Messages

201

General Software Discussion / Re: Implement features that are known to be loved in other programs, on your own

« on: August 17, 2011, 04:05 AM »

everybody think that breadcrumbs are simple - that is until you try to create a consistent breadcrumb trail that also can work as useful navigation with a behaviour that seems logical to most people. Ha!

202

Living Room / Re: UK Riots: Have you been affected?

« on: August 15, 2011, 04:24 PM »

I dont know. I find the idea dubious that without "civilisation", we'd be a bunch of savages. It is prevalent in all "modern" societies & religions that I know of. But that doesnt convince me. In fact I would suspect that the demonising of our "animal" nature is one our greatest problems as a society. The idea also helps society and religions to convince us that we need their ways of thinking, their morals, their beliefs, in order to be, or become, "civilised" - or whatever :p

-tomos (August 14, 2011, 02:18 PM)

Science certainly seems to indicate that early man was not a savage - they had long life expectancy and very little violence. Not the kind of wars and fighting that popular fiction seems to have liked to invent (based, probably, on the experience of seeing "primitive" tribes caught under the high societal stress of colonialism and european power wars, and extrapolating from that)...

This was mostly due to there being plenty of everything - food, space, resources - except people. We're kind of in the opposite situation now.

203

Living Room / Re: UK Riots: Have you been affected?

« on: August 12, 2011, 01:36 AM »

And the "right" of US police forces to "respond with deadly force" has long been sanctioned, both by custom, and and by law. So the police already have the tools and the authority.

-40hz (August 11, 2011, 12:28 PM)

True but in a way the NRA have forced that situation as the criminals will also be armed (potentially with assault weapons)! In the UK a tiny minority of criminals are armed - partly from legislation and partly because the police don't instantly react with deadly force so the need for weapons isn't as clearly perceived.

-Carol Haynes (August 11, 2011, 01:32 PM)

Deadly force is not the point here - the penalty for breaking into a shop and stealing a TV should in no way ever be shot-to-death-without-trial. These are not hardened criminals or terrorists... These are people, many with no criminal background, who get caught in the exhilarating whirlwind of a mob rush. Happened throughout history - and actually when you compare it to mob madnesses of the past, we are clearly more mature and enlightened. But one of the main reason human rights and legal practice gets "in the way" is that many of the arrested people have no prior record. And they are of much wider age groups than the label "looting kids" image...

Mobs slowly whip themselves up into lynching people, storming castles, or any other crazy thing (good and bad) - anyone who ends up part of a mob event, whether is it a flash mob, demonstration, special event etc. knows a taste of the feeling - of being connected, of mattering - and in a mob madness setting, the feedback loop goes off the scale...

Not excusing them, just saying it is not "anarchists that hate everything versus law abiding citizens" or "immoral kids versus our society" - it's 11 year old good kid, retired teacher, unemployed life guard... Let's not shoot them dead or tun them over with the car (as happened to 3 asian youth who were looking to take on the looters, probably ran into by a car/van who assumed they were looters and was not going to stop to risk having their stuff taken from them)

The cure could well end up being worse than the disease, knowing the UK - I'm welltired of the simplistic explanations and simplistics solutions we're bombarded with, often a version of "give up more rights so we can punish this imaginary image of the looter based more on TV baddies than reality..."

204

Living Room / Re: Opera wand. Does it work well? Enough to abandon lastpass?

« on: August 12, 2011, 01:28 AM »

I'm amazed how Opera like some of the other browsers are becoming, it must be bittersweet to Opera.

I used the wand for years and it is simple and works well, and now it can be sync'd. Because it couldnt be sync'd and I sometimes have to use other browsers, I started using lastpass. This allows me to use more random/secure passwords without losing my mind. The wand works on more sites than lastpass for smooth auto-fill (but not for capture or generation, and it deals with password change better). I dont mind doing an "open lastpass to check the password" then letting the wand take over on my own PCs.

205

DC Gamer Club / Re: Space Pirates and Zombies

« on: August 10, 2011, 10:00 AM »

I bought it a while back on impulse and had quite a bit of fun with it - more than with space rangers 2 for example

Interesting to know the key will work on steam

206

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Bitdefender Total Security , IS or AV for only $9,95

« on: August 04, 2011, 09:59 AM »

I just checked - at the moment I have 5 PCs on bitdefender, 3 on a "total security 2011" which i bought around xmas, and 2 on an "internet security 2009" which I bought in 2009 but hadnt used (i'd grabbed a couple boxes in a deal somewhere and one was meant for my parents but never used). The PCs on the 2009 license code are happily running IS2011, and I am pretty sure that if I install the 2012 it will still happily run. So it can be bought in advance and used later, typically. Note that a 3 PC version will tick down as soon as you put the first PC on it, though

it is unclear to me what the difference remains between "internet security" and "total security" in the 2012 edition - file delete, encryption, tune up (there is a check-optimize which is in both TS and IS 2011 and not as dumb as it sounds, but not sure what tune-up is meant to be) and 2Gb back up (pff). The difference in price is not much for 3PCs but it also seems to be extras that one already has elsewhere, most of us (Note that BD also has a "master control" option where a central PC can oversee other PCs in the home/home office network. Some of these functions might be more valuable in such a scenario)

PS: the PCs I have on it are a mix of XP 32 bit, windows 7 32 bit and windows 7 64bit.

PPS: the program is not as fast as, say, Eset used to be (havent tried it recently), it's a little on the slow side but doesnt cause too much load in that. Game mode and laptop mode are ok. It does work and it is cheap compared to nearly any other product with the same kind of security track record.
Note: The program is VERY disk space hungry, easily 1Gb or more. I think it keeps a file signature database for heuristic detection, and it keeps many versions of it... that's probably configurable somewhere

207

General Software Discussion / Re: Annoying experience with non-pirated software

« on: August 01, 2011, 08:16 AM »

by communication glitch she means not the software, but me  

actually we have had sound missing, at times (push to talk fixed that for me) and I have had 1 case of mysterious crashes on (3rd party) level load which were followed by having to run integrity fix (or caused by it, perhaps)

208

General Software Discussion / Re: Unlocker punishes you for not installing toolbar.

« on: August 01, 2011, 08:12 AM »

The main problem is that it install is the wrong time to ask for support or donations - just like at registration on a new site is the wrong time to ask me to recommend to a friend or upgrade to "plus".

I don't know if I want to give you my browser revenue/a donation/risk inconveniencing my friends, I haven't used your software/site yet! So making me wait hardly is going to help anything.

Now when the software/site detects that it is the nth time or nth hour it has been running, then would be a good time. I'm more likely to donate, or subscribe to a newsletter/feed/toolbar once I am using the tool and have found it valuable

209

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Bitdefender Total Security , IS or AV for only $9,95

« on: August 01, 2011, 08:02 AM »

I have been using bitdefender for the last 4 or 5 years.

Typically a code for one version of the program remains valid/"activatable" for new versions - so if you buy multiple codes and dont activate them, based on past experience you should be able to activate it in a year. I had bought 2008/2009 boxes for my parents, which werent used, and i used the codes for myself in 2010.

210

Living Room / Re: IDEA: cancel elevator music

« on: July 26, 2011, 04:16 AM »

You know what, this could make neighbourly relations so much easier 

211

Living Room / Re: FBI Arrests 12 in 'anonymous' raids

« on: July 21, 2011, 09:24 AM »

going to be the next witch hunt opportunity in tech... someone in the way of your promotion? find a way to finger them as part of Anonymous...

212

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: Alternative to RoboForm to store web site IDs and passwords

« on: July 21, 2011, 09:20 AM »

I use lastpass - works on chrome, ie, firefox and opera. Even has a desktop version for these offline times, if you so want.

213

General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis Saves the Day

« on: July 18, 2011, 08:00 AM »

FWIW I have also had their Partition Manager hose my system on a number of occasions.

-Carol Haynes (July 17, 2011, 10:31 AM)

10 points for not giving up!  

I've had that happen to me too.  

-nosh (July 17, 2011, 11:50 AM)

I have hosed my system with partitioning tools a few times - different brands, hasty action.
Although nothing like what partition magic did, and to me, a user of pre version 1... some pieces of software have no loyalty

Acronis started going wrong when they totally split the home and entreprise products. I had pro, was shafted onto home, which lacked the feature I had paid pro for (reinstall on different hardware, which seems more likely a scenario in a home than corporate setting, imo, but they didnt see it that way)

214

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+

« on: July 10, 2011, 02:18 PM »

I kept my online totally separate from my real name and details for a very long time - early on because there are weird people out there, then because I dont like being profiled and tagged - but in the end it started hurting my image - large amounts of my online presence including cool things that validate my CV's claims etc. were not linked to my name and therefore invisible.

I should have been more clever with a more split identity from the beginning, but alas I hadnt and now I had to let iphigenie etc. be traced to my real name.

215

General Software Discussion / Re: Sticking to TODO software

« on: July 09, 2011, 02:01 PM »

I *can* recommend that people try hiveminder.com if they want a web based todo. Not as known or cool, but the "review" mode really is good, and so is the capture. I particularly like that you can do the review mode over instant messenger, for example

216

General Software Discussion / Re: Sticking to TODO software

« on: July 09, 2011, 01:54 PM »

@iphigenie - was your Above & Beyond PIM the same product as the one currently being sold by 1Soft (www.1soft.com)?

-40hz (July 09, 2011, 12:11 PM)

yes it is - I am not sure it has changed much, the pages say nearly exactly the same thing as they used to. Might have added some more stuff on the information management (notes etc.) but I never used that much (to me bits of information have to sync or go out of the program for reuse, else it is not worth putting the information in - tasks are different since they vanish). But the dynamic scheduling things can really work, I can confirm that

And something not mentioned on the site that it used to do - the calendar view or task view can also be used as a time tracking tool (click on task, start work) able to handle interruptions and sliced up tasks (so i did an hour, now i stop, and tell the tool either that i am done, or that the task is still needed with x left to go)

Making me want to give it a whirl again... but it's not cheap :S

217

General Software Discussion / Re: recommend backup soft?

« on: July 09, 2011, 12:39 PM »

Thanks for the update - it is strange how we accumulate these things but end up using them less.

I havent used an image in a while, I own
- an old Acronis or two,
- a fairly recent Paragon Disk Manager
- and Image for Windows/Dos/Linux + their boot tool which I never went through the hassle to install once I switched computers. It's a lot of hoops to jump through, that one, just to enforce their license against people using copies

I did use Acronis many times in the past, back when Windows was easier to break - time saving! But they screwed me badly when they rejigged their licensing - they removed my middle "pro" version and downgraded me to the home version, which didnt have the one feature I had paid the pro value for. All that really soon after I had upgraded. I stopped buying. Went to the other products, but never really used them for images after that.

So all I do is manual and SFFS sync's to various usb/network drives + an online backup system which is mostly there for settings, not files. Would definitively not be enough in case of a major disaster like fire/lightning, but is enough to get all important settings (like saved games!) on a new machine or fresh install.

Intriguingly I went to the Genie site and their "timeline" and "backup" product are still there, + a cloud offering that claims to be fast. Timeline doesnt look too bad (i remember loving the 13 ghosts backup with its automated versions), but if it doesnt allow me to pick things like all these weird settings applications sprinkle about (which the "GBM" allows, and also has collections of settings for every game and application under the sun it seems)

(PS: they claim to have a summer sale 50% ending today)

218

General Software Discussion / Re: recommend backup soft?

« on: July 09, 2011, 12:01 PM »

Brings up an interesting question though: are people still using what they were using then, Genie, B4all and such, or are there slicker options now? Has everyone moved to online ones?

That's so weird though, here's me talking about nohandsbackup and how i set it up for my mum - nohandsbackup still works, although it is an abandoned product (it seems). I liked the automation. My mum on the other hand is gone and i had no backup there...

And I currently dont really use a backup tool besides file copying manually, and really I should.

219

General Software Discussion / Re: Sticking to TODO software

« on: July 09, 2011, 11:54 AM »

When I was running a hectic agency - where I had a mix of fixed meetings, lots of tasks on long/medium deadlines that all had to eventually be done, lots of interruptions and emergencies and support etc. - one tool that did work for me for a very long time was Pim "Above & Beyond". It did have a way for you to enter all sorts of todos and what they take and also what they were worth and would rejuggle your schedule and suggest what you could work on in your next time slot... And since priorities were adapted automagically it helped you not forget something. It was also quite good at warning in advance of overload problems and of the impact of "shoehorning" - and it supported "i have delegated this". Kind of neat. All long gone now although there are clones and offspring around and some add ons that promise the same thing on outlook (never tried)

Now I never have a problem with whatever is my main role/job, but I do need to capture and not totally forget all the little and not so little jobs and tasks in my life - and I have a lot to tidy up there, put off too many times, and not all that much time especially with all the work related travel. Coping with figuring out how to get my hair cut or juggling schedules and commitments ahead, and not forgetting. So I need to capture stuff. Always.

The challenge nowadays for me is to capture before I forget, and be able to access again reasonably whether at home or away. So i use
a)notepads with an electronic pen so i can have my notebooks with me later as long as i have a computer/internet
and
b)a todo list in hiveminder

I like hiveminder because it is very simple and allows for capture "as a dump" (from a browser text box, from email, from instant messenger, over imap and more) and also allows for review (go through tasks mark as done, postpone etc. in about 1 keystroke per task)

More than the todos, the frustrating thing in my life is missing stuff I could have done had I only noticed or remembered - concerts, events, seeing people...

220

General Software Discussion / Re: EKOPath 4 Compiler suite is now Open Source

« on: July 08, 2011, 11:01 AM »

If I had to do some computational physics or something else that has a lot of dimensions/matrices/factors and I would be hard pressed to think what to use if not Fortran... and why not? No need for closures, aspects, objects etc. for maths modelling...

They *did* get rid of the stupid spaces at the beginning of lines somewhere in the mid 90s... right?

221

General Software Discussion / Re: Data Recovery for SCO OpenServer

« on: July 08, 2011, 09:56 AM »

They are right - describe the problem better and dont try anything until you have a clear idea

If it is a hardware failure (weird noise etc.) then you have limited options. And limited time. The pros can open the drive and recover things from the platters so no further damage happens to them - but as you can imagine that is expensive since they are building a temporary hard drive by hand....

If it is NOT a hardware failure but more an issue of "i was trying to resize partitions/defrag/encrypt/delete and something went wrong" then there are a whole lot of tools that might help

I have messed hard drives more times than not in my life - installing other OSes, messing with partition tools, even using a defrag tool once - these kind of issues can usually be recovered, although sometimes it is a lot of work...

222

Developer's Corner / Re: My First Aussie Gig =D

« on: July 08, 2011, 09:47 AM »

you sound a lot like my husband - he has suits, shirts and ties of the highest quality - and then stuff I'm embarrassed if he goes out of the house in, and almost nothing in between  

edit: ok I exagerate - after my dad's death we did keep some of his casual clothes so now there are a few options in between.

223

General Software Discussion / Re: EKOPath 4 Compiler suite is now Open Source

« on: July 08, 2011, 03:39 AM »

Fortran! that brings me back

All that parallel computing cleverness I never got to use once I left Uni...

224

Living Room / Re: I Finally Bought a Kindle Book...

« on: July 08, 2011, 03:37 AM »

note that i have been willing to accept "drm" features like

- limited number of redownloads (just like i accept that if i lose a book it is lost, if i lose a digital file...) as long as the format is as futureproof as reasonable (i.e. open standard - that way if push comes to shove and it matters enough I will be able to myself write a decoder/player/converter)

- requires me to identify myself in a certain detail (buying books is anonymous)

225

Living Room / Re: I Finally Bought a Kindle Book...

« on: July 08, 2011, 03:04 AM »

In a way, if a software license has terms that are then cripplingly enforced by behaviour in the software, then we would have DRM. If, say, Office Home and Student had a mode that goes "I am sorry, but your document LetterToGarage.doc contains the word invoice twice and a price - as you know this software is for non commercial use only and as a result you will not be able to print or save this document and it you now be locked against further use of our product"... Some products do have such restrictions

It is DRM if it determines that it can constrain my choices in the usage of the product, demands the right to watch me, and/or can change the rules without my approval.

These are all unacceptable DRM behaviours:

- demand the right to monitor my usage and make the product stop working if it doesn't like (or, more problematically, doesn't recognise!) what I use

- determine I can only use my tool or device in certain ways

- deny me the right to use my device on items/files/media it doesn't approve of (or, more problematically, doesn't recognise as corporate-stamped - such as music by my friend's band, or a draft of a friend's book)

- determine I can only use my tool in certain places (you will lose apps and books if you move countries!) or buy from specific places (I am a native french speaker, could i buy a french kindle? no. could i buy french books for a uk kindle? no.)

- encrypt or encode the product or data in a dependent way (which means that should the company ever stop the service I wont be able to use or access things) even for things that I by law must have the right to access (my data, my work, my notes)

- make it illegal for me to try to bypass any such constraints even when the constraints are illegal in the first place (eg: public domain books)

- force obsolescence on me
   - force formats on me that I wont be able to use anywhere else and that you will expire
   - force a device on me for key functionality (both audible and kindle limit what the pc software can do compared to buying the device)
   - prevent reasonable migration (after loss, breakage, theft etc.)
   - not understand that I have naturally multiple devices and not allow me to migrate when I get a newer one

- deny me the right to improve, upgrade or extend my tool

- lay claim to rights to everything I do on my tool

- tell me that I am breaking the terms if I let my spouse or kids use my product, or run the product twice at the same time (even if one of them is for running a maintenance operation so onerous it prevents me from using the product while it is happening, eg:downloads, database repair...) or want to have the product on my computer, my mp3 player, my phone and my netbook (or tablet or ereader)

- put back doors to track me, my usage, my location, my behaviour with the excuse that it is to protect the DRM from me. Put hidden trackers/locks/call homes in files I have bought that might be readable/detectable/spyable by others

- treat me like a convicted criminal

I find these restrictions so unacceptable that I will instead accept the restriction to do without specific things (whereas for example on the software front I happily buy and use commercial software even though I favor free and open solutions, because most software is fairly open in comparison - I do watch the storage format though, been burnt in the past).

I don't have a Kindle, I have a Story reader. I dont have an ipod, I have a music player that supports open formats. I don't buy books with DRM, or music with DRM - I buy from stores, authors and publishers that don't put DRM (I on the other hand do not have a problem with works that for example put my name etc. in the ebook as long as it is transparent and visible - i object to hidden tracers as who knows what else they are tracing?). Are there many more books I would like to have on my reader? yup, but tough luck. After all I can get them on paper or from the library, and it's not as if my "could read/reread next" pile isnt already in the hundreds...

Of course it could get harder and harder as they convince more and more people that these are normal conditions to accept, so it is best to fight it