Recent Posts

2501

General Software Discussion / Re: TextAssist 4.0

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 13, 2013, 01:25 PM »

My only problem with it is...the UK voice sounds more like South African lol

-Stephen66515 (April 13, 2013, 11:26 AM)

"TextAssist 4.0 is a paid text-to-speech program..."

Dear Mr. Steve Stephen,
I am writing to you to ask you to participate in funding the new version of the paid text to speech program. In return for your 4 million dollar investment, you get 70% silent partner rights on revenue, estimated at twelve dollars per day. Please respond with your bank information!

 

2502

General Software Discussion / Re: Problems after you install Microsoft's security update 2823324

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 13, 2013, 12:21 AM »

This is the first big-bad patch warning from MS I've seen in a while. Usually I take my time installing them, but more from a hassle point, not so much of distrusting MS. That honor goes more towards Adobe

2503

Living Room / Re: Bing Delivers 5X As Many Malicious Websites As Google

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 13, 2013, 12:18 AM »

  As far as search engines, DuckDuckGo, Blekko, BlackBoxSearch and DogPile are some good ones that don't track you.   

-Tinman57 (April 12, 2013, 07:29 PM)

Nice list. I have been using Startpage but I'm not so thrilled with their results. I'll have to try a couple of those.

2504

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 12, 2013, 06:51 PM »

Hmm. Well, sure, there's a couple of bright fellas behind it. So maybe they caught the most obvious bugs. But it just feels like something is unstable for the Long Game, and when that happens a few people win and lots of people lose. I just don't have the complete theme of how it will play out yet.

2505

Living Room / Re: Nasdaq execs get spanked for screwing up Facecrook's IPO

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 12, 2013, 11:42 AM »

"1% problems".  

2506

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 11, 2013, 07:01 PM »

This whole thing sounds like a gorgeous scam now, and this is about where the propellers are being fired up for that night-flying.

2507

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 09, 2013, 10:13 PM »

Seriously though...are we playing the "Who is offended by what" card, in a thread marked as NSFW/Adult Content?

If ya don't like it...don't look at it...

Don't make me get the fucking hose out people.

-Stephen66515 (April 09, 2013, 08:47 PM)

Yes. Yes we are. Apparently doesn't matter if you hide it in a batch of spoilers, if it has a boobie it will destroy your mind forever. Or something.

2508

General Software Discussion / Re: Goodbye OpenOffice, Hello LibreOffice

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 09, 2013, 10:10 PM »

I was confused by that kind of thing a few times too. I eventually got a copy from somewhere, maybe CNet (after unchecking all the opt-out stuff!)

I won't go into the "deliberateness" of the link placement, just that I agree it's bad design. You're supposed to have big easy buttons describing options, not text that really seems to lead you into the torrent when in fact there is a second link.

2509

Living Room / Re: Nearly 60K Low-Quality Apps Booted From Google Play Store

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 09, 2013, 09:21 AM »

Yeah, while on a different ecosystem, I have remarked a couple of times on the generally lower bar of quality in the mobile zone.

2510

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 08, 2013, 09:19 PM »

   

-Tinman57 (April 08, 2013, 08:32 PM)

That violin is as big as the smiley's face, so it can't be the world's smallest violin!

2511

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 08, 2013, 07:18 PM »

People of DC,
I beg you a judgment about the penultimate message I posted, the message with the girl sleeping on her breast. I consider it very funny but a (male) member considers it inappropriate instead. I am ready to remove it but first I am curious to know what's your impression.

-Giampy (April 08, 2013, 03:00 PM)

You know, even though this thread is clearly marked NSFW and the image was behind a spoiler, nudity anywhere on this forum can still bring down the family-safe and child-safe rating of the entire site, which can trigger blocking in some filtering software commonly used in schools, businesses, and some homes.

And we wouldn't want that, would we?

-app103 (April 08, 2013, 05:36 PM)

The creators of the Team America movie (the South Park guys) mentioned this in some of their commentary about the film. They were upset that their multi-hundred body count was just fine and dandy ("in their movie about puppets"!!) but they had to resubmit the "puppet sexy scene" ten times to the MPAA rating board to get it approved as R.

See also the Wardrobe Malfunction from the Superbowl X years ago.

2512

Living Room / Re: WebKit rules!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 06, 2013, 11:19 AM »

Even if they are right, this proprietarization of browsers is just exhausting. So now I'm getting lost: will the browser world fracture between Apple's version of Webkit because of their whole Store policy, or Google's because it will likely gain "gmail optimizations" etc?

Elsewhere Mozilla was developing something new again.

Blecch.

2513

Living Room / Re: Crowdscribed.com

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 04, 2013, 01:49 PM »

This is officially on my note list to investigate "before the next ice age". I am itching to try a little writing, but it's always been the usual caveats.

More news to follow in the medium future.

2514

Living Room / Re: Data Disclosure

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 04, 2013, 01:47 PM »

If California mandated data disclosure, it's a good bet the rest of the country, or at least many other states, will follow suit. What upsets liberals and spurs them to demand action goes triple for conservatives in Red states.

-kyrathaba (April 04, 2013, 11:54 AM)

Notice that *California* pulls in both Google and Apple. Two of THE biggest data hoarders around. Hence my questions about if the law has teeth.

There's two more big "states" that matter, and they're both Washington. That pulls in Microsoft out of Redmond, and all the shenanigan companies in Washington DC on the political side.

So we'll see. If it lands, it's the law of the decade. But we'll see if it becomes "conveniently" shot down. Or if passed, gleefully ignored.

2515

Living Room / Re: Prenda Law shall troll no more.

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 04, 2013, 01:44 PM »

Damn App, you hit the iceberg with a hammer. Because you're right:
**AA: "Your Honor, ____ Doe as represented by IP# _____ infringed my IP material."

And as we are learning from email spoofing and robocall spoofing, when the "prize" is in thousands of dollars per entry-item, what exactly stops more twerps from playing the Prenda game? That's why I was calling for strong judicial guidance, because the **AA has gathered lots of allies trying to assist them in their agenda.

And I have to keep mentioning the cautionary tale of Righthaven, which was sorta Prenda's predecessor, and they basically got off scott free. Where was this judge in that case?

And remember SCO? Remember how that managed to drag on for years with very little proof?

So yes, the law is quite erratic.

2516

Living Room / Re: Is This Mark Zuckerberg’s Embarrassing Childhood Angelfire Website?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 04, 2013, 01:38 PM »

I had a Geocities site ages ago. Can't even remember the URL or what my username/password was...

-kyrathaba (April 04, 2013, 11:55 AM)

And no sleuthing brings it up?

The internet never quite forgets anything but sometimes it does sink into Australian Aborigine Dream Time : )

2517

Living Room / Re: Data Disclosure

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 04, 2013, 10:53 AM »

[ California got this one right....]

California Considers Pushing Data Disclosure Envelope Again
California, which set the standard for data breach notifications nationwide, is again seeking to set a precedent by becoming the first state in the nation to require companies upon request disclose to California consumers the data they've collected and to whom it was shared during the past year. They would be required to respond within 30 days and provide the report for free.

http://threatpost.co...nvelope-again-040213

-Tinman57 (April 03, 2013, 07:25 PM)

I know, posting before ReadingTheArticle isn't as kosher here as Slashdot, but is this really true?!! This is not just a random state like Mississippi doing this, it's California. "Data they have collected" *AND* "to whom it was shared"?!!

I'll just dangle that thread opener without the 17 paragraphs of implications. As written as a short summary it's stunning but I simply don't believe it's quite up to what a raw reading says.

2518

Living Room / Re: Is This Mark Zuckerberg’s Embarrassing Childhood Angelfire Website?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 04, 2013, 08:22 AM »

If so, his learning curve was pretty fast! Facebook only really got going in about 2004, right? So from Angelfire to Corporate Overlord in 5 years ... oh NOW I get it, THAT's what you get for your Ivy league tuition!

Pfft! And here we thought it was about the classes!

2519

General Software Discussion / Re: Six free security tools from Microsoft

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 04, 2013, 08:20 AM »

Hmm. I believe MSE does block the worst of the "drive by" attacks, which is for me what the real reason of an AV is - it's not about clicking popups, it's stuff that just magically jumps onto your machine for zero reason. So that part is okay by me. I have seen it block a couple random "file viruses" here and there when I strayed a bit too far.

See elsewhere for my mixed reactions on EMET.

However I do think something like either Hijack This (haven't tried the other ones like M.B. etc.) are important because AV's don't warn you of the "grey ware" that gets in there with the bundled installs of "legit" programs. To me that's the biggest creeping threat because it takes real skill by the user to play a game of "opt-out minefield" to avoid all of it!

2520

Living Room / Re: Prenda Law shall troll no more.

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 02, 2013, 10:57 PM »

  True justice would be disbarring those lawyers involved in this scam, fining the hell out of them, and putting all their asses in jail.

-Tinman57 (April 02, 2013, 07:26 PM)

I'd like to see one more - some judicial advisory precedent to future courts so that they or their proteges can't just bubble back up and do it all over again in similar circumstances.

2521

Living Room / Re: Prenda Law shall troll no more.

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 02, 2013, 07:09 PM »

This is that point when in the normal world we all say "Bad Trolls. Go Away".

However there is a small LED flashlight/torch on in the Basement where we wonder "Was it really that easy?!" You know, silly lawyers doing mean things on an epic scale and expecting ... what? Look at the chart in one the links. Those guys are young. Did they really throw an entire law career away on this just like that? That fast?

2522

Living Room / Re: Google Nose

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on April 01, 2013, 11:50 PM »

(This would be more fun if there were to be a straight man.)

-barney (April 01, 2013, 08:54 AM)

Well okay I'll be the grouch and say I was in no mood for April Fools this year.

•I think• Magnus Carlsen won the chess candidates tournament today. I will be •quite• upset if the whole last round was a joke!!

 

2523

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 29, 2013, 08:33 AM »

@TaoPhoenix: I tried out the Scientific and Text Doc Viewer you referenced. Excellent program. Thanks for the tip! 

-kyrathaba (March 29, 2013, 05:40 AM)

You bet. I haven't really tried hard to build a list of mobile format books yet. It's just nice that when one does show up, it's readable.

Meanwhile: So we already have 7 document formats already, and they needed to invent 5 more for mobile?! Bleh.

2524

Living Room / Re: The Supreme Court makes a rational decision!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 29, 2013, 08:26 AM »

Does this apply to pharma meds?

2525

Living Room / Re: Ad Industry Attacks Firefox

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 28, 2013, 05:52 PM »

Semi Apropos, over on slahdot I finally quit reading at -1. Why? Because I could deal with the old days when there were quick blindingly obvious goatse trolls. Scroll past them. The ones that made me quit? There's a new rash of trolls posting TWENTY PAGE posts!!

Same thing with ads... the new hotness is these incredibly fast scrolling ones "OTHER CONTENT YOU MAY LIKE" that if your mouse slips over any part of the page, it then bludgeons out the entire page. 

I've come close to making a parody of Ads/DRM/Copyright in some kind of game form. The only thing stopping me is my utter lack of game creation skills.