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4551

Living Room / Re: To Hell with Net Neutrality: Sprint to charge extra for Facebook access

« Last post by wraith808 on July 31, 2014, 09:11 AM »

It strikes me more as what they see as a way to put a partial "unlimited" data plan in place.

AFAIK, Sprint doesn't offer new subscribers across the board unlimited data plans any more. I'm grandfathered in on one with AT&T. Which unfortunately makes getting a discounted new phone - or changing any of my existing services a lot of fun since I have to walk through a minefield of fine print and customer 'service' doubletalk to avoid 'accidentally' relinquishing my unlimited data plan when I do. (They almost got me last time.)
 

-40hz (July 31, 2014, 07:28 AM)

I have one too... and am about to give it up.  I don't use anywhere near 2GB... and the family plan gets us all 10GB to share for a lot less than holding on to my unlimited I never use.

4552

General Software Discussion / Re: jv16 PowerTools - using Indiegogo to 'fund'' open-sourcing it

« Last post by wraith808 on July 29, 2014, 03:39 PM »

I had the feeling that this would be the end of this story.  And another blow is dealt to the idea of crowdfunding in the minds of the masses.

4553

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 29, 2014, 01:32 PM »

Given the popularity of the technology, and ease of blending in...those things can be a real bitch to spot. And as a card carrying BOFH, it truly pains me to say it ... But it's damn hard to blame the user for missing one of these.

-Stoic Joker (July 29, 2014, 11:36 AM)

That's the sad thing.  My wife was apologizing about falling for it, and I was saying that they're getting smarter, and it's harder and harder to tell the difference.

4554

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by wraith808 on July 29, 2014, 01:31 PM »

4555

Living Room / Re: What about Condaleezza Rice and Dropbox?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 28, 2014, 07:33 PM »

Very similar to Truecrypt and why its sudden attempted assassination was all the more ridiculous.

-wraith808 (July 27, 2014, 02:13 PM)

Attempted assassination? You mean TrueCrypt survived?

Sorry for going off-topic.

-Deozaan (July 28, 2014, 04:19 PM)

Why yes.  It is hosted in several places, and a branch project has begun.

4556

Living Room / Re: Director wants his film on The Pirate Bay, pirates deliver…

« Last post by wraith808 on July 28, 2014, 04:12 PM »

4557

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 28, 2014, 04:07 PM »

Where to store the "critical data" then?

-Tuxman (July 28, 2014, 04:04 PM)

Dumb Terminals/Thin Clients connect to your own servers.  That's been a concept for a while...

4558

Living Room / Re: I'd like to get a Windows Tablet: help me decide.

« Last post by wraith808 on July 28, 2014, 02:57 PM »

I got a hot dog on a stick and left.

-superboyac (July 28, 2014, 10:35 AM)

I still say you got the better value for what you're looking for. 

4559

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 28, 2014, 02:56 PM »

I hope "store your critical data on machines you don't own" wasn't serious either...

-Tuxman (July 28, 2014, 08:28 AM)

He didn't say that.

Rule 0: No critical data is ever to be stored on a workstation.

-Stoic Joker (July 27, 2014, 10:39 PM)

Precisely. Store it in the Cloud!

-Tuxman (July 28, 2014, 05:40 AM)

That's the whole of that exchange.  Which isn't what he was saying, ergo, your response was... either sarcastic or asinine.  Or maybe both.

4560

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 28, 2014, 08:27 AM »

Store it in the Cloud!

-Tuxman (July 28, 2014, 05:40 AM)

Generally speaking, how much do you trust Cloud? I know that even Cloud is (as expected) under attack.

-Giampy (July 28, 2014, 08:13 AM)

That wasn't a serious statement nor contribution to the thread.

4561

Living Room / Re: Does google have to be *everywhere*?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2014, 08:53 PM »

But to actively cripple something that people paid for?  And release a less robust version?

-wraith808 (July 27, 2014, 12:43 PM)

Wait a second... Is this a push to cripple the app? I also bought QuickOffice, but rarely use it. I simply bought it for that one rare occasion in the future when I'll "need it right bloody now!"

Updating software to cripple it is below low. It's kind of hard to believe. Is that right? Am I reading wrong?

-Renegade (July 27, 2014, 08:14 PM)

Nope, you're not reading wrong.  And yes, they crippled it.  Look at the review page for the google version of QuickOffice.  QuickOffice Pro HD isn't available anymore.  And I was in that same boat... I rarely used it, but when I needed it, it was good.  Not anymore.

4562

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2014, 02:19 PM »

The conclusion that I think I'm drawing is that I should have long ago switched to the paid version of spybot if I want AV...

4563

Living Room / Re: Director wants his film on The Pirate Bay, pirates deliver…

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2014, 02:14 PM »

What a lack of effort. The director is of course not a nincompoop, I hope, so maybe he is a stranger to computers, the Internet, YouTube and such? I mean, the movie he has uploaded is merely 320x240 pixels - I will not watch 81 minutes in such a microscopic format - and the dialogue is all in Dutch and not subtitled!

Who is he uploading for?

-Curt (July 27, 2014, 12:42 PM)

If it's an older film, there probably is *not* HD footage in existence.  So he uploaded what he had.

4564

Living Room / Re: What about Condaleezza Rice and Dropbox?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2014, 02:13 PM »

If MaidSafe "maid" it to Forbes (ha!) do you think its managed to magically go under the NSA's radar?

BTW, always wanted to be a "farmer" - hay fever stopped me.

-dantheman (July 27, 2014, 01:58 PM)

You don't have to magically do anything.  It's more a matter of resolve and transparency.  With the source being OSS, it's a bit harder to sneak things in.  Very similar to Truecrypt and why its sudden attempted assassination was all the more ridiculous.

4565

Living Room / Does google have to be *everywhere*?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2014, 12:43 PM »

... and in such a toxic fashion?

There was an app I used on iOS... QuickOffice HD Pro.  Paid good money for it too.  Allowed me to access and edit my documents from dropbox, google drive, one drive, webdav, etc.

Google bought them.  Then proceeded to 'update' the app so that it didn't have connectivity.  Then they released another one, for free... that only included links to google drive.

I have no problems with the purchase... it happens.  Or even a lack of support... like Amazon did with Stanza.  It sucks, but ... that's the market.

But to actively cripple something that people paid for?  And release a less robust version?

That's just underhanded.

http://www.pcworld.c...oductivity-apps.html

This has apparently been happening slowly... but since I use it only under certain circumstances, I'd not noticed it until yesterday.

*sigh*

4566

DC Gamer Club / Re: Anybody use or familiar with Roll20?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2014, 12:36 PM »

If money is no object, FG is the best.  The only downside at that time becomes you have to have it installed, and licensed,

-wraith808 (July 26, 2014, 05:55 PM)

Thanks! Money is less an issue than the fact FG has the Call of Cthulhu ruleset - and especially a Masks of Nylarthotep module all set up and ready to go.

The people who are interested in this simply want to play the Masks of Nylarthotep campaign. So having it available for purchase at a reasonable price makes it a no-brainer. Figure $149 for the FG-Ultimate license plus $15 for the CoC ruleset and $25 for the MoN module comes out to $189 - which when divided among 8 players comes out to just under $24 each. That's very doable.

They also need to move quickly since Masks has a very long story arc which will take (roughly) the better part of a year for the average gaming circle to complete. Because of that, it's hard to assemble a group of players who are willing to commit to doing it. So it's best not to keep them waiting too long to start.
 

-40hz (July 27, 2014, 12:33 PM)

One thing I will caution you about.  Try the trial first.  It has very specific needs as far as networking is concerned.  I still haven't gotten it flawlessly set up for some of my remote players.

They are very active on the forums and in help, and there's a lot of documentation there, however, as befits a premium product.  It's just premium, and using disparate networks for the transport... so it can be fiddly.

4567

DC Gamer Club / Re: Anybody use or familiar with Roll20?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2014, 11:58 AM »

I'd forgotten about that one... it falls more into the line with Battle Map 2 and/or 3D Virtual Tabletop, doesn't it?

4568

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2014, 11:56 AM »

Not only does common sense not get updated, I've found it is also prone to being disabled very easily. 

-x16wda (July 27, 2014, 07:55 AM)

Common sense isn't so common 

4569

DC Gamer Club / Re: Anybody use or familiar with Roll20?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 26, 2014, 05:55 PM »

Did you have a question?

-wraith808 (July 26, 2014, 04:42 PM)

Yes. This would be for RPG. Did you have a preference?

-40hz (July 26, 2014, 05:11 PM)

Fantasy Grounds is the rolls royce.  But at $40 a seat + the price for the modules, it's pretty pricey.

Screen Monkey works well, but you have to build everything, i.e. the rule sets are not included.

Tabletop Connect is not ready for primetime, and is too concerned with the bells and whistles..

Roll20 you have to build everything for if you're going to use it for free.  You can buy modules and stuff on the marketplace.  It's more limited than any of the desktop offerings, but it integrates with Google Hangouts and is the easiest and most reliable to connect to and get running.

If money is no object, FG is the best.  The only downside at that time becomes you have to have it installed, and licensed, where Roll20 you don't.

If money is an object?  I'd probably go with Roll20 over SM.

4570

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by wraith808 on July 26, 2014, 05:48 PM »

I recently saw Frozen (2013) against my better judgement. I have no idea why it's such a hit. The lyrics were not very clever or catchy. Very little of the humor was actually humorous. They tried too hard to make Olaf the snowman this movie's comedic relief a la Ice Age's Sid the Sloth or Shrek's Donkey, but I personally didn't find much of anything he did or said to be funny. And while the woman who does the voice of the ice queen is a talented singer, I didn't feel that it fit her character or the movie very well. I really don't understand why "Let It Go" is such a popular song. It's not a classic, fun song that should be enjoyable to kids and adults alike.

Though there were 2-3 parts of the movie I found genuinely funny, most of the time I was just scratching my head wondering why people seem to like this movie so much, with its lame humor, lame lyrics, lame dialog, and generally lame plot all around.

I find myself more in agreement with these (paraphrased) words of a friend-of-a-friend's 4-year old son: "That movie would have been pretty good if she had died at the end. And if there was no singing."

I would not recommend the movie.

I also recently saw Despicable Me 2 (2013). From the previews I had seen last year, I wasn't too excited about the movie. It looked like it was just an excuse to have random "funny" minion moments. The actual film lived up to my expectations. I think they tried too hard to do more minion funniness, but it all just seemed too random; it was just for the sake of showing the minions doing hilarious things and had nothing to do with the plot. The plot itself was pretty weak. The whole movie seemed like just one big excuse to show off more minions and a couple of cute Agnes moments.

It's not as good as the first Despicable Me. But it was a decent waste of time.

-Deozaan (July 26, 2014, 05:21 PM)

I think both are a matter of taste.  I liked DM and still liked DM2.  Especially the storyline with the other agent.  My daughter LOVES Frozen.  It's her favorite Disney movie of all time.  I think that it really is a girls movie.

4571

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 26, 2014, 05:44 PM »

MS Security Essentials (up to date) and it was a concerted malware attack, i.e. InstallBrain, Weatherbug, Driver Protect, and one other to do with performance.  Her itunes told her that she needed to upgrade (which was valid) but some link came up and in a dialog to download itunes... but it was only 100k.  It was from what used to be a pretty good download site too... download central?  I forget.  Thankfully, she realized that itunes had never triggered winpatrol, so kept saying no- so many times that it asked if it was bothering her.  A resounding NO on that one.  I think when I upgraded her machine, I'd forgotten to install malwarebytes, so I reinstalled it, and was able to thankfully after a couple of reboots get rid of everything.

I think I'm going to invest in spybot as it's been pretty reliable, though I only use it when I'm cleaning someone's system... it's a one time purchase, which sticks in my craw less than a subscription.

4572

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 26, 2014, 05:08 PM »

I think anti-malware and utilities like Malwarebytes and WinPatrol are the better investment.  I've *never* been saved by antivirus.  My wife was just saved *today* by the combination of WinPatrol + Malwarebytes.  Her antivirus program didn't say a word before, during, or after the attack.

4573

Living Room / Re: Russia offers over $100,000 to de-anonymize Tor

« Last post by wraith808 on July 26, 2014, 05:06 PM »

Do you think this is like the truecrypt debacle?  If people are trying to break it, just by the fact that there is a bounty- your trust in it is less.  So you start to trust less in Tor and more in other ways of being anonymous.

4574

DC Gamer Club / Re: Anybody use or familiar with Roll20?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 26, 2014, 04:42 PM »

Yes, I have... it's pretty good, though there are many offline ones that are better... by nature of not having the limit of the web interface.  I actually backed an original project on Kickstarter that was to integrate with G+, but they ended up merging with Roll20 so I received a kickstarter account there.

Did you have a question?

Alternatives:
Fantasy Grounds - The rolls royce of these services.
Tabletop Connect - The Kickstarted newcomer
Screenmonkey - The upstart

FG and SM work the best... though if you're trying to do something that's not an RPG, Roll20 actually works better.

Other choices for merely the miniatures play part:
Battle map 2
3D Virtual Tabletop

And there are several different cartography ones for just making maps. (Going a bit off the path there, so let me know if you want me to iterate those)

4575

Living Room / Re: Director wants his film on The Pirate Bay, pirates deliver…

« Last post by wraith808 on July 26, 2014, 04:29 PM »

If you had printed the money, and nobody wanted to exchange it anymore, then yes, that would be a closer analogy.

-Edvard (July 26, 2014, 03:44 PM)

This.