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1776

Living Room / Wiki Democracy

« Last post by Lashiec on September 28, 2007, 05:20 PM »

While reading the news this afternoon, I came across this interesting and surprising piece of information. An excerpt:

New Zealand will allow citizens to decide what is legal or not via wiki.

New Zealand's Policing Act governs what is legal and what is illegal for its citizens.  Now New Zealand will take a grand, bold step by allowing its citizens to collectively rewrite its laws in pure democratic fashion.

While the idea hearkens back to ancient democratic forums, the medium is decidedly high-tech -- the nation will use a wiki to allow citizens to contribute to the new policing act.  The page will help people organize their thoughts and collectively make decisions.

I think that this is democracy at its purest, just like it was devised in the old Greece, but taking advantage of modern technologies. Of course, one thinks about the Wikipedia, and wonders if they'll need a wiki police squad to watch over the possible vandalism in a page geared to the discussion of new attributions for the police. A bit ironic if you ask me , but I hope everything turns for the best, and this novel idea gets exported to the rest of the world

1777

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by Lashiec on September 28, 2007, 05:06 PM »

After forgetting a shot for my 300th, 400th and 500th post, I introduce you to my 600th one



Next one is 666th

1778

Living Room / Re: Minority Report Adver-guantanamo-ising coming to a public place near you

« Last post by Lashiec on September 28, 2007, 05:00 PM »

Reality is catching up with science fiction faster than it should . Anyway, I would like to see more clarification on the fingerprints part, as I found it unlikely those guys could read my fingerprints while walking in a public place. I mean, I close my hand and that's full privacy for you

1779

General Software Discussion / Re: Libra - organizer software

« Last post by Lashiec on September 27, 2007, 09:08 AM »

It's also pretty similar to MediaMan, save for the reason that MediaMan is shareware and a more polished product to boot.

1780

General Software Discussion / Re: Defraggler,add another defragger to the list

« Last post by Lashiec on September 27, 2007, 09:02 AM »

Also, if disaster struck, a defragmented disk will be more useful when it comes to data recovering than one fragmented to no end. Anyway, it's quite a controversial theme, just like swap file configuration, and experts are still discussing the issue.

1781

Living Room / Re: How much RAM do you have on your PC?

« Last post by Lashiec on September 26, 2007, 09:29 PM »

Yep, the only issue is that the the PC3200 stick will run at a lower rate to match the one of PC2700, but apart from that no problem (unless things changed since I ran sticks of RAM with different speeds). Apply the dual channel caveats mentioned above (just for precaution) and you'll be safe.

1782

Living Room / Re: How much RAM do you have on your PC?

« Last post by Lashiec on September 26, 2007, 01:36 PM »

Well, then it's supported. If problems arise, though, you know what may be the culprit . For your peace of mind, MemTest86+ running a whole night could be a good idea.

1783

General Software Discussion / Re: program to rename fodlers, not files

« Last post by Lashiec on September 26, 2007, 01:16 PM »

Well, any good renaming program should be capable of mass renaming folders as well. There's this thread a bit down, talking about ReNamer and other renamers, most of them are free, so you should find something adequate without spending a cent.

Offtopic: I read "Program to rename f0dders, not files"

1784

Living Room / Re: Help Me Find My Memory Leak

« Last post by Lashiec on September 26, 2007, 12:38 PM »

OK, I'll try my hand at this one. A tool that its developer claims it's useful for this work is HeapMemView. Give it a try. And I suppose you can use Process Explorer in combination with Process Monitor to pinpoint the possible culprit, using the performance graph of Process Explorer (it logs "Private Bytes" history, along with a timeline) and Process Monitor to trace the app(s) working at that point time (and what are they doing). Process Monitor also has "Boot Logging", but that one could be a nightmare to filter...

If it is a shell extension, it had to be leaking like mad. Well, I hope this can help, at least until f0dder comes along

1785

Living Room / Re: How much RAM do you have on your PC?

« Last post by Lashiec on September 26, 2007, 12:15 PM »

Hmmm, as long as you don't put them in dual channel, you won't have problems. Dual channel is very sensitive to different latencies with the RAM sticks, but there should be no issues if you don't use it. Of course, you will lose a bit of performance, but not much.

The question is if you can use dual channel using each pair of sticks with the same latency...

1786

Living Room / Re: Fanless computer

« Last post by Lashiec on September 24, 2007, 12:52 PM »

Personally, I think that computer you link is a serious ripoff. And when I say "serious", I mean SERIOUS. Those guys are selling you each component with a big plus in the price compared to the one at what they're sold in your normal computer store.

I suggest you to go DIY. A good resource for silent computers is Silent PC Review. Those guys, despite being almost crazy almost silence, are quite trustable and their tests are very rigorous, and it's one of main sources of information despite my idea of silence being "everything that gets masked by some loud music" . They also make their own systems, and this one it's pretty good, both in loudness results (20 dB, which means you'll breath louder than the computer) and in power. If you can't order one (I don't know if they send products to Europe) you could use it as a rough guide for the idea of computer you have in mind.

Two things: if you can, throw that mobo away. Nowadays, almost any maker is selling passively-cooled motherboards, using heatpipes and massive combinations of fins, except DFI up to some extent, and that is changing. Second, DON'T install a fanless PSU, doing that is asking for trouble. Reputable makers don't have fanless PSUs, but instead they use thermally-controlled fans, which are virtually silent, and the fan only ramps up when you really need some juice and the PSU is being stressed, which, if the PSU is powerful enough, don't happen at all. With a fanless PSU, you're playing with fire, all the ones I saw are being built by dubious makers, they're inefficient (another point to have in mind if you want a good and silent PSU, as high efficiency means less heat the fans have to dissipate) and you need a really good airflow inside the case if you don't want them to go boom! at the first sign of serious work.

1787

Living Room / Re: Update on member KenR health status: Surgery went well

« Last post by Lashiec on September 24, 2007, 11:55 AM »

Excellent news! My best wishes for a fast recover and I hope his back problems get settled with this surgery.

1788

Developer's Corner / Re: [Webfind] How to kill a dragon with various programming languages

« Last post by Lashiec on September 23, 2007, 11:31 AM »

Classic. There's another version involving different rock styles. Now if I could find an English translation...

1789

General Software Discussion / Re: CDBurnerXP 4 released

« Last post by Lashiec on September 23, 2007, 10:50 AM »

Yes, but it verifies data after burning, it can't verify burnt disks on demand. In the 'burn disc' dialog, check 'Verify Data After Burn'. If you want to verify disks, I suggest you to use Nero InfoTool, which is free as well.

1790

General Software Discussion / Re: File Managers! Windows Explorer replacement! Come one, come all...

« Last post by Lashiec on September 22, 2007, 02:16 PM »

No, actually it's OK, but I mean I didn't know that Total Commander could "execute" inside it external apps. I mean, my statement of living inside TC in the xplorer² mini-review it's actually true! But I wonder if it's legal to distribute such package...

The file previews can be achieved using Universal Viewer. Out of the box it provides a lot of viewers, and as it takes advantage of Internet Explorer addons, it displays a few more in addition. Of course, you could add some of the plugins residing at the TOTALCMD.NET site to add some others, but there's no need for it. The native file viewer built into TC (Lister) provides a subset of the viewers, and it does not provide so much functionality. And both can be used in any file manager accepting external viewers. Deja vu paragraph out

1791

Living Room / Re: Computer problems...

« Last post by Lashiec on September 22, 2007, 11:04 AM »

Can you get temps reading? If you could say what components are used in those computers, we could pinpoint a possible problem (and if you're using Pentium 4 Prescotts, we found the suspect ). Things that could be happening: the computers don't have enough space around for the fans to get and expel air, the PSUs are failing (HIGHLY unlikely, unless you bought all them in bulk and they're from the same faulty batch), there's no proper circulation of air inside the case because of cables mess, the thermal paste could have dried up (HIGHLY unlikely again)... I'll tell you, it could be a lot of things.

1792

General Software Discussion / Re: File Managers! Windows Explorer replacement! Come one, come all...

« Last post by Lashiec on September 22, 2007, 10:56 AM »

O-K, that Ultima Prime has made Total Commander supersede Firefox as the most ridiculously configurable app around. What are all those apps doing inside a file manager window? W-T-F?

1793

General Software Discussion / CDBurnerXP 4 released

« Last post by Lashiec on September 22, 2007, 10:15 AM »

Well, it seems September is really bringing a whole new batch of major software updates. This week is the turn for one of the best freeware burners out there, CDBurnerXP (which, as you see, it's dropping the "Pro" suffix). Three years have since passed since last time this burner was updated, and after a long developing phase, which resembled Duke Nukem Forever as various rewrites and a new focus of the project happened in between. It seems to be worth the wait, as the developers wrote new burning components from scratch, bringing the application to modern times in terms of optical media support, and fixed some MAJOR bugs which really were a hit to the usability of the last stable version (one of them almost prevented data burning, as it didn't recognize folder nesting). Some things were dropped from the project as well, like the option to tag your media files (very slow, anyway) and audio ripping, though they said that they probably make a comeback as separate applications. Also, there were some other changes that won't please everybody. First, support for Win9x OS has been dropped. Second, it uses .NET Framework 2.0, although there's a way to avoid installing the complete package which is detailed here. The list of changes:

- Support for new technologies like Double layer DVDs, Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs
- Internationalisation (i18n): Support for multi-byte characters on discs and translations of the program
- Support for FLAC audio files
- disc-to-disc copy for audio and data
- Save discs and compilations as ISO file
- Support for WPL playlists
- XML based project files for interoperability
- fixed many bugs of 3.0.116 and 3.5

They've redesigned the site as well, though the help file is still outdated, and they're looking for volunteers. So, if you're up to the task, ya know where you should head
via File Hippo (yeah, yeah, I know, I should use other sources )

1794

Living Room / Flash Game of the Day: flOw

« Last post by Lashiec on September 21, 2007, 03:44 PM »

This game is a bit old (it was released last year!) but I wasn't aware it was available for the PC (it made quite some headlines when it was released in the PS3's PlayStation Store). The game, as the subject points, is flOw, a minimalistic but very charming Flash game.

FlOw is a game about piloting an aquatic organism through a surreal biosphere where players consume other organisms, evolve, and advance their organisms to the abyss.

As part of Jenova Chen's thesis research, flOw inherits an embedded design of active DDA (dynamic difficulty adjustment), players with differing skill levels can intuitively customize their experiences in the zone and enjoy the game at their own pace. “Addicting” is the most common word its fans use to describe it.

If you want to play the game offline (i.e., you want to play it at the office ), a download of the package is also available. The Wikipedia has some more information about the game mechanics.
via Emu France

1795

General Software Discussion / Re: Help with finding accurate software.

« Last post by Lashiec on September 20, 2007, 07:28 PM »

Another app you could try as well is Local Website Archive, which saves webpages and maintains an index of them. Your other options are either Surfulater or EverNote, at least IMO. AM-Notebook, while an excellent choice (it's what I use) may not be that featured to do the kind of almost industrial work the other ones do.

1796

Living Room / Re: Conserving energy

« Last post by Lashiec on September 19, 2007, 06:53 PM »

Low-energy bulbs have one caveat that people (despite it's been told a thousand times) don't seem to remember: those bulbs should be used in places where the light is always (or during a lot of hours) on. It's not worth the money savings (the energy savings is another story) to have low-energy bulbs in the bathroom, for example, where you're going in and out constantly. It's really useful in the kitchen or in the house entrance (outside) though, as those lights are always on at night. Also, another places where you should never use of these bulbs it's in your main desk, as the light emitted by those bulbs is not exactly easy on eyes, for that one you should use a natural light bulb (the crystal is blue).

In your case, you should use less light bulbs . OK, as for the computer, I always turn it off when I'm not home or I'm sleeping. Nobody is attending the computer, the computer is not doing anything, so I find it a waste of energy, money and a stress for components to have it on at all hours (and a nuisance when I'm sleeping). The level of heating, we always take care of having a good level, if it's very cold, we opt for using more clothes to face the low temps. We don't use air conditioners, so no problem there. We really need to change some of the appliances, as most are not A classified, so they waste lots of energy (besides, they need a change).

More things. Well, turn everything off when you're not going to use it. Don't use the car until it's strictly necessary. Actually, I have a book here that the government distributed for free with the newspapers, with tons of tips. It's not that we need them, my family has been pretty ecological from some time now, way before all the global warming craze started

1797

General Software Discussion / Re: CCleaner 2.0 Beta Released - Clean the Crap off your Computer

« Last post by Lashiec on September 19, 2007, 03:35 PM »

The final version of CCleaner 2.0 is still shaky, and some people is reporting it in the Piriform forums (namely, slow scanning speed). Add that the slim version is still not ready (hmmm...), and I suggest you guys to wait some days for things to settle down.

On to the applications part. My tip is untick everything. That, or go through the winapp.ini entries, going to the locations written there, and ensuring it won't delete any data you'll need. The application cleaning file of CCleaner needs a full audit to ensure it deletes everything that is fluff, and preserves everything that it's needed for the applications to operate (or at least, things that are not recreated everytime you start the application). That's why I use my own winapp.ini, to prevent CCleaner's own going berserk on my computer.

1798

Living Room / A twist of events by Novell in the PC vs. Mac long running war

« Last post by Lashiec on September 18, 2007, 08:46 PM »

So everyone and his/her dog has seen or knows the famous ads that Apple made comparing the PC and the Mac using persons to portrait each computer role. The guys at Novell did their particular take on the ads, introducing Linux, this time portrayed by a girl. You have three short videos, each one focusing on different characteristics of Linux, and making some fun of the competitors as well (everyone receives its share of jokes).

Well, if Linux is that sexy, I think I'll change . Besides, the jacket that the PC guy wears does not seem nice (at least is not cheesy like the Mac guy shirt )

1799

General Software Discussion / Re: 13 Reasons Why Linux Won't Make it to a Desktop Near You

« Last post by Lashiec on September 18, 2007, 07:47 PM »

Kim Brebach article is exactly what I was talking about in that other thread where I heavily criticised those kind of "one hour with Linux" reviews. I'm going through it right now and so far, it's excellent, the guy took some time to actually test the distros, instead of live blogging about the installation experience and letting some guys submit the "impressive and refreshing experience" to Digg's front page. Rant over

1800

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by Lashiec on September 18, 2007, 07:41 PM »

Oh, yeah, I overlooked the review. Sorry