Recent Posts

251

General Software Discussion / Re: Explorer with Ribbon

« Last post by zridling on August 30, 2011, 10:49 PM »

And yet more critiques, with links:
http://techcrunch.co...rt-selection-button/
____________________
"...there’s an undertone to the post: Microsoft is nervous. They’re posting these screenshots now so they can get feedback. To me, this suggests that while Microsoft is confident that they did their homework, they’re not actually confident in the product itself. Nor should they be, given the reaction."

252

Living Room / Re: GOD IS DEAD~! =P

« Last post by zridling on August 28, 2011, 02:31 AM »

I would have taken a holiday the past two years and spent some of my billions if I were Jobs. Dude is not long for this planet.

253

Living Room / Re: GOD IS DEAD~! =P

« Last post by zridling on August 25, 2011, 12:33 AM »

Never idolized Jobs. His sole ambition seems to have been to be as big a bully as Microsoft ever was in its heyday. He succeeded at that. Never bought any of his gadgets or computers because I didn't need their closed systems nor could I ever afford them over the last three decades. I'm thinking he'll come roaring back as soon as the stock price drops a few hundred points.

254

Living Room / Re: HP announces it's discontinuing all WebOS device development

« Last post by zridling on August 19, 2011, 04:19 PM »

I played with it in the store several times and it was so slow it was ridiculous. Then the iPad was slow, too, for that matter. Still, I can't believe you bring the product out in the summer time, spend a zillion on ads and celebrity endorsements for it, and then kill it. Why bother making the thing in the first place if you didn't intend on even trying.

255

Living Room / Re: Patent Wars: Apple Hits Samsung in EU

« Last post by zridling on August 19, 2011, 04:17 PM »

Good point, wraith808. If apple fans see no comparison, no equal to their iPad, then why do Apple lawyers? It's the same trick Apple has always used: interpret everything so broadly that everyone is seen as copying you.

Apple: "Hey, those Samsung bastards have wi-fi? That's a violation!"
Reasonable humanoid: "No it's not."
Apple: "Sue anyway. Sue everybody. Keep suing until they're gone. How are we going to get people to pay $900 for a tablet if others are giving them away at $500!"

256

Living Room / Re: Google to Acquire Motorola

« Last post by zridling on August 17, 2011, 06:00 PM »

It's Clear Why Software Patents Need to Disappear
by Katherine Noyes, PC World
http://www.pcworld.c...ed_to_disappear.html

257

Living Room / Re: The Foreclosure Scam

« Last post by zridling on August 17, 2011, 05:22 PM »

But seriously - where are you people living? I've never been in a situation where I thought a gun would help me. And I cant imagine having one being of any help in the future. YMMV, and maybe the violence where you live is more arbitrary. I can see shooting guns is a fun pastime, and that they are nice "things" to mess around with, but this is something different - or is it?

-tomos (August 17, 2011, 07:26 AM)

Again, you guys make fun, but I strongly urge you to go sit in a courtroom for an entire trial where someone's been shot or killed. Everything you say or do CAN and WILL be USED AGAINST YOU. The reason that's in the Miranda rights is because it's the way the system works. Most prosecutors are short-term guys looking to move up the political scale -- and they do that by clearing the docket with as many convictions and plea bargains as possible. You say self-defense, but check your local newspaper archives on how many people in the past 20 years in your area have used a gun in their house to defend themselves against attack. You'll be surprised.

Like tomos, I got nothing against guns, self-defense, sport shooting, hunting, etc. But talking like the Terminator is just talk until you're hauled before a jury and made to look like a murderer by the prosecutor. Never think the "law" is on your side. That's a rookie mistake. Even if you win, you'll likely have lost your job, all your money to your legal defense, and 1-5 years of your life walking up and down courthouse steps defending your actions.

258

Living Room / Re: Google to Acquire Motorola

« Last post by zridling on August 17, 2011, 05:07 PM »

seems like the phone industry is consolidating.

-lanux128 (August 16, 2011, 08:26 PM)

Seems that way, but again, because of the way the patent system is structured, the little guys can't even think of competing in the mobile space.

It remains to be seen whether Google will do the right thing and actually help their multiple hardware manufacturing partners rather than just turning Motorola into a "1st party" juggernaut, but I'm cautiously optimistic.... Making Motorola into essentially a monopoly in the cell phone (or at least Android) market would also likely turn up the heat on antitrust investigations that are constantly being talked about against Google, and I'm sure they don't want that either. Bottom line, I think it would be foolish for them to use Motorola as anything other than a defensive weapon. And as a defensive weapon I reckon it's pretty solid. - Oshyan

-JavaJones (August 17, 2011, 03:16 PM)

I'm hoping so, too. No need to kill fellow Android competition. Motorola is a distant 4th place in mobile units, way behind Samsung (on the Android side). So unless they're going to really turn the sector upside down by offering free phones in exchange for ads, seems like that would be a self-defeating move to invite an anti-trust investigation.

259

Living Room / Re: Google to Acquire Motorola

« Last post by zridling on August 16, 2011, 05:50 PM »

Patent insanity: a redundant phrase by now. But buying Motorola and gaining its 17,000 patents is simply self-defense as the tech industry stands today.

But where Google will take this acquisition is something not too crazy: free phones. Free phones loaded with Google's Android and much like Google Apps -- from Gmail to web to search to G+ to... advertising! And it will be loaded with tech DC'ers don't want -- GPS down to the business; that is, you'll use that Google phone as a wallet, thus no need to carry money. Going into the grocery store, your phone will know that you're in a Walmart, and you pick up what you need (scan the SKUs yourself), tear off a receipt on your way out to show the door greeter, and leave, bypassing cashiers. By the time you hit the door, your account has been charged.



Apple will be pissy because only their fans will pay hundreds for their phone, and they'll have to reduce the price. Microsoft will be frumpy because they're the third man out, begging someone to use Bing. Meanwhile, politicians and the FCC won't bother with stricter regulations because in America, corporations are people! It's a deal with the Devil, but remember that most schlubs are just going to want to know one thing: "You said it was free?"

260

Living Room / Re: The Foreclosure Scam

« Last post by zridling on August 16, 2011, 08:33 AM »

Indeed, a very passive response for a country where everybody and their grandmother appear to have guns... 

-Shades (August 15, 2011, 10:17 PM)

That's what you're led to believe from TV and news. Most Americans can't afford guns! And unless you have a use for one (hunting, target shooting, killing someone/yourself), they're not much use. They usually lead to far more (legal) trouble than people bargained for when they are used (kids finding them, shooting themselves or a friend).

261

Living Room / Re: The Foreclosure Scam

« Last post by zridling on August 15, 2011, 12:19 PM »

This seemed somewhat apropos.

262

Living Room / Re: The Foreclosure Scam

« Last post by zridling on August 15, 2011, 11:50 AM »

@40hz:
This is why I urge everyone -- assuming you could take a week off or more -- to go sit in a courtroom and watch the judge process "stoopid" all day long. For the most part, filing a claim, motion, or suit (that rarely EVER goes to trial) will get you anything you want. The banks hire anyone off the street, give them a title, and let them "robo-sign" documents they're not legally qualified to sign and then submit to court as authentic. The bank's lawyers attest that all the signatures are in order and the judge rubberstamps the foreclosure, on to the next 4.5 million.

It's truly depressing and scary. Had a friend kicked out of her house and she never missed a payment. Mortgage was sold underneath her and she wasn't notified. By the time found out something was wrong, the sheriff had a crew placing her stuff on the curb.
______________
Same goes for a murder trial. Go to the criminal court in your own state/county and watch an entire murder trial. It's a great way to scare young thugs straight! The trial is won during pre-trial motions for exclusion, evidence, etc. Once you get to trial, the judge has already determined how the trial will go and that there are no surprises. (Except for wacky states like Florida or California.) It's not like on TV. And even the TruTV/reality shows don't show you the incredibly endless minutia involved in a trial.

263

Living Room / Re: Stop the Machine! (anyone seen this?)

« Last post by zridling on August 14, 2011, 10:35 AM »

Proportionally, the higher your income the more your tax rate.
Some numbers:
$50k annual income pays ~18% Fed tax (that might be way off.. I haven't see the tax tables lately)  Which would be ~ $9,000 taxes
$100k annual income pays ~23% Fed tax (again the % may be off)  which would be ~ $23,000 taxes.
"The top 10 percent of income earners pay the most in federal taxes. Sixty-eight percent of federal revenue is generated by this group."

-Rover (August 13, 2011, 05:00 PM)

Except, keep going up the income ladder and the model breaks down. Check out what Warren Buffet and any given hedge fund manager pays (less than 14%), and when the richest 400 Americans make more money than the next 150,000,000 million Americans, they should pay their fair share or go live somewhere else. If you make a million dollars, you won't be paying 23%, I promise you. Oh well, I've been all over the income ranges, and I get screwed no matter where I'm at!

264

Living Room / Re: Amazing algorithms to enhance or transform images

« Last post by zridling on August 12, 2011, 11:28 PM »

I love this site, PetaPixel, for its info and effects:
http://www.petapixel.com/

Check out this 1-minute film of an Eagle Owl attacking a camera at 1000fps!
http://www.petapixel...g-camera-at-1000fps/

265

Living Room / Re: Bought a desktop and monitor today

« Last post by zridling on August 12, 2011, 10:29 PM »

I'm so jealous. Will have to wait until next summer (maybe) to replace anything here. 

266

Living Room / Re: Stop the Machine! (anyone seen this?)

« Last post by zridling on August 12, 2011, 10:22 PM »

From Dave Ramsey: "If the US government was a family, they would be making $58,000 a year and they would spend $75,000 a year and are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget and debt reduced to a level we can understand."

-Deozaan (August 11, 2011, 07:28 PM)

Except a "family" can't print its own money. Tell Dave to get a real job and stop ripping people off with his seminars. 

267

Living Room / Re: Amazing algorithms to enhance or transform images

« Last post by zridling on August 12, 2011, 10:15 PM »

Me want now.

268

Living Room / Re: Patent Wars: Apple Hits Samsung in EU

« Last post by zridling on August 10, 2011, 07:31 AM »

Fighting to overcharge customers for 30 years now! I'll buy a Galaxy Tab next year just to piss off Stevie boy.

269

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Patent Absurdity Catching On

« Last post by zridling on August 10, 2011, 07:29 AM »

Colleen Chien writes an informative piece titled: Turn The Tables On Patent Trolls
http://blogs.forbes....es-on-patent-trolls/
__________________
Response: No Colleen, we shouldn't have to tolerate this bullsh*t. Make modern life simpler: delete the whole patent mess, period.

270

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+ Extensions thread

« Last post by zridling on August 09, 2011, 08:27 AM »

GIF STOPPER
https://chrome.googl...eoillcfnbmkgliokndkm

Kills or freezes any animated .gif with the ESC key. Works in both Chrome and G+.

271

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+ Extensions thread

« Last post by zridling on August 09, 2011, 08:26 AM »

TweetRight
https://chrome.googl...bdoehhngapnlfmdbmiie

Share images, links, webpages and selected text on Twitter.com right from the context menu (right click menu).

272

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Patent Absurdity Catching On

« Last post by zridling on August 08, 2011, 07:41 AM »

Mark Cuban says end all software patents, period. Don't bother making them shorter, just end the whole mess.
http://blogmaverick....stion-on-patent-law/

Among his suggestions:
End all process patents. They serve absolutely no purpose. None.
"If you create a new process, use it. The benefit is from creating the idea and using it in a business to your advantage.  Afraid that some big company might steal the idea ? That is life. When you run with the elephants there are the quick and the dead.  That is a challenge every small company faces. A process patent is not going to make your business successful. The successful execution of business processes will. If we had process patents or the culture of software litigation  in the 1980′s as we have today current technology would consist of  running terminals on DEC and Wang Computers at the local library for $10 per hour and there probably would not be a world-wide web.

"No doubt that by the mid 90′s someone would have sued Marc Andreessen and his friends at the University of Illinois long before Mosaic could ever turn into Netscape. My guess is that the patent attorneys at British Telecom would have been all over them contending that hyperlinking was protected, but for $10 per download they could use them in their new browser."

273

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Patent Absurdity Catching On

« Last post by zridling on August 08, 2011, 07:34 AM »

Deozaan, that comes from people majoring in "journamalism" and "communications" rather than English. The former never get around to opening a dictionary or actually reading a book. Thus, they don't think you need a point.

The larger point is this: Current patent law not only scares off the little guy who might have a great idea, but wastes court time and costs consumers money -- for  both their defense and for their licensing. Got to pay for gestures and such, you know!

274

Developer's Corner / Re: Want to be in Amazon's App Store? Think again!

« Last post by zridling on August 07, 2011, 11:01 AM »

And they wonder why the gun market is red hot! What a completely depressing story.

275

Developer's Corner / Lost Programming Skills

« Last post by zridling on August 07, 2011, 10:59 AM »

Daniel Dern makes some good points on What today's coders don't know and why it matters
http://www.itworld.c...t-programming-skills

Today's coders may know how to whip up a PHP script or a Drupal extension, create a mobile app for both the iPhone and Android, and run DOOM on their car's GPS (which has been done, it turns out). But there's a lot that their predecessors knew that today's programmers don't.

Some of these skills aren't likely to be needed again, any more than most of us need to know how to ride a horse or (sigh) drive a manual-transmission vehicle. But other skills and "lessons learned" may still or again prove relevant, whether developers are banging their heads against legacy systems, coding for new mobile and embedded devices... or other devices and applications we haven't yet thought of.

Here's what some industry veterans and seasoned coders think the younger generation doesn't know ... but should.