Topics

101

Living Room / Tablet Discussion - in the market to buy

« on: June 07, 2011, 02:38 PM »

To the community,

I seek your guidance, all knowing DoCo community. I am in the market to buy a tablet for my wife. As she is an avid reader, the tablet only makes sense. She has no real need for a full-fledged PC and a tablet will give her the mobility she requires since she loves to sit at a park and read. I do not want to get a dedicated e-reader as she does like small games (diner dash, freecell (yes the classic one), bejeweled, etc). With a tablet, she can do all of this without the need for a full laptop.

That said, I have some basic requirements I want for the tablet. I want it to be android and I want it to be 3.1. It must have a USB port (full sized + mini-usb would be a plus) and hdmi output would be a nice to have.

Now, I have looked at the xoom and I do not see any reason to go with that particular model since it really doesn't offer anything over the lower cost models. Now, I would like some feedback. Some models of tablets are shipping with 3.1 already. I am looking at the thrive and the acer iconia a500, currently.

Does anyone have any experience or info about tablets? I seek any and all information.

Thanks!

Josh (The forum clown)

102

General Software Discussion / Plants Vs Zombies - Android Version - Free Today, 31MAY2011, on Amazon App Store

« on: May 31, 2011, 01:36 PM »

That's right, the famous PvZ game is now available for free, today only, on the Amazon.com app store for android devices.

Source

103

Living Room / Apple admits existence of MacDefender malware - Update planned

« on: May 25, 2011, 12:45 PM »

Apple is planning to release an update specifically designed to protect users against the MacDefender malware that has been circulating for the last couple of weeks. The update for Mac OS X will automatically find and remove the malware on an infected machine and also will warn users if another infection attempt is detected.

The planned update from Apple is a rare move by the company, whose users until quite recently haven't had to contend with much of a malware problem. The MacDefender scareware attack emerged in early May and is being used by attackers to trick users into downloading and installing a malicious application. Like other scareware attacks, MacDefender tells users that they have a piece of malware on their machine and they need to install MacDefender to help remedy the problem.

Of course, the download is malware itself and has the aim of stealing users' credit card information. Apple is telling concerned users that if they notice an infection attempt, they should try to close their browser or even force quit the application and then delete the installer.

Source

104

Living Room / Wiki software with authentication

« on: May 25, 2011, 07:32 AM »

Does anyone here in the community know of a wiki package which requires authentication before editing articles, or before a change is published (admin-based approval)? I am looking to migrate a knowledge site I frequent from their manual page edits to a wiki for ease of administration and the above is a requirement.

105

Living Room / DHCPV6 Server for Windows 7

« on: May 21, 2011, 02:25 PM »

Hello all,

I am attempting to find a dhcpv6 capable server that can run on Windows 7. I have tried Jagornet dhcpv6 server, but its config is a pain in the butt. (http://www.jagornet.com/)

I have tried dibbler (http://klub.com.pl/dhcpv6/) and it works, and well, but the service fails to start and I cannot figure out why. If anyone would be willing to try this one and see if they can get it to start, some dcredits might be in order

Other than those two, does anyone know of a good dhcp server for windows 7 that supports ipv6?

Thanks!
Josh

106

Living Room / CDC Article - Social Media: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

« on: May 19, 2011, 08:25 PM »

There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.

A Brief History of Zombies
We’ve all seen at least one movie about flesh-eating zombies taking over (my personal favorite is Resident EvilExternal Web Site Icon.), but where do zombies come from and why do they love eating brains so much? The word zombie comes from Haitian and New Orleans voodoo origins. Although its meaning has changed slightly over the years, it refers to a human corpse mysteriously reanimated to serve the undead. Through ancient voodoo and folk-lore traditions, shows like the Walking Dead were born.

In movies, shows, and literature, zombies are often depicted as being created by an infectious virus, which is passed on via bites and contact with bodily fluids. Harvard psychiatrist Steven Schoolman wrote a (fictional) medical paper on the zombies presented in Night of the Living Dead and refers to the condition as Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome caused by an infectious agent. The Zombie Survival Guide identifies the cause of zombies as a virus called solanum. Other zombie origins shown in films include radiation from a destroyed NASA Venus probe (as in Night of the Living Dead), as well as mutations of existing conditions such as prions, mad-cow disease, measles and rabies.

The rise of zombies in pop culture has given credence to the idea that a zombie apocalypse could happen. In such a scenario zombies would take over entire countries, roaming city streets eating anything living that got in their way. The proliferation of this idea has led many people to wonder “How do I prepare for a zombie apocalypse?”

Source

107

Living Room / Apple to support reps: "Do not attempt to remove malware"

« on: May 19, 2011, 08:23 PM »

Apple is actively conducting an internal investigation into the Mac Defender malware attack I wrote about yesterday (here and here). An internal document with a Last Modified date of Monday, May 16, 2011 notes that this is an “Issue/Investigation In Progress.”

The document (shown below) provides specific instructions for support personnel to follow when dealing with a customer who has called AppleCare to request help with this specific attack.

Source

108

General Software Discussion / Microsoft to open source the VB6 Language (NOT Visual Studio)

« on: May 19, 2011, 08:22 PM »

At Tech-Ed this week, Microsoft told its Most Valued Professionals that the company is open sourcing the code to Visual Basic 6.0 on its CodePlex community development site before the end of June.

Roy Osherove, an early member of ALT.NET community, and TDD specialist, broke the news on Twitter: " Microsoft announces to mvps at #msteched that VB6 will be released as open source on codeplex end of june! w00t."

An MVP in attendance at the Tech-Ed meeting confirmed the announcement. He said Microsoft is planning to release only the VB6 language on CodePlex – not Visual Studio or related tooling.

Osherove followed up with another tweet: "Damn. VB6 going open source may be the one interesting thing I've heard come out of #msteched so far."

Osherove is not alone. "Visual Basic 6 being released as an open source project on CodePlex is a very interesting prospect," said Joe Kunk, a Microsoft MVP for Visual Basic and the On VB columnist for Visual Studio Magazine. "There's still a very significant presence of VB6 applications in companies today.  Having VB6 continue to live, even as open source, will give those companies some piece of mind until the VB6 applications can be rewritten in .NET."

Derived from the BASIC programming language, Visual Basic was introduced for Windows development in 1991 and MS-DOS the following year. Visual Basic was replaced with a .NET version in 2002 when the managed framework was released. The final release, Visual Basic 6.0  appeared in 1998. Microsoft support, outside of the runtimes, ended in March 2008.

Source

109

DC Gamer Club / Portal 2 - Team Portalday Night Live

« on: May 18, 2011, 07:51 PM »

Yes,

Let it be known that carol haynes and myself have just conquered portal 2 in co-op mode. Now....WHERE IS MY CAKE!!!!

110

Living Room / Worlds leading experts...How is this status given?

« on: May 18, 2011, 09:37 AM »

I cannot tell you how many times I have read an article, gotten to the bottom and found a description of the author which claims them to be "A world leading expert on XYZ." My question is this, where is this title given or is it just a buzz word that is self-given to make yourself appear credible? At what point do you consider yourself a "World leading expert"? At what level of experience is this title bestowed? Is there an official ceremony?

111

Living Room / Sony details welcome back package for PSN users

« on: May 18, 2011, 09:18 AM »

Sony has revealed which games it will give away in its “Welcome Back” package as compensation for the last four weeks of PlayStation Network downtime.

Some elements of the service, including streaming media and online gameplay, were restored this weekend, while the PlayStation Store is due to open once again for business toward the end of May. When those digital doors reopen, gamers on PlayStation 3 and PSP will get to pick a handful of titles to download and keep.

On PS3, there’s patchwork creation station LittleBigPlanet, open-world superhero game inFamous, futuristic antigravity racer Wipeout HD and its Fury expansion pack, mini-adventure Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty and zombie blaster Dead Nation.

You’ll get to download two of these for free from the PlayStation Store, unless you’re in Germany, where inFamous and Dead Nation are replaced with Super Stardust HD and Hustle Kings.

For handheld console PSP, your selection is a little more limited. The four-game selection offers LittleBigPlanet, racetrack-builder ModNation Racers, cops-and-robbers sim Pursuit Force and top-down shooter Killzone Liberation.

Source

Personally, I think this combined with the free year of credit monitoring is a very decent welcome back/apology from Sony. I see all of these users complaining who also claim to never use their PS3 anyways, and have to laugh. The only ones who have a right to complain are those who pay for an online service that utilizes PSN, PSN+ users, or some other online service which incurs a monthly fee.

I thank Sony for this. It is a great gesture on their part.

112

Living Room / The end of the line for cursive writing

« on: May 15, 2011, 01:17 PM »

The handwriting may be on the wall for cursive.

At least that's what some people fear as schools across the country continue to drop cursive handwriting from their curricula.

Forty-one states have so far adopted the new Common Core State Standards for English, which does not require cursive. Set by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA), the standards provide a general framework for what students are expected to learn before college.

States are allowed the option of re-including cursive if they so choose, which is what Massachusetts and California have done.

But the latest to contemplate abandoning the script is Georgia, where teachers and administrators will meet in March to discuss erasing the longhand style from its lesson plans, says Georgia Department of Education spokesman Matt Cardoza.

The argument is that cursive is time-consuming and not as useful as the keyboard skills students will need as they move on to junior high and high school, he says.

As it happens, cursive is also not on the tests that rate schools under the No Child Left Behind law, and increasingly schools gear their curricula to excel at those tests, says Kathleen Wright, a national project manager for Zaner-Bloser, a publisher of education writing materials.

"It's just not being assessed. That's the biggie," she says. "If it's not assessed, it tends to fall by a little because people are teaching to the test."

Source

113

Living Room / Microsoft antitrust farce ends, did it really do anything useful?

« on: May 12, 2011, 10:14 AM »

It's a little over 10 years since Microsoft largely won/lost the appeal of the U.S. government's landmark antitrust case. Today, Thursday, May 12, 2011, the oversight regime created by the judgement against Microsoft ends. Can anyone reasonably say that this case made any meaningful difference to the technology business?

I've always been hardcore, maybe even an extremist, about the antitrust case against Microsoft. I never thought of it as a dangerous monopoly.

Oh sure, Microsoft had absurdly high market share and the company was a bastard to do business with, but everyone, and I mean everyone, who ever bought a Microsoft product had alternatives. They chose to buy the Microsoft product. The products sucked, but all things considered they were better than the alternatives.

The fact that there weren't even more alternatives or that the ones available couldn't compete is due to their deficiencies. Did IBM's OS/2 on the desktop fail because Microsoft wouldn't let any OEMs sell it? It hardly matters, because nobody would have bought it anyway. There were plenty of people who could have bought OS/2 and didn't. I remember those days. I remember OS/2 had a barely functional Netware stack in a business world where Netware really mattered. I remember OS/2 having device drivers for about 3 graphics cards. It was, in many ways, an excellent operating system, but it didn't do what people really needed. Windows 3.1 -- the crappy, unstable, ugly Windows 3.1 -- actually did that better.

Source @ Betanews

My question is, did this really do anything for the better? Linux still has a good portion of the server market, Microsoft still owns the remainder and dominates the enterprise desktop market along with the end-user market. The EU anti-trust efforts created the N editions and the browser ballot which remain largely ineffectual.

What good did all of this do?

114

Living Room / Portal 2 authoring tools - Beta released! Oh yes, there will be cake!

« on: May 11, 2011, 11:50 AM »

Source

Today we're opening up the beta of the Portal 2 Authoring Tools to everyone! It's available as a free download for all owners of the PC version of Portal 2 and can be found under the "Tools" tab in Steam.

The Portal 2 Authoring Tools include versions of the same tools we used to make Portal 2. They'll allow you to create your own singleplayer and co-op maps, new character skins, 3D models, sound effects, and music.

Here's what's included:
- Updated version of Hammer, the Source level editor
- Updated Faceposer
- Example maps and instances to help build new maps
- Updated suite of command-line compiling utilities

115

Living Room / Microsoft buying skype for US $8.5 Billion

« on: May 10, 2011, 07:37 AM »

REDMOND, Wash., and LUXEMBOURG – May 10, 2011 – Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: “MSFT”) and Skype Global S.à r.l today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Skype, the leading Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake. The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype.

The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities. The combination will extend Skype’s world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft’s existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services.

With 170 million connected users and over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010, Skype has been a pioneer in creating rich, meaningful connections among friends, families and business colleagues globally. Microsoft has a long-standing focus and investment in real-time communications across its various platforms, including Lync (which saw 30 percent revenue growth in Q3), Outlook, Messenger, Hotmail and Xbox LIVE.

Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.

“Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.”

More at source

116

Living Room / Higgs Boson, God Particle, rumored to have been found.

« on: April 24, 2011, 11:59 AM »

Source

A rumor is floating around the physics community that the world's largest atom smasher may have detected a long-sought subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, also known as the "God particle."

The controversial rumor is based on what appears to be a leaked internal note from physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 17-mile-long particle accelerator near Geneva, Switzerland. It's not entirely clear at this point if the memo is authentic, or what the data it refers to might mean — but the note already has researchers talking.

The buzz started when an anonymous commenter recently posted an abstract of the note on Columbia University mathematician Peter Woit's blog, Not Even Wrong.

Some physicists say the note may be a hoax, while others believe the "detection" is likely a statistical anomaly that will disappear upon further study. But the find would be a huge particle-physics breakthrough, if it holds up.

"If it were to be real, it would be really exciting," said physicist Sheldon Stone of Syracuse University.

117

Developer's Corner / Android development IDE w/ GUI

« on: April 23, 2011, 06:58 AM »

To all the coders out there,

Does anyone know of a decent suite of tools, perhaps an IDE w/ compiler solution, that allows graphical development of android apps similar to visual studio or C++ builder XE?

118

Living Room / Real coders do it in MS Paint

« on: April 07, 2011, 06:15 PM »

Just a quick gif animation that you all might enjoy

http://i.min.us/ikq8hS.gif

119

Living Room / Round up: Post links to the best of the April Fool's day 2011 news postings...

« on: April 01, 2011, 05:57 PM »

Title says it all. Post a link to the best of the best of images, news postings, links, etc for April Fool's day 2011.

120

General Software Discussion / AdBlock for chrome/chromium expands - blocks ads in TV, magazines, etc.

« on: April 01, 2011, 05:29 PM »

The AdBlock app for Chrome and Safari is pretty fantastic for blocking ads on web pages, and millions of people use it daily while they surf. Users report that they forget what surfing was even like before AdBlock, and some even report a sense of bliss at seeing the before-and-after effect on web pages.

But the number one requested feature has been a way to block the ads that assault us all in the "real world" -- such as billboards, TV commercials, and magazine ads. Unfortunately, AdBlock hasn't been available outside the browser window.

Until today. Introducing the beta version of AdBlock Freedom: augmented reality eyewear that detects and removes ads from the world in realtime.

Here's how it works: when powered off, AdBlock Freedom functions as sunglasses. Slide a discreet switch on the frame, and AdBlock Freedom begins scanning your view for objects that it recognizes as ads. Any detected ad gets a "smudge" overlay to blend it into its surroundings. A picture is worth a thousand words:

More at Source

121

Living Room / Elgan: Why digg failed

« on: March 20, 2011, 08:39 AM »

OK, I'm going to call it: Digg is dead.

No, the site hasn't gone dark. It still functions and has millions of users. But then so does MySpace.

I used to be a very active Digg user -- as were many of my techno-journalist-pundit type friends. Five years ago, Digg was the future of content discovery. But now I don't personally know anyone who's still an active user. We've all moved on.

Now, it turns out, even one of the site's founders and former CEOs, Kevin Rose, barely uses Digg anymore.

In a devastating analysis this week, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington exposed Rose's Digg usage. According to Arrington, Rose uses Digg less than once every four days or so. He hasn't submitted a story in more than a month. And he went more than three weeks in December without using Digg at all.

Arrington pointed out that Rose is 26 times more active on Twitter than on Digg, having tweeted 181 times in the past month.

Arrington's numbers have been called into question by blogger Taylor Buley, who says Rose is twice as active as claimed. In other words, he's only 14 times more active on Twitter than Digg.

To me, the most telling bit in all this is that, as of this writing, the story about Rose not using Digg hasn't even made it to the front page of Digg. And Rose defended himself not on Digg but on Twitter, tweeting to Arrington that "I think you forgot we shoot a weekly podcast about digg stories. "

Even the Internet's most important conversation about Digg isn't taking place on Digg.

What went wrong? How did Digg become so unappealing that even its founder and former CEO didn't want to use it?

Source

122

Living Room / Nuclear boy: The Japan crisis explained, in layman terms

« on: March 18, 2011, 04:29 PM »

123

Living Room / First person mario

« on: March 18, 2011, 12:12 PM »

An example of what Super Mario Bros would look like if done in a first person manner.

124

Living Room / Amazing LEGO Great Ball Contraption Breaks World Record

« on: March 18, 2011, 12:11 PM »

Junior Mendez — Amazing LEGO Great Ball Contraption Breaks World RecordSeven LEGO enthusiasts set out to create the world's largest Great Ball Contraption and broke a record while doing so. In all, they used 93 modules to build this impressive gadget. All my boyhood dreams realized in thirteen minutes.

Amazing LEGO Great Ball Contraption Breaks World Record

    GBC (Great Ball Contraption) layout consisting of a record breaking 93 modules at LEGO World, Copenhagen 2011. The record was set at 15:30, February 17.

Source

125

General Software Discussion / Trackpad Blocker - Stop accidental trackpad "touches"

« on: March 14, 2011, 01:08 PM »

Have you ever been working on typing a document only to slightly tap the trackpad on your laptop and have it jump you to some other point in the document/code?

Well, this application runs in the tray and every time a key is pressed, it disables the trackpad for .5 seconds to help prevent this issue. GENIUS!

Source

Touchpad Blocker is a handy free tool for laptop owners that will disable the trackpad while you type, so accidental clicks won't move the cursor around.

The program works by effectively disabling mouse events for just half a second, every time you press a key. And so if you accidentally tap the trackpad while in the middle of typing, it probably won't have any effect. But if you've finished, and, say, want to save your document, then the trackpad will start working again half a second after the last keypress and you'll be able to use it as normal.

This default delay won't be right for everyone, of course, so you can tweak it to suit your needs. Increasing the threshold to a second, perhaps, will make it even less likely that accidental clicks will have any effect, but also means you'll have to wait longer after pressing a key before you can use the trackpad. So if that's a more annoying problem then you might like to reduce the delay a little; experiment and see what works for you.