Recent Posts

151

Living Room / Re: Well, I got it: Nokia Lumia 920, Windows 8

« Last post by allen on November 14, 2012, 11:58 AM »

I'm in the same boat as you, I like the feature. I only mentioned it because I'd been perusing the support forum and it's a pretty big issue to a few very vocal users. It was actually a mildly amusing thread -- One side pretty much word for word what you said about physical security while the other side yells back about cockamamy workarounds and complacent users who stand for this issue still being present in WP8. . . both sides have their merits, I suppose. I'm just one of those complacent users whose needs happen to be met. Lucky me.

I really like the camera. darn wasps

152

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by allen on November 14, 2012, 08:26 AM »

It worked! And this time I linked to the right video. Thanks guys.

153

Living Room / Re: Well, I got it: Nokia Lumia 920, Windows 8

« Last post by allen on November 14, 2012, 08:22 AM »

I'm still waiting for Sprint to get their head out of their ass and offer some proper W8 phones. But for my current W7 phone the office mobile's Outlook tied to exchange does great for scheduled calendar events - I'm hoping/assuming that hasn't changed) - When a scheduled event pops up it plays a sound and a quick glance tells me what it's on about. I don't really need to swipe the phone open it's just there on the lock screen to snooze or dismiss.

How is the camera on the 920? I couldn't care less about the purest nitpicking about maximum bla-bla-bla ... I just want to know if the thing will take a descent picture that will still look right when it gets to a desktop. My current W7 HTC Aspire's performance is less than stellar in that regard.

-Stoic Joker (November 14, 2012, 07:07 AM)

I've never used my phone with Exchange but as near as I can tell mail hasn't changed moving from WP7 to WP8. Those screen waking "toast" notifications are still in play -- much to the chagrin of some who feel it's a serious security/privacy issue.

The camera is fantastic. The way it stabilizes and compensates for my shaky hands is amazing, which also allows it to keep the shutter open longer in poor lighting making it likely the best low light camera phone on the market. I've seen some complain that images taken in good light are a bit washed out... nothing that can't be fixed with a firmware update. I think it's largely people who were hoping "Nokia PureView" would allow them to give up their SLR. It's still the best in-phone camera I've ever used.

Just took this - if you look closely, it wouldn't hurt to apply a little sharpness I guess.

154

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by allen on November 14, 2012, 12:33 AM »

One more try at embedding

155

Living Room / Re: Well, I got it: Nokia Lumia 920, Windows 8

« Last post by allen on November 14, 2012, 12:30 AM »

The original Zune came in brown, it was lovely! While I'm partial to matte, I really like the "storm trooper" white -- which I'm now into 2 phones deep.

Also, if you don't have a wireless charger yet--get one. I learned this a couple years ago with WebOS--fucking magic.

156

Living Room / Re: Well, I got it: Nokia Lumia 920, Windows 8

« Last post by allen on November 14, 2012, 12:29 AM »

It's all gotten really weird. Android is the obvious (only?) go-to for a true Linux geek. It is to mobile computing what old "Windows Mobile" was. Meanwhile, Windows Phone might be a better fit for true iPhone users than the iPhone--it's both simpler AND prettier. iPhone is perhaps best suited for only the most dedicated of Apple fans.

Windows Phone doesn't appeal to any sort of geek, inherently -- it's just nice and tied tightly to the cloud. Pretty damn pop. I'm a geek, but I like my tri-corder to be bubble gum.

(What I love about Windows 8 is it totally appeals to BOTH wholly. Oh I wish I could afford a Surface with RT... donations please!

157

Living Room / Re: Well, I got it: Nokia Lumia 920, Windows 8

« Last post by allen on November 14, 2012, 12:20 AM »

It can actually be a pretty great music player too, especially if you buy into their subscription model. Unfortunately while Zune and WP7 + Zune (for PC) had industry-best podcast support, podcasts kind of suck with WP8. I sincerely hope that's not a shift of priority indicative of the future but more "we ran out of time, it's coming" thing. . . we'll see. I guess podcasts aren't as important to me as they once were. . . maybe they're ahead of the curve on that.

Entirely unimportant, but what color phone did you get?

158

Living Room / Re: Well, I got it: Nokia Lumia 920, Windows 8

« Last post by allen on November 14, 2012, 12:07 AM »

This is probably better suited as a mini-review than a comment, but here goes anyway. At this time, I am on my third Windows Phone device and very happy. I had a first generation device, HTC Trophy on Verizon. I switched to AT&T for a Lumia 900 and am now carrying a Lumia 920. Now, I was I was happy -- but that happiness isn't the kind that comes from having everything. It's more an inner peace that comes from finding joy in ones limited state. Maybe it's a Zen platform.

Coming to this place has been a journey. I've owned palms and I've owned old Windows Mobile devices, I've owned more than one Android phone and multiple WebOS devices. In many ways, all of these other platforms gave me more. Deeper menus and complexity, bordering on attempting to be PC replacements, small as they may be. While on some of these platforms I may have had more power to affect change I can't help but feel like it was ultimately a great deal of time wasted fiddling because I could (as with my experience with Linux, could becomes must...).

A couple years ago I stopped thinking about my handheld device as a computer replacement or even extension of my computer and just embraced it for what it was -- took it instead as a separate thing altogether. That change of expectation made a great difference. Windows Phone is a much simpler experience than Windows -- you could argue it's all superficial. But here's the meat of it: it very elegantly does everything I need it to do. I can't do everything with it, but oh how I love what it does.

I know that some are really upset with Microsoft right now -- I'm the opposite. In the last few years, I've gone from jaded and Linux bound to becoming alarmingly close to fan boy. . . I guess I like the cloud and "not manly" icons.

159

Living Room / Re: First Time With Win 8

« Last post by allen on November 05, 2012, 11:13 PM »

Also, I am obligated to say this as I say it any time I see reference to him -- Chris Pirillo is a troll whose Internet career should have ended 12 years ago.

-allen (November 05, 2012, 11:29 AM)

  Gee, don't hold back, tell us how you REALLY FEEL!   

   Why do you have it in for him?  I've only read a couple of Pirillo's writings, and watched about 30 seconds of one of his videos before stopping it.  I just couldn't handle his whiney shrill voice.  From what little I've seen from him I came to the conclusion that he's a geek and a little goofy. 

-Tinman57 (November 05, 2012, 07:13 PM)

He's a little geek, a little goofy, and REALLY opinionated. The problem is that despite being "famous" for being a geek he really has only a very superficial level of knowledge. Enough to convince MSNBC anchor people he's a geek but not enough to ever contribute anything meaningful to tech journalism. He's the Wolf Blitzer of technology.

He's a brash, whiny troll. And he gets the girl. All of them.

160

Living Room / Re: Only 16GB Free on 32GB Surface

« Last post by allen on November 05, 2012, 11:08 PM »

This is the most egregious offense to date, but in general as the operating systems grow it's absurd to market devices based on physical space.  I don't really like marketing these things by one relatively inexpensive component. I'd rather you pay so much base price for a singularly named system (Say Surface with RT), and then you can add additional space when ordering. The base unit has 16 AVAILABLE gigs, add 16 more for x dollars.

One thing that I really like about RT is how Skydrive is integrated. If you're online, it's as seamless as browsing a local asset. I don't know about iOS/iCloud, but it's a lot tighter than anything I've seen by Google or Amazon. Between that and SD, I'd be fine with a 32->16 RT.

161

Living Room / Re: First Time With Win 8

« Last post by allen on November 05, 2012, 02:22 PM »

On the original topic, I am compelled to mention my 8 year old son. Without any forewarning he went from Windows 7 one day to Win 8 the next. He noticed the change and made mention of it but had absolutely no difficulty making the transition.

Granted, my son does have one advantage over Chris Pirillo's [stupid] father -- having not grown up in the Windows 95/XP era, he was accustomed to using the physical start button to toggle the start menu.

In my opinion, all of this hyperbole about Windows 8 being impossible to use is just that. It's bullshit.

Again, I am not saying everybody will or should like Windows 8. It IS in many ways a change of direction for the company; one that may jive well for people who have wholly bought into the cloud, and especially those likely to buy into multiple screens within Microsoft family (Xbox, RT, Win Phone 8 ).

While RT is going to remain a closed ecosystem, I don't believe the conventional desktop is at any risk of going away, the enterprise market is too important to MS.

162

Living Room / Re: First Time With Win 8

« Last post by allen on November 05, 2012, 02:11 PM »

Nothing brightens my Monday like a good LockerGnome bashing. 

163

Living Room / Re: First Time With Win 8

« Last post by allen on November 05, 2012, 11:29 AM »

This "first experience" won't happen in the real world as when you boot up it actually gives you details on the different hover regions for accessing the menu, the importance of the start button on the keyboard, etc.

During the previews, I was a bit ambivalent about Windows 8. I've since upgraded both my desktop and laptop and have come to really love the OS. Not everyone will come to that conclusion, but this is the direction Microsoft is headed so . . . take it or leave it. How long before you go Linux Mouser?

Also, I am obligated to say this as I say it any time I see reference to him -- Chris Pirillo is a troll whose Internet career should have ended 12 years ago.

164

Living Room / Re: Typing Speed Competition!

« Last post by allen on August 11, 2012, 01:53 PM »

I think I'm still the leading WPM without any errors  

-kyrathaba (August 11, 2012, 01:12 PM)

Well, if we're being picky ...

165

Living Room / Re: How Blogging (or Coding) Can Rot Your Teeth

« Last post by allen on August 09, 2012, 11:14 AM »

When I'm coding, there's a constant stream of coffee (just black) and water going through my oral cavity. Actually, that statement is true for pretty much any time I'm awake.

166

Living Room / Re: Hidden Netflix Marathon Gems to Watch Online

« Last post by allen on August 06, 2012, 12:57 AM »

Lost is a (previously mentioned) favorite. The new Battlestar Galactica was great, except the [worst ever] ending. Have to agree with Mouser, Breaking Bad is an excellent series.

Other great SciFi: Stargate SG-1, Stargate Universe. Sadly, the BEST Stargate and the shortest lived is Stargate Atlantis. I watch it on Amazon Prime but apparently it's not on Netflix.

My absolute favorite background marathons, though, are MacGyver, Sliders and Fraiser -- each of which I've watched start to finish no fewer than 3 times. If I could find it all in once place, Sopranos would be up there too.

167

Living Room / Re: Typing Speed Competition!

« Last post by allen on August 05, 2012, 07:35 PM »

I am not satisfied that this is my best. It's been a long time since I tried to speed type rather than just naturally type--and didn't really hit my flow til halfway in. Also, my son was talking to me. All excuses aside, I did beat Mouser so I'm content to leave Josh with the lead.

168

Living Room / Re: Cool television show (lot of it on youtube): Penn and Teller Fool Us

« Last post by allen on July 23, 2012, 10:55 AM »

This is great!

169

Living Room / Re: Microsoft's New Surface Tablet Hybrid

« Last post by allen on June 19, 2012, 09:05 AM »

I think it looks amazing. . . with everything I need on external hard drives and the cloud, I could easily see myself ditching my laptop and tablet for this type of platform indefinitely. The price is going to be the kicker.

170

Living Room / Re: Dropbox Dropquest 2012

« Last post by allen on May 12, 2012, 09:44 PM »

I couldn't be bothered to try, this year. . .

Spoiler

https://docs.google....w?pli=1&sle=true

171

Living Room / Re: Internet - from the 1990's point of view

« Last post by allen on March 29, 2012, 07:41 PM »

FTP, Telnet, WAIS, Gopher, Archie, Mosaic, and all the rest were fun and fine.

But to me, it all really began (and will probably end) with The Whole Earth Lectronic Link (aka The WELL).
 (see attachment in previous post)
Still clunky by design, IMO it's the absolute triumph of content over form. And one of the few things that predated (and later transitioned over to) the web that's still worth keeping. Maybe one of the few things worth keeping on the web regardless.

 

-40hz (March 29, 2012, 05:00 PM)

!! Are you still there? I haven't been back in years, had all but forgotten about that beautiful little corner of the web. . .

172

General Software Discussion / Re: Chrome Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by allen on March 29, 2012, 04:39 PM »

When I'm using Chrome it's Lastpass, Evernote, Evernote Clearly, Pinboard tools.

173

Best E-mail Client / Re: E-mail client recommendations

« Last post by allen on January 04, 2012, 03:32 PM »

I liked Opera M2 for its "one box, virtual folders for on the fly classification" approach, but it would get slow after a certain size (i have years of email) and didn't support tags the way I would like. I need to revisit it though as there are many new versions since I last used it.

-iphigenie (January 04, 2012, 09:51 AM)

You should definitely revisit it. In the latest versions of Opera, the mail client is operating much faster with a large mailbase. The email database loads independently -after- Opera has started, so browser startup itself is a lot better with a lot of mail.

I also really like Postbox, especially as gmail is my primary email provider. Postbox's gmail support integration is by far the best I've seen.

174

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free Dropbox Lifetime Account Lottery - Ends Oct. 13th

« Last post by allen on October 26, 2011, 01:38 PM »

Any idea who (if anybody?) won the Dropbox?

http://appsumo.com/~LFoz

175

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

« Last post by allen on October 20, 2011, 08:27 AM »

Dell, in it's great and inspired vision, allocated around 1900 GB to Disk 2, and less than 80 GB to Disk 1.  Now, OS is almost full and Disk 1 cannot be resized without wiping both Disk1 and 2.  Thanks a lot Dell !

-MerleOne (October 20, 2011, 08:07 AM)

Unless I'm missing something key here, you shouldn't need to wipe either of them, there should be quite a few other options. Win 7 out of the box has a utility that can shrink and grow volumes non-destructively.