Recent Posts

3426

General Software Discussion / Re: Dopus 10 : Some question about it.

« Last post by 4wd on December 15, 2012, 07:34 PM »

All you need to do is download and install his template and icons and using DOpus suddenly gets a whole lot easier.

-dr_andus (December 15, 2012, 12:04 PM)

Only if you think the same way he does 

eg. Pull down menus for almost everything which add an extra step not to mention that little arrow is a smaller target to hit than an icon.

3427

Living Room / Re: DRAFT: Dear British Government, The BBC & TV Licensing.

« Last post by 4wd on December 14, 2012, 10:11 PM »

One of the more interesting FOI articles at the site, (NOTVLicenseFee), mentioned above: FS50154106 - Number of TV detection devices [PDF]

BTW, it seems that maybe that site has given up by the number of broken links.

Also btw, you can get a 50% reduction of the fee if you're blind 

I don't know of any other country that does this, but there may be.

-Tinman57 (December 14, 2012, 07:46 PM)

Quite a few by the looks: TV Licensing^w

3428

Living Room / Re: DRAFT: Dear British Government, The BBC & TV Licensing.

« Last post by 4wd on December 14, 2012, 08:28 PM »

It actually applies to more than just UK residents - anyone who buys anything in the UK capable of receiving a TV signal is expected to either have a TV license or currently staying somewhere that does.

I was going to be refused the purchase of a USB DVB-T tuner from Maplins unless I specified an address they could look up to see if it had a valid license.

3429

Living Room / Re: What are Samsung AA-SS2P20B 2.0Ch USB digital speakers and how do you use them?

« Last post by 4wd on December 14, 2012, 06:56 PM »

@4wd:I cannot get at the AUX to see what it is. Would seem to require breaking the casing to get at the innards, and I am unwilling to do that just yet.

-IainB (December 14, 2012, 07:32 AM)

I meant a photo into the AUX jack from the outside - you should be able to see into it and see how many contacts it has.  You might not be able to take a photo but you should still be able to count the contacts made when you insert a plug.

You may even be able to feel how many contacts there are by inserting a plug, you'll get a distinct "click" as the notch at the tip moves past each contact.

eg. Here's the jack on my mobile, (not the best photo due to angle - there's one more contact right at the bottom):

3430

Living Room / Re: What are Samsung AA-SS2P20B 2.0Ch USB digital speakers and how do you use them?

« Last post by 4wd on December 13, 2012, 11:20 PM »

It's listed as an accessory for the Samsung Series 9 13" notebook, (which are fairly recent models, IIRC) - these notebooks have a combination headphone/microphone jack.

Any chance of a good photo of the AUX jack, (hopefully to be able to see how many contacts are in it) ?

If it's more than two, then I'd say that it accepts input from the combination jack on the notebook - in which case you possibly need a 4 wire 3.5mm patch cord, (3 + ground/shield).

Are there any small holes on the right speaker, (ie. for a microphone pickup) ?

3431

Living Room / Re: Can DDR2-PC6400 RAM replace DDR2-PC5300 RAM?

« Last post by 4wd on December 13, 2012, 10:20 PM »

Then, does it mean that my PC can't have DDR2-PC6400 because the maximum PC rating is PC5300? 

-erikts (December 13, 2012, 09:23 PM)

Yes, it'll just run at PC5300 as Shades and eleman have said.

There are some cases where RAM won't run at lower speeds but I've only seen that happen once in 20+ years.

Just plug it in 

3432

Living Room / Re: Can DDR2-PC6400 RAM replace DDR2-PC5300 RAM?

« Last post by 4wd on December 13, 2012, 03:03 PM »

Main Memory
• Supports two unbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 SDRAM
• Supports dual channel DDR2 memory architecture.
• Supports DDR2 400/533/667 memory interface. (4GB Max)

But I am not sure if I understand what the specification means.

-erikts (December 12, 2012, 08:56 PM)

That's clock speed, multiply by 8 to give your PC rating, eg. 400 * 8 = PC3200, 533 * 8 = PC4200, 667 * 8 = PC5300

They round down to the nearest 100, (for DDR2 anyway).

3433

Living Room / Re: Browse for porn at your own risk if you use Google starting 12-12-12

« Last post by 4wd on December 13, 2012, 02:10 PM »

Google AU - Safe Search can still be turned off:

-4wd (December 13, 2012, 01:26 PM)

For now. Just like facebook, they roll out changes gradually.

-f0dder (December 13, 2012, 01:55 PM)

That doesn't explain how it was disabled by default for the .com site for me - that kind of makes the loss of the Safe Search Off a non-event.

No cookies are kept between browser sessions.

EDIT: Never mind - I missed the term ambiguous in the original article.

3434

Living Room / Re: Browse for porn at your own risk if you use Google starting 12-12-12

« Last post by 4wd on December 13, 2012, 01:26 PM »

I'm guessing this is an IP based thing, doesn't seem to make any difference here:

Google AU - Safe Search can still be turned off:


Google.com - Filter explicit results is off by default - have to turn it on to have all the naughty images removed:


This was using both Dragon and Firefox.

3435

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: SoftMaker FreeOffice available - each download donates to charity.

« Last post by 4wd on December 12, 2012, 08:20 PM »

Interestingly, this used to be the full commercial version in previous years.

-Jibz (December 12, 2012, 04:57 AM)

Yes, I think it's probably version 2010 (the current version is 2012).

-cyberdiva (December 12, 2012, 09:09 AM)

It's a heavily feature degraded version of 2012, there was comparison chart, (PDF), on the site but it seems to have been removed.

Found it here.

3436

Living Room / Re: Apple Maps Flaws 'Life-Threatening,' Australian Police Warn

« Last post by 4wd on December 12, 2012, 08:02 PM »

So, continuing on the path could be construed as the best option, hoping that the errors stop, and that normalcy returns.

-Renegade (December 12, 2012, 07:59 AM)

Exactly how far down the path to drowning should you decide to swim?

Remove warning labels. Thank you.

While I agree wholeheartedly with this the fact remains that it wouldn't work....they haven't read the existing one anyway.

3437

Living Room / Re: Apple Maps Flaws 'Life-Threatening,' Australian Police Warn

« Last post by 4wd on December 12, 2012, 05:44 AM »

True - I agree SatNav does cause brain switch off - and I have even succumbed on a couple of occasions. Having said that anyone relying on mapping software that gets a street location wrong in a town can figure it out - when the town is 70km from where the map says it is a bit of a serious issue!!

With regards to the sign pointing the correct way we have a problem in my area with kids moving the pointers for fun. Not been so bad in recent years but a few years back you pretty much had to ignore many of the road signs and use a map if you aren't sure where you needed to turn!!!

-Carol Haynes (December 12, 2012, 03:16 AM)

It's not about the signs nor the SatNav being wrong, it's about using the 1.4kg of grey slop between the ears.

The roads leading to a major rural centre you would assume to be hard surfaced, have a fair degree of traffic, (even at night), and for Mildura, surrounded by farmland and orchards and on the banks of a river.

By contrast, the NP where they were consists of compacted dirt roads, (no bitumen within 40-70km), hardly any traffic, (I was in the NP last month for a day and saw no other vehicles), and the landscape is waterless, low-lying scrub, gum trees...and on all four sides it has a highway they had to either turn off or cross over.

It isn't that the SatNav misplaced 30,000 people, that's irrelevant - it could just as easily been a paper map, it's that the idiots completely ignored their surroundings.


...and yes, I may have got a bit worked up over this...

3438

Found Deals and Discounts / SoftMaker FreeOffice available - each download donates to charity.

« Last post by 4wd on December 12, 2012, 12:15 AM »

3439

Living Room / Re: The Most Bizarre Link...

« Last post by 4wd on December 12, 2012, 12:13 AM »

Very simples to do

-Stephen66515 (December 11, 2012, 08:02 PM)

3440

Living Room / Re: Apple Maps Flaws 'Life-Threatening,' Australian Police Warn

« Last post by 4wd on December 11, 2012, 07:34 PM »

AFAIAC, if you're stupid enough to rely on SatNav you deserve everything that happens to you.

-4wd (December 11, 2012, 05:54 AM)

I think the confusion arises because if you buy a SatNav and it is as bad as Apple Maps you could prosecute the SatNav manufacturer for reckless endangerment!

-Carol Haynes (December 11, 2012, 08:44 AM)

You've missed my point, these "intelligent" humans chose to switch off their brain cell, ignore all the input from their five senses and blindly follow a system that is known to have inaccuracies, (I'm referring to the majority of automobile based SatNav - one would hope the aircraft/ship version is better).

Maybe I was just raised in the wrong era...the one where one of the basic human instincts for survival was to know where you are.

3441

Living Room / Re: Apple Maps Flaws 'Life-Threatening,' Australian Police Warn

« Last post by 4wd on December 11, 2012, 05:54 AM »

Quite frankly, if they have trouble following these things:



then they shouldn't be allowed on the road in the first place.

Exactly how dumb do you have to be to not reverse your course once you realise there isn't a town there?

AFAIAC, if you're stupid enough to rely on SatNav you deserve everything that happens to you.

3442

Living Room / Re: ....and NZBMatrix closes........who's next?

« Last post by 4wd on December 10, 2012, 08:17 PM »

I playing with Newznab to see if it's worth the trouble to run my own.

3443

Living Room / Re: Be Careful What You Download - Or Go To Jail...

« Last post by 4wd on December 10, 2012, 05:23 AM »

Necronomicon

-4wd (December 08, 2012, 09:40 PM)

  Now what do you want with a grimoire?  Got some "Old Ones" to call upon?   

-Tinman57 (December 09, 2012, 07:25 PM)

The 21st is approaching, I'd really like to be the one that starts it all 

3444

Living Room / ....and NZBMatrix closes........who's next?

« Last post by 4wd on December 10, 2012, 05:17 AM »

The End...

It is with our regret to announce that NZBMATRIX has closed.

We have had to make this decision due to a very large takedown request from a company called Wiggin LLC. These represent the following: Federation Against Copyright Theft Limited ("FACT"), Paramount Home Entertainment International Limited; Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Limited; The Walt Disney Company Limited; Twentieth Century Fox Film Company Limited; Universal Pictures (UK) Limited; Warner Bros. Entertainment UK Limited.

As everyone is aware we are DMCA/Takedown notice compliant, and always have been.
Once this notice is completed we are left with an impossible task of policing our indexing bots.  Even then it won't stop there, there will be follow-up notices etc.

Coupled with this is problems with payment providers, we have been through pretty much everyone out there, in the end they all pull out.
There are massive server/bandwidth costs to pay, with the payments in-stability this is a very hard task.

NZBMATRIX has never been the subject of any legal issues or threats.

Also the Usenet Indexing scene is going through some changes, with content being removed from pretty much every provider its making the existence of an indexer irrelevant if the content does not even exists anymore.

So it's time for us to bow out...

Link

3445

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

« Last post by 4wd on December 10, 2012, 05:10 AM »

A "tablet dinner" would be a bag of cookies or chips.

-Arizona Hot (December 09, 2012, 06:09 PM)

Or it could be a dinner prepared with a tablet.

3446

DC Gamer Club / Re: Saints Row 3rd - Titan Quest ... first come first served

« Last post by 4wd on December 10, 2012, 05:02 AM »

Oops - we both sent it!

I still have a Titan Quest key if anyone wants it

-Carol Haynes (December 09, 2012, 05:52 PM)

I was wondering if that would happen 

3447

Living Room / Re: Be Careful What You Download - Or Go To Jail...

« Last post by 4wd on December 08, 2012, 11:26 PM »

Hehehe! I have that same attraction there.

-Renegade (December 08, 2012, 08:40 PM)

I'm still looking for the Necronomicon - giant, evil Gods...who wouldn't want to see that?

 

-4wd (December 08, 2012, 09:40 PM)

You just lost 6 sanity points for even mentioning that book~!

-Renegade (December 08, 2012, 10:53 PM)

I don't know how, I had them all repossessed when I got married.....



A little late: The Anarchist Cookbook Turns 40

3448

Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS

« Last post by 4wd on December 08, 2012, 10:43 PM »

I've wanted a dehydrator for a long time. Sigh... But I just don't want to buy anymore stuff until I move. It's tough moving across continents... It ends up being cheaper to throw things out rather than ship them.

-Renegade (November 30, 2012, 06:29 PM)

A Solar Food Dryer from Cardboard Boxes

Recycle it when you're finished.

3449

Living Room / Re: Be Careful What You Download - Or Go To Jail...

« Last post by 4wd on December 08, 2012, 09:40 PM »

Hehehe! I have that same attraction there.

-Renegade (December 08, 2012, 08:40 PM)

I'm still looking for the Necronomicon - giant, evil Gods...who wouldn't want to see that?

 

3450

Living Room / Re: Be Careful What You Download - Or Go To Jail...

« Last post by 4wd on December 08, 2012, 07:59 PM »

... but from what I understand the U.S. outlawed it years ago.

-Tinman57 (December 08, 2012, 07:01 PM)

I don't think so: Amazon

It'll probably be on some enforcement agency watchlist - actually, it's probably on Amazon so it makes the job easier for the FBI/CIA/ASGA¹, and as Renegade has said it's been available online for over 30 years, (I downloaded it off a BBS back in the early 80's).

I have an interest in this kind of stuff, (I got a Shotfirer License just because I was interested), no doubt I appear on some database of people who know how to mix things that go boom.




1.  Alphabet Soup Government Agency