Recent Posts

3451

Living Room / Re: Products designed to fail, a documentary

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 02, 2011, 07:09 AM »

It makes me wonder... Are there premium markets out there that're willing to pay 5x as much for a product because it's going to last for-bloody-well-ever?

-Renegade (November 02, 2011, 06:58 AM)

Yes, but... Legal won't let them. Think about it; marketing a product that is guaranteed to last forever (hehe). And who's going to warranty that how exactly? "Forever" must be legally defined first. Kinda like car parts that are guaranteed "for-the-lifetime-of-your-car". In the US your car's lifetime is (legally) defined as 7 years ... but you will never see that little detail printed on the box. Marketing assumes that said car will get flipped right around (3-5) the same time it's paid for...or at least down to the point where the next loan won't be too far upsidedown.

3452

Living Room / Re: Products designed to fail, a documentary

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 02, 2011, 06:44 AM »

Don't forget, we may be aware; that is, our generation (those that have been around more than a couple of decades) may be aware because we remember when a product was designed to outlast our own life.

There are going to be an ever increasing number of people that have only known products last a couple of years or so (of course, peer pressure will make them discard many working products because they are too uncool to own beyond 2 years).

This is the new norm. It will be perfectly intuitive to the new generation(s) that products fail after two years - how can they possibly work for any longer than that - it would be beyond science. And for any of those rare few that wish to experiment and see if their iProducts will run for longer than two years, then fashion will remind them that they are weird eco warriors hanging onto devices that only poor people have to put up with.

Looking back just 30 years makes me feel like we've jumped a century forward in time. I remember when a phone was a phone and a washing machine a washing machine. They were bought and expected to remain in your possession until they crumbled to dust. Now, I'm brainwashed like everyone else and believe these products need replacing to match the latest seasons "cool" colours.

edit:
You know what, we've basically all got a bit too much money - even now in these hard times. If things were genuinely tight we'd regard our possessions more valuable and expect them to last longer. We'd demand that they last longer.

We can afford all this crap. So we keep buying it. And love it when it breaks as we can go and buy the crap all over again - and complain and brag to our peers about the new crap we've just had to buy (because the previous crap really was crap).

-nudone (November 02, 2011, 06:19 AM)

+1! - I well remember a time where taking pride in ones work meant that something was built with every intention of it outlasting their grandchildren. Now fads drive a style consciousness that makes everything unseemly if it doesn't match this season's current trendy color scheme.

3453

Developer's Corner / Re: Herb Sutter's brief look at C++11

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 01, 2011, 06:46 PM »

You should start using Boost libraries, they get you thinking in the STL way.

-Eóin (November 01, 2011, 06:08 PM)

Hm... Well as long as it compiles into something that does not require any run-times, I just might give it a shot. VB soured me on that game years ago. I like a zero presence binary that'll just run regardless of what I toss it on (I'd best qualify that last part with Win2k & up... ).

3454

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Early Beta: Got Space?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 01, 2011, 05:02 PM »

Oh... Shit! Somebody wasn't paying attention...


^From my Office Workstation - Eek!


 


...Guess it only works if you remember to look at it.   

3455

Developer's Corner / Re: Herb Sutter's brief look at C++11

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 01, 2011, 04:54 PM »

Sounds like a great way to make code disposable, because coming back at a snippet months later it wont be real clear what the hell it does if it isn't commented thoroughly.

-Stoic Joker (November 01, 2011, 11:22 AM)

If misused sure, but I don't believe features should be left out because they could be misused. Also when you consider polymorphism and generic coding, both present in C++ for years now, this auto isn't exactly a whole new paradigm anyway.

-Eóin (November 01, 2011, 01:50 PM)

It is to me ... But most of my code is a ramshackle variation on pure C.

3456

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Stalled Printer

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 01, 2011, 03:53 PM »

Um... Actually, I was aiming more at this:

The batch file presently available at: http://lifehacker.co...ithout-waiting-years  is not working.

-tosim (November 01, 2011, 09:21 AM)

I'm wondering what part of the script isn't working? Is it taking to long, failing, or is it a just convenience issue sort of not working? I'm already familiar with the how they get stuck part.

3457

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Stalled Printer

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 01, 2011, 12:09 PM »

I wish I had time to grab this one but I don't. However it sounds (I am guesing here) like the script is running into a permissions issue ... in which case an app version wouldn't really help. Can you give a bit more detail on when, which part of what (and on which OS) is "not working"?

3458

Living Room / Re: NAS Recommendations?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 01, 2011, 11:47 AM »

+1 - I've been pondering this one myself ... But had assumed it was due to some rare minerals (geographical) availability. Kinda like the memory shortage from a few years back caused by another natural disaster wiping out most of the countryside where it was all from.

-Stoic Joker (November 01, 2011, 11:36 AM)

Yes, it is due to a rare resource- money.  At least, that's my perception.

-wraith808 (November 01, 2011, 11:42 AM)

I was actually hoping for a slightly less cynical response ... But I'm with you that one none-the-less.

3459

Living Room / Re: NAS Recommendations?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 01, 2011, 11:36 AM »

I find it frustratingly amusing that companies who manufacture computer components allow themselves to be boxed into a single point of failure by concentrating all their facilities in a single geographic area. Especially when they serve a global market.

If anybody should know better, it's them. Drive manufacturers have been preaching the redundancy and contingency gospel for as ling as there's been hard drives.

-40hz (November 01, 2011, 08:56 AM)

+1 - I've been pondering this one myself ... But had assumed it was due to some rare minerals (geographical) availability. Kinda like the memory shortage from a few years back caused by another natural disaster wiping out most of the countryside where it was all from.

3460

Developer's Corner / Re: Herb Sutter's brief look at C++11

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 01, 2011, 11:22 AM »

Sounds like a great way to make code disposable, because coming back at a snippet months later it wont be real clear what the hell it does if it isn't commented thoroughly. ...And then you're just changing what you have to type (not eliminating it).

3461

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Early Beta: Got Space?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 01, 2011, 07:02 AM »

Is there a way to bring up XYP instead? Unless I missed it, didn't see where use of an alternate file manager has been brought up before.

-bob99 (October 31, 2011, 09:31 AM)

At the moment no, but I'll look into it. I assume... You're volunteering to beta test what I come up with, yes?

3462

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Early Beta: Got Space?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 30, 2011, 03:24 PM »

Okay folks, you asked for it... Build 25 now available!

Whatz New:
Window height will now autosize itself to allow display of all drives without the need for scrolling (this behavior can be disabled in settings). When you add a drive, it gets bigger! Remove one and it'll shrink.

Drives can now be hidded by drive letter(s) ... Just enter a string of what you want to hide, and they disappear!

If you can't get the option you want/need on the context menu for drive X, just hold the Shift key while right clicking and all options will be added to the menu.

3463

Living Room / Re: Google Publishes Government Take Down Requests

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 28, 2011, 10:13 PM »

Yes. It was a tongue in cheek comment on how the US has more people in prison per capita than pretty much anywhere else (a failed attempt at humour).

-Renegade (October 28, 2011, 07:07 PM)

Hay, it wasn't a complete failure ... I was laughing. 

3464

General Software Discussion / Re: Product Key Finder (Excellent & Free)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 28, 2011, 05:02 PM »

+ 1 for what @ha14 wrote.
Belarc Advisor will tell you almost everything you might care to know about your system, and seems to be able to find any and every registration key you may have on your system. (Though I didn't get it for that purpose.)
And it's FREE as well.   

-IainB (October 28, 2011, 03:54 PM)

I'll keep that in mind also, but I usually try to avoid anything that requires an install because by the time I get called in the machine in question is usually barely stable enough to run in safe mode. That tends to make Quick-N-Dirty a SOP mandate. 

I do have the NirSoft ProduKey utility also, I'd actually forgotten about it. Their stuff is always a keeper.

3465

Living Room / Re: Google Publishes Government Take Down Requests

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 28, 2011, 03:02 PM »

Meh... Maybe that's not the best example in the US considering how many people they lock up.

-Renegade (October 28, 2011, 08:31 AM)

Eh? Could you explain for me please? No sure I Understand this.

-IainB (October 28, 2011, 02:39 PM)

He's picking on the fact that we (in the US) like to lockup citizens for dumb shit, and then let the real criminals go free ('cause there's no room left/) ... Because they're harder to catch and dangerous and stuff.

3466

Living Room / Re: Google Publishes Government Take Down Requests

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 28, 2011, 02:58 PM »

Picture of police medic using truncheon with caption:
Does anybody else see something
fundamentally WRONG with this image?

-40hz (October 28, 2011, 02:35 PM)

Yes, he's not wearing a hard-hat like the other truncheon-wielders. Could be risky from a H&S perspective. 

-IainB (October 28, 2011, 02:47 PM)

But at least he'll give you a bandaid with your beating.

3467

Living Room / Re: Stupid Murderers and Computer Search Histories =D

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 28, 2011, 02:38 PM »

Casey Anthony got away with it. All this tech has ruined the detective TV genre. Columbo don't need no stinkin' DNA, he'll just bug you until you confess!

-zridling (October 28, 2011, 01:59 PM)

God I'm so tired of that silly **** that's all we had on the news down here for a year and a half. And their still trying their damnedest to hang her on a medley of technicalities for any miscellaneous crap they can think of. The whole thing is a sad, pathetic train wreck.

Columbo was cool ... Oh yeah, Le'me ask you one more thing... 

3468

Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 27, 2011, 06:26 PM »

You either bite the bullet

-40hz (October 27, 2011, 05:54 PM)

That's best avoided me thinks, as it's hard on your teeth and they taste like shit.

3469

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows H8 - On Physical Hardware

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 27, 2011, 06:10 PM »

Sales manager had half a dozen (of the in-box) games running on it at once and it still zipped along just fine on the old-ish TouchSmart.

-Stoic Joker (October 27, 2011, 05:12 PM)

AFAIK, Metro apps are suspended when you switch to another app.

-f0dder (October 27, 2011, 05:43 PM)

True, but on older hardware - which this is - you'd still expect it to lag a bit when flipping through them as they're being activated and suspended. Yet it didn't bog, drag, or hesitate in the least as I spun through them...Which was a rather pleasant surprise.

3470

General Software Discussion / Product Key Finder (Excellent & Free)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 27, 2011, 06:04 PM »

So a client's machine decided to get flakey and need to be replaced. ...And unfortunately the pricy network management suite we use decided it didn't want to collect the Acrobat X product key for said machine in the software audit logs (like its supposed to...). Which left me with a stack of COA cards and no clue which one went with dead machine X.

*Joy*...

Then I found this little jewel: Product Key Finder. It's a portable 64kb life saver that will pull the product keys out of the registry for damn near anything (Best I can tell) in about a second. Well worth having on a ThumbDrive, and a new favorite on mine.

3471

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows H8 - On Physical Hardware

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 27, 2011, 05:12 PM »

Two side notes:
1. The drive in the test machine is 1TB, so there is plenty of room for testing whatever if I can leave it on the bench long enough.

2. Once I figured out how the screen flick thing worked as the half inch black border was not a sufficient dead give away...(I'm not much of a tables user)... It does flip from screen to screen in a reasonably instantaneous fashion. Sales manager had half a dozen (of the in-box) games running on it at once and it still zipped along just fine on the old-ish TouchSmart.


Also they really need to get the Search Programs and Files feature back like imediately! I had to do Win+R to get to notepad ... Which of course sucks beyond words.

3472

General Software Discussion / Windows H8 - On Physical Hardware

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 27, 2011, 11:39 AM »

So I finally got a spare 8 seconds with which to try and collect my whits. Which is when it occured to me that we have had a batch of HP TouchSmart PC sitting in the corner of my office for months that I'd completely forgotten about.

So... De-box One HP Pavilion (310-1124F) TouchSmart PC - It's an All-In-One with a touch screen that will tip back ~45deg. Flattened it, and install Windows 8 DP x64 on it.

AMD Athlon II X2 240e (2.80GHz) Processor.
4GB Ram
And a 22" Touch Screen.
HDD was/is large enough, there, and mechanical (SATA) ... I don't feel like walking over there again to check the size.

Setup was basically just like Win7 for the most part, and then went into a first boot/OOBE wizard that was actually kind of nice. Logon with live ID or local account, and an accept all defaults an get on with it option. So you don't have to troll through the whole stupid wizard (this I like).

From off to login screen was 23 seconds. Which to be honest was actually 20 seconds + 3 more seconds for me to figure out what the hell was happening with the you gotta swipe up to view the logon.

Logon to desktop was another (about) 10 seconds.

Navigation of Metro was ... Agonizing. Mainly because I kept wanting to close things when I was done with them ... And you can't do that.

The Metro/IE10 UI makes perfect sense on my phone ...(kinda)... and is mind blowingly annoying on a desktop. I hate full screen anything. Put it in a window where it belongs so I can monitor other things running on my desktop at the same time.

Task manager is a bit totally friggin weird, but I kinda like it. ...Mainly because it was the only thing on the desktop that I recognized.

3473

Living Room / Re: Albany City & NY State Police refuse orders to arrest peaceful protestors

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 27, 2011, 06:51 AM »

People are being asked to produce more for no additional benefit. This seems fundamentally wrong to me. It seems outright predatory.

-Renegade (October 27, 2011, 01:51 AM)

It seems like the corporations are trying to bring back a kinder, gentler version of slavery. We never get paid enough to buy our freedom, and the marketing machine handles all the whip cracking by keeping us wanting/indebted for more pointless toys that keep our pockets sucked nice and dry.

3474

Living Room / Re: Apple Patents Unlocking Touchscreen

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 27, 2011, 06:42 AM »

(see attachment in previous post)

-Jibz (October 27, 2011, 01:12 AM)

  Absolutely BRILLIANT! 

3475

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs is dead.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on October 27, 2011, 06:29 AM »

My question is, why is it the Steve Wozniak keeps getting shoved into a corner?? He's the one that actually created the launch-worthy Apple II ... Jobs just decided to package it in a smooth plastic shell, because he thought some veg-a-matic he saw at an appliance store looked sexy.

There is nothing negative about saying Jobs was brilliant at marketing, he quite obviously was. Technology innovator ...Meh... Not so much. He was more Billy Mays than Ben Franklin.