Messages

26

Living Room / Re: Your favorite podcasts?

« on: October 24, 2015, 03:40 PM »

Necro time! 

my favorite podcasts are Dan Carlin's Hardcore History and Common Sense with Dan Carlin.

A HUGE thumbs up to Dan Carlin. I've always found history terribly boring but Hardcore History has ignited my curiosity, Dan is a great story-teller.

I'm becoming a bit of a political junkie as I age and I find his Common Sense podcast (which focuses on current affairs) even more fascinating. Dan tends to be more libertarian than not but wherever you place yourself on the political spectrum, there's a good chance he'll make you rethink or atleast question yourself on a few issues. Common Sense is a must listen! Can't recommend it enough.

Select episodes of both podcasts are available free on iTunes (older episodes can be purchased on his site dancarlin.com )

PS: I was listening to one of his much older episodes where Dan laments why the US president can't be a non-partisan, financially independent & upstanding citizen... say someone like Bill Cosby! But don't hold that against him. 

They're on Youtube too:
Common Sense #295 - Trumping the Playbook (talking about the first GOP debate)

27

General Software Discussion / Re: HDMI signal drops and reconnects (Mac) - DC plz help!!1

« on: October 23, 2015, 09:00 AM »

I expect it to - since it's just the upgraded cable directly linking the mac to the TV (no switch involved)

28

General Software Discussion / Re: HDMI signal drops and reconnects (Mac) - DC plz help!!1

« on: October 23, 2015, 03:15 AM »

Update:

The pigtail switch did not work

I then got this powered switch, which does work:
"Kinivo 301BN Premium 3 port High speed HDMI switch with IR wireless remote and AC Power adapter"


It didn't work right away, the signal didn't pass through the old HDMI cable. I had to upgrade my HDMI cable to:
"BlueRigger High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet - CL3 Rated for In-wall Installation - Supports 3D and Audio Return",


It's not necessary to manually switch to a null output (the device doesn't even allow it) or to power off the device when I'm using the TV for something other than mirroring the computer, the switch took care of the handshake problem and works flawlessly, no drop in video quality either. 

Thanks again to everyone who chimed in.

Edit: It just occurred to me that I hadn't tried using just the upgraded cable, without the switch. It f***** works! There's no need for the switch at all, upgrading the cable was all that was required. lol

29

General Software Discussion / Re: HDMI signal drops and reconnects (Mac) - DC plz help!!1

« on: October 03, 2015, 06:06 PM »

Sure thing.

30

General Software Discussion / Re: HDMI signal drops and reconnects (Mac) - DC plz help!!1

« on: October 03, 2015, 05:51 PM »

Shades, the mac worked just fine with the previous TV, same settings, same cable.

Swapping the devices would require me to buy two separate adapters - one HDMI to DVI (or VGA) and a Thunderbolt to HDMI, doesn't really seem worth it.

What I ended up doing was getting an HDCP compliant 3-1 switch, it's arriving in a couple of days.

An explanation from someone who replied on another forum:

The solution for some with handshake issues was to stick a little box between the Mac and HDTV or AVR that retains the correct EDID information, fooling the Mac into thinking it still is actively connected to the display. The Gefen HDMI Detective was a popular model, here's one at Amazon that might work:

http://www.amazon.co...TMD...6Y/ref=sr_1_1?

I ordered a generic pigtail switch (before I read that reply) and not the item mentioned above. If it solves the problem, great. If not, I could use the switch to change to a null output when I'm not mirroring. If that fails too (like the box not allowing me to switch to a null output when there's a live one present) I could just manually plug the cable in and out of the switch rather than the TV or mac, till a better solution comes along.

Replacing the cable seems like the next viable option. And it's also been suggested that I put an Apple TV as an intermediary.

Thanks for the input, Shades and mouser. 

31

General Software Discussion / HDMI signal drops and reconnects (Mac) - DC plz help!!1

« on: October 01, 2015, 11:30 AM »

I run a Mac Mini connected to two displays. The first is a DVI monitor (connected via a Thunderbolt to DVI adapter) and the second is a TV, directly hooked up to the HDMI out. I mirror the display to the TV to watch movies. The TV conked off a week back and was replaced.


The problem I'm facing after changing TV sets is, when I'm using the TV with the cable box or Playstation, the computer monitor starts blinking every few seconds, a solid black screen, similar to what one sees when changing resolution.

The blinking occurs twice about a second apart, every 15-20 seconds.
Observing the display options menu, I noticed that immediately after the first blink, the menu item for the TV disappears (because the Mac can't see it) there's another blink soon after when the TV gets detected and appears on the menu. It stays that way for 15-20 seconds and then the process repeats.


I've googled around and am at a total loss, I don't even know if the culprit is the Mac or the TV.
I've played around with the power consumption options on the TV, disabled mirroring, selected the "Use as separate display" option on the Mac - none of it made any difference.

When the display is being mirrored, it doesn't blink at all, steady on both ends, so I assume the HDMI cable (10 meters) is ok. Should I opt for a 5 meter high speed cable? Totally out of ideas, the only thing that works for sure right now is to pull out the HDMI cable from the Mac every time I'm not mirroring the display but that's a pain.

Edit: If I'm using the TV for Playstation or cable and power it off (standby), the monitor keeps blinking even when the TV is on standby.

32

Living Room / Re: 14 year-old boy arrested for creating a digital clock

« on: September 16, 2015, 06:55 PM »

but if you ignore the context of recent history, you're just leaving out too much.

Bingo! 

33

Living Room / Re: Watch a game instead of playing it - NextgenWalkthroughs.com and others?

« on: July 13, 2015, 02:26 PM »

I really enjoyed Christopher Odd's Bloodborne walkthrough (I was alternating between watching and playing it myself).
I'd rank his skill as only slightly above average which suited me fine. Come to think of it, I enjoyed the walkthroughs almost as much as I enjoyed playing the game, sometimes more so - Bloodborne can be very dark and stressful.

34

Found Deals and Discounts / Airserver (mobile to Mac/PC streaming) $4 off (single use code inside)

« on: June 19, 2015, 04:03 PM »

I just purchased the Mac version and got a discount code with the license. It's the best Airplay host I've found on Mac - does audio streaming, video streaming & full device mirroring. They have a PC version and support for non-Apple devices too.

http://www.airserver.com

We hope you enjoy AirServer! As a thank you we'd like to give you a $4.0 discount coupon.
Feel free to use it within 14 days on additional licences or give it to your friends or family:
MKC283W7VCD2H39GH

35

General Software Discussion / Hola VPN sells users' bandwidth

« on: May 28, 2015, 11:58 AM »

When a user installs Hola, he becomes a VPN endpoint, and other users of the Hola network may exit through his internet connection and take on his IP. This is what makes it free: Hola does not pay for the bandwidth that its VPN uses at all, and there is no user opt out for this.

Here's the part I find most disturbing:

rather than having their IP addresses cloaked behind a private server, free Hola users are regularly exposing their IP addresses to the world but associated with other people’s traffic – no matter what that might contain.

I wonder if there's some way for users to prove their IP was used by someone else on Hola and not directly by them. If not, you'd have to be out of your frikking mind to use this service, or... really, really like free shit. Hola claims to have 46m users.

http://torrentfreak....rs-bandwidth-150528/

36

Living Room / Re: Anyone getting a Pebble Time?

« on: March 29, 2015, 07:18 PM »

I'm sure there are others out there but this is the only smartwatch I've seen that I've found genuinely attractive.


http://www.digitaltr...one-smartwatch-news/

I don't like the Pebbles and the Apple watch is one ugly, overpriced piece of crap. I hope it's a massive failure so Tim Cook can fall down to earth.

37

Living Room / Re: TV shows thread

« on: March 29, 2015, 03:01 PM »

Thanks for the input Innuendo!

Big mistake...they have taken a "How the heck is this going to work?" concept and turned it into something that is definitely worth watching. I was very surprised.

I have way too much on my plate right now (not just TV shows) but I won't discount the show as you've suggested, I'll watch the pilot and decide.

Don't know if my reply will reach you in time to save you. Most of the promo material for the show leaves out the "Harlequin Romance Novel" parts of the plot-line. Then again...maybe you like romance novels?

You got here on time. I haven't ever read a romance novel *raises hand solemnly* but I'll confess, I don't mind watching the genre (preferably something that doesn't have Tom Hanks in it. )

38

Living Room / Re: TV shows thread

« on: March 28, 2015, 10:38 AM »

The 12 Monkeys movie was so damn good, I decided against watching the show.  

There's nothing on TV I'm crazy about at the moment - but Game of Thrones resumes soon!  

HBO's The Jinx (multi-part documentary) is an absolute must-watch.

Better Call Saul is quite watchable and is bound to get more interesting, I'm glad they started off at a leisurely pace and didn't get pressured to come out all guns blazing because of the show's ancestry.

Black Sails (Starz drama about pirates) is also good viewing - I've loved every Starz show I've watched so far. Their casting is always brilliant and they're never prudish in any sense and tend to be less than politically correct, a welcome change from all the PC bullshit that's churned out by so many others. poo.gif
Black Sails season 1 which aired some months back was especially good and I'd definitely recommend it.

I'm about to start watching Outlander soon (another Starz show) - I haven't read the book(s?) or watched the movie(s?) so know very little about the premise but I've got a good feeling about it.

Lastly, Letterman's retiring soon. I haven't missed a single episode in years, the guy's simply the best at what he does and I'm going to miss him. I can't believe Colbert (with his massive following of trained seals /troll ) is taking over the show.  
J/K- Colbert is talented indeed, I just hope he gets out of his 'Nation' mode for his new assignment.


 

39

General Software Discussion / Re: uTorrent has gone rogue

« on: March 08, 2015, 09:46 AM »

I'm glad they picked an older version of uTorrent as a viable alternative. It really was an amazing client, even on a mac where it has less features compared to its windows counterpart, though I can't remember what they are anymore since I haven't used it in years.

40

General Software Discussion / uTorrent has gone rogue

« on: March 08, 2015, 06:22 AM »

I was surprised when I installed a recent OS X update and it hi-jacked two browsers without user consent. Some looking around showed that there were others complaining about malware too. I rolled back to an older version, warned whoever I could and vowed never to trust the company again.

And today, there's this little gem on TorrentFreak:

Many users of the popular BitTorrent client uTorrent are complaining about it silently installing a cryptocurrency miner with a recent update. The Epic Scale tool, which slows down host computers, is reportedly being installed without consent and for some is particularly hard to remove.

http://torrentfreak....users-report-150306/

uTorrent had two things going for it: a no-nonsense, lightweight app and street cred among people like me who have used and loved the app for years. Looks like they traded both in for some $$$.

41

Living Room / Re: Your favorite podcasts?

« on: January 20, 2015, 02:32 AM »

They host the same lower bitrate on their own site (same as you'd get on iTunes ) than what they broadcast to digital radio stations.
#IIRC

42

Living Room / Re: Your favorite podcasts?

« on: January 19, 2015, 03:20 PM »

iTunes podcasts are lower quality than digital radio sources anyway, best avoided.  

My sources for ABGT:
1. Torrent search - look for uploaders inspiron or snoopvelo - they both upload splits.
2. Cuenation - you'll have to split the files yourself using the .cue provided
3. This forum (sign up required and it's in Russian, IIRC) updates a torrent containing all previous episodes, every week, so if you're looking to download older episodes it's your best bet. [Edit: These aren't split files but it's a reliable source - the cuenation .cue files work well with these .mp3s 99% of the time]

43

Living Room / Re: We Are the Idiots

« on: December 11, 2014, 08:26 AM »

No. I was just drawing parallels - the smells are very different. I like them both.

44

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« on: November 29, 2014, 04:06 PM »

Predestination - which has the most convoluted temporal paradox I've ever seen in a movie.
 (see attachment in previous post)

-4wd (November 26, 2014, 04:37 AM)

I really enjoyed it! Solid performances too... I've always liked Hawke and Sarah Snook was adorable!

45

Living Room / Re: A stoned guy renamed some of his favorite items while high...

« on: November 25, 2014, 02:10 AM »

Horsetornado FTW!!  

46

Living Room / Re: Thoughts on "Piracy".

« on: November 24, 2014, 03:21 AM »

I've pirated ever since my first PC in 1998 came pre-installed with a pirated copy of Win95, MS Office and whatever software I wanted from the seller's huge catalog (and could fit on the mammoth 1GB drive!). I pirate much less now- I need less and I also find it worthwhile paying for a good deal.

Music: I managed to get a Spotify premium membership. I had to go about signing up in a roundabout way and I pay nearly twice the official cost since it's not available in India. So I pay for my music now but technically am still on the wrong side of the law because I'm doing it without the content providers' blessings.

Software: I tend to buy apps that I think are good value for money even if they're available to pirate. Most mobile apps are surprisingly low priced compared to desktop apps. The only pirated app I have on my iPad costs $50 and it's something I use _maybe_ once a year.

Movies/TV shows: The broadband speeds and streaming services have a long way to go here - I see no reason to keep pirating once the situation improves.

I didn't start making the shift from pirating to paying because I woke up one lovely summer day with a different set of ethics. Arguments equating piracy with stealing physical items have never hit home with me. I've always known it's wrong on some level but it's too easy to come up with justifications. And it's easy to hide altogether if you don't talk about it.

In every single case that I've stopped pirating, I've done it for selfish reasons - the clean feeling you get when you're doing the right thing is a motivator but it's not enough to make most people make the change. I think that's a good sign, there's hope if you can get people to make a change appealing to nothing more than their own interests, when you go about things in a smart way. Lectures in morality may make people feel bad about themselves but usually don't change anything more than that.

47

Living Room / Re: ESA Rosetta comet landing being streamed live 12-NOV-2014 @ 11:00AM EST

« on: November 14, 2014, 01:57 PM »

Nope.

Fiiiiiiine!

48

Living Room / Re: ESA Rosetta comet landing being streamed live 12-NOV-2014 @ 11:00AM EST

« on: November 14, 2014, 03:56 AM »

Aww come on 40... methinks you're being a bit harsh on NASA!  

I know they have their problems but they have sooo many things going on simultaneously. I've been following a few of their twitter accounts and am super impressed.

Can't wait for JWST (I know it's a joint effort) to get going - just hope there's no incident, they've put so much time, money and effort into it - I get emo just thinking about something not going according to plan.

Unrelated development that could prove to be interesting: lunarmissionone.com - UK based.

49

Living Room / Re: ESA Rosetta comet landing being streamed live 12-NOV-2014 @ 11:00AM EST

« on: November 14, 2014, 02:31 AM »

I read somewhere that all three mechanisms to anchor it in place (jet, screws, harpoons) have failed. Philae is lying on its side at an unintended location. *fingers crossed*

A comment from Reddit to put this achievement in perspective:

[ESA] hit a moving target 1500 times farther away from earth than the moon, with an object going 30 times faster than a bullet.

50

Living Room / Re: Call to arms on net neutrailty

« on: November 11, 2014, 01:11 PM »

I'm not a fan of government control either - I was a bit confounded about which side I should pick on this issue. I'll be honest - my main concern is torrenting and under which scenario will I get screwed over less. Found a torrentfreak article from 2010 which was against NN wrt torrenting - they claimed things are worse with NN with new govt. guidelines imposed.
OTOH, uTorrent supports it and I've read recent pieces that claim NN is important to maintain the status quo.

My personal situation is somewhat ironic. The most efficient (relatively speaking) ISP here is a govt. company. Private companies here (internet, mobile, cable TV) have the most atrocious tech support. They also formulate the most confusing, diabolical plans and UI (in the real world sense). I'm certain atleast part of the confusion is intentional.

 I'm all for free market in 99% of the stuff - when it comes to say, cable tv - it's a relationship between the content provider and me, I don't care about who else is or isn't subscribed to it) but when it comes to the internet I really do want its all-inclusive nature to be preserved, for selfish reasons, because everyone is a potential content-provider. I'm paranoid about govt. control but I'm equally paranoid about corporate greed. Ok, my teeny little brain is tired. Nosh, out.