Messages

1

Living Room / Re: New Laptop suggestions

« on: May 12, 2015, 06:51 AM »

Thanks, that's a really good site.
I'm now looking at a HP Probook 450 G2.  It isn't overspecc'ed but it seems well built, quiet and low power consumption.

Seems about right for me, but it will probably be a few weeks before I decide to get one so I'll welcome any more input.

2

Living Room / New Laptop suggestions

« on: May 11, 2015, 11:25 PM »

Time to upgrade.

I know I could reformat and reinstall and my current laptop would be fine, but it's had a hard life and deserves a break, so give me suggestions what I should buy.

I have a budget of about $1000. I need an optical drive, large ~16inch screen, not fussed about image quality (I don't do much with images).
Mostly I need it to be powerful when I want it to be (many tabs open, ripping a cd and then compiling a sketch and listening to music) and when I'm just browsing, I need it to be QUIET.
This is the bit the specs don't mention. Who has had a good experience with a laptop that the fan is rarely on, and maybe even SSD. Dual HD would be nice and sometimes in my price range.
Other features such as good speakers, touchscreen, etc are all desireable, but not essential.

And it needs to be tough, physically. My current Satellite Pro occasionally gets taken onto jobs and covered in dust, dropped, stowed behind a seat, has breadcrumbs and ketchup dropped on the keyboard etc.

I was looking at a gaming laptop such as an ASUS N550 (there's a few manufacturer refurbished on ebay that look good) but I'm not sure if they are quiet when not being maxed out.

Who has any suggestions, or warnings?

Thanks

3

Living Room / Re: 10th Anniversary - long time member check-in thread

« on: March 08, 2015, 03:56 AM »

I just missed out on the list by putting in the occasional trickle of posts.

I must have been 19 when I joined (I'm 27 now), back when I had my first hand me down laptop with a pentium r chip and 64mb of ram. Trying to connect to the world with 19kb dialup.

I remember Jesse giving me a free key when I didn't have a credit card to pay for one, and then all the help and encouragement in programming school. I treasure my NANY mug. It means a lot to me.

I still hang around, mainly to read the jokes, but it's always a positive vibe.

Thanks for all the good times and the help, and I'm up for a meetup in Australia. Also, if anyone needs any building work done, you can mention Donation Coder and I'll give you a discount.

4

Living Room / Re: Pick a number between 1 and 10

« on: February 27, 2015, 07:40 PM »

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary, those who don't, and those who know trinary.

@renegade I challenge you to find another base system which has the series 1,  [another number] and 10.

As for how they're spoken, I don't know.
Although I would imagine Octal is spoken like the decimal it looks like  e.g. 27oct would be Twenty-Seven, octal.

Hex is annoying because it can't be spoken in a lot of cases so it has to be spelled out.

Decimal is annoying because people keep saying things like 'a couple' 'a dozen' 'a grand'
Not to mention plumber's numbers where $150 turns out to be really $375.

5

Living Room / Pick a number between 1 and 10

« on: February 27, 2015, 03:57 AM »

I have no idea if anyone else has done this before but I decided to answer this once and for all.

You know where Marvin the Paranoid Android is demonstrating his intelligence to the mattress and asks it to pick a number between 1 and 10, and the matress says (IIRC) 7 and Marvin crushingly points out that it's wrong and how stupid the mattress is?  Well I thought I'd work it out.

The answer is 2

And I'll hide the reasoning so that others have a chance to think about it and tell my why I'm wrong and why they they are smarter than Marvin.

Spoiler

First we have to work out some rules. The fact that a robot asks it would mean it's safe to presume there is a correct answer.
Also, it's important to note that it's NOT 1 and 10 INCLUSIVE
Now, the only way there can be a correct answer is if there is only one number between 1 and 10. Which means that the question must be in a context that only allows this. The simplest context is if it is in base 3 (trinary) so the counting numbers would be 0,1,2,10,11,12,20, etc
In this case, the answer is 2.
Very simple.

6

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« on: February 20, 2015, 01:18 AM »

7

Living Room / Re: Rethink Smartwatch

« on: September 17, 2014, 04:36 AM »

I'l like to see someone jogging with the MP3 watch... cables everywhere.

The Android Smartwatch looks close to what I was thinking. In fact, I'm tempted to get one.

I'm not reallly serious about starting a kickstarter, I just get frustrated that what should be simple isn't there.

What I want is my $30 nokia in a watch shape, with tethering, and syncing all the data to your 'family' of devices.
So: watch receives text/email while you're mountain climbing, you read it and decide to ignore it, or call back.
Watch receives text/email while driving, read and reply on the tablet/phablet you keep in the dash, that way you don't run off the road trying to get your phone out of your pocket.
Watch receives email while at a formal dinner, scan your watch to see if it's important. Reply on fancy phone to impress people or sneak off to reply in private.

You can have endless devices on one phone plan, and your watch screen doesn't have to be high res because you only need basic info.

It just needs a 1 week battery. If Nokia can do it 10 years ago... where are we now???

8

Living Room / Rethink Smartwatch

« on: September 16, 2014, 03:24 AM »

After all these weird and wonderful wearables, there's still not one that REALLY solves any real problem.
They all need bluetooth tethering which too limited for anything other than wearing your phone anyway.

So.... here's my idea:
The watch has a SIM and a phone/data plan.
Watch can take and make calls either with bluetooth headset or loudspeaker.
Can receive messages.
Can send messages. No idea how current input is but I imagine you could write one letter at a time on the screen and OCR would recognise it.
Can receive emails, probably using an app where the email is parsed at the server and the watch only gets plain text and low res images.
Maybe send emails.

AND.... can tether.
So then you get home, tether your phone/tablet (by resting your watch on a wireless charger that also is a wifi booster) and your messages get synced and saved and you can see the full version of your emails.


This would mean a light phone user could get by with only the watch. But would be notified when an email came.
You could go on holidays with a watch and a Surface Pro, be out partying all day, make calls/text, and when you got an urgent business email you could grab the Surface and deal with it and then go back with empty pockets.

This watch could also be waterproof, so you can get caught in the rain/fall off a boat and not worry.


I'd buy this as a builder so I can leave my tablet in my truck while working, watch (or even minature fob watch in pocket, like a nokia phone designed for tethering) would do everything I need and when I need to read emails with supply documents I go to my truck.


What do you guys think?   Should I start a kickstarter?  Or am I only designing for myself?

9

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« on: September 15, 2014, 08:40 PM »

lightsabers

10

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« on: September 14, 2014, 11:08 PM »

disown

11

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« on: September 06, 2014, 06:13 AM »

roswell

12

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« on: September 05, 2014, 06:52 AM »

Smite

13

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« on: September 04, 2014, 06:16 PM »

Bacon

14

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« on: September 04, 2014, 05:58 AM »

spirit

15

Living Room / Re: Wikimedia refuses to remove animal selfie because monkey ‘owns’ the photo

« on: August 10, 2014, 09:54 AM »

The problem is that we are a bunch of engineers trying to define art.
Lots of art students spend many years studying this (paid by the government in a lot of places in the world) and none of them know either. (I have spent many hours listening to pretty girls who study art tell me all about it while I study 'natural art')

In the building trade, the problem is 'gentleman's agreements' all the time. If I draw the plans, I keep the copyright, if I design a unique (for example) timber floor artistic pattern which I simply ask "how about this?" and do then do the job, it's not clear. If I had said: "I'll design a custom flooring system" and drawn it up and the client signed that he had selected my design, then I keep it. Even if I was paid for the time I drew it, that's simply the cost of using my design.

However, the question is: did he make the overall finish by choosing the design, or did I design floor to make the overall finish?
Maybe consider the case of someone hanging a Picasso on the wall and that made the room look good. Who is the artist if the room is considered the artwork?

In the case of the holiday photo, if the person asking did not expect the person taking to do any more than just point and shoot (i.e. an amateur under instruction) then the tourist owns the picture. If the tourist asks a professional thinking that he/she is an amateur, then the professional can
a: take the photo and say nothing
b: first warn the people that this is his job and his work is copyright (kind of like if you ask a signed recording artist to play happy birthday and want to record it).
If the professional says nothing and then claims the photo, the tourist could claim that the photographer had the camera under false pretences and that would open up another can of worms.

If there is an accidental historic photobomb, the professional could claim the photo, but the tourist could countersue for lost revenue that the camera was borrowed under false pretences and the tourist could have made the shot and got the royalties.

That's my opinion.

Oh, and as for hobbyists: a lot of that comes back to licencing and liability. You can ask old Jim how to build a shed and he is not licenced to charge for his information, and if it falls down that was your fault. If you ask me, I can charge for it and I have to pay insurance because you can sue me if I told you wrong information.
A professional photographer would be one who could be reasonably expected to charge for such a service. e.g. has a history of working as such, has a lot of images sold under copyright etc.

16

Living Room / Re: Wikimedia refuses to remove animal selfie because monkey ‘owns’ the photo

« on: August 10, 2014, 07:25 AM »

The way I see it there is the creation of art and then the recognition of it being art.
If the creator didn't know it was creating art, then it doesn't own the copyright.
Example: People leave footprints in the sand and the photographer makes a mint with a picture of them
Example: Someone screws up a bit of paper and throws it in the trash, and an artist makes a mint by putting it on a pedestal
Example: Sheet metal worker hammers a piece of iron and a dj makes a dance music track with the same sound
Example: Someone records birdsongs/waves/whales.

If I build someone a shed (that's my job) then I might retain 'copyright' of the design unless it can be proved that I copied someone else.

If you get someone to help take a photo, and they do no more than a 'reasonable' job, then you own it. BUT if you hand the camera to a professional to take and he uses his skill to achieve a better photo, then he could lay claim to it.
Likewise if you ask an amateur to help build a shed, he only puts in work. But if you ask me, I can add to the normal shed design and claim that as my copyright.
Let's pretend this shed won best shed in a building competition and we wanted to know who gets the prize.

So, since the ape was unaware of what he was doing, he can't claim copyright. The artist (unintentionally) set up a circumstance where this photo was created, he recognised that it could be made into art, he processed the results and can claim them as his art.

Moral: don't ask me to help you build a shed. Please.

17

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« on: August 10, 2014, 06:53 AM »

Little Johnny asks his Dad: "I have this homework on politics and economy and I'm not if I understand it"
Dad says: "Use the family as an example. I make the money so I'm the Capitalists, your mother deals it out, so she's the Government, we look after you, so you're the People, the baby is the Future, and we pay the maid so she is the Working Class"

That night Johnny is woken up by the baby crying, so he checks it and it needs changing. So he goes to tell his parents, but only his mother is there and she doesn't wake up. He goes to tell the maid, but finds that she's 'busy' with his dad.
He goes back to bed.

Next morning his dad asks how he is going with the homework. Johnny says: "I think I understand it. The Capitalists screw the Working Class while the Government is asleep. The People are ignored and the Future is full of sh*t"

18

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« on: August 10, 2014, 06:45 AM »

These machines are too slick, it has to look all weird with duct tape and spoons on servo motors.

-Fred Nerd (August 09, 2014, 02:13 AM)

I'd like a Johnny 5 waiter to come rolling into my bedroom in the morning, holding a tray with a full breakfast, complete with a rosebud in a vase. Now that would be "too slick". 
 (see attachment in previous post)

-app103 (August 09, 2014, 05:50 AM)

YES..... why don't they work on that rather than smartphones that aren't??

19

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« on: August 09, 2014, 02:13 AM »

I just ordered an arduino board with the idea to make an instant coffee alarm clock. I happen to like good instant coffee. These machines are too slick, it has to look all weird with duct tape and spoons on servo motors. Will post when I get it attempted.

20

Living Room / Re: The Onion launches new site: Clickhole

« on: June 18, 2014, 08:45 AM »

I hate being told that I won't believe the target article.
As a religious person, I figure I can believe in just about anything. With much faith.

21

Living Room / Re: The Onion launches new site: Clickhole

« on: June 14, 2014, 05:54 AM »

That's a great site.
I love spreading obvious misinformation on the internet. If someone is so dumb as to believe articles on the net, they may as well believe totally ridiculous ones.

22

Living Room / Re: Apple Collectors: 100 000 for iPod Gen 1

« on: April 28, 2014, 04:14 AM »

Yeah, there's a lot of fake bidding going on. So when ebay list "average price" all their real items appear to be cheap.

When I was looking for a Nexus 5, there were a lot of them for sale around $850. No-one bought them, but they made $500 seam cheap.

That's probably what this guy is trying to do.

23

Living Room / Apple Collectors: 100 000 for iPod Gen 1

« on: April 27, 2014, 06:11 AM »

http://www.ebay.com....;hash=item3f3464bfcd


That was a pretty slick investment...

24

Living Room / Re: Once again, magically expensive items are only different in your mind

« on: April 21, 2014, 07:24 AM »

I'm a wannabe audiophile. And I think a lot of it is a kind of OCD; we want it to be perfect, and if we believe it IS perfect, then we can relax and enjoy it more.
I'm suspicious of 'premium' sound systems enhancing the bass to give an extra depth which makes the speakers sound better on first listen but is actually not an accurate reproduction. One reason why I hate trying to judge speakers straight up. It might sound better now, but is it genuine?

I've heard that CDs are purposely flattened so they don't clip on low to medium speakers so it sounds better on average speakers.
People who work in professional studios tell me that the final mix sounds a lot better before it's turned into CD format but I haven't gotten to confirm this.

Also I listen to the start of Alison Krauss's New Favourite to quickly judge a new sound system on how it holds bass. That song is much harder on speakers than dance music.

25

Developer's Corner / Re: Need help coding website with music and database

« on: March 26, 2014, 05:03 PM »

Thanks,
@40hz, your friend has a great voice.
Those sites are both for finished product. This will be for demos only. It will be public, but only targeted to industry people. As such, I'm not too worried about the front end.
It's the actual code to run the database that I need to work out.

I need to know what language is best to do it in so I can go out and learn it quick, quick.