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2151

Living Room / Re: Dumb question but ...

« Last post by 40hz on March 18, 2014, 01:08 PM »

Like the old kid TV show host (Sandy Becker? Chuck McCann? Fred Hall? Sonny Fox? - it was one of them) used to do with his character Mr. Backwards.

2152

Living Room / Re: What happens when Hollywood gets involved with a Kickstarter

« Last post by 40hz on March 18, 2014, 01:01 PM »

Almost all of them have an iTunes option, so why not a Google Play option?

-Deozaan (March 18, 2014, 12:22 PM)

Probably for the same reason half the movie studios and networks seem so intent on squeezing Netflix out lately. It works too well - and they don't control it.

(And iTunes is as rabid about DRM and proprietary platforms as the studios are. So that was a match made in heaven as far as the media old guard is concerned. Not that Google is all that much better once you get beyond outward appearances IMHO.

2153

Living Room / Re: OneNote now on Mac as well, +FREE everywhere, + Cloud service powered.

« Last post by 40hz on March 18, 2014, 12:19 PM »

@IainB - Let's rephrase that quote you posted a tiny bit to make it more accurate:

When we started OneNote we (i.e. Microsoft) set out to revolutionize the way Microsoft can capture, annotate, and recall all the ideas, thoughts, snippets and plans in your life. As many of you have attested, OneNote is the ultimate extension for your brain, but it’s not complete if it’s not instantly available everywhere to Microsoft and its 'good friends' in government and business. We’ve already made a lot of progress in that direction with our mobile, tablet and online web experiences. But there was still a gap. People frequently asked us for OneNote on Mac, and Microsoft needed more ways to capture and analyse your content and share it with government entities and corporations to aid in their never-ending 'fishing expeditions' to idenntify potential dissidents and IP license violators - along with all the other businesses who pay us well for "targeted marketing data" which we mine from your information stores.

"If you ain't the customer - you're the product."

Macintosh users welcome!

2154

Non-Windows Software / Re: *NIX: Favorite GUI File Managers?

« Last post by 40hz on March 18, 2014, 12:05 PM »

Interesting screencast on SpaceFM customization and features here:

 

2155

General Software Discussion / Re: Raymond.cc compares 20 Drive Imaging Tools

« Last post by 40hz on March 18, 2014, 05:50 AM »

+1w/mouser on reliability. If you don't have confidence in them in that regard, everything else becomes moot.

For that reason I think I'll just stick with Clonezilla and Macrium. Been using both for years and neither has ever let me down when I needed them. In my world "known good" trumps "new and improved" or "something better" when it come to this type of software.
 

2156

Non-Windows Software / Re: *NIX: Favorite GUI File Managers?

« Last post by 40hz on March 17, 2014, 07:32 PM »

I've been experimenting with Rodent File Manager.

Don't know if I'd call it a favorite since I'm not a big file manager power user for reasons I've given elsewhere. That said, RFM is pretty powerful and fast. Bit of a geek PITA to install but instructions can be found here.

For general purpose day to day use, Mint's default file manager Nemo works just fine for me.

2157

Living Room / What happens when Hollywood gets involved with a Kickstarter

« Last post by 40hz on March 17, 2014, 04:06 PM »

One word: nightmare.

From the good folks at TechDirt comes this telling story:

Warner Bros. Turns A Kickstarter Success Story Into A Flaming Mess With Proprietary Platforms And DRM
from the how-not-to-do-it dept

Almost exactly a year ago, we wrote about a rather encouraging development in filmmaking, highlighting the story of Warner Bros. film studio working out a deal with the producer and actors of the popular Veronica Mars TV show, that if they could prove demand for a film via Kickstarter, Warner Bros. would fund the rest of the film. Basically, Warner Bros. had been unconvinced that there was enough demand for a movie to finance it upfront. But, with tools like Kickstarter today, you can prove demand upfront, taking away a big part of the risk. And that's exactly what happened, as the project raised over the $2 million target very quickly, and eventually brought in $5.7 million. Part of what was interesting about this was it showed how movie studios could actually embrace crowdfunding as well, creating some interesting hybrid models that don't always involve some studio head deciding what people will and won't like.

The movie came out last week to very good reviews... but leave it to Warner Bros. to totally muck it up, screw over the goodwill from all those backers and scare people off from such future collaborations. That's because one of the popular tiers promised supporters that they would get a digital download of the movie within days of it opening. But, of course, this is a major Hollywood studio, and due to their irrational fear of (oh noes!) "piracy" they had to lock things down completely. That means that backers were shunted off to a crappy and inconvenient service owned by Warner Bros called Flixster, which very few people use, and then forced to use Hollywood's super hyped up but dreadful DRM known as UltraViolet.

The end result? A complete disaster for the film's biggest fans and supporters...<more>

Does anybody here want to pretend they're surprised?

2158

Living Room / Re: Against TED talks

« Last post by 40hz on March 17, 2014, 11:08 AM »

Not overly fond of TED, nor many of the sponsors, but that does not invalidate all the content.

-barney (March 17, 2014, 02:15 AM)

^yes, it does.

God stated it already some 3.000 years ago in Job's Book in the Bible;
if the heart of a story is a lie, then all of the story is a lie.

-Curt (March 17, 2014, 09:18 AM)

Unless that story itself is a lie.

Note: not saying it is or isn't. Just doing it to illustrate how careful you have to be with overly broad assertions, snap judgements, or assumptions that we all agree what "the real story" is.  

There may be very little in life where I agree with Renegade, but TED is one.

In my case it's more that there's probably very few times where I don't agree with Renegade, but his assessment and characterization of TED is one of those very few times.
 

2159

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on March 17, 2014, 03:26 AM »

I think Zuckerberg "doth protest too much" with that one.

Re. MH370 - It amazes me that there isn't an EPIRB^w mounted on aircraft tail assemblies...

-4wd (March 16, 2014, 12:27 AM)

Are you thereby suggesting that the NSA or some other shadowy US SS organisation has not already done that and doesn't know exactly where the "missing" plane is - especially since 911?

Yeah, right.

-IainB (March 17, 2014, 02:52 AM)

I think it's more a situation of not "acknowledging" or "admitting" than it is a case of not "having" the capability of tracking all air traffic in realtime.



In an era of massive satellite reconnaissance, advanced commercial and military radar systems, the ongoing concern over the North Korea's belligerence, and the overall military importance of pretty much everything that happens in the vicinity of the China Sea...yeah...I think between China, Russia, and the USA, there were enough electronic "eyes-on" that somebody has a very good idea about where that plane eventually landed or crashed.

I suspect what's really holding up the announcement are high level discussions about how to best spin the story.

2160

Living Room / Re: Against TED talks

« Last post by 40hz on March 17, 2014, 03:04 AM »

Sure. Feel free to mock me. I don't mind. It won't change anything. I'd only encourage you to start connecting some of the dots. They are there if you want to look.

-Renegade (March 17, 2014, 01:59 AM)

@Ren - with all due respect, I think many - if not most of us here - are perfectly capable of seeing things and connecting the dots. It's just that some of us are a little more discriminating and careful when it comes to inferring causation or correlation. If a person stares at a field of dots long enough they can eventually see anything they want to see. But "seeing something" doesn't automatically make it true. And just because someone doesn't see things the way somebody else does (or chooses to reserve judgement for the present) doesn't mean they're stupid, craven, negligent, or wilfully blind.

Sad to see some people would rather see absolutely nothing good get accomplished - unless it were done in accordance with their standards of political correctness and doctrinal purity. 

Now what was it these people were saying about "agendas"?

-40hz (March 16, 2014, 12:46 PM)

That's a complete misrepresentation of what I wrote.

-Renegade (March 17, 2014, 01:59 AM)

Hmm...

I gave your previous two posts a slow reread. And after careful re-consideration, I still don't think I have. Guess we'll need to agree to disagree on this point. 

2161

General Software Discussion / Re: Malwarebytes is moving away from lifetime licenses

« Last post by 40hz on March 16, 2014, 04:29 PM »

Back on-topic, I bought a MBAM license a few years back, not because I wanted/needed the real-time protection, but because I wanted to support them because they have helped me get *metric tons* of crap off of the computers that people have dragged in front of me begging me to fix over the years.

-Innuendo (March 15, 2014, 06:39 PM)

 

Ditto

-Carol Haynes (March 16, 2014, 03:52 PM)

Me too.

2162

General Software Discussion / Re: [INTERVIEW] John McAfee's New Cognizant App Puts an End to Spying

« Last post by 40hz on March 16, 2014, 04:27 PM »

I was considering a smartphone lately, I think you've just helped me make my decision (against).
Will be interesting to hear reports from users.

-tomos (March 16, 2014, 11:08 AM)

I do a lot of work in the mobile space at both the API and marketing level. I can tell you... it's worse than anything you hear in the news. I can't post details as I'm under NDA.

-Renegade (March 16, 2014, 11:12 AM)

So...you're saying you're warning all of us because ...you yourself are part of the problem?

Interesting. But I'm afraid there's no salvation or forgiveness for you here if that's the case.

2163

Living Room / Re: Against TED talks

« Last post by 40hz on March 16, 2014, 12:46 PM »

Sad to see some people would rather see absolutely nothing good get accomplished - unless it were done in accordance with their standards of political correctness and doctrinal purity.  

Now what was it these people were saying about "agendas"?

2164

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on March 15, 2014, 08:14 AM »

^If they call me you'll be the first to know. Promise.

Hmm...wonder how much attention all those hot button words in the above have netted me with the NSA.

Oops...I just used another hot button word didn't I?

 

2165

Living Room / Re: Against TED talks

« Last post by 40hz on March 15, 2014, 07:55 AM »

I can put up with almost anything TED does so long as presentations like this one hit the widest possible audience.

(with thanks to fellow DC member Shades for putting me on the track to it.)

2166

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on March 15, 2014, 07:35 AM »

From another angle, I'm wondering why in this era of "everyone online", that if there started to be trouble, *why no one got a digital communication off*. 239 people and no one managed to tweet something?! How about just someone's phone syncing email? Wouldn't that produce a ping on the cell tower?

-TaoPhoenix (March 14, 2014, 11:48 PM)

Possibilities in no particular order:

• No receiving tower within range
• No phone handy. Not all airlines allow in flight use of cellphones. Some places make you shut it off and pack it with your luggage.
• Something nefarious was planned, and those responsible brought a jammer - most likely disguised as a cellphone. Interesting possibility since the flight transponder also went silent while the flight was supposedly in the air. That would slot in nicely with a hijacking.
• Rapid catastrophic flight failure - no time to tweet.
• Alien abduction.
• The first incident that marks the beginning of The Rapture.

Movie suggestion:

Gus Parker is unhappily married. He is on a business trip to sell advanced surveillance technology to despotic small eastern governments. Unbeknownst to him, suicide hijackers (abetted by Russian right-wing ultra-nationalists) are on board who have obtained a black market Soviet era tactical nuke and have seized control of the plane with the intent of detonating the device over Kiev if the Ukrainian government does not agree to cede Crimea to the Russian Federation. Gus realizes he is about to die and attempts to call his wife intending to apologize for not being a better father and a husband - an attempt complicated by the fact his phone is packed in his flight case in the overhead luggage rack. The hijackers scream for Gus to sit back down and wave their weapons menacingly at the cabin passengers. Suddenly Gus disappears along with 10 percent of the other passengers. Only their empty clothing remains to mark the spot where they were sitting. Gus it seems has sincerely and truly repented of his sins, attained salvation, and been transported to heaven along with the other faithful in the plane. The hijackers freak out and threaten to detonate the bomb unless somebody tells them where the missing passengers went - which leads to an interesting debate between them and the passengers about life, duty, salvation, and right action - with a healthy dose of patriotism and "family values" thrown in for good measure. The hijackers believe the element of surprise is now blown but decide to salvage what they can of their mission and detonate their bomb anyway. They fly over the ocean, away from any populated coastline, and prepare to broadcast a prepared speech which will now characterize their mission as a "first warning" - with a threat that others will follow in their footsteps if the Ukrainian issue is not resolved peacefully and fairly for all Ukrainians. (Apparently the earlier debate led to a semi-change of heart even though they still remain 'bad guys.') But before they can do so, the plane and all it's passengers abruptly disappear - abducted by a huge UFO that is only briefly glimpsed before all that is left is an empty sky over an endless and restless sea. <Eerie music swells. Fade to black.> <Text scrolls up on screen:>

FLIGHT 234 DISAPPEARED WITHOUT A TRACE.

DESPITE A MASSIVE MULTINATIONAL SEARCH EFFORT NEITHER THE PLANE OR ITS WRECKAGE WAS EVER FOUND NOR WAS ITS BLACK BOX FLIGHT RECORDER EVER RECOVERED.

THE INCIDENT REMAINS UNDER INVESTIGATION.

THE FATE OF ITS 300 PASSENGERS REMAINS UNKNOWN.

<Music swells. Quick fade to black. Cut to Verizon commercial>
 

Yeah...that's so sucky it just might become the next uber-successful "made for TV" movie. Hey NBC? ABC? CBS? FOX? Call me!

2167

General Software Discussion / Re: Office 365 and Outlook

« Last post by 40hz on March 14, 2014, 06:59 PM »

Stupid question time...more for my curiosity than any attempt at problem-solving...

If they aren't online *all* the time then why are they buying Office 365 rather than Office 2013?

-Innuendo (March 14, 2014, 06:00 PM)

The apps in Office get downloaded and run locally with most versions of O365. So you don't need to be online to use them. They work just like the standard (i.e. non-cloud) Office apps in that regard.

O365 also allows installation on up to 5 PCs per user. Office 2013 is licensed for installation on a single PC. Microsoft dropped their old "office PC plus your home PC or laptop" installation rule with the 2013 release.

2168

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on March 14, 2014, 06:43 PM »

^ I think he meant the invasion as in the alien invasion of Earth.

-wraith808 (March 14, 2014, 04:59 PM)

I thought so too.

My comment was a lame attempt at making a snarky joke. 

2169

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on March 14, 2014, 04:43 PM »

Yes, but at least we'll know that when SETI shuts down...The Invasion is only months away ...

-Stoic Joker (March 14, 2014, 11:37 AM)

Really? I don't think we'll have the chops to take on or invade an extraterrestrial civilization ever. We're far too enthusiastic about shutting down scientific research and technical schools to ever develop such advanced capabilities. We're also more than content with patenting the obvious - and then fighting over it - to make any real advances.

Besides, the money is needed for far more important things, like giving every town in the USA with a population over 4000 their very own police tank, monitoring every scrap of digital communication - and storing it forever, and bailing out our corrupt financial institutions so they can still pay their criminal directors their annual bonuses...

I mean c'mon! As a people we need to set priorities.

2170

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on March 14, 2014, 04:30 PM »

^ So just think what it will be like if they ever find intelligent life on this planet.

-Vurbal (March 14, 2014, 10:36 AM)

"It would be the end of everything we know." as Marvin Minsky once said when asked what it would be like if television were actually good.

2171

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

« Last post by 40hz on March 14, 2014, 04:25 PM »

^Groan! <facepalm>

2172

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MS Office 2013 US$9.95 Corporate/Enterprise Home Use Program - Mini-Review

« Last post by 40hz on March 14, 2014, 08:11 AM »

This is interesting. I once worked for one of the Fortune 10 behemoths in the 80s. I was directly involved with software licensing. We had what was then called a "corporate sitewide license" for Windows, Office, and Visio.

As part of the deal, all the employees of the company were free to install MS Office on their home machines free of charge and legally use it for as long as they remained employees...

We used to refer to it as making the company "pirate proof."

Now, for those companies that have a home use plan as part of their license, employees get to pay $10 out of their own pocket for the same privilege.

I guess Microsoft realized they were leaving money on the table since people today seem to think it's a good deal.

2173

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on March 14, 2014, 07:58 AM »

Sadly if the US government wasn't wasting so much time peeking in our backyards and panty drawers, they'd of had time to grab a few shots of the rest of the planet and we'd know where that Malaysian plane went.

-Stoic Joker (March 14, 2014, 07:11 AM)

Yeah. It's much like the one thing about SETI that always made me laugh...

It gets no government funding because it's been called a waste of time and resources. But IF SETI ever did detect a signal that was clearly and provably from some extraterrestrial source, the feds and their military would be in there in a heartbeat, grabbing files, seizing facilities, shutting down networks, slapping DoD and NSA classification stickers on everything in sight, "debriefing" (i.e. threatening) every SETI researcher and employee they could put a finger on to keep their mouths shut...

The day SETI succeeds is the day SETI (as a public science project) will cease to exist.

But that's ok. Because it's for our "protection."

2174

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on March 14, 2014, 06:44 AM »

^Really! Can you believe it?

Amazing how brave these people are to speak out - once everybody else has.

Sad truth is that virtually none of these industry leading lights much cared until it started becoming obvious that the current state of affairs was going to hurt their business in the long run.

If "voluntary cooperation" could have been made to pay off, they'd still be as silent as clams. Just like they pretty much were up until a month or two ago.

2175

General Software Discussion / Re: jv16 PowerTools - using Indiegogo to 'fund'' open-sourcing it

« Last post by 40hz on March 14, 2014, 03:55 AM »

Maybe they set the goal so high because they dont want to reach it?

-tomos (March 14, 2014, 03:24 AM)

I hope not. Because I'd consider that an attempt to game or co-opt the system - much like Canonical's ludicrous $32 million IndieGoGo campaign for the Ubuntu Edge smartphone was.

Although Kickstarter often gets criticized for how strict and arbitrary its rules sometimes seem, at least it make it tougher for less than ethical people to play games with it.