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1126

Living Room / Re: Do any wifi-DIRECT adapters actually exist?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 17, 2014, 03:22 PM »

After the initial flurry of breathless "game changer" announcements, it seems to have stalled out around 2012. The biggest motivation seemed to be killing off Bluetooth - which is odd because that's something that never really went mainstream beyond headsets for smartphones.

-40hz (November 17, 2014, 08:19 AM)

...And rapid (short burst) device to device file transfers. All those commercials with people whirling around smacking their phones together while the picture jumped from device to device were using NFC (Near Field Communication). NFC was originally (and still is as I understand it) by design dependent on a secondary Bluetooth connection to do the actual file transfer ("work").

However some companies like HP are using the initial NFC handshake to trigger a WiFi connection for their quick print from your phone widget. Which may have much to do with it - for the most part - not working on any device I've gotten ahold of to try with in any fashion vaguely reminiscent of the brochure's rhetoric..

HP's on printer NFC (to WiFi) implementation does work, it's just way too many steps to really be called truly convenient IMO.

1127

General Software Discussion / Re: Latest Avast deleting Firefox add-ons

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 17, 2014, 01:43 PM »

I stopped using/endorsing Avast a few years back when it decided to just up and (FP) delete all of an accounting firms tax software one fine morning in April..

1128

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 17, 2014, 06:50 AM »

Prob a good article on the web dying, but it seems paywalled out.

-TaoPhoenix (November 16, 2014, 11:51 PM)

So now you know what's killing it..

1129

Living Room / Re: Do any wifi-DIRECT adapters actually exist?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 17, 2014, 06:49 AM »

Can a regular wifi adapter do that? Or do you need a special WiFi Direct card/adapter thingy? For some reason I thought a wifi adapter could only connect to one thing at a time.

-Deozaan (November 17, 2014, 12:47 AM)

Correct, hence the problem Wi-Fi Direct is purportedly to 'solve'.

I think you just circled back to Superboy's original question. While the OS has to have an awareness of the technology, the adapter - it would appear - also needs to have ??X?? ...and nobody seems to have created a list of devices what do that.

I'm thinking it has a different protocol name that identifies it as WFD compatible/capable ... Just can't nail down wtf it is.

1130

Living Room / Re: Do any wifi-DIRECT adapters actually exist?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 16, 2014, 09:38 AM »

Ad-Hoc is the wireless equivalent of using a crossover cable to connect two devices. You can Ping-Pong between the two device...but that's as far as anything can ever get. Wi-Fi Direct (mind you I'm only working with what I read in the link posted above) allows a single wireless NIC to connect to more that one target at a time.

So if you connected your laptop to a hotel's wireless, and you wanted to connect a wireless printer as well. The laptop could connect separately and directly to the wireless printer while maintaining the connection to the hotel's wireless network, instead of having to connect the printer to the hotel's wireless network and then access it (hopefully unless session isolation is enabled) through the hotel.

1131

Living Room / Re: Do any wifi-DIRECT adapters actually exist?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 15, 2014, 10:12 PM »

How is Wi-Fi Direct different from ad-hoc wifi?

-Deozaan (November 15, 2014, 08:49 PM)

Ad-hoc is strictly point-to-point. Wi-Fi Direct is point-to-multi-point ...(e.g. Infrastructure mode without the infrastructure device)... And it has a Derp-to-connect button.

1132

Living Room / Re: Speed record by a rocket-bicycle

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 15, 2014, 12:44 PM »

Well... It did have a bellcrank he could (pretend...) try with so I'm ok(ish) with calling the rocket bike a "bicycle". But I will agree it has no business being on the street unless he's looking to paint the side of a building with his remains.

1133

Developer's Corner / Re: Any CentOS Security Gurus Here?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 15, 2014, 08:03 AM »

^Funny how the 'basics' always seem to end up being the most important part. All the fancy stuff won't amount to squat if you botch the basics.

80/20 rule:
Turn off what ain't used (including the unnecessary nifty extras for the parts you are using).
Keep patch levels current.
Pick proper passwords.

I've never seen a breach happen that didn't ultimately involve one of those three.

1134

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 15, 2014, 07:49 AM »

Played fine for me in IE 11.

-Stoic Joker (November 14, 2014, 06:56 AM)

I think the source is the latest Window Update(last Wednesday). It only seems to be a small problem and only here.

-Arizona Hot (November 14, 2014, 10:24 AM)

Just got the updates caught up and tried again. It still plays. Although I had to disable MS EMET to get IE to load for some (very strange) reason.

-Stoic Joker (November 14, 2014, 12:25 PM)

Just got the updates caught up and tried again. It still plays. Although I had to disable MS EMET to get IE to load for some (very strange) reason.

-Stoic Joker (November 14, 2014, 12:25 PM)

Are you sure it isn't because you are a very strange person?

-Arizona Hot (November 15, 2014, 12:36 AM)

That's not the prevailing theory...but I'm not ruling anything out just yet..

I had MS EMET on a very aggressive setting, so I'm guessing that it just was not allowing some post update first run modification to the browser. So I disabled its checks for IE briefly to get it to load, and then re-enabled them. *Shrug* All is fine now, so I'm just going to go with it for the moment.

1135

Living Room / Re: Do any wifi-DIRECT adapters actually exist?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 14, 2014, 05:28 PM »

I don't want a Miracast or anything, because that's basically a restricted-use device.  I want an adapter that will connect the computer directly and then I can do anything that I normally do over wifi.  I don't want Miracast dictating what I can and can't do.  But that seems to be where the tech is at currently.  However, I'm not sure, and it's not clear, and so forth.

-superboyac (November 14, 2014, 04:15 PM)

Okay, I just did a bit of quick research and it doesn't look like that's an option to me:

Q. How is Miracast related to Wi-Fi Direct?

A. Wi-Fi Direct allows devices to connect directly to each other, without the need for a Wi-Fi AP, and requiring just the push of a button, the entry of a PIN, or tapping two NFC-capable devices together. Wi-Fi Direct allows source and display devices to discover one another and provides the underlying device-to-device connectivity for Miracast. Miracast builds upon Wi-Fi Direct with mechanisms to negotiate video capabilities, setup content protection (if needed), stream content, and maintain the video session. - See more at: http://www.wi-fi.org...sthash.pVpt3GVj.dpuf

-Wi-Fi.org

So... Miracast sounds more like a protocol than an evil restrictive corporation to me.

1136

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 14, 2014, 12:25 PM »

Played fine for me in IE 11.

-Stoic Joker (November 14, 2014, 06:56 AM)

I think the source is the latest Window Update(last Wednesday). It only seems to be a small problem and only here.

-Arizona Hot (November 14, 2014, 10:24 AM)

Just got the updates caught up and tried again. It still plays. Although I had to disable MS EMET to get IE to load for some (very strange) reason.

1137

Living Room / Re: English Retail Sites Block Access from Quebec (self-censorship?)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 14, 2014, 11:43 AM »

Quebec's official language is French. Businesses are allowed to use other languages so long as French is prominent and given preferential treatment. Displaying a sign? French must be displayed first and in a larger font. Other languages may appear below in a smaller font. Setting up a voice menu for your customers? French first. Setting up your voicemail message for when you are out of the office? French first.

-Innuendo (November 14, 2014, 07:36 AM)

Having had to suffer through the annoyance of calling an American company from an American address only to have them start prattling at me in Spanish - Pressa Uno... - out of the gate more times than I care to count. I'd have to say hell Yeah, if X is the primary and officially spoken language of region Y...then they should be allow to assume it is safe and appropriate to lead with language X.

Christ, enough with the PC nonsense ... If somebody doesn't want to take the time to learn the local language then they can bloody well wait in line instead of holding it up for everyone else.

1138

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 14, 2014, 06:56 AM »

[/url])[/i]
Am I the only person getting this?

It seems to be an IE 11 problem. I don't have this problem in Chrome 38.

-Arizona Hot (November 13, 2014, 11:07 PM)

Played fine for me in IE 11.

I frequently suggest kicking it just to get a laugh out of people and/or to get a rough approximation of the device's location/environment without having to play 20 questions.

1139

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 13, 2014, 06:10 PM »

The story behind Star Wars from the Empire's perspective...
 (see attachment in previous post)

-Renegade (November 13, 2014, 04:40 PM)

You do realize you just took a big shit in you own conspiracy theorist's Easter Basket...Right??

 

1140

Developer's Corner / Re: Announcing .NET 2015 - .NET as Open Source, .NET on Mac and Linux

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 13, 2014, 06:06 PM »

Guys, if you find yourself in a situation where you are in a legal battle with microsoft, these clauses are not going to be your primary problem.  Your primary problem will be raising a few billion dollars to pay your legal fees. 

-mouser (November 13, 2014, 04:25 PM)

Nailed It!!! ...David and Goliath was a fun little fairy tail ... That's never gonna happen..

1141

General Software Discussion / Re: eBay AddOn via FF Update?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 13, 2014, 11:16 AM »

Just reporting in that I upgraded from latest version before 33.1 to it and got no extra extensions/plugins.

-hamradio (November 12, 2014, 09:54 AM)

Same here. I'd just installed FF a few weeks ago for the first time because I needed it for something (I forget what). I believe the version then was 33.03. I opened it yesterday to what all the hubbub was about and it said it was going to update to 33.1 ... So I let it do its thing.

No sign of eBay anywhere.

1142

Developer's Corner / Re: Announcing .NET 2015 - .NET as Open Source, .NET on Mac and Linux

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 13, 2014, 06:21 AM »

Embrace. Extend. Extinguish. Once again. 

Beware of geeks bearing gifts.

-40hz (November 13, 2014, 05:24 AM)

* Stephen66515 offers 40hz a gift

 

-Stephen66515 (November 13, 2014, 05:37 AM)

No thanks. 

What would I do with a big wooden horse anyway?

-40hz (November 13, 2014, 06:06 AM)

It's a great place to store your excess soldiers..

1143

Living Room / Re: Veteran's Day

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 11, 2014, 05:55 PM »

I just wanted to take a minute to thank all those who served - and are serving - wherever they may be.

-40hz (November 11, 2014, 05:24 PM)

+1 - Thank you.

1144

Living Room / Re: Stephen Fry's eloquent response to Grammar Nazis

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 10, 2014, 10:07 PM »

My major f'ing psychotic hatred (as opposed to a pet peeve) is not spelling or grammar, but the inability to communicate with a sufficient degree of precision with the fallout being ambiguity or meaninglessness, and then having someone get upset because I've asked for clarification because what was previously said was unintelligible.

-Renegade (November 10, 2014, 04:16 PM)

Marklar!

-Stoic Joker (November 10, 2014, 05:20 PM)

Shazbot!

-Renegade (November 10, 2014, 05:31 PM)

Not quite, but close enough - Now check your IMs FFS

1145

Living Room / Re: Stephen Fry's eloquent response to Grammar Nazis

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 10, 2014, 05:20 PM »

My major f'ing psychotic hatred (as opposed to a pet peeve) is not spelling or grammar, but the inability to communicate with a sufficient degree of precision with the fallout being ambiguity or meaninglessness, and then having someone get upset because I've asked for clarification because what was previously said was unintelligible.

-Renegade (November 10, 2014, 04:16 PM)

Marklar!

1146

Living Room / Re: Stephen Fry's eloquent response to Grammar Nazis

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 10, 2014, 11:58 AM »

Okay, so I had to Google for the uninterested vs. disinterested bit and quickly ran across Merriam-Webster

Usage Discussion of DISINTERESTED

Disinterested and uninterested have a tangled history. Uninterested originally meant impartial, but this sense fell into disuse during the 18th century. About the same time the original sense of disinterested also disappeared, with uninterested developing a new sense—the present meaning—to take its place. The original sense of uninterested is still out of use, but the original sense of disinterested revived in the early 20th century. The revival has since been under frequent attack as an illiteracy and a blurring or loss of a useful distinction. Actual usage shows otherwise. Sense 2 of disinterested is still its most frequent sense, especially in edited prose; it shows no sign of vanishing. A careful writer may choose sense 1a of disinterested in preference to uninterested for emphasis <teaching the letters of the alphabet to her wiggling and supremely disinterested little daughter — C. L. Sulzberger>. Further, disinterested has developed a sense (1b), perhaps influenced by sense 1 of the prefix dis-, that contrasts with uninterested <when I grow tired or disinterested in anything, I experience a disgust — Jack London (letter, 1914)>. Still, use of senses 1a and 1b will incur the disapproval of some who may not fully appreciate the history of this word or the subtleties of its present use.

I give up.  

1147

Living Room / Re: java -version -> 'java' is not recognized as an internal or external

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 09, 2014, 08:47 AM »

Granted this is a bad idea for beginners to try, but...

Re-opening the CLI is the least that has to be done.

-Ath (November 09, 2014, 08:27 AM)

I have used either path=%PATH% or path=%PATH%;C:\Add_Something_New to avoid restarting something when not wanting to lose the CLI session info or restart anything on a server a few times.

1148

N.A.N.Y. 2015 / Re: NANY 2015 Pledge: Untitled Game

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 09, 2014, 08:39 AM »

It reminds me of an upside down version of another game, which got me to thinking. Why not turn it into a variation of Tetris with a twist that lets you build the layers, and then bomb flat the sketchy parts. Bombs would have to be earned (slowly)...and you would lose if you accidentally bombed flat the last block.

1149

Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 09, 2014, 08:27 AM »

...I guess it could be useful for a home media center if you got rid of whatever Crapple OS it runs...then install Linux instead...use it for storing movies or whatever on it, connected up to your main home TV?

-Stephen66515 (November 09, 2014, 01:38 AM)

Yes, I couldn't see anything much else of use for it except extending its original purpose. But Linux? Apparently not feasible or worthwhile with this model?

-IainB (November 09, 2014, 02:06 AM)

Meh, I just have a hatred for all things Apple...so for me...well, I would have declined to take it

-Stephen66515 (November 09, 2014, 02:11 AM)

As do I, however we do occasionally run into a client that has one of the things. And it invariably turns into a flaming fiasco every time. So I've been after the office to buy one so we can use it for testing to avoid wasting so much time onsite trying to figure out how to contend with damn things.

Know Your Enemy...

1150

Non-Windows Software / Re: Android: looking for good/working way to text from computer

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 07, 2014, 10:26 PM »

If you know the cell target's carrier you can email phonenumber@carrierdomain. We do it at work all the time.