Recent Posts

201

General Software Discussion / Re: Z-Type - Type to shoot

« Last post by Mark0 on January 11, 2011, 04:41 PM »

Since it rely on HTML5, it may depends greatly on the browser's implementation.

202

General Software Discussion / Z-Type - Type to shoot

« Last post by Mark0 on January 11, 2011, 09:20 AM »

http://www.phoboslab.org/ztype/

An HTML5 game... Genius!

203

Living Room / Re: Google testing cars that drive themselves...

« Last post by Mark0 on October 19, 2010, 07:28 PM »

That thing about seatings was just a joke / piece of viral marketing / publicity stunt by Ryanair!  
Some reference:

BBC News - Are standing seats a standing joke?

The copilot story is probably the same thing; Michael O’Leary have probably found that every time it makes some outlandish remarks in an interview, it gets more tickets in the subsequents few days!   Most of journalists seems quite adept to spread the news without even basic fact checkings, nowadays, and so they play his game.

204

Living Room / Re: Buying a new printer

« Last post by Mark0 on October 18, 2010, 09:08 PM »

I know the thread is old, but I have to add something, with about 5 years of hindsight.

To this day, my old Canon Pixma MP750 have never failed to load a single sheet of paper!
In facts, when some weeks ago the printhead failed, I started to look around for a new all-in-one to buy. But in the end, I just got a new printhead from eBay, because I haven't found one that really convinced me (whithout being borderline overkill, like some multifunctions color laser units).
It just works well, don't make too much noise, scan & copy fast enough, the Win 7 drivers are very well done. I can scan 20 sheet of paper and produce a searchable PDF with no effort at all, without using any 3rd party software.

And the ink cartdriges are just stupid, chipless ink tanks, so I can buy 1 for about 1 Euro, as I have done for the last years!

205

Living Room / Re: Google testing cars that drive themselves...

« Last post by Mark0 on October 18, 2010, 07:38 PM »

Not really. I would trust the Google car in its present state (with a human behind the wheel just in case) far more than the majority of motorists around every day (probably me included, from the point of view of someone other)!  

In one of the video above it correctly signaled the right turn/exit, for example, something many pilots seems to consider highly optional around here...

206

Living Room / Re: Google testing cars that drive themselves...

« Last post by Mark0 on October 18, 2010, 07:00 PM »

And that's also what the "road law" of many states / nations think too.
Luckly for Google (and for the evolution of similar systems), in California they are "in the law" as long as there's a pilot behind the wheel all the time, ready to take control.

Of course the liability in case of problems and accidents also is on the pilot.
Personally, I admit I don't know if I would like to be the person on that seat...

207

Living Room / Re: Google testing cars that drive themselves...

« Last post by Mark0 on October 18, 2010, 06:49 PM »

I speculate:
- The auto-robot will try to activate the wipers
- If the problem persist, it will log the fault condition, negotiate the side of the road, turn the hazard light on, send SOS and turn off!  

In the near future, the optics will be outboard, with a dedicated simple cleaning system like the one on sport cars camera-car.
At the present time, it will probably simply warn of the fault condition, the pilot take control, stop, clean, restart.

208

Living Room / Re: Google testing cars that drive themselves...

« Last post by Mark0 on October 18, 2010, 06:24 AM »

- duplicated -

209

Living Room / Re: Google testing cars that drive themselves...

« Last post by Mark0 on October 18, 2010, 06:23 AM »

Here another couple of links / video I have collected when discussing about this on another (Italian) car forum.

The New York Times - Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic



YouTube - Google auto driving car
YouTube - ABC News gets taken for a spin in Google's self-driving Toyota Prius

A thing that give some perspective: every year there are about 1.200.000 deaths on the roads.
Accidents with severe injuries would probably be an enourmous number.
Make one thinks that there's a good probability that a bunch of computers can do a better job, in the not so distant future...

210

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

« Last post by Mark0 on September 10, 2010, 04:33 AM »

Some antivirus / antimalware that "mess up" with the Internet traffic are known to cause strange results.

BTW, this is what I get form here via 3G network:

211

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

« Last post by Mark0 on September 09, 2010, 08:09 PM »

Line is mostly stable, but if I really maxx it out it sometimes dies, and I have to power-cycle my modem (and I have to wait a few minutes before turning back on, or it doesn't connect). Not sure exactly why it happens, but it's mostly if there's high bandwidth usage and a lot of connections - I suspect it's more a matter of unstable firmware than the raw copper not being good enough quality.

-f0dder (September 06, 2010, 01:25 PM)

Yes. Many modem+router combos get into big troubles when the NAT tables max out.



This is with a 20/1 ADSL2+ connection. But I'm pretty happy, because I'm very far from the DSLAM. Some months ago I had to try a bunch a different modem+router, with various ADSL chipset, to find one that actually could mantain this speed in a reliable way. Manually altering the signal to noise ratio I can get another Mb or so, but sometimes it became less reliable.

212

Living Room / Re: ultimate insult from fraudulent ebay seller tries to sell me iPhone 4

« Last post by Mark0 on August 16, 2010, 08:56 PM »

the big problem is: how to prevent this kind of thing happening again. i'm careful online...

...is that still not good enough?

-nudone (August 16, 2010, 10:12 AM)

I think it have nothing to do with passwords & credential of your PayPal account.
If I'm not mistaking, a PayPal user can send a "request for money" to another PayPal user simply knowing his PayPal id, that usually equal to his email address. So probably this scammer simply sent thousands of similar requests around, like your typical spammer. And that may also explain why PayPal quickly fixed the situation (the scammer was already known).

213

General Software Discussion / Re: What's up with Android versions and upgrading?

« Last post by Mark0 on August 07, 2010, 07:46 PM »

One thing to keep in mind is that the phone-telco ties are country dependent.
For example, here in Italy is pretty usual for the just a bit experienced / passionate user to get a new phone from whatever source (shop, online store, ebay, etc.), and use with a SIM from any mobile provider; and also change from one telephone company to another periodically, depending on the evolving pricing plans, offers, etc.

214

General Software Discussion / Re: What's up with Android versions and upgrading?

« Last post by Mark0 on August 07, 2010, 07:27 PM »

But that's exactly the basic idea behind Android: an open platform on witch every manufacturer can buildup, even differentiating their products to a great extent, if that's what they choose. Then letting the market and userbase decide what they prefer.
If users will show preference to barebone devices, with no particular extension to the standard UI, and quick update cycles, then the producers will probably adapt. If instead many will show appreciation for certain things, like for example the Sense UI, surely HTC will continue to work on that, even if that mean delaying new OS releases.
I for one would surely prefere a Nexus One.
But I think the large part of the userbase will not even realize the difference between the OS versions, or even what an OS mean. Things like Facebook contacts integration in the phonebook, or some fancy graphics are a much bigger selling point for many, so I understand why various manufacturers choose spend time on that too. It's their choice, and mine to look elsewhere.

215

General Software Discussion / Re: What's up with Android versions and upgrading?

« Last post by Mark0 on August 07, 2010, 06:17 PM »

Android IS a pretty standardized platform, in terms of applications compatibility.
There's much talking around about fragmentation, but that's mostly not the problem it seems.
For example, a pretty complex app like Google Maps Navigator, run on every Android version from v1.6 on.
That's about 84% of the Android devices around (according to this: Android developers - Platform Versions).

216

General Software Discussion / Re: What's up with Android versions and upgrading?

« Last post by Mark0 on August 06, 2010, 06:23 PM »

If I remember correctly, the original Moto Droid will get the upgrade but will not have the wireless hotspot capability that is in 2.2. hardware limitation is what I read.

-edbro (August 06, 2010, 11:00 AM)

That's the telco company (Verizon for the Droid, if I'm not mistaking) "official reason", but it could well be that they simply don't like to expose that feature of Android 2.2.

Adding to all the above, if one want the most quicker upgrade path, he can always get a Nexus One; being a "Google Experience" phone, the day a new version of Android is released, it can be downloaded and installed.

217

Living Room / Re: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"?

« Last post by Mark0 on July 23, 2010, 04:28 PM »

Even more from Samsung:

electronista - Samsung UK giving away Galaxy S to jaded iPhone 4 owners

Samsung UK's attempt to jab Apple is now known to also include giveaways of free phones. Some iPhone 4 owners complaining of reception problems, whether directly related to the "death grip" or not, are being offered free Galaxy S phones, in some cases receiving them the same day as the notice. The Korean company explained the handouts as a way to "spread the word."

218

Living Room / Re: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"?

« Last post by Mark0 on July 23, 2010, 12:24 PM »

Samsung responded:



 

219

Living Room / Re: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"?

« Last post by Mark0 on July 20, 2010, 02:17 PM »

This Video show in an extremely clear way that the "Death Grip" issue is totally different from what happen with other phones when you cover some spots.

http://vimeo.com/12864890

So, no Steve, this doesn't happen with other phones. Not at all!  

220

Living Room / Re: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"?

« Last post by Mark0 on July 18, 2010, 11:01 AM »

I'm not sure...
But there's something that definitely sounded a bit incorrect in their doings.
They never presented any kind of bumper / case along side a new phone, so that point to them having knowledge of the problem and trying to rub it off. Also, there's no way they couldn't have expect that a naked, exposed antenna could bear problems like those.

I think the obvious way to keep up with that design would have been some kind of insulating coating or some other kind of supercifial treatment, but that may have been skipped due to costs or not having the ability to process enough to meet the initial demand.

221

Living Room / Re: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"?

« Last post by Mark0 on July 18, 2010, 09:32 AM »

Jobs made a big mistake bringing other phone's giants into question:

Pocket-lint - HTC: Droid Eris complaints nothing compared to iPhone 4

Jobs said that only 0.55% of iPhone's 4 customers called in about reception issues.
HTC now say they instead got only 0.016% of complaints for similar problems.

It's entirely possibile that the numbers refer to differents things, based on differents sampling & parameters from the two companies; but starting the whole confrontation seems a big mistake on Jobs part.

222

Living Room / Re: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"?

« Last post by Mark0 on July 17, 2010, 03:37 PM »

This guy called him out already:

Twitter - Marty Mobile

Not much of an apology from Jobs; and he's simply wrong about other phones being comparable. A little humility would serve him well.

He should know a thing or two! 

223

Living Room / Re: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"?

« Last post by Mark0 on July 17, 2010, 02:33 PM »

Speaking of antenna & reception, I think that the GPS sensibility (or, better, lack of!) of the 3Gs model was way even a much bigger thing.
How iPhone's users accepted to have to buy a costly car kit with another GPS receiver inside to use a GPS enabled smartphone as a car navigator is beyond me.

224

Living Room / Re: Kindle and iPad Books Take Longer to Read than Print [STUDY]

« Last post by Mark0 on July 04, 2010, 06:34 AM »

I would have never tought that someone would have done a reading speed comparision like that.
I read a lot of books (mostly free available ones) on a Cybook and I see no difference about reading speed compared to paper's ones. The page turning isn't a problem at all; you stop even noticing it very soon.

225

General Software Discussion / Re: Any (Free) VPN service to recommend?

« Last post by Mark0 on June 04, 2010, 11:35 AM »

Thanks for all the suggestions!