Recent Posts

226

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Explorer crashing

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 15, 2017, 03:38 PM »

Thanks for sharing (what we hope will be) the solution. Good luck!
 

227

Living Room / Re: How can I blank out my laptop camera?

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 12, 2017, 01:49 PM »

        Just put a piece of that lightly frosted scotch tape over the lens. It will still show as video, but appear badly out of focus ... Emulating an "equipment issue". 
        -Stoic Joker (Mon 11 December 2017, 16:06:40)


    then how will they appreciate those HUGE BREAST IMPLANTS?
    -Target (Today at 00:00:27)

I'm glad someone is keeping abreast of the main thrust of this discussion.

-IainB (December 12, 2017, 03:42 AM)

What? Who's keeping abreast? Is that even allowed? I tell you now, there'll be too few to go round.

228

Living Room / Re: How can I blank out my laptop camera?

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 11, 2017, 07:48 PM »

You're so transparent.

-IainB (December 11, 2017, 03:28 PM)

Though not entirely lucid.

229

Living Room / Re: How can I blank out my laptop camera?

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 10, 2017, 09:06 PM »

What's the matter with all of you?

Never heard of glove puppets?

-cranioscopical (December 10, 2017, 05:16 PM)

and we're back to implants...

-Target (December 10, 2017, 07:08 PM)

Busted!

230

Living Room / Re: How can I blank out my laptop camera?

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 10, 2017, 05:16 PM »

What's the matter with all of you?

Never heard of glove puppets?

231

Living Room / Re: Animal Friends thread

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 08, 2017, 05:11 PM »

Lioness and former 'owner' reunited.

One happy cat!
 

232

Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 07, 2017, 04:34 PM »

I didn't find the commands to conference the Echo Dot very useful, and one of the reasons it didn't come off well was the indicators that someone is actually calling and if the call is in progress or not very intuitive.

-wraith808 (December 07, 2017, 07:27 AM)

During an 'intercom' call I find myself resorting to the old 'over' convention   

Even so, were I making a call in a >2-person household, I would want the ability to cut out people for whom the call was not intended. Google Home Mini doesn't offer that.

233

Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 06, 2017, 10:32 PM »

Here are my few musings. I picked up several of each over the past couple of weeks.

If only someone would make a device that blends the best points of each!

We're now using Home Mini's for an intercom system. The sending device 'broadcasts' scattergun style to every other station, which is fine for us. In more complex households the Echo Dot would be better as it can target only other station(s) specified, keeping communication private from other household members.

I find 'Alexa' somewhat difficult to understand unless a Dot is hooked to a decent sound system. In contrast, I can always understand the Home Mini. For us that makes the Home Mini a better choice for in-home communication as it's not always practical to hook up to a decent sound source (I don't characterise portables as decent).

Both devices are excellent for messy-hands locations—the kitchen (What is gas mark 3 in centigrade? A direct answer from Alexa but has to be done with two questions on the Home Mini), garage (but neither can furnish directly the correct tire pressure for a specific vehicle), workshop (this wood is 7'3", how many 22 centimetre lengths can I get from it?), studio (remind me to buy more titanium white).

One can't access some skills for Alexa in Canada (yet?). For example, no stock quotes from Alexa in Canada but the Home Mini serves 'em up flawlessly. OTOH there are some Canadian specific skills.

For me there's not a clear winner, hence some of each.

I will note that:

a) my few questions to Echo Dot support have been answered with alacrity, and with genuinely helpful information.

b) I didn't need any help with the Home Mini.

Setting up the Home Mini was a breeze. Setting up Alexa was an exercise in hair-tearing frustration until I remembered that Adguard has a propensity to fire up its own VPN. Google didn't care but Alexa sure did.

234

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / Re: NANY 2018 Pledge: PlainTasks

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 01, 2017, 04:08 PM »

Fair enough, I see your point. (My day typically begins with up to 8 tasks that are crucial. At the moment I use a text list on my phone to track them.)
 

235

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / Re: NANY 2018 Pledge: PlainTasks

« Last post by cranioscopical on December 01, 2017, 02:00 AM »

How about an option to 'pre-load' a stack of tasks in priority order so that dismissing one automatically loads the next?

236

Official Announcements / Re: Forum upgraded Nov 20, 2017

« Last post by cranioscopical on November 23, 2017, 09:08 AM »

Aren't they already the way you prefer them? Were they ever otherwise?

-mouser (November 22, 2017, 05:32 PM)

Nope, perhaps it's terminology. In reply #27 one set of marks is entirely within the white space, which I prefer (the first of the lower two examples).

Also, if one looks at a topic with a run of accumulated quote/response contributions, the quotations appear to look more important than the responses.

I think skwire's view (previous format was better) has considerable merit.
 

237

Official Announcements / Re: Forum upgraded Nov 20, 2017

« Last post by cranioscopical on November 22, 2017, 08:53 AM »

I prefer the quotation marks to be inside the panel.

What do you mean?

-mouser (November 21, 2017, 07:19 PM)

(Also, to me the super-large opening quotation mark is indicative of a pull quote which doesn't quite suit this context.)

Don't miss the exciting next episode… "The Comma"

238

Official Announcements / Re: Forum upgraded Nov 20, 2017

« Last post by cranioscopical on November 21, 2017, 06:36 PM »

I prefer the quotation marks to be inside the panel.

239

Living Room / Re: Micro-Fundraiser for the Official DonationCoder CodyMobile!

« Last post by cranioscopical on November 12, 2017, 05:24 PM »

2017 update: I still LOVE the codymobile, and it's treating me great, with no problems 

-mouser (November 12, 2017, 11:19 AM)

It's probably afraid that you'll put more oil into it.

240

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Official CMS Migration Progress Thread - September 2017

« Last post by cranioscopical on November 10, 2017, 06:45 PM »

but preferably with "Latest News" a few points larger

Do you mean "Latest Forum Posts"?

-mouser (November 10, 2017, 02:07 PM)

No, I really did mean the former but "Latest Forum Posts" doesn't stand out much now you draw my attention to it.
My thought is that "Latest" anything ought to shout a bit.

241

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Official CMS Migration Progress Thread - September 2017

« Last post by cranioscopical on November 10, 2017, 01:27 PM »

My preference is Style 2 (but preferably with "Latest News" a few points larger).

242

General Software Discussion / Re: What Android Apps Do You Use?

« Last post by cranioscopical on November 07, 2017, 07:00 PM »

If you're getting worked up about this it's virtually certain that you'll need a Hyper Vysor
 

243

General Software Discussion / Re: What Android Apps Do You Use?

« Last post by cranioscopical on November 07, 2017, 08:53 AM »

The Vysor app will only work when logged into Google

-Curt (November 07, 2017, 02:42 AM)

There's nothing else for it, you'll just have to wait for a Super Vysor.
 

244

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / Re: NANY 2018 Pledge: ymarks

« Last post by cranioscopical on November 01, 2017, 12:54 PM »

I like that quite a bit!

-cranioscopical (October 30, 2017, 09:39 AM)

What's that? The Comic Sans?

-Deozaan (November 01, 2017, 12:45 AM)

It's much better than the sans of Times!

245

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / Re: NANY 2018 Pledge: ymarks

« Last post by cranioscopical on October 30, 2017, 09:39 AM »

I like that quite a bit!

246

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of a lightweight multi-user cms/blog for hosting coders

« Last post by cranioscopical on October 24, 2017, 10:23 AM »

A very minimalist example:
[ Invalid Attachment ]

-mouser (October 24, 2017, 07:11 AM)

Looks good 

247

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Text Dragon

« Last post by cranioscopical on October 24, 2017, 10:19 AM »

@cranioscopical - What email app do you use? I'll take a look and see what I can do.

-c.gingerich (October 24, 2017, 07:20 AM)

That's a kind thought, thanks. It's Forté Agent, link here

248

Post New Requests Here / Re: Super Simple "Alarm Clock"

« Last post by cranioscopical on October 23, 2017, 05:32 PM »

Win 10 Cortana, too.

249

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Text Dragon

« Last post by cranioscopical on October 23, 2017, 05:30 PM »

Just a comment about the concept. In my e-mail program I have to double click on a subject line in order to read the body.  Doing so changes to a different window.  When Textdragon is running, the "Message body" screen reverts to the "Subject line" screen before I have time to assimilate the email message.  I know that I can exclude the e-mail program, but an e-mail is just the sort of item from which one might wish to drag text occasionally.  I have tried changing the delay time but that doesn't overcome what is, for me, a problem.

250

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by cranioscopical on October 22, 2017, 09:36 AM »

Creators Update:

Totally knocked out Bluetooth on my ASUS ROG MAXIMUS IX CODE mobo. (fixed)
Disabled my HP LaserJet claiming that it wouldn't work on a USB3 connection. Has never been connected to USB3, it's on USB2. (fixed)
On my Surface Book it froze the machine requiring an emergency boot routine (fixed)

As with most major updates it fixed a couple of niggling but weird issues that I'd been too lazy to track down.