which makes me wonder.
Anyone using intellicomplete here? Does it work in FF3 for you?

114

General Software Discussion / Do you keep two computers synchronized? i.e. work + home. If so, how?

« on: September 17, 2008, 11:06 AM »

Do you keep two computers synchronized?

I think this is a common situation nowadays; a modern OS should consider it as an usage case and make provision for it. But alas, no OS does!

I want to have my entire 'data' partition synchronized at work + home.
Ideally more than 2 computerx should be possible.

The idea I have in mind is to have a central server that contains the latest copy of everything, and then clients that grab stuff from the server on a timely basis (e.g., hourly).

I'm planning on using SFFS, it's ... flexible; but it's a pain! You have to estimate which areas are the most active and should be copied to the server... and which areas are inactive and not worth monitoring.

Of course, everything can go horribly wrong and you may have an older copy overwrite a newer one. This takes careful planning, and to tell you the truth, I'll never be sure.

I'd love to get to push one button, and make sure all computers are synchronized, but the reality of it is that it's really dangerous and hard to achieve.

Anyone having such a setup working?
How did you do it?

Thanks!

115

General Software Discussion / the actual browser divide: plugins

« on: September 14, 2008, 08:05 AM »

Now that chrome is out, it seems that there's a new browser divide:
IE, FF and Chrome have plugin/extensions. (well, chrome in the future).

Opera, Safari and other webKit-based browsers don't.

This could be a big deal. Plugins are adding pretty outstanding functionality right now. Have you tried Gnosis?

Gnosis is a Firefox (3.0 and 2.0) and IE  plugin that automatically analyzes content as you read it and provides you with a variety of tools to explore the people, companies, places and things you’re reading about.
 

Really impressive.
 
Tip of the iceberg of what the semantic web can do and much smarter machines can get!

What I'm saying is: other than standards, 'real-life compatibility, speed, etc... the killer feature is right now plugins.

After seeing Gnosis, I'm having a hard time using Opera only. I want that functionality. And things will only get more interesting with time...

What do you think?

116

General Software Discussion / dpc latency checker: interesting if you plan to do serious Audio/video

« on: September 14, 2008, 05:51 AM »

Just found dpc latency checker, a tiny program that tells you whether your current hardware would let you play media without skipping.

There are plenty of ways you can hose your hardware (installed drivers, programs, etc) and produce clipping and skipping.

My laptop right now shows plenty of red bars and I have no idea why. Sound is ok though.

117

General Software Discussion / javascript heads: how is dragonfly compared to firebug?

« on: September 06, 2008, 04:18 PM »

I don't use javascript often enough to know, but I just started looking at dragonfly alpha 2 and it looks damn nice. I think it has improved a lot.

Anyone who actually uses JS a lot care to comment on where they differ and which one is best?

118

General Software Discussion / real reason chrome exist is to prevent microsoft from making a sucky browser

« on: September 06, 2008, 03:34 PM »

http://www.pbs.org/c...20080905_005415.html

Interesting hypothesis!

"What Google does not want is Microsoft creating a browser that sucks. Actually, Google doesn't mind if Microsoft's browser sucks. What they really don't want is Microsoft to make a browser that sucks and everyone ends up using it. And, if the IE8 beta shows us anything, making a really sucky web browser is Microsoft's true ambition."

119

Living Room / If somebody offers you swapping your PC for a mac cold turkey: would you do it?

« on: August 27, 2008, 11:02 AM »

I now work on a hybrid linux/winXP machine (linux main OS, XP on VMware).
I have been offered to get a Mac Pro in exchange for my machine (long story, new people coming to our group are mac heads).

I think it could be a time investment, but if push comes to shove, I could run XP on parallels as I do now with XP on linux.

If you had the opportunity, would you take it?

Note: I'm happy with my current system, but mainly because I spend most on my time on winXP. When I have to do serious programming, I'll spend most on my time on linux, just because ruby runs a lot better there and there are better tools and command line on linux... but I'm tempted by Macs. I've never played around with one.

120

General Software Discussion / opera downward spiral into oblivion: most sites don't work, they don't care

« on: August 23, 2008, 04:30 AM »

I'll give you a mountain bike for every bank site you can find that works with Opera. I'm talking released versions, not betas. This cannot be.

And of course every single ajaxy startup website will fail too. Some in obvious ways, some in subtle ways; you don't even know it's broken, then one day you open it in FF and marvel at the functionality you were missing...

And then there's google. Most of their offerings don't work with Opera either.

The web is an adverse environment for Opera users. This is getting worse, not better, because people create broken sites in Opera faster than we can report them and Opera devs can fix their releases. Not to mention that Opera decision-makers take pride in ignoring user feedback like no other company.

I'm considering collecting 'signatures' to ask Opera to change their behavior. It may imply renewal of the director's board, so it may never work no matter how many people sign it. Why? Because they still make the best browser, and I want it not to suck.

It'd be a first in history that users care so much for a product that they ask the company to find responsibles for current suckage and fire them . Note: this is clearly sci-fi. But would you sign that petition?

[end rant]

121

General Software Discussion / GNU/Linux Desktop Market Share is 4%

« on: August 12, 2008, 11:14 AM »

GNU/Linux Desktop Market Share is 4% -- Gartner. This explains why we had a surge of linux posts here in DC

Good news even if you don't use linux. A varied ecosystem is a healthy one.

122

General Software Discussion / Opera and google. Incompatible as ever

« on: August 04, 2008, 02:19 AM »

I use IMAP gmail from opera M2.
Right now, I cannot access my mail, it says 'Invalid credentials'.

So I try to go to the actual page. It opens just fine with the same username and password. But then, any action like going back to inbox gets an 'still working' message for ... minutes.

First, I need to point out Opera's general bugginess when working with anything google makes. Or more so, with anything that has javascript on it. This is getting to the point that one never knows if what you see is the default behavior or some weird interaction. Result: I trust Opera less and less, to the point that I'm thinking about abandoning it (being an user since v. 5).

Second, using free software (gmail, Opera) has one big downside: where do you go for support? You can of course post in forums, but if your issue is unresolved (nobody knows the solution) you are on your own.

Back in the day, I paid for opera and got support by mail. Nowadays the situation is a lot worse. It's forums post, and pray.

Same for gmail: where do I go for support? They just redirect you to their help files.

My browser and mail are critical for me. I cannot afford to be without good support. And I'm not even a business: I can imagine how stressing it can be for corporations.

Although, now that I think of it I have 1st hand experience with two large universities in the UK with mail down for weeks (Warwick and Surrey, if you must know). That is totally unthinkable. This is what made me move to gmail even though I always have an alternative provider (employer).

All in all, this is a sorry state. Suggestions?

123

Living Room / Can you live with *just* opera?

« on: July 26, 2008, 11:22 AM »

Can you live with *just* opera?

I can't. Even though it's my default browser, I need to have FF open at all times. Too many sites don't work well with Opera (google calendar being one of them).

This is getting tiresome; it's a bit of a waste of memory.
I like Opera over FF because I don't have to pay a person full-time to keep all addons updated, it has an integrated mail client that I love, and it can do the 'fit to width' thing.

On rendering speed they are about the same right now. Used to be the case that Opera was faster. FF is also less memory intensive now.

All in all, Opera is losing ground against FF in my book. What's your take?

Also, I keep Opera because FF 3 broke intellicomplete (no prompts!).

124

Living Room / ycombinator list of ideas they'd like to fund (!). Maybe some are within reach

« on: July 20, 2008, 04:16 PM »

http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html

When we read Y Combinator applications there are always ideas we're hoping to see. In the past we've never said publicly what they are. If we say we're looking for x, we'll get applications proposing x, certainly. But then it actually becomes harder to judge them: is this group proposing x because they were already thinking about it, or because they know that's what we want to hear?

We don't like to sit on these ideas, though, because we really want people to work on them. So we're trying something new: we're going to list some of the ideas we've been waiting to see, but only describe them in general terms. It may be that recipes for ideas are the most useful form anyway, because imaginative people will take them in directions we didn't anticipate.

Please don't feel that if you want to apply to Y Combinator, you have to work on one of these types of ideas. If we've learned nothing else from doing YC, it's how little we know. Many of the best startups we've funded, like Loopt, proposed things we'd never considered.


1. A cure for the disease of which the RIAA is a symptom. Something is broken when Sony and Universal are suing children. Actually, at least two things are broken: the software that file sharers use, and the record labels' business model. The current situation can't be the final answer. And what happened with music is now happening with movies. When the dust settles in 20 years, what will this world look like? What components of it could you start building now?

Maybe some are within reach for people here.
I'd love to see you commenting on why you think they are good/bad and what else you think is coming up.

125

Living Room / xev windows equivalent? (detect mouse button presses)

« on: July 16, 2008, 10:54 AM »

Hi,
I need a xev windows equivalent? xev is a program that detects mouse button presses.
Is there such a thing for windows?

Thanks