Recent Posts

1251

General Software Discussion / Re: Does This Drive You NUTS?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 24, 2011, 11:04 AM »

No - lots of games on Steam automatically update which can be good or very annoying.

1252

Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 22, 2011, 07:03 PM »

"All in all  it seems to be, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone"
(Counting Crows - "Big Yellow Taxi")

-IainB (October 22, 2011, 06:22 PM)

Bit of an aside - actually it was Joni Mitchell on the album "Ladies of the Canyon" (1970).

Actually another quote springs to mind from the same song:

They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum
And then they charged all the people twenty-five bucks just to see 'em

If eBooks don't become the standard I can see large corporations seeing deforestation as a solution to the marketing problem!

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Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 22, 2011, 04:43 PM »

Sorry - I was under the impression that you were arguing that eBooks would replace paper books. If I am wrong I apologise - I just can't see that ever happening. What I can see happening though is that some books will never make it to paper - which is a great pity.

One question that hasn't been addressed is the cost and longevity of reading devices - at the moment I buy a paper book and I just need a pair of eyes to read it. With eBook readers you pay pretty much the same price for the book but have to pay a large sum of money (at a minimum the equivalent of the cost of 20 cheap paperbacks) to actually read them. Those devices don't necessarily have a long life so to maintain access you will need to replace and upgrade regularly. Apple are notorious for building in obsolescence into their devices (perceived or otherwise) - Amazon are just good at producing devices that fail easily (read the reviews on Amazon.com for a fairly high percentage of failures - with, surprisingly for Amazon, very poor customer service - mind you I suppose it isn't surprising as mostly Amazon don't lose money on providing good service for products they can get replaced but the Kindle is an Amazon device which is presumably why they seem to be reluctant to help customers when they fail).

Personally I don't want an effective tax on my ability to read books.

But that is another story and I feel I have said enough in this thread.

1254

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: boxed Defrag: $9.95

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 22, 2011, 10:28 AM »

Using more than one defragger is usually counter productive (certainly in terms of speed) as they have their own strategies for file placement and so running competing progams just undo each other.

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Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 22, 2011, 10:27 AM »

Are you seriously suggesting that the vast majority of people who read have bought an eReader of some kind or are even likely to?

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: boxed Defrag: $9.95

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 22, 2011, 05:06 AM »

If it is not a question why would anyone rely on a defragment tool that appears to have bugs in the released version?

I used to use the free version but it didn't seem to be nearly as good as PerfectDisk (at least not the way I had it setup) and the interface I found really confusing. Probably very flexible but at the end of the day most people want a defrag tool that is set it and forget it.

Over the years I have tried most defrag tools but I keep coming back to PerfectDisk (although I have stuck with version 11 which I prefer over version 12).

1257

DC Gamer Club / Re: Any Magicka Fans Around?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 22, 2011, 05:01 AM »

I bought it on sale at steam and started working my way through solo play. Not sure why I stopped but I forgot all about it - maybe that says something.

A revisit might be needed!

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Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 22, 2011, 04:59 AM »

I don't even see why these comparisons exist, personally.

-wraith808 (October 21, 2011, 09:01 PM)

Because if the likes of Amazon and Apple get their way they will stop the production of real books in favour of eBooks even though the vast majority of people prefer to buy and read paper books.

It has little to do with user preference and everything to do with the bottom line.

1259

General Software Discussion / Re: Suggestions for maximum-lockdown XP system

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 22, 2011, 04:48 AM »

I have used System Restore numerous times to fix registry corruption problems and it can be really helpful. Not (IMHO) terribly useful to protect against malware though as in WIndows XP it is only intended to revert critical system files and the registry.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Suggestions for maximum-lockdown XP system

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 21, 2011, 07:29 PM »

Clean install of Windows XP (you can use the license key of the edition already on there - if you don't know it download SIW and it will tell you - if it hasn't been activated in the last 90 days there shouldn't be an issue with Microsoft).

Then fully update and install any software he needs to use.

Don't bother with security software - buy a copy of Farionics DeepFreeze Standard.

Deep Freeze means that anything that happens in a session will be wiped and the 'standard install' you built will be restored when the computer is restarted or booted from cold.

If you want to make changes to the protected partitions you have to boot the machine in 'thawed mode' and then turn on the deepfreeze again when you have finished.

You can stop anyone tinkering with the Deep Freeze setting by requiring password access to the thawing functions.

If you want antivirus protection it is designed to integrate with your security of choice (Microsoft Security Essentials is free and very good, and has minimal interruptions to the user) or the same company do an AV product that works with DeepFreeze so that it can be updated.

I wouldn't bother with a firewall beyond windows firewall. Any non-savvy user can't manage an active firewall - they just let everything through or nothing - either way you have a big headache!

Basically he would have a computer that always clears any nasties from the system at startup or restart and the computer always starts in a known state.

There is a free trial version if you want to play with it and it is compatible with XP, Vista, 7 and MacOS

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Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 21, 2011, 06:44 PM »

And look at the poll at the end - there is also a certain self selection in the poll. If you lashed out your dosh on an expensive toy there is a presumption that you have to like it better than a book.

DOn't get me wrong I have loads of eBooks on my computer but I have almost all of them in print form too and if I need to read for any length of time reading the printed book is far kinder on the eyes.

1262

General Software Discussion / Re: Finally made it to Windows 7 -- looking for partitioning reccomendations

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 21, 2011, 02:50 AM »

Quick question, for Carol Haynes: is having a seperate boot partition something you do manually or is it just part of a normal install???

-brotman (October 20, 2011, 11:53 PM)

If you install windows 7 on an empty drive the installer will create the main partitions you specify but also a 100Mb boot partition. It is part of Windows attempt to separate the boot information from the OS. It also includes some system repair tools for use in an emergency (used via the usual F8 menu).

1263

Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 20, 2011, 05:03 PM »

It's more options, not less.

-JavaJones (October 20, 2011, 01:29 PM)

More options are more often than not a double edged sword. I am not an advocate for the publishing industry BUT the model of a publishing house works really well for many authors and has, to a large extent, for the reader too. They have economies of scale because they represent large numbers of authors and produce large numbers of books.

Models with 'more options' may seem alluring but the upshot will be that most authors (particularly of fiction) will want and need that representation to get any sort of market penetration. If they have to buy in those services as individuals all that will happen is the number of people offering those services will proliferate and they will probably end up more expensive than the publishing house model precisely because the economies of scale won't exist. These service providers will also be very choosy about who they accept as clients because they won't want to be seen to fail with clients.

1264

General Software Discussion / Re: Finally made it to Windows 7 -- looking for partitioning reccomendations

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 20, 2011, 09:21 AM »

OS Boot partition
Windows Partition (250Gb should be enough)
Data Partition (most of the rest of the disk)
Backup Partition (if you just backup Windows and Office eg. you shouldn't need more than 40-50Gb).

My plan would be install Windows 7 on blank disk, set the size of the windows partition within the advanced options and make the rest of the partitions once Windows is installed.

Once you have windows installed, activated and fully up to date (and any other essential programs) look at teh amount of drive C you are using and make the backup partiition 60-70% of that size.

Once Windows is installed create a Data partition (you can expand/shrink the size later to allow backup partition space - but it is easier to expand than shrink with windows tools because they aren't intelligent - they don't move data around).

Click start and then you user name and select all your profile folders - right click and drag them to the data drive - that way all data will be automatically stored on the data disk (except for the stuff that get hidden in AppData).

Before doing the backup run ccleaner and delete all restore points to reduce the image size, then use Windows Backup to create a system image on the backup partition.

FWIW I don't think it worth bothering with the extra expense, hassles and potential pitfalls of RAID.

If you have money to build a RAID system buy an SSD instead and put windows on that to get more bang for the buck.

1265

Living Room / Re: A rant against the SmartPhone ecosystem.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 20, 2011, 05:34 AM »

Actually the walled garden has a lot to do with hardware manufacturers.

It is in their interests to get good deals with carriers and get their products into the hands of consumers.

The way this is achieved (at least in the UK) is that the service locks you in on the understanding that they supply you with a product at vastly below the artificial 'retail price'/'SIM free price'.

Imagine if this didn't happen - how many people would pay the full price for an iPhone?

Example prices for an iPhone 4S 32Mb:

UK Apple Store: SIM Free phone only £599 - you then have to find a SIM and pay service fees

orange.co.uk: Phone Price: Free
(based on 24 month contract of £61 per month plan which includes unlimited free calls, texts and WiFi and 2Gb of mobile internet per month)

1266

Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 20, 2011, 05:06 AM »

On-demand printing is but one example of a potentially good way forward for independent authors. Or simple printing houses, which aren't going away. An author buys, say, 500 copies of their book and hires a local sales rep to hawk them to local book stores, or sells them easily through an online portal.

-JavaJones (October 19, 2011, 10:47 PM)

I don't like monoliths either but I think the model model you suggest only has limited appeal.

I can see the publish on demand or self publishing has some viability if you are writing stuff for a local or very specific market where small numbers are required but if you write a novel that you want to share with the world purchasing 500 copies to hawk round shops or paying your own private editor and sales/marketing force is not what most writers want to be doing! Writers want to write.

The idea of setting up millions of loan writer publishing businesses really sounds awful.

I love the idea that it is easy for individuals to sell on the web - it isn't without a huge outlay in terms of promotion.

The biggest problem is that this new collection of digital only authors will be about as effective as the existing bunch of digital only musicians - ie. almost unheard of by most people

I also take issue with the idea that digital-only/self-published music is unnoticed and consists mostly of crap.

-JavaJones (October 19, 2011, 10:47 PM)

-Carol Haynes (October 18, 2011, 10:26 AM)

I take exception to that characterisation of my comment. I didn't say independent music is crap - what I said is that the vast majority of independents go unnoticed by the vast majority of listeners because they don't have the exposure in the market place.

What I did say is that a company like Amazon wanting authors to self publish with attract a lot of dross - everyone who has ever thought of writing a book will get their book onto Amazon (provided Amazon gets a large enough slice of the price). Doubtless Amazon will promote work - like it did with its app store that has driven many small developers out of business or running away from Amazon in droves as Amazon saw fit to give away copies of other people's products for nothing!

Imagine if Amazon opened its MP3 store in the same way - everyone who has a guitar or a penny whistle would have their work on their in a minute.

If you want an example of what self publishing really achieves look at YouTube! Whilst there is a lot of good stuff on nYouTube you have to wade through all the rubbish (which probably constitutes over 99% of the content).

1267

Living Room / Re: What's Your Internet Speed/Reliability SATISFACTION?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 19, 2011, 06:39 PM »

Thoroughly pissed off ...

Over the last week my broadband speed has dropped from a steady 6Mb/s+ speed (usually around 6.5) to between 1 and 2Mb/s. Apparently my ISP has checked my line and it doesn't support higher speeds. When I pointed out that for the last 4 years I have been steadily about 6Mb/s they looked at my record and agreed to reprofile my line to try to restore that speed.

Reprofiling is supposed to have been completed today - now it seems to be running at 1Mb/s.

As I said - thoroughly pissed off!

1268

Living Room / Re: Libel, webmasters and veiled threats.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 18, 2011, 01:37 PM »

What about Google cached versions?

1269

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: GOG giving away Broken Sword-Shadow of the Templars thru 10/1/11

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 18, 2011, 10:47 AM »

Anyone else find the final part frustrating - you constantly have to do things in a particular sequence and it isn't terribly obvious at times what is required (totally random at times it seems to me).

The first game is fantastic and I didn't need to resort to cheats, the second game was also good but on one or two occasions the solution to a problem was just too obscure and I had to cheat. The third one I hate the keyboard only interface - the 3D graphics are not really very good (forgiveable given when it was written) but the solutions to problems are just too obscure and I find myself playing it with the GOG Guide open on my second screen!

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Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 18, 2011, 10:26 AM »

There are some books that simply do not work in eBook format:

1) Interactive childrens books (such as books with flaps, squeakers, popup and moving parts). Kids love these and whilst you could make a touch screen emulate the effects they wouldn't have the same effect reading a story to a class of 5 years olds!

2) Large format art books - no screen with current technology can begin to match the quality of good art prints - hell most screens can't even colour match without an awful lot of headaches and expense.

3) Books containing other products (such as The War of the Worlds Collectors' Edition which contains 2SACD disks, 1 DVD, 4 CDs plus a 12 inch square book with all the original artwork up to 12 x 24 inches). OK you could argue in my example that I could buy a digital copy with a digital copy of the media but it would not induce me to buy it for the price I was prepared for the physical item.

Back on topic - Amazon may be trying to push out the publisher and have a contract with authors directly but there are number of issues that Amazon will never be able to do effectively - provide an effective editorial system, promote the books through shops and supermarkets (they could but they won't want to). The biggest problem is that this new collection of digital only authors will be about as effective as the existing bunch of digital only musicians - ie. almost unheard of by most people. What Amazon will generate is a huge collection of dross that no one wants. Any sensible and serious author will want their books published properly (with the option of an eBook probably)

AT the moment eBooks are a novelty on iPads and Kindles etc. but I honestly believe the novelty will be short lived - especially if prices don't drop to sensible levels for the devices and the eBooks.

The only circumstances I can see eBooks being genuinely preferable is when a book has a shelf life - such as technical manuals. Currently they are pretty poorly served in the eBook market suffering form large books on tiny screen syndrome and poor reproduction of diagrams. Ironically most of the books I buy are already available in unprotected PDF form from the publisher so why would I buy a more expensive copy from Kindle or iTunes?

Here is one example from Sitepoint:

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/htmlcss1/

Book: $39.95
Electronic book: $29.95 (includes PDF, MOBI and ePub versions)

Amazon.com:

Print edition: £23.97
Kindle only edition: $23.87

OK the Amazon versions are cheaper than buying from the publisher (which is to be expected) but is the Kindle only version really a good deal compared to the publishers own electronic package?

Personally I would pay the 10cents extra and get the book - then I can leave it open on my table, write on it, stick notes and post-its inside, share it with friends and colleagues, jump up and down on it or throw it at the cat out of frustration, read it in the bath and finally recycle it when I no longer need it!

1271

Living Room / Re: A rant against the SmartPhone ecosystem.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 17, 2011, 08:16 PM »

FWIW I recently threw out a 1980s PC based entirely on an ARM chip - it had been sitting up in my roof for years unused and unwanted and it finally took its last trip to the dump.

In its day it was a brilliant PC - it was the birthplace of the Xara graphics package (not called Xara in those days - changed its name when it was ported to Windows) and Impression (a brilliant DTP package by the same authors as Xara - I still miss Impression).

In those days ARM stood for Acorn RISC Machine - Acorn being the British company that developed RISC architecture in PCs, it ran an OS called RiscOS - which provided many features for Bill G and Steve J to steal for their products.

Unfortunately a small UK company developing PCs primarily for the education market had no chance of surviving but the ARM chips were salvaged by a consortium of companies (including Acorn who are still involved).

There is nothing about ARM chips specific to handheld devices that require a 'managed' environment it is purely a limitation imposed by manufacturers of handhelds for greed!

1272

Developer's Corner / Re: Dennis Ritchie dead

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 16, 2011, 07:31 PM »

Like many others, when I came across the C programming language book by Kernighan and Ritchie sometime in the mid 80s, I was instantly taken by the language. (see attachment in previous post)
What a book, what a language, what an age.

-mouser (October 13, 2011, 09:14 AM)

Cooo ... that's a blast from the past - I taught using that book in the 80s and now I forgotten everything I ever knew about C (apart from the idea of pointers which were a brilliant idea but VERY easy to get wrong!)

To have a computer language stand at the top of the programming pile for so long is testament to the man's genius.

1273

Living Room / Re: Another Nail in the Coffin for Free Speech

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 16, 2011, 09:55 AM »

Maybe the Queen should tell her she can't use the title 'Lady'!

And the group Queen should assert the right to Ga Ga!

How is Lady Goo Goo even related as a name (except as a parody).

I think Moshi Monsters should just launch Lady Ba Ba, Ta Ta, Fa Fa, Na Na, La La, Ka Ka etc. one at a time and keep her in court for the next six months.

1274

Living Room / Re: LiteOn DVD writers?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 15, 2011, 08:38 PM »

1 day seems a little on the short time even taking into account built in obsolescence!

I genuinely would care if it lasted only 12-18 month because it was very cheap (only about £15).

I still have Plextor and Pioneer drives that are going after more than 5 years (with a fair amount of use).

I used to like Pioneer but they have stopped producing drives for computers. (Having said that Amazon still has loads of them - it was a sales rep from Pioneer Europe that told me they were leaving the computer drive market).

1275

Living Room / Re: LiteOn DVD writers?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 15, 2011, 08:25 PM »

Sorry about the Samsung!

Got fed up and frustrated and RMAed the drive for a refund. Ordered a Sony BD-RE for my machine and will swap out a known good Sony DVD+RW for the other machine (its for use in the home so its not as though I am cheating anyone).

Off topic aside ...

Really disappointed by the build.

Used:

• Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3(rev. 3.1) motherboard
• AMD Phenom II x4 965 CPU
• 8Gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 memory
• 1Tb WD Caviar Black

The motherboard has integrated Radeon HD4250 graphics with the latest catalyst drivers. The BIOS limits the onboard graphics to a maximum of 512Mb allocated - which is a pity since the mobo supports 16Gb it would have been nice to be able to allocate 1Gb or even 2Gb).

Running Portal 2 on the machine I have had to reduce the resolution by about 30% and drop down all the settings to medium or low. Disappointing.

Its the first time I have used this board (other Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H boards have been much better)! The graphics are really not good for gaming even though it is well above the system requirements.

Portal 2 requirements:
OS: Windows 7 / Vista / XP
Processor: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 (or higher) or AMD64X2 (or higher)
Memory: 1GB XP / 2GB Vista
Hard Disk Space: At least 7.6 GB of Space
Video: Video card must be 128 MB or more and should be a DirectX 9-compatible with support for Pixel Shader 2.0b (ATI Radeon X800 or higher / NVIDIA GeForce 7600 or higher / Intel HD Graphics 2000 or higher).
Audio: DirectX 9.0c compatible

I am going to try shoving in a PCIe card and switch off onboard VGA.