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Recent Posts

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4201
Living Room / Re: Farewell Skype ...
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 11, 2011, 03:10 PM »
Hey Mr. Jobs! How's thinking different working out for ya now that Microsoft's given up on that in order to think BIG;D

HaHaHa! Hehehe :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:
4202
Living Room / Re: Droid Texting - Fail!
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 11, 2011, 03:08 PM »
I have the same problem sometimes on my Samsung Epic (oo, a common thread!) and even more so now that I've upgraded to 2.2. While the issues with using the full 10 digit number do seem to be with Android (and I'm not sure how to fix them), the inability to recognize a user account's local area code and just use/assume it's from there when not specified seems more like a carrier issue and might explain why more people don't experience this. What carrier are you with? I'm on Sprint...

- Oshyan

(Sprint yes) Me too. And I'd of loved to jump on the carrier issue band wagon. But the wife and I got our phones at the same time. And both of which are through the same newly created company account. My Windows phone works flawlessly ... The Droid, not so much. If it was a carrier issue both should be failing. Non of the rest of the staff has complained *Shrug* So I gues they're working.
4203
Living Room / Re: Droid Texting - Fail!
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 11, 2011, 07:41 AM »
FWIW, I've had no problems texting on my Droid X.

Neither has the sales manager with any of the half dozen Droids he's had, or the VP with the same (exact) model & carrier. *Shrug* Apparently it's just my luck to get the only defectoid in the bunch for the wife's very first smart phone ... Right before she goes out of town to visit our granddaughter (e.g. If this friggin thing doesn't fly straight I'll never hear the end of it).


I'd so hoped it was just a simple setting ... But now, I'm convinced...It's a Demonic Possession!  :o

 :D
4204
Living Room / Re: Droid Texting - Fail!
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 11, 2011, 07:01 AM »
Oh -- I didn't mean that it happens normally on Android -- I was speaking about any technology or service or product or anything in general... i.e. Less than promised...

Understood ... I wasn't Uber rational last night, so I was having to try really hard to filter my thoughts to avoid ranting like a rabid ape... :)

Over promising is a common sales tactic that has driven my hatred for sales people all my life. I'm used to it. But, to my way of thinking, protocols used after connection be damned ... This phone is quite simply failing to dial a phone number correctly. Solely do to it mangling the phone number. That's not really a new technology, as phones have been around since the 1800s. After the number is dialed it can screw up anything it wants to...I'll understand...That part is new. But it damn well better dial the :)ing number as it's told, when it's told ... Or I start fantasizing about claw hammers and stuff... :)

Perhaps I'm still not quite entirely calm just yet.  :-\

I never had that problem on my HTC G1.

But I've always been in the habit of storing contact's phone numbers as 11 digit (1-234-567-8901). Even so, there have been a few times that numbers were stored in my phone in 10 or 7 digit format and they always worked fine.

This is why I was kind of hoping it was a setting somewhere...the behavior is really just too weird (to me). I tried every number format I could think of, especially the ones that Google seemed to be using and/or the one the phone uses when it creates a new contact from the phone logs. No Dice... Texting = Phantom Busted Number Fail. *Shrug*
4205
Living Room / Re: Droid Texting - Fail!
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 10, 2011, 10:59 PM »
So... What you're telling me is this kind of horse shit is normal?!? Christ no wonder I avoided these things for so long.

I'd think from all the hype that the Google/Android phones would be just dandy at all this Social Networking crap. Simple Message Service my ass!

I'd hoped it was a setting that was off but could be fixed. But I guess I'll have to get her switched to a Windows phone because her office is insisting on her being able to text the doctor.

Hell my Windows phone came with Office Mobile and connects to our Exchange server just fine. The VP got a Droid (same as the wife's) and it locks up daily. I thought they were supposed to be great phones...?
4206
Living Room / Re: Farewell Skype ...
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 10, 2011, 10:23 PM »
A Skype SDK would be fun...
4207
Living Room / Droid Texting - Fail!
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 10, 2011, 10:21 PM »
Okay, so I'm on record as detesting most of the things that smart phones are for...But I ended up with one anyway. I've no good explanation for why, it just happened.

I got one on the new HTC Arrive Windows Phones, and despite all attempts at hating it...I just can't. It has a straight forward intuitive interface that makes things easy to do, even when I'm intent on being thick.

The wife on the other hand, got a Droid, specifically a Samsung Elite ... I considered setting it on fire earlier this evening, but wasn't entirely sure it would burn... :) I actually had to wait several hours before making this post to calm down to avoid breaking the record for most profanity ever used on a single page on the internet.


Anyhow... It all started with a Text Message, or rather an attempt at sending a text message. Texting, it seems, requires a 10 digit number. Okay fine. The droid however flatly refuses to to save and reuse said prerequisite 10 digit number (which is the one and only number in the contact list) for reasons which completely escape me. Here's a couple of test scenarios I went through, in the process of going ballistic.

Sent wife text from Windows phone (works fine)
Try responding to text from wife's Droid (it says no 10 digit number/bite me/Fail!)

Edit contact on phone, and then log into Gmail to make sure that all traces of number format 123-4567 are gone.
Delete text message history for contact me, because otherwise I'm not allowed to change the target number.
Once again confirm that number for contact Me is on the required 666-123-456 format.
Purge all history so there is no other alternative other that to read the number given in the contact info...

Open messaging on the droid, and pick me from the list.
Top of message windows says: My Name <123-4567>, ... WTF?!?
But it is, at this point, editable, Sort of. Correcting the number is (best I can tell) impossible. Best I can do is back it out entirely, and then it will give a drop down where I can (Believe it Or Not) select the correct number. And! successfully send a text.
Sent a few messages back and forth. All is fine... Kinda...

I close the message window.
I go to contacts, pick me, and pick send message.
Fail! Broken phantom number <123-4567> hath returned.
Not to mention I can't change/correct it any longer. I have to start over at step 1 with deleting the complete message history...To get the blasted thing to ASK me for the Freaking ~CorrecT~ number which it has in the contact list but completely refuses to use. Because apparently it's far more fun for the phone to bust my balls over a number that IT Decided to Truncate!

Factoid: There were 35 expletives in the last two sentences when I said them just now in my head.

<I'm going to step out for a cigarette...>
 :D
<Much better now...>

Additional Observations:
Texting to any long distance (/out of local area code) number, works fine. Contact info is uses as it is stored.
Texting to any local number, even if all 10 digits (666-123-4567 -or- 66612345767) are stored. Fails.
Pulling the battery to force a reboot does not affect the aforementioned ill behavior.


Why this is happening, I've not a clue. The Windows phone, also on the same carrier...performs flawlessly. I can only hope that someone recognizes this behavior, and knows of a fix for it...That they will share...Before the phone meets a tragic end.

Thank you.
4208
Living Room / Re: Farewell Skype ...
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 10, 2011, 09:18 PM »
At least they're not sold to apple, you can guess the next UI of skype if it were to be from apple folks (clean video window with two buttons- call/end), skype interface at high doped apple minimalism).

Two Buttons! Perish the thought, for Mac you only get One Button (follows the mouse theme). Hold down the magic button, wait for your desired task to appear (from a list of 1,000 items - Much like the Mac Wheel) and then release the button. What could be simpler?
4209
DC Gamer Club / Re: looking for some suggestions
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 10, 2011, 09:09 PM »
Some variant of mah jong?
-cranioscopical (May 10, 2011, 07:21 PM)

Ooo...There's a good one that comes with Windows 7. I've lost an hour or two to it once or twice.
4210
Strange, be interesting to see which codec all the fuss is about - I'll guess it's related to DRM somehow.

I've got the MS Subscription, but no hardware handy at the moment to run it on. *Shrug* ...Wonder if I can virtualize it. :-\
4211
Living Room / Re: Microsoft buying skype for US $8.5 Billion
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 10, 2011, 11:59 AM »
I believe Microsofts acquisition is more about integration and development of voip technologies into Windows, The Office Communications platform (which is fantastic, btw), and movement to expand VOIP supporting technologies.

Well that (Implying a cleaner business UI) Would be delightful!
4212
Living Room / Re: Farewell Skype ...
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 10, 2011, 11:55 AM »
Presumably that will be the end of Skype as we know it and it will all be bundled into Windows Live Messenger with all the attendant crap that comes with it!
-Carol Haynes (May 10, 2011, 11:16 AM)

I'm not so sure that's guaranteed...And out of the three involved in the bidding (Google, FaceBook, MS), I do believe MS is the lesser evil.

FaceBook/Skype - Oh Goody I can Vcon with the Sheep on my farmville - Please let me die!
Google/Skype - Skype goes back into beta for the next decade as service slowly begins to totally suck.
4213
General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 Power Users Guide.pdf
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 10, 2011, 11:44 AM »
I'm guessing if you open it expecting to read a book, the layout could be a bit busy/jarring/horrifying. But for beginners (I'm thinking Dr. Seuss here), keeping the text into small un-intimidating blocks does kind of make sense.

It's certainly a good list of all the various features available in Windows 7 - Which can be a tad hard to keep track of at times.
4214
Living Room / Re: Microsoft buying skype for US $8.5 Billion
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 10, 2011, 11:29 AM »
Hm... I really can't decide how to feel about that. But I do wonder if they're going to go with a Live style Huggy-Feely interface, or do a clean straightforward business type interface.

Skype's interface has gotten progressively goofier with the last several updates, so I'd love to see a more back to basics strictly business UI.
4215
One thing that I find works very well is to have your monitor slightly angled -- just a few degrees (say 10 or so). It forces your eyes to change focus.

You sure about that? It's been awhile since I worked in optical so I can't put number to it of the top of my head. But a 10deg tip of a typical monitor isn't going to impact the focal distance enough to matter. Nor will sitting forward and/or backward in your chair (a considerably longer distance). The problem is the intense fixed gaze that is being maintained for hours at a time. That's what needs to be broken by letting you eyes unfocus and relax for a bit now and then.
4216
FWIW I have seen a fair few dead Canon printers that are the product of cheap ink.
-Carol Haynes (May 09, 2011, 01:47 PM)

interesting, what manner of death did they suffer?
-Stoic Joker (May 09, 2011, 06:28 PM)

Heads totally clogged and even after repeated cleaning in alcohol they never totally recovered. It might just be the local crappy inks off the local market that causes the problem but since Canon printer's most expensive spare part is the print head there is little justification to risk it by using cheap ink.

I have to say I don't find Canon inks too bad - unless you buy a printer that takes just a black and colour cartridge. Most of the more expensive printers in the range take 4, 5, 6 or more cartridges and I find those cartridges are not cheap but pretty reasonable (esp. compared with other manufacturers) and at least you get every last drop.
-Carol Haynes (May 09, 2011, 07:34 PM)

Hm... I'm just not convinced that's completely the fault of the inks. While I work for an ASP, and should therefore stick to walking the party line...I've just never been any good at conformity  :-[ hehe

Print heads are a consumable, they are designed to (fail) be replaced at a rough interval. Most of the ones I've seen fail were usually user/printing behavior. Letting it sit too long between prints, trying to print more than the volume the device was designed for, or both at alternating points.

The CIS's mentioned above are actually quite good from what I've seen. It's quite simular to the high volume  ink systems used on a plotter. We have a client that uses them exclusively (with food coloring/dye) to print pictures on top of specialty cakes. Most of their service requirements are for mechanical (usually feed system) failures.
4217
TimeClue is designed to help you develop a habit of resting your eyes every 15 minutes (recommended for heavy computer users).

Rest them how? Whenever my dad said he was resting his eyes that meant he was taking a nap.

A nap every 15 minutes seems like a good way to live a stress-free life of unemployment. :P

But not when you are a tester in a mattress factory  :P

Ah! Not so my friend ... It's a 5 minute nap at 2 minute intervals. QC has got to make rate too Ya know... ;)
4218
FWIW I have seen a fair few dead Canon printers that are the product of cheap ink.
-Carol Haynes (May 09, 2011, 01:47 PM)

interesting, what manner of death did they suffer?
4219
Small, fast, portable ... What's not to like! :) Thanks!
4220
Developer's Corner / Re: Keeping the UI Responsive - What Would You Do?
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 09, 2011, 06:57 AM »
Anyways... I'm still debating things... Not sure myself...

As a rule I agree with worstje completely about highly stylized UIs being an annoyance. However (that being said) I think you've done a fine job of splitting the difference. Honoring the Spirit-of-the-law so to speak.

The "Standard" dictates the use of expected controls like the OK/Cancel/Yes/No buttons, and this expected behavior is there. App & System menus are not mandatory on all windows, so their omission isn't a big deal.

Only when the Form of the app starts to blur the function(ality) of the app does the whole thing go to hell. Asus being a stunning example of taking things way to far. The software that came with my Asus Commando motherboard was so jacked-up/flashy that it was bog slow, confusing, and completely usable. Case in point, I ended up bricking the first Mboard simply because I completely missed the missmatch error due to all of the UI noise. The app had automatically downloaded the firmware it said it need, and them changed its mind a tad to late.
4221
Developer's Corner / Re: Keeping the UI Responsive - What Would You Do?
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 07, 2011, 12:33 PM »
The absolute best "User Friendly" option is (IMO) to have either a progress bar, or text message (depending on projected length of time) stating what is or is about to happen, on a secondary thread.

Even knowing what I know, it still pisses me off when an apps UI locks up because it's busy doing something that takes a bit...but it doesn't give me any feed back as to what/why/how it's going.

The secondary thread option also affords the user the option of saying screw it - [Cancel], without having to be stuck looking at the white-ed out app not responding nonsense while they wait for process X to get the die message.

Rule of thumb 1: Making the user guess is bad.

:)
4222
Sue everybody for having ears to (being forced to) listen to rap.  :P

+500  :Thmbsup:

tehehe
4223
Living Room / Re: Save Stargate Universe
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 07, 2011, 09:43 AM »
Oh, it worked, don't get me wrong. It was very pleasant to watch. :) I just think I'd have taken the show a teensy bit more seriously had her costumes been toned down a little: she was the bloody AI of a military battlecruiser like ship.

And shouldn't the AI for a military battlecruiser capable of destroying entire solar systems look 100% utterly killer~! :P :D

Indeed. As the face of the AI, she is the face of the ship ... And therefore should be a face (that could launch a thousand ships...) worth fighting for (and preferably at the drop of a hat). ;)
4224
Developer's Corner / Re: Database for a Desktop?
« Last post by Stoic Joker on May 07, 2011, 09:32 AM »
I've had really good luck using MySQL for all sorts of things, and it's quite easy to include in a C++ project. I give each app instance a single session and keep it alive via heart beats. It's simple, well documented, free, and quite fast...What's not to like?
4225
Man, that's really weird. I've got source code for... (well never mind) and MSE has never triggered on it. However I do recall it having a cow about a (Um...) "Security Utility" that I was playing with and after telling it to ignore target X I had to hit the complete action (/finish clean-up/something to that effect) button to get it to shut up and go green again. It grumbled a bit like it was pretending to do something...Then did what it was told.
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