Recent Posts

326

Living Room / Re: Hurricaine Sandy Discussion Thread

« Last post by J-Mac on October 31, 2012, 11:35 AM »

Nope. Other than the usual looting and unsafe incidents, of course.

Actually all we got was high winds and less than 3" of rain. Didn't stop the mayor from appearing on network TV about every hour to warn us about the upcoming apocalypse (Sandy). And the local news providing "Hurricane coverage" round the clock for two days, insisting that the bad stuff was really, really coming soon. They were soooo disappointed!

Jim

327

Living Room / Re: Disney acquires Lucasfilm for 4.05 billion dollars. Star Wars Ep VII due in 2015

« Last post by J-Mac on October 31, 2012, 11:30 AM »

Lucas declared that there would never be any more Star Wars episodes back in 1997.

In August 1999, at a press conference in New York City to discuss The Phantom Menace, Lucas was categorical. The following exchange at the press conference was reported by Starlog magazine:

    Q: Does that mean you won't do Episodes VII, VIII and IX?

    Lucas: I will not do VII, VIII and IX.

    Q: You will not? Will they be made by somebody else?

    Lucas: No. They will not.

    Q: So this trilogy ends it?

    Lucas: This is it. This is all there is.

Also...

In an interview published in Total Film in May 2008, Lucas also ruled out anybody else ever making the sequel trilogy (or other future Star Wars features). Asked if he was happy for new Star Wars tales to be told after he was gone, Lucas replied: "I've left pretty explicit instructions for there not to be any more features. There will definitely be no Episodes VII–IX. That's because there isn't any story. I mean, I never thought of anything. And now there have been novels about the events after Episode VI, which isn't at all what I would have done with it. The Star Wars story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader. That is the story. Once Vader dies, he doesn't come back to life, the Emperor doesn't get cloned and Luke doesn't get married..." The phenomenon of the Star Wars 'Expanded Universe', with stories told in novels, comic books and other media, also appears to have been a factor in Lucas seeing no need to produce a sequel trilogy: "Whatever it is that happens afterward, that isn't the core Star Wars story that I like to tell," he said in 2008. "There really isn't any story to tell there. It's been covered in the books and video games and comic books, which are things I think are incredibly creative but that I don't really have anything to do with other than being the person who built the sandbox they're playing in."

(Both of the above quotes from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_sequel_trilogy#Abandonment_of_sequel_trilogy_.281997.E2.80.932012.29 )

Never say never!   

Jim

328

General Software Discussion / Re: AdBlock Plus To Not Block All Ads

« Last post by J-Mac on October 29, 2012, 03:13 PM »

I've been using Ad Muncher for a couple years now and ALL the ads people have posted here that are getting through are blocked by Ad Muncher on my computer, in both Firefox and Chrome. I know it costs money but it is well worth it IMO.

Thanks!

Jim

329

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

« Last post by J-Mac on October 18, 2012, 09:57 PM »

For you Star War fans, a pretty nasty tweet was made and directed to George Lucas, and then re-tweeted to Shawn Ryan, the creator of some damn good TV programs, like The Shield, Terriers, The Unit, a season of Lie To Me, and currently The Last Resort; it just hit my funny bone hard:

Spoiler

Shawn Ryan ‏@ShawnRyanTV

Only if Han shoots first. RT @Jason23Nash: . @georgelucas Doing a project here with my son. Real quick: can Chewbacca suck his own dick?

Jim

330

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is it so hard to find a decent image organizer?

« Last post by J-Mac on October 07, 2012, 11:31 AM »

But there's a catch. It only runs on Linux:

-40hz (October 07, 2012, 11:17 AM)

Well, ouch!   

Jim   

331

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 15 less of a memory hog

« Last post by J-Mac on October 07, 2012, 10:35 AM »

There are a few sites using Flash that I cannot keep open without Firefox freezing. Even locks up Windows Explorer. Newegg.com is one; anytime I open a product page Firefox becomes non-responsive. Others have reported the same. Also, at times I can easily view movies, etc. on Amazon's Instant Video library; other times it freezes Firefox completely. Weird...

Thanks!

Jim

332

General Software Discussion / Re: Nuance PDF Reader - Acresso-FLEXnet agent is Annoyware/Adware WARNING.

« Last post by J-Mac on October 01, 2012, 12:03 AM »

Biggest problem with Nuance I have found is that despite the fact that they haven't created a damn thing - as someone posted above Nuance has purchased everything they sell from other companies (or purchased the companies?) and then just re-branded them. And then they putout a new major version every year regardless of whether or not they have added anything worthwhile. In most cases I haven't found any improvements but quite the opposite. Keeping up that should completely ruin every program they offer. IMO Dragon Naturally Speaking has no improved since they re-branded it from Scansoft.

Thanks!

Jim

333

General Software Discussion / Re: Nuance PDF Reader - Acresso-FLEXnet agent is Annoyware/Adware WARNING.

« Last post by J-Mac on September 30, 2012, 10:49 PM »

Besides PDF Converter Pro 8 (which is the equivalent of the full Acrobat program, not just a reader), which I use for creating and editing PDF files, I also have the free and portable version of PDF XChange installed and I use that for a PDF reader. For in-the-browser PDF viewing if the PDF file is the result of a Google search I click on the "Quick View" link on the search page and it opens in Google Docs. If it is from a link on a web page I have Firefox configured to use its own PDF viewer - a new feature in Firefox 15. Chrome also has its own built-in reader.

Jim

334

General Software Discussion / Re: Nuance PDF Reader - Acresso-FLEXnet agent is Annoyware/Adware WARNING.

« Last post by J-Mac on September 29, 2012, 12:48 PM »

I have had most versions of Nuance PDF Converter Pro installed, so apparently this has been on my machine(s) for a long time!

Wait - I just searched for both "Acresso" and "Flexnet" on my current box and it's in a lot of places: all the Nuance apps (PDF Pro, OmniPage Pro, PaperPort Pro) as well as Macrovision and anything to do with Installshield. Most places it seems to be associated with ARPProduction.exe, which despite the .exe extension does not seem to be an executable. (??)

Neither Norton AV 2012 nor Malwarebytes has any problem with all of this. Computer scans clean at all the usual online scanners, too. Does anyone have anymore detailed info on these?

Thanks!

Jim

335

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 15 less of a memory hog

« Last post by J-Mac on September 27, 2012, 12:12 PM »

Oh, I have plenty, but nothing new installed for a long time. This literally started right after updating to Firefox 15.01. Disabling hardware accel. and then restarting Firefox covered a lot of the issues, but not all. Seems like too many had this happen the same way right after the update, though I agree it isn't all Firefox. Since there was a fairly sizable Windows Update this month I think that plus the Firefox update might be causing indigestion.

Jim

336

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 15 less of a memory hog

« Last post by J-Mac on September 27, 2012, 11:44 AM »

Firefox 15.01 has broken most of my toolbar icons, and none of the links on any of the internal pages are working. E.g., my "reload without cache" button doesn’t work, print preview nor print buttons work... none of the buttons on the level with my address bar work at all. And on the add-ons page none of the links - options, "More...", etc. nothing happens when clicking.

I disabled hardware acceleration - it defaulted to "Enabled" in this version - and that got back a few things but most still aren't working.

I have read that it is possibly a graphics card driver update needed, and others claim that a recent Windows Update broke all of these things.

Grrr...  Really becoming tough as hell not to hate this damn browser lately.

Jim

337

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: DonationCoder.com on an iPad is Kinda Weird

« Last post by J-Mac on September 22, 2012, 12:02 AM »

Unfortunately I am seeing it on the iPad in the Safari, Opera Mini, and Dolphin browsers.   

Thank you.

Jim

338

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: DonationCoder.com on an iPad is Kinda Weird

« Last post by J-Mac on September 21, 2012, 09:10 PM »

I was seeing this since Firefox 12. Also occurs in all browsers on the iPad.

Thanks!

Jim

PS - Don’t forget, I am talking about DonationCoder.com only. I generally don’t see this elsewhere.

339

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: DonationCoder.com on an iPad is Kinda Weird

« Last post by J-Mac on September 21, 2012, 01:13 PM »

Gotta tell you - I'm getting the same behavior in Firefox on my computer. If I use the scroll wheel on my mouse within most posts nothing happens; I have to keep moving my mouse around to get it to scroll.

No one else is seeing this at all? Really?

Thanks!

Jim

340

Living Room / Re: SpammerScammer

« Last post by J-Mac on September 18, 2012, 11:36 AM »

Ahh, the Joker and I posted simultaneously - almost!   

Jim

341

Living Room / Re: SpammerScammer

« Last post by J-Mac on September 18, 2012, 11:35 AM »

Assign it to a contact and then block that contact. I do it through Google Contacts on my Android Razr.

-J-Mac (September 17, 2012, 09:01 PM)

Isn't that kind of time consuming?

-Renegade (September 17, 2012, 11:11 PM)

Not at all. My Droid Razr uses Google Contacts; whenever I add or edit a contact it is also added/edited in Google Contacts. I also have a Google Voice account (which is tied to my Google Contacts automatically) and my voice mail on the Razr is forwarded to my G-Voice mailbox. Now the G-Voice account has a very easy call block feature so whenever I receive a spam call or SMS text on the Razr I simply add the contact to an existing contact named "Spam-001", which is configured to be blocked. That contact's ring tone is set to "Silent". So when a call (or SMS) comes in to any of the numbers contained in that contact the phone doesn’t ring and/or the SMS notification stays silent and the call/SMS is redirected to a recording stating that my number is no longer in service.

So now when a new spam number either calls or texts me I just wait for it to stop ringing, click that number and then "Add to Contacts", add it to the Spam-001 contact and it'll never be heard from again.  

Jim

342

Living Room / Re: SpammerScammer

« Last post by J-Mac on September 17, 2012, 09:01 PM »

Speaking of spam, anyone had trouble with spam text-messages being sent to your cell #? If so, were you able to make it stop and how?

-kyrathaba (September 17, 2012, 07:00 PM)

Assign it to a contact and then block that contact. I do it through Google Contacts on my Android Razr.

Jim

343

Living Room / Re: SpammerScammer

« Last post by J-Mac on September 17, 2012, 12:25 PM »

My email service uses Sieve scripts to fine tune the spam filters. So I got a copy of how to compose the Sieve scripts and - Wow, am I ever confused!! Gonna take me some time to get any of this through my thick skull!   

Jim

344

Living Room / Re: SpammerScammer

« Last post by J-Mac on September 16, 2012, 11:27 PM »

Isn't this almost totally ineffective with many (if not most) of the "From:" addresses on spam being either spoofed or free throwaway accounts?

Jim

345

Living Room / Re: Nokia's new Lumia 920 phone doesn't impress. But why? (no reason)

« Last post by J-Mac on September 08, 2012, 09:26 AM »

Most of it is probably due to the amazingly botched release of the Lumia 900. Nokia stock dove so much after that fiasco that the 920 was needed to basically be a "savior" for Nokia. While it improves greatly on the failures of the 900 it doesn’t appear to be great enough to overcome the losses.

The 900, most might remember, was the phone that has the ads where all other phones were supposedly beta versions to prepare people for the great and wonderful Lumia 900. Which was then released with a wifi radio that didn't work for most people. Plus it was thicker and heavier than most other phones, which didn't help it. And after years of battling Microsoft with their vaunted Symbian operating system, the Lumia was powered by the Windows Phone OS, you know - the one without much of an app base? Also, the Lumia 900 was not picked up by Sprint or Verizon, who claimed to be not interested in the Windows Phone OS. The OS was so different from that on the iPhone and Android that it put off a lot of people.

Face it: not much went right at all for the Lumia 900. So the 920 had to be the "be all, end all" in order to overcome all that and pick up the plummeting stock prices. That's a tall order for any phone, let alone one with a family history like the Lumia 900. Just a doomed dinosaur from the start IMO.

Jim

346

Living Room / Re: Is there a non-Schwartzenegger Terminator in your future?

« Last post by J-Mac on September 07, 2012, 11:07 AM »

Love Screamers! Great flick.  

Jim

Oh, and I do remember Big Dog - the video of it running up a hill. Scary bugger.

347

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by J-Mac on August 26, 2012, 09:18 PM »

+3 Addict too.  And Editors.  Actually spent $250 on SlickEdit because of my addiction- even though I love it, that's a lot of scratch.

-wraith808 (July 27, 2012, 06:22 PM)

Wow - you are truly a dedicated addict, wraith!

Jim

348

Living Room / Re: Help me pick a midrange Android phone?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 23, 2012, 10:36 AM »

Yes!! Even more so than hacked updates! At least those are being analyzed by user communities, while Verizon and AT&T won't move at all to help once you update to theirs. Oh, they will come out with updates to try and fix things, but icebergs move faster.

I blocked my Verizon Droid Razr's attempts to auto-update from GB to ICS for about three weeks as I watched all the ruckus and gnashing of teeth of those who did accept the update. Then I made up my mind that I don’t want Verizon's damn update so I disabled their updater (access to the phone's root and Titanium Backup Pro are wonderful!) With my phone rooted I can install just about any app I wish, and also block and/or remove any app also - including Verizon's bloatware. Those who allowed the ICS update from Verizon can't do that yet; the new bootlocker isn't allowing users to root and the last I checked no one had yet released a trouble-free root hack for it.

Jim

349

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Super Flexible File Synchronizer Mini-Review

« Last post by J-Mac on August 22, 2012, 10:44 AM »

Tom,

My concern with this is it sounds a lot like what regular backup programs call "incremental backup", but on a file by file/versioning basis. regular backup programs offer this on the entire backup job. I've never liked it because you need a series of backups in order to be able to restore. And if one of those becomes corrupted - which is more common than you would think - then nothing can be restored. I always used "Full" backups when I used regular backup programs, and kept two or three full backups, rolling one outr as another was completed. Incremental backups could save time and disk space but each incremental piece requiring all of the rest of them staying non-corrupted made them too risky IMO.

This "synthetic" mode sounds like it could be similar. Maybe not. Guess I'll read up more on it but to be honest I'll probably stick with full file versioning for the files that need it.

Thanks!

Jim

350

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Super Flexible File Synchronizer Mini-Review

« Last post by J-Mac on August 21, 2012, 10:46 PM »

Oh... Well... That makes it perfectly clear. Tobias needs to get someone who can do technical writing that is more understandable.

Thank you.

Jim