Recent Posts

276

General Software Discussion / Re: How do I pin out the suspect virus file?

« Last post by Mark0 on February 21, 2009, 08:59 AM »

Due to the quoting I'm not really sure if I'm understaing this correctly, but...

TRK IS a Live Linux CD (heavy customized for those specific kind of works), so yes, surely.

277

General Software Discussion / Re: How do I pin out the suspect virus file?

« Last post by Mark0 on February 21, 2009, 08:08 AM »

IMHO, the best ways to get out of a tricky virus are either:

• Remove the HD, put in an external box and scan from some other PC (could be impractical)
• Boot from a different OS, and so scan the whole system from a surely virus free environment

You can do the latter, for example, with the easy Trinity Rescue Kit.

Bye!

278

Living Room / Re: Higher Quality Youtube Tip

« Last post by Mark0 on February 14, 2009, 08:53 PM »

Sometimes the alternate format works also when YouTube tell that the video is no longer available; the HQ version may still be there and reachable!

279

Living Room / Re: Show us the View Outside Your Window

« Last post by Mark0 on February 10, 2009, 06:15 PM »

Not really my backyard, but I consider this place my second home. I lived there for 3 years, when I was 10.
I just been there for this weekend, for a big reunion with old friends from that time, and took this photo from the ground floor.



Exceptional snow this year. There wasn't so much from near 30 years.
There's a lake between the trees in the first plane, and the big hotel in the distance!

280

Living Room / Re: eBook readers

« Last post by Mark0 on February 06, 2009, 05:43 AM »

A very nice article by John Siracusa: Ars Technica - The once and future e-book: on reading in the digital age

281

Living Room / Re: eBook readers

« Last post by Mark0 on February 05, 2009, 04:19 PM »

I think it's the eInk display that make most of the difference: both in price, at the moment, and in feeling.
Best thing to do is to actually have a look & try one eInk device somewhere (shop, friends, etc.) and see if it may be worth.

282

Living Room / Re: eBook readers

« Last post by Mark0 on February 04, 2009, 10:20 AM »

Now, in a bit less than a month, I'm at my 9th book read on the Cybook.
I can surely say that I'm not missing the "real paper book feeling"; reading on this thing have been/is just great!

283

Living Room / Re: eBook readers

« Last post by Mark0 on January 29, 2009, 06:34 PM »

Plastic Logic is now targeting an early 2010 release:

Engadget - Plastic Logic e-reader not coming until early 2010

284

Living Room / Re: aNobii

« Last post by Mark0 on January 23, 2009, 08:30 PM »

Actually the buy link depend on the user nation, so for example here in Italy I see also links to the local online shops where I often buy, in addition to Amazon.UK.

Book reviews are an interesting part of aNobii, but not the only one. I for one find very useful to track what some of my friends (or "neighbors", line aNobii calls simple contacts) are reading (you can also set up an RSS feed), or have read in the past, or giving a look to the libraries of complete strangers that happen to share a similar taste for book.

Bye!

285

Living Room / aNobii

« Last post by Mark0 on January 22, 2009, 09:18 AM »

Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

aNobii is a social networking site targeted to worldwide booklovers. The idea behind aNobii is simple: create an online platform for avid-readers to share reviews, recommendations, and most important of all, find other similar-taste booklovers.

Privately launched in August 2005, aNobii is among the earliest Web 2.0 sites in Hong Kong. However, aNobii soon grew beyond Hong Kong and now has been translated into ten different languages.

If you never heard of or used it, it's really worth a look: http://www.anobii.com



Bye!

286

Living Room / Re: Show us the View Outside Your Window

« Last post by Mark0 on January 11, 2009, 06:02 AM »

My backyard. We got some snow on new year's eve, and some is still here.

Bye!

287

Living Room / Re: eBook readers

« Last post by Mark0 on January 10, 2009, 08:59 AM »

I agree too!

About pages vs stream of text... I think it's a matter of tastes, and probably also depend on the content.
For documentation & references, I too prefer not having to do with pages. Here hi-res palmtop, or an iPhone / iPod Touch can be great.

But for books / novel, I like reading a page after another. For this, an eInk reader is perfect, IMHO. It really recreate the book experience, within a more practical device. The visibility is also great outdoor, in full sunlight.

Bye!

288

Living Room / Re: eBook readers

« Last post by Mark0 on January 10, 2009, 07:19 AM »

Basically the majority of PDF are made to be printed on A4 or similar sized paper.

Typical eInk screens on this kind of devices is 6", so you have to resort to zooming out (and then the resolution isn't high enough to read well, and anyway it would be way too small), or display just a small part of the page, and scroll around (and that's not too practical either).

A device like the new Foxit eSlick (witch is the same as the Cybook, but with different software) is a bit more advanced regarding PDF, implementing some sort of reflow. But still it's far from ideal, IMHO. Even more, if the PDF documents are some kind of reference, manuals, etc., instead of a book/novel, jumping around pages & sections isn't very practical either, because of the not instant screen refresh, and the somewhat simplified UI (the Cybook have no search function, for example).

iRex recently introduced some BIG readers, the 1000 serie.
This would probably be perfect for the job, having also a touch screen and a more sophisticated interface. But obviously the price is much higher, and they are less portable.

Bye!

289

Living Room / eBook readers

« Last post by Mark0 on January 08, 2009, 07:40 AM »

I had always being interested in this kind of eInk devices, from the first time I read about the "venarable" Sony Librie (around 2004).
So, after much time I got a Cybook for Christmas, thanks of an especially good offer from an UK reseller (thanks also from the favorable GBP / Euro ratio!) and a friend that got one there for me and taken it bake to Italy.

After some days and a couple of book read on it, I can say I'm very satisfied by the device from Bookeen. The readability really is something special: after a very brief time, one just forget he isn't reading a real book.

Still, it's not a device for all kind of reading. Documentations or text in PDF format isn't very suited for this kind of readers with a small screens, for obvious reasons. Also, since the user interface is minimalistic, and the screen refresh is somewhat slow due to the current eInk tech, quick "skimmings" between the pages to locate some specific content isn't very practical.

But for simply reading (e)books / novels, one page after another, it's just perfect. It's portable like a small paperback, even if you are reading a 1500 pages novel. The font size is always the one you prefer & choose. Refresh on page turn isn't an annoyance at all. You can take tens of book with you on vacation in a fraction of the spaces.

Here are some images of the Cybook from Flickr: http://www.flickr.co.../?q=cybook&w=all

A very nice reasource about eBook readers: http://www.mobileread.com/

Any other eInk users here?

Bye!

290

Living Room / Re: Apple Wheel macbook - revolutionary

« Last post by Mark0 on January 07, 2009, 08:37 PM »

I seen around at least one article that talked about the Onion's joke as if it was a real thing! 

291

Living Room / Re: 2008 Cybernet Awards Are Out.. DonationCoder.com Wins Most Useful Forum!!

« Last post by Mark0 on December 30, 2008, 10:20 AM »

Great news! Congratulations!   

292

Living Room / Re: Bad smells ... UPS recommendations ?

« Last post by Mark0 on December 27, 2008, 01:02 PM »

I have used an APC BK500 at home for 7-8 years, and it was still able to power the PC for some minutes when the light went out. At worked we used & installed a lot of them and never had any issues.

Bye!

293

Living Room / Re: In-car GPS

« Last post by Mark0 on December 17, 2008, 01:15 PM »

Another one with no sense of direction here!

I'm very fond of the TomTom units / software / maps. It really help you getting where you have to go.
When driving local / in place where you know you whereabouts, you may notice the occasional non optimal routes. But that's not the point of a nav system: where it really help, is when you don't know where you are and where to go. There, even a non optimal route is much better than getting lost!

Even the cheapest TomTom (the One v4, now) IMHO have everything needed to works out of the box, and work well.

294

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by Mark0 on December 06, 2008, 07:15 AM »

Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold
http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=ZGwDYBWEDSc

295

Living Room / Re: Recommend a keyboard

« Last post by Mark0 on December 06, 2008, 07:00 AM »

I cannot recommend something like this:

http://www.flickr.co.../3084720647/sizes/l/

 

296

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Domains from Yahoo at 2.99$

« Last post by Mark0 on November 30, 2008, 11:00 AM »

I had to resurrect this old thread for a small update.
I used Yahoo Domain services for about 4 years without any problem or even minor issues. In addition to the first domain I bought with the 2.99$ offer, I subsequenty bouth other 3 and it all went very smoothly.

But now that the one of the domains renewal date is approaching, they had kindly informed of a slightly increas in the yearly price, witch is now set to 34.95$!
Obviously, as many other people around the 'net (as I read), I promptly moved all the domains somewhere else.

297

Living Room / Re: Now that is one happy cat!

« Last post by Mark0 on November 13, 2008, 07:26 AM »

 

298

Living Room / Re: Has your phone replaced your camera?

« Last post by Mark0 on November 13, 2008, 07:25 AM »

Nope. But I have no camera either, so for some simple shot every once in a while even the 1.3Mpixel camera of the phone is sufficent. But I didn't invest in phones too much either. I presently have an LG U250, just because it was the cheapest one with 3G and Bluetooth.

Bye!

299

Living Room / Re: Recommend a keyboard

« Last post by Mark0 on November 13, 2008, 07:23 AM »

I bought myself a G15 yesterday (not being able to withstand anymore the terrible Apple Pro), and I'm very satisfied.
The touch is very nice (for a softy), and the programmability just great.
The LCD display (with 4 dedicated keys) is also a very nice device.

I'm very fond of the great clicky keyboards (have one from around 1991, still working great), but they are simply unusable at late hours, when others are sleeping!

Bye!

300

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: If Bush gets it done, America gets FREE software!

« Last post by Mark0 on October 27, 2008, 12:23 PM »

For strange that it seems... the gas price have fallen enough (but I suspect few if any will attribute this reached goal to Bush):

CODEWEAVERS' SOFTWARE FREE FOR DOWNLOAD THANKS TO GEORGE W. BUSH AND FALLING GAS PRICES

Giveaway Triggered in CodeWeaver's Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge; "We take full responsibility for global economic collapse," says CEO