Recent Posts

276

General Software Discussion / Software Patent Absurdity Catching On

« Last post by zridling on August 07, 2011, 10:44 AM »

Glyn Moody lists the followers who have finally awoke to the bizarro reality of software patent law.

Andy Vandervell has more on how boring this is for consumers despite Google's stupidity and Apple/Microsoft/Oracle's greed:
http://conversation....sung/comment-page-1/

277

Living Room / Re: YACT - Yet Another Copyright Thread

« Last post by zridling on August 06, 2011, 06:28 PM »

It's not Internet access the government is afraid of. It's cheap, ubiquitous, unrestricted, unmonitored, and open access that scares them out of their minds.

-40hz (July 01, 2011, 09:19 AM)

Which is also why sites (and companies) all around from Google to 4chan regularly cooperate with the FBI in handing over "evidence" to be used against you.

278

General Software Discussion / Re: Google Apps vs. MS Office 365: Your Choice

« Last post by zridling on August 06, 2011, 06:25 PM »

Yea, if you're not using AdBlock or something similar to kill Google ads, it's time. I'm not searching CP or how to build nuclear bombs in my basement so the info any company has on me is limited to my household habits (mower brand, tool cart, etc.). Heck, Walmart knows WAY more about my personal life than Google ever has a chance to.

279

Living Room / The social network icon flood is getting crowded

« Last post by zridling on July 30, 2011, 10:26 PM »

Saw this line of social network icons on an article page today. This is crazy. It's almost a cry for help -- "Look at me! Comment on me! Tell your friends about me!"

280

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+ Extensions thread

« Last post by zridling on July 29, 2011, 10:20 PM »

@Oshyan:
He's prolific, that's for sure. I have about five guys and one gal (April) in a special circle, and when I take a break, I enjoy reading their latest.

281

Living Room / Re: Do You Want Your Searches Monitored?

« Last post by zridling on July 28, 2011, 11:37 PM »

What's also sad is how boring criminal investigation has become. Search the computer, examine phone records, GPS locations, CCTV recordings, Highway/intersection camera tracking, etc. I don't do anything wrong or illegal, but we all know that's not enough to keep you from being "detained" indefinitely in the US. If I think about it for more than five minutes, I get screaming mad and need a fistful of sleeping pills just to calm down. Point is, everything we do can be monitored after the fact, and many times, during. It's no wonder I live a desperately quiet life.

282

General Software Discussion / The Case Against [mobile] Apps

« Last post by zridling on July 28, 2011, 07:37 AM »

Christopher Butler from Imprint talks about why the web is a far better way to access, appreciate, and create content.
http://www.salon.com.../27/web_apps_imprint
______________________
Suppose I read the center article in the "timeline" interface above (a meritable UI idea, to be fair) and then wanted to share it with a friend or among my social network. There is really no good way to do so; the article itself doesn't have a specific address of its own, nor does the issue as a whole. The best I could do would be to link to Wired Magazine's listing at iTunes. The article I read is an undifferentiated, un-locatable piece of the issue -- the 500mb glorified PDF that we're calling an "app." Sadly, this is not just a hypothetical scenario; this very conundrum presented itself to me within an hour of downloading that first issue. Being the savvy and resourceful Web user that I am, I went to Wired.com, found the article I liked, and sent a link to that URL -- the Web version -- to my friend. Just a second or two later, after clicking "Send," I thought, Why didn't I just start here in the first place?  You know, on the Web, where, for the most part, the exact same content offered by the $3.99 app is available for free, along with additional sharing and engagement opportunities the app version lacks.

283

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+ Extensions thread

« Last post by zridling on July 27, 2011, 11:30 PM »

Comment Toggle
+Comment Toggle hides any comments to posts within your Stream and makes them available if and when you actually want to see them.
https://chrome.googl...mgmecadnffgmgpgaldlo
_______________________________________
If anyone wants to try Google+, let me know and I'll send an invitation your way. With only a few extensions and power tips, it can be a lot of fun once you locate interesting people.

284

General Software Discussion / Re: Google Apps vs. MS Office 365: Your Choice

« Last post by zridling on July 27, 2011, 09:23 AM »

Well we just delete the mailbox and recreate it like the instructions say, right? Ha! Wrong!! Oh sure, you can delete it just fine ... But you'll never be able to create another one with the same Email address ever again. Try to create a different Email and use the first one as an alias for it - HeHe Nice Try - Fail!

-Stoic Joker (July 27, 2011, 06:58 AM)

If you have a Gmail account, such experiences are why it's a good idea to have 2-3 alternate accounts just so you'll have access. And share (data) with yourselves liberally among the accounts! NPSS (New Platform, Same Shit)
___________________
@mahesh2k
I agree. Zoho is robust, and has been so for half a decade now.

285

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+ Extensions thread

« Last post by zridling on July 27, 2011, 09:17 AM »

G+me for Google Plus
https://chrome.googl...mlnhajiacfakhlilbicp
_________________________
via Softpedia:
[It's] a toolbar icon shows G+ notifications in real-time. This means that users don't need to be on Google-related tabs to see if there's anything new happening on G+. The notifications are now visible everywhere. However, the central feature of this extension is that its ability to collapse read posts while remembering their last state for future sessions. Additionally, if users want to keep the posts expanded but not see all the associated comments, G+me gives them the option to hide the comment stream. The collapsed comments bar will continue to show and update the comment number at the end and if a new one is posted, hovering the mouse pointer over the comment number will display a pop-up with the content. Similarly, hovering the mouse pointer over a collapsed post will display a fully-functional preview of its extended version. Users can also opt for list-mode view which keeps all posts collapsed by default and allows a single one to be extended at a time.
_______________________
NOTE: This extension works best if you're trying to keep up with LOTS of people inside a circle. Otherwise, revise your circles.

286

General Software Discussion / Re: Google Apps vs. MS Office 365: Your Choice

« Last post by zridling on July 26, 2011, 10:33 PM »

OT: They locked you out before?  Did you ever find out why?  And how did you get it back?

-wraith808 (July 26, 2011, 10:19 AM)

Yea, they locked me out of my account last year and wouldn't tell me why, nor could I get back in to retrieve my data. They "liberated" it. More than three weeks later, I got a note from Google saying they suspected Chinese hackers were using my account to spam others and shut it down. Nice of them to give me a warning, NOT! I just opened another account and about a month later they gave me back my old account, spam and all. Tried to delete it several times but it's still there. Jeez. Can't fix it, can't reason with it. There's your cloud.

287

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+ Extensions thread

« Last post by zridling on July 26, 2011, 10:29 PM »

There are dozens of articles on how to use Google+ for beginners. Finally, Mashable's Stephanie Buck takes it to the next level. She's interviewed some very serious "power users" about how they use Google+ circles for sourcing, learning, deeper interaction, filtering, personal memos, organizing, and preparing for the future. A well-written piece. Coming soon: Venn Diagram circles!

7 Ways Google+ Users Are Getting More Out of Their Circles
http://mashable.com/...google-plus-circles/

"We've talked to users who have devised clever ways to use Google+ circles. Here they share their best practices so you can learn from their early mistakes and successes."
__________________________
*I had already heard about creating a circle and adding only yourself to it to keep time-stamped notes with. Good idea!

288

General Software Discussion / Re: Google Apps vs. MS Office 365: Your Choice

« Last post by zridling on July 26, 2011, 07:58 AM »

For what I do, it's MS Office or nothing. Period. Nothing else can do what MS Office does. I don't say that with joy. I'm tied to Microsoft.

-Renegade (July 25, 2011, 11:36 AM)

My wife is in the same boat. Her company programmers are truly awful (they suck at simple scripts), but now they've moved onto O-2010 and half the company is using 2003; it's total FUBAR.

I gotta go with the bulk of the commenters there; Google apps is not that impressive ... And that guy is a shill.

-Stoic Joker (July 25, 2011, 11:59 AM)

Google Apps looks good for basic files, but in practice, I've found it consistently terrible. And I'm certain that I'll wake (again) someday and find that the geniuses at Google have disabled my account without warning, locking me out.

289

Living Room / Re: AWOL

« Last post by zridling on July 25, 2011, 09:24 AM »

A blast from the past. Hell yea!

290

General Software Discussion / Google Apps vs. MS Office 365: Your Choice

« Last post by zridling on July 25, 2011, 09:22 AM »

http://www.zdnet.com...365-your-choice/1357

Phil Wainewright aims this critique for businesses, since, if you already use a desktop version of MS Office, then Office 365 is one path to the cloud you'll consider. Wainewright skims over features and looks at the architecture -- particularly the relationship between desktop Office and the Office Web Apps in the cloud -- and holds that this isn’t really a cloud architecture. But if you're a smaller firm and can't justify implementing and supporting Sharepoint and Exchange, Office 365 might make sense. Then comes the bad news:

• Microsoft offers 11 different plans for professionals and small businesses, enterprise customers, and education. Here we go again.
• The Office Web Apps are pretty weak versions of desktop Microsoft Office. They exist mainly to permit collaboration online and storing accessible documents in the cloud.
• Microsoft would not only like you to be a desktop Office user, they would like you to upgrade to Office 10 Professional Plus, with its retail price of $499.99 -- upgrades are cheaper. Ouch.

For the $6-$24/month plans for 365 compared to Google's free (or $50/year per user for support), I don't see anyone making the switch to 365 from another platform. (Unless Microsoft pays you hundreds of thousands like they did the Univ. of Nebraska.) Meanwhile, I'll stick with good ol' desktop LibreOffice.

291

Living Room / Re: Why Are Hackers Becoming So Angry?

« Last post by zridling on July 22, 2011, 05:26 PM »

And when someone honest tries to hold corporations and politicians to their lies, they promptly get asked to leave the building:

Cenk Uygur and the ethos of corporate-owned media
http://www.salon.com.../21/uygur/index.html

From the same magazine: An interview with a LulzSec member:
http://www.salon.com...mous_chat/index.html

292

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+ Extensions thread

« Last post by zridling on July 22, 2011, 05:20 PM »

No joy on the Google+Facebook thing. After installing it and clicking on the Facebook icon, I get this message:

-CWuestefeld (July 21, 2011, 11:25 AM)

Extended share works better I think.
https://chrome.googl...acipkfbcoppmiflglnib

293

Living Room / Why Are Hackers Becoming So Angry?

« Last post by zridling on July 22, 2011, 07:38 AM »

Glyn Moody asks: Why Are Hackers Becoming So Angry? Among the reasons:

-- "Political clout needed to abuse the narrow commercial scope of copyright protection," i.e., taxpayer monies paying for research that is then sold back to the public and institutions at exorbitant prices.

-- "Copyright maximalists have co-opted governments to attack ordinary citizens for sharing things, with huge collateral damage to basic liberties." (Severe copyright enforcement legislation like ACTA, HADOPI, the Digital Economy Act, La Ley Sinde, and the US PROTECT IP.)

Against this background of three-strikes legislation, plans for widespread Web censorship, huge fines for sharing files even when there is zero evidence any financial damage was caused by doing so, and disproportionate threats of extradition, I predict we will see many more such actions from angry hackers frustrated by the continuing abuse of existing legal, economic and political structures by a few powerful groups - particularly in the media world - for their own self-interest. As to why it seems to be mostly hackers that are angry in this way, the reason is simple. In addition to being well placed to understand the profound implications of the transition away from a closed, analogue world of scarcity, they are also one of the few groups that have the ability and means to fight back by harnessing the power of the open, digital abundance that is replacing it.
__________________________
I'd call that righteous anger.

294

General Software Discussion / Re: Will facebook ever be the same?

« Last post by zridling on July 21, 2011, 09:17 AM »

Good article on how G+ is learning from FB's mistakes, one on why Google+ will not allow fake accounts:
http://www.digitaltr...out-william-shatner/

295

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+ Extensions thread

« Last post by zridling on July 21, 2011, 09:14 AM »

Post deleted because of malware alert (thanks to April for more info on this).

296

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+ Extensions thread

« Last post by zridling on July 20, 2011, 05:59 AM »

Google+ Now Lets You Upload Address Books From Outlook, Your Mac, And More:
http://techcrunch.co...k-your-mac-and-more/

...but no facebook contacts (yet).

297

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+

« Last post by zridling on July 19, 2011, 09:43 AM »

FINALLY, a competitor to Facebook that will be a game changer.  G+ will make Facebook and Twitter better, so in the end, we all win.

-Proximo (July 19, 2011, 09:16 AM)

So true throughout the history of tech, e.g., compare IE6 with IE9. But in the Web 2.0/cloud space, companies rise and fall faster than ever. If G+ is ascendant, it will continue the evolution from many before it. Anyone remember MySpace? Oooo, that's gotta hurt, and a Rupert Murdoch mistake at that.
________________________________________
Something else I'd love to see on G+ is a mere avatar of your self under another name/ID just for the purpose of signing onto a forum or site merely to leave a comment.

298

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+ Extensions thread

« Last post by zridling on July 17, 2011, 01:54 AM »

Here's another:

Extended Share for Google Plus
Extends Google+ to share to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
https://chrome.googl...acipkfbcoppmiflglnib

299

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+ Extensions thread

« Last post by zridling on July 17, 2011, 12:34 AM »

Wow, thanks April! Can't wait to try these out. And also for the heads up on Micah.

300

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+

« Last post by zridling on July 17, 2011, 12:27 AM »

Again, though, the simple advantage of the circles idea is that I can separate the people in my life based on their roles in relation to me. I can share and talk to my nieces and nephews in a clearly different way than I do than my mom and brothers, or even my friends with whom I talk politics. And when I talk to my tech friends, most of them aren't concerned with politics until it bumps up against tech issues (which grow by the year). Same goes for what I choose to share with the "public" on G+. You can sort of do the same with Facebook, but one of the first things people do when angry is to hack another's FB page.

Whereas Facebook is a hammer, G+ is more like a multi-tool. As for G+'s security, privacy, and censorship, we'll have to see.