Recent Posts

2576

Living Room / Re: Linked In... too linked in?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 12, 2013, 04:37 PM »

Best to just do what you can and not worry about it too much. Because short of setting up an alternate identity - and using it exclusively from day one - there's no longer much hope of being completely invisible online any more. And that's not something that's ever going to change short of an infocalypse. And I don't think many of us would welcome the chance to experience something like that.

-40hz (March 12, 2013, 02:15 PM)

And even that alternate identity isn't good enough, because on places like Facebook other people will tag you anyway under your old name, as well as posting resumes looking for jobs. (Going a little tinfoil hat, I still think Apple sold my info to Facebook, and I hate both companies enough to believe it, until ironclad proof emerges otherwise.)

In some ways I welcome the *after effects* (after the nuclear grade pain!!      ) because that might finally cause a public uprising to put severe privacy protections in place. (Fun Case Scenario: we all get to wear designer hoodies or something to protect our faces, and ID ourselves by number or something.)

An Info Apocalypse would be something like a Nuclear Bradley Manning - suppose *every web visit by anyone, ever, showed up all at once. We're only playing games because "this guy posted a drunk pic on Facebook, that guy said something on twitter." Wait until the head of the family values org is found to be a porn addict or something. Maybe HR somewhere faked their own resume back in the day. A cop might be an ex felon. Everything. By everyone. Ever. Smashed so far into the net it will never be erased.

THEN we might take privacy seriously. But not before.

2577

Living Room / Re: Reach Into Transparent Computer, Grab Content

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 12, 2013, 12:40 PM »

That's because people looked at the eye candy rather than what it was solving behind the scenes.  And the fact that it was trying to be created without the backing technology.  If you can use a gesture based interface with the technology to back it up, then it wouldn't just be eye candy, IMO.

-wraith808 (March 12, 2013, 11:22 AM)

Well part of the eye-candy / tech is the physical muscle strain issues. Rumor has it Tom Cruise needed to rest every 10 minutes in between shoots because of arm fatigue. I do think guestures will supplement computing alongside the keyboard and mouse and even speech, but the articles are saying it's like some of the current granularity problems we see just with touch screens, let alone 3d spacing. Gloves are the long running dark horse choice for gestures. My interest runs along the lines of precisely what will be faster with gloves that can't yet be done on *some kind* of keyboard, even if it's not an ordinary querty - some kind of symbolic language comes to mind.

2578

Living Room / Re: Linked In... too linked in?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 12, 2013, 12:35 PM »

About the only way you can control things and prevent other people from sharing your data in a way that connects the 2 of you on their site is to sign up for each social network with a brand new email address that is used only for signing up for social networks. It won't be in anybody else's contact list.

-app103 (March 12, 2013, 11:43 AM)

I basically did that, creating a brand new email account for my job search activities, so wherever that floats around is generally "networking", though it does end up in a few amusing places. One wrinkle y'all might watch out for is that sometimes if you add someone with your new work search email they'll add you back wit *your other email* and then the tendrils of social networking begin to burrow in like some alien monster.

2579

Living Room / Re: Google Glasses BANNED!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 12, 2013, 07:31 AM »

What happens when Google glasses become indistinguishable from normal glasses?

-Carol Haynes (March 11, 2013, 08:38 PM)

They almost are, the non-Google ones. I've been absently following this trend for years, and it's gonna come to a collision point real soon. Because between Carol and Tinman, "they can only ban what their currently stilted imaginations let them ban".

As for "magic disabling carrier frequencies", I don't see that approach really working, it will just lead to "un-moderated" Chinese versions of stuff or something.

On a show of The Panel there was a disturbing response from the panelists that "it's okay to not hire someone based on their Facebook posts because it shows bad judgement to post a pic of you getting drunk blah blah". Oh really?! Now I know why I avoid that hard place only to risk being deemed an anti-social critter for not being on there to begin with.

I love the stories of "Police say _____ _____ _____ ____". 12 hours later: "Man posts pics on Facebook denying police account." Police: "Well, um, we didn't yet have the full information on our officer's conduct".

2580

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 12, 2013, 07:19 AM »

Heh yeah, that's just a fairly famous lawyer joke from the net with some pic stuck onto it.

2581

Living Room / Re: What are your favorite movies?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 12, 2013, 07:10 AM »

I just got hold of the Avengers, and I have such a soft spot for Superhero movies. However I skipped the individual movies of Thor, Hulk, Captain America. But the Avengers got to have Joss Whedon as director and he pulled it all together and made it mostly hold together, so it gets my vote for "worth the $5 I paid in McDonalds from some lady for a knockoff." 

2582

Living Room / Re: Left-handed help needed !

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 11, 2013, 10:13 AM »

Thanks for the typing tip Renegade, that will help - I'm also looking for ideas for "everyday" things : try cutting a slice of bread from a loaf with only your left hand.

-joiwind (March 11, 2013, 09:40 AM)

Get the bakery to do it for you!   

2583

Living Room / Re: Left-handed help needed !

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 11, 2013, 10:12 AM »

Just looking down for a minute at my hunt and peck method of typing, I m finding that I already type some 75-80% of stuff with my left hand. My left hand slides over as far as the t-h-n line on the keyboard, which currently leaves only y,u,i,o,p,j,k,l,m actually being typed by my right hand. So I happen to use my left pinky for shift,so you'll need a reflex such as left shift and "key-lock" and then just make an an effort to reach over and type those other 8 letters that are kinda rare anyway.

As you get better, though, I do recommend you experiment with parking your right hand on the backspace button maybe with a pencil eraser because that's the one key which I at least need to hit about 4-7 times in a row to undo a typo. (But see MilesAhead's script he made for me with control-` and alt-` that "power-backspaces" with the *left hand*!

2584

Living Room / Re: Emperor's New Clothes Kickstarter

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 11, 2013, 09:51 AM »

Discussing the theme of "meta-kickstarter", it's possibly even funnier. It's a "scam" that explicitly names itself after a scam! But maybe it's also a meta commentary on how the original fable of the emperor's new clothes itself worked - back when we all snorted in derision at the "stupid little baby's story", except it's playing out live in modern times. They truly are saying, in that voice we use for pets, "Hi. This is a complete pile of blank wood and printer paper. It's a con. And you love being conned, deep down you know you do..."

Meta-Meta-Kickstarter?

2585

Living Room / Re: "Half of our users block ads. Now what?"

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 10, 2013, 11:15 PM »

Hmm, goods stuff here. What other angles can I go after?

1. Companies can't stand "stasis". "Grow or bust" is a famous theme in simplistic business advice seminars. Trouble is, sometimes you just can't grow past a certain scale. So let's say a really nice small ad was used for a while, and everything is fine. Then some Biz type decides "we need more ad revenue. Let's make the ad ... bigger!" Uh... oops. There went a 20% *drop* in revenue from upset customers!

2. Re: The "entitlement" claim, most of TV was offered for free via ad revenue for decades, so it's not quite fair to suddenly decide that "it's different on the internet" and that a former TV viewer, now an online article viewer, suddenly became "entitled".

3. The bar for content is just higher. Newspapers were semi-subsidized by "gimmicks" like the comics, classifieds, and a few other things. There was a lot of filler slammed out. Sorry, Craigslist happened, (yes, with problems), web comics have basically pulverized the comic scene for newspapers, and everyone has the same 3 paragraph AP feed. So if it's gonna come to hard cash for content, make it for something that someone(s) really busted hump to write.

Example: Stephen Brill wrote a bone crunching rundown on hospital scam charges. Take a look.
http://healthland.ti...ills-are-killing-us/
10 (decent sized pages!) Super important topic. (Which still may not be really hitting national news!)
And it took him *seven months* to write. That's one I might have paid a couple dollars for.

2586

Living Room / Re: The 20 Most Expensive Keywords in Google AdWords

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 05, 2013, 10:48 PM »

mobile porn? who the hell searches for "mobile porn"

-Stephen66515 (February 13, 2013, 06:13 PM)

If it ain't mobile it ain't porn, it's art (see Rubens)  .

-barney (March 05, 2013, 09:12 PM)

Pee Wee Herman is art?! 

2587

General Software Discussion / Re: Aaron Seigo on Canonical's recent memory lapses and new corporate vision

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 05, 2013, 02:18 PM »

Those contemplating getting involved with or exploring Linux (as opposed to Ubuntu) had best start looking elsewhere. Because it's becoming increasingly clear that Ubuntu does not consider itself to be a part of the established GNU/Linux community any more. Assuming ... they ever really did.

-40hz (March 05, 2013, 12:42 PM)

Well, I missed that last post but idly I've surveyed the Linux landscape. I think *at one time* Ubuntu really did consider itself a Linux distro, aimed to "make it easy for newbies". Not sure where the line got really grayed out, but for a chunk of the early days, sure.

Then it def. got more and more isolationist, like a rebellious teenager.

Just for lack of time and interest, I lost track of the landscape, so I don't know anymore what distro I'd use. I think I like the Debian family, but now it would have to be some kind of non-Ubuntu newbie distro.

2588

Adventures of Baby Cody / Re: Baby Cody is in Los Angeles

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 05, 2013, 11:58 AM »

We need a picture of him in one of the Os of the Hollywood sign!

-Carol Haynes (March 05, 2013, 10:04 AM)

That would be great. Just don't get arrested going up there. I understand they've gotten a little rabid about the security around that landmark recently. Hmm...maybe Photoshop to the rescue? Or better yet, a little trick parallax photo technique just to keep it real?

-40hz (March 05, 2013, 11:20 AM)

Well it is Hollywood, so use any of those tricks to get it done. Or green screen if you can manage it, etc.

2589

Adventures of Baby Cody / Re: Baby Cody is in Los Angeles

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 05, 2013, 09:15 AM »

I feel like a bad parent now   what have I done?!

-y0himba (March 05, 2013, 06:44 AM)

Do we age him up to "College kid Cody?"

2590

Living Room / Re: Seriously 'funny' idea - what if DRM was applied to physical objects?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 04, 2013, 11:52 PM »

Um, this chair is a fire hazard.

Notice the smoke?

Yeah, that nichrome is getting too hot while melting the wax, the chair could ignite the flammable wax and cause a far more serious problem than just a DRM'd chair.

-SeraphimLabs (March 04, 2013, 05:22 PM)

They originally wanted it to blow up rather than just fall apart. But supposedly none of them was willing to 'test sit' a chair that could do that.

What can I say? They're obviously not stupid.

-40hz (March 04, 2013, 09:32 PM)

And they didn't have the $100 to pay a stuntman. 

2591

Living Room / Re: DDoS: Terrorism or legitimate?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 04, 2013, 11:51 PM »

Or maybe the Harry Potter or Pokemon of Activism.

2592

Living Room / Re: Why Russell Holly returned his Microsoft Surface Pro - A Cautionary Tale

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 04, 2013, 09:13 AM »

I'm not thrilled with this article either. I liken it to the same way that Verizon has given me horrific lack of service on DSL but once they did finally manage to get the line going, it worked okay.

Customer Service is all the rage now but that's long been one of those things that slips even when Mfg. puts out something decent.

2593

Living Room / Re: Seriously 'funny' idea - what if DRM was applied to physical objects?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 04, 2013, 08:14 AM »

"Don't Encourage Them!"

2594

Living Room / Re: Adobe Reader zero-day

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 02, 2013, 03:05 PM »

I just found STDU Reader (Scientific and Technical Documentation viewer) and I like it. It opens the fastest of any reader I have tested which is good to avoid that 0.1% stress from viewing 10 pdfs at a time. It also seems to handle the mobile-book formats which previously I had avoided because I don't do things like Kindle etc.

2595

Living Room / Re: You Don’t Want Super-High-Speed Internet...

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on March 01, 2013, 09:03 AM »

I saw slashdot's copy of this and the mood over there was that it was so silly they probably don't believe it themselves. Rather it was more of the typical modern desperation "Look, here's a microphone and 2 minutes of dead air costing a million bucks a piece if we don't fill it with lots of words."

It's like showing a clip of the movie "Frequency" and then asking Yahoo what happened to them vs Google. Then you jam a mic at them and the best the PR rep can do is say non-lawsuit-inviting things.

2596

Living Room / Re: WebKit rules!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 28, 2013, 11:06 AM »

Ca'n't help but wonder...is it really so much that WebKit rules...or more that Opera succumbs?

-40hz (February 28, 2013, 10:11 AM)

Webkit and Opera are in a BDSM relationship?!  

2597

Living Room / Re: Cute jokes' thread

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 27, 2013, 09:56 PM »

The scandal is all over northern Europe at the moment,
oh, they were so offended by the meat not being all cow...
every teen girl is crying and crying out loud: "they are eating horses!"
Now it turns out, they all were wrong from the very beginning!
They really should have been grateful, but they totally missed it;
It was never merely horse meat, no, it was  Unicorn !! 

 (see attachment in previous post)
Sorry, it is late at night, and I really should be fast asleep. 

-Curt (February 27, 2013, 05:39 PM)

Look at where the "Rainbow" is. Now think of the song "Double Rainbow"! 

2598

Developer's Corner / Re: Programmers and Mathematics

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 23, 2013, 10:57 PM »

Look! It's a non-regulation chessboard on top of the blog! I don't even know what image that sends! "I want to look erudite but I don't play for real"?!   

2599

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 23, 2013, 10:54 PM »

Am I the only one that immediately thought of this?  

-app103 (February 23, 2013, 11:31 AM)

Minus one point to them for calling it 14 ounces in the ad copy and 5.5 ounces on the can.

2600

Living Room / Re: When is your birthday?!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 23, 2013, 10:50 PM »

Let us know when your birthday is, so we can send our wishes to you!

 

-Stephen66515 (February 23, 2013, 04:31 PM)

Nice social engineering!