Recent Posts

401

Living Room / Re: All data services on Android off, still got charged roaming in Italy! Bastards!

« Last post by mwb1100 on May 18, 2014, 12:47 AM »

I made a few calls using Google Voice while connected to the Hotel's free wifi.  I even checked the wifi statusbar symbol to see that the data was going through there and not the cell service.  Well, I come back home and all those calls were charged.  How do you figure?

-superboyac (May 17, 2014, 05:19 PM)

Did you get charged for data or for voice?  Google Voice sets up the call through TCP/IP (whether WiFi or mobile data), but the call is connected through the cellular carrier.  It's not VOIP.  

I assume that Google Voice does this specifically to avoid a conflict with the phone companies. Or it might be because VOIP over whatever data network a phone might have available is still pretty iffy.

402

Living Room / Re: Looking for a good non-Logitech keyboard

« Last post by mwb1100 on May 04, 2014, 12:39 PM »

What is an Inverted-T cursor key?

-Deozaan (May 04, 2014, 12:17 PM)

If you look at how the arrow keys are arranged on a standard keyboard, they're in the form of an upside down T.

403

Living Room / Re: Looking for a good non-Logitech keyboard

« Last post by mwb1100 on May 02, 2014, 05:47 PM »

Damn.

404

Living Room / Re: Looking for a good non-Logitech keyboard

« Last post by mwb1100 on May 02, 2014, 05:41 PM »

A $100 keyboard should last longer than that. And no, I didn't spill anything on it. I'm sick and tired of my Logitech devices failing after only a couple of years

-Deozaan (May 01, 2014, 11:16 AM)

You might want to see if you have records for when you bought the K800 - it has a 3 year warranty, so you might be able to get it replaced for minimal cost.

405

Living Room / An interesting look at what 'Big Data' means to privacy

« Last post by mwb1100 on May 02, 2014, 03:52 PM »

How One Woman Hid Her Pregnancy From Big Data

For the past nine months, Janet Vertesi, assistant professor of sociology at Princeton University, tried to hide from the Internet the fact that she's pregnant — and it wasn't easy.

...
According to Vertesi, the average person's marketing data is worth 10 cents; a pregnant woman's data skyrockets to $1.50. And once targeted advertising finds a pregnant woman, it won't let up.

-http://mashable.com/2014/04/26/big-data-pregnancy/

406

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Races To Fix Massive Internet Explorer Hack

« Last post by mwb1100 on May 01, 2014, 03:39 PM »

The patch appears to be out:

 - https://technet.micr...ry/security/ms14-021

Also, MS *is* providing patches for IE 6, 7 and 8 on WinXP SP3.

407

Living Room / Re: WinXP is officially dead!

« Last post by mwb1100 on May 01, 2014, 03:24 AM »

I think that Win7 32-bit should run Win16 programs (but I'm not sure about this).  If so, I wonder if the key used to activate a Win7-x64 host can be legitimately used to run a Win7-x86 instance as a guest in a VM?  It seems to me that that should be legitimate since it's all running on the same machine, but it probably isn't allowed by the activation servers.

Anyway, if you want free older 32-bit Windows installations - for short term use - you can find virtual machine images provided by MS here:

  - http://www.modern.ie...virtualization-tools

You can get a VM by extracting the image from the download package files - each VM is in a multipart RAR archive. The image will run for 90 days after it is first booted, so it's not good for long term use.  however, fo playing a once in a while game, it's probably long enough. And if you needed more time, the game files could probably be copied off then copied back to a new instance of the VM.

Once the VM expires, you only have to extract the VM again from the files you already downloaded - there's no need to re-download. It'll be in a fresh-boot state and will work for another 90 days. This is different that how the IE test images used to work - the VMs used to have hard-coded expiration dates, and when those dates passed you had to download new VMs from MS.  These downloads can be used indefinitely (as far as I know), but have to be 'reset' to the pristine image every 90 days.

The site currently has WinXP, Vista, Win7 Win8 and Win8.1 32-bit images with various IE version choices depending on the OS choice for a variety of virtualization software (VMware, VirtualBox, VirtualPC and Hyper-V).  Great for testing (that's what they're there for), and probably good for other uses, too.

408

General Software Discussion / Re: 4 (Maybe more) Absolute top go-to programs

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 30, 2014, 06:41 PM »

• Pale Moon (I'm a recent convert - though I'd like to customize the icon to be orange like FF so I can spot it easier)
• Notepad2
• STDU Reader (again - I have to change the icon in this to be Adobe's PDF icon so I can find the program easier)
• Outlook (ducks for cover)

What's with all the nondescript bluish icons that seem to be more and more popular nowadays?

409

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 29 - soooooo similar to Chrome

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 30, 2014, 05:46 PM »

Regarding the the Firefox button changing to a "Hamburger button" - I'm running FF 28 and I don't see a Firefox button, so I guess I won't miss it.

In fact, from looking at the screenshots in the GHacks article, it looks like the only thing I'd notice in a move to v29 is the new rounded corners on the tabs.  I wonder what's wrong with my v28 install?

410

Living Room / Re: ImgBurn - full of OpenCandy and other crap

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 28, 2014, 11:38 PM »

If you want to dig some into OC, all OC traffic is unencrypted, so you can use Wireshark to see exactly what is happening.

-Renegade (April 28, 2014, 08:27 PM)

I have no reason to doubt that.  But even in the non-technology world there are business practices that depend on deceiving people through small-print, difficult to comprehend legalese, or misleading (but technically true) claims.  I don't like those practices either.

I am certain that OpenCandy is used to get people to install unwanted software such as Conduit Search Protect and other packages that don't benefit the user in any way (and in fact are troublesome to users) - I've seen it happen myself. I can't think of an OpenCandy offer that made me think, "gee, what a great offer!". I suppose it may happen every now and then, but I suspect that it's pretty rare and might be non-existent.  Why would I have reason to be kind to OpenCandy?

411

Living Room / Re: ImgBurn - full of OpenCandy and other crap

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 28, 2014, 02:14 PM »

Yup - one of the attributes of OpenCandy is that what it decides to offer to install is dynamically generated.  This made it difficult for me to run some tests to see if some anti-malware I was evaluating would be effective against Conduit Search Protect.  Most of the stuff I could find that installed Search Protect used OpenCandy, but when I wanted to test the Search Protect install, I'd only rarely get it "offered".  I eventually found something that had the Search Protect installer packaged with the software rather than as an OpenCandy offering (I forget what software that was).

Anyway, the point is that when OpenCandy is used, there's no telling what might be offered.

I will say that the OpenCandy offers did seem to always have an opt-out.  I still don't like it because the offers always seem to be for junk that no informed user would want.  OC offers an opt-out, but are relying on people to not understand what's happening. Also I wouldn't be at all surprised if even when OC offers an opt-out that some of the stuff installed via OC ('by permission') will install further junk that doesn't get an opt-out option.

412

Living Room / Re: Apple Collectors: 100 000 for iPod Gen 1

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 27, 2014, 03:43 PM »

Or if you're only partially retarded, you can get it for $5,100

-Renegade (April 27, 2014, 10:12 AM)

That's an auction that still under way for another 4 days or so (same seller), so who knows how high it'll go.  I'd bet that whatever price it bids up to, the transaction won't end up actually completing.  

I find it interesting that the current top bidder has only ever bid with this particular seller.  Sock-puppet?

413

Living Room / Re: Apple Collectors: 100 000 for iPod Gen 1

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 27, 2014, 03:37 PM »

Well, he is offering free shipping.

414

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft: All your data are belong to us.

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 25, 2014, 12:48 PM »

it certainly reinforces concerns about privacy in the Microsoft cloud.

-xtabber (April 25, 2014, 09:59 AM)

Even more than concerns for privacy, it should be causing people to raise holy hell about file corruption.

415

DC Gamer Club / Re: Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad free on Steam (23 April 2014 only)

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 23, 2014, 06:05 PM »

I found this forum post that seems to explain things.  When they released the Rising Storm stand-alone expansion to Red Orchestra 2, this also happened:

Everyone who owns Red Orchestra 2 has access to Rising Storm lite. This means that you can play on the maps, but the only available class if riflemen. This allow servers to go from the Eastern front to the Pacific on map change. One match you’re crawling through the ruins of the Stalingrad, the next you’re leading a banzai charge across Hanto river.

-http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/05/31/rising-storm-has-risen-over-the-internet/comment-page-1/#comment-1279914

So it appears that RO2 is a full game that includes limited capability access to Rising Storm expansion play.

416

DC Gamer Club / Re: Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad free on Steam (23 April 2014 only)

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 23, 2014, 01:31 PM »

So it's a demo that you normally have to pay for?

-Deozaan (April 23, 2014, 12:24 PM)

Yeah - buying games has gotten quite complex: do you want the cheap basic game and add on DLCs bit-by-bit, do you buy the 'season pass' and hope that you'll get all the future DLCs, or do you wait for the 'game of the year' or some other deluxe edition to come out?

This particular game isn't something I'd normally go for (I'm actually not much of a gamer at all - even calling me a casual gamer is probably a stretch), but since it's free I figure I can afford to add it to my library in case I want to try it out sometime.

417

DC Gamer Club / Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad free on Steam (23 April 2014 only)

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 23, 2014, 12:18 PM »

Today (23 April 2014), Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is free on Steam:

  - http://store.steampowered.com/app/35450/

Be aware of the following note about this game:

CONTAINS ONLY LIMITED RISING STORM CONTENT`

Please note: if you buy Red Orchestra 2 from this store page, you will get RIFLE-ONLY access to Rising Storm, NOT the whole game. If you head for the Rising Storm store page (http://store.steampo...ered.com/app/234510/), you can buy Rising Storm, including ALL of the Red Orchestra 2 Multiplayer content.

-http://store.steampowered.com/app/35450/

418

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft dropping support for Windows 8.1

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 16, 2014, 12:54 AM »

It seems to be saying that if you have updated to 8.1, there is a 30-day time window in which you will need to upgrade to 8.1 Update 1, and if you don't, you will no longer be able to receive any updates including the all-important Update 1.  In other words, if you somehow miss the deadline, your 8.1 is and will always be dead to future updates.  Or did I err?

-Edvard (April 15, 2014, 11:11 PM)

I agree that the various postings seem confusing. I believe that KB2919355 Update will continue to be offered for installation to Win 8.1 users via Windows Update.  If for some reason this doesn't occur for you, then you can download it manually by searching for KB2919355 at the download  center. For example, it is included in the April 2014 Update ISO:

  - http://www.microsoft...etails.aspx?id=42520

419

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft open-sources the .NET compiler

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 15, 2014, 08:04 PM »

Until we see the actual license it's released under - and precisely what code is being released - I'm going to reserve judgement.

-40hz (April 15, 2014, 05:55 AM)

It won't be as open as FOSS wants it to be to be 'open'.

-wraith808 (April 15, 2014, 10:13 AM)

You can see the projects that are part of this announcement here:

    http://www.dotnetfoundation.org/
   
At least some of these were already released as open source, such as the ASP.NET MVC project.

The few projects I looked at seem to be released under the Apache license.  So they look to be truly open source, not just "source available".

Maybe they're getting ready to lower the boom on Mono

-40hz (April 15, 2014, 03:10 PM)

Some of the projects that are part of this announcement were contributed by Xamarin, a company formed by Miguel De Icaza (the originator of the Mono project) to develop Mono, so I think that undermining Mono probably shouldn't be expected (at least not by this initiative).

420

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: invisible application to update a text file on ftp server

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 06, 2014, 02:41 PM »

"C:\Program Files" usually has permissions that don't allow non-admin users to write to files.  Try putting the output file somewhere else.

421

Living Room / Re: April 1, 2014

« Last post by mwb1100 on April 01, 2014, 05:04 AM »

http://blog.jetbrain...ntellij-idea-headed/

422

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft releases DOS and Word for Windows source code

« Last post by mwb1100 on March 27, 2014, 03:34 PM »

How is FreeDOS a commercial use?

-Deozaan (March 27, 2014, 02:08 PM)

FreeDOS itself might not be commercial, but it permits commercial use.

423

General Software Discussion / Re: Malwarebytes is moving away from lifetime licenses

« Last post by mwb1100 on March 24, 2014, 05:43 PM »

It looks like the license change has been made.  If you purchase MBAM from here on out, for $25 you'll get a 1 year subscription to a 3 PC license.

However, if you feel like you really, really want a lifetime license, they've allocated 5000 of them for a last gasp sale.

You can go here until they run out ($25 per PC, lifetime license, no discounts that I'm aware of):

  - http://www.malwarebytes.org/eureka/

424

Found Deals and Discounts / Free 9-month Bitdefender Internet Security 2014 (expires in about 40 hours)

« Last post by mwb1100 on March 23, 2014, 12:20 AM »

From a post on Wilders Security forum:

Free 9-month subscription to Bitdefender Internet Security 2014 (expires in about 40 hours)

  - http://www.bitdefend...edia/html/softpedia/

425

Developer's Corner / Re: Unreal Engine now $20/mo + 5% royalties

« Last post by mwb1100 on March 20, 2014, 04:23 PM »

Personally I disagree with the idea of a subscription model. It's better to own your tools than to rent them. If you come up on hard financial times and can't pay rent on your tools, then you can't work to earn more money to pay for your tools. But that's just my opinion.

-Deozaan (March 20, 2014, 12:49 PM)

However, they clarify something related to this in their FAQ:

When you cancel your subscription, you won’t receive access to future releases of Unreal Engine 4, however your login will remain active, and you are free to continue using the versions of Unreal Engine 4 which you obtained as a subscriber under the terms of the EULA.

-https://www.unrealengine.com/faq

Unless there's something tricky in their EULA (and it sure seems like they're trying to be very transparent and above board), you can keep using whatever you most recently downloaded when your subscription was active.