Recent Posts

476

Living Room / Re: Losing my e-Book religion

« Last post by J-Mac on February 22, 2012, 05:03 PM »

I buy ebooks ONLY when there is no other version of the book in print or available used (for a price less than my arm and leg!). And I buy only PDF ebooks that I can read on any computer (Keep 'em on Dropbox).

Otherwise I have found that I still prefer good old-fashioned books, you know - made with paper? I like using bookmarks, holding a nice hardback, turning real pages with my grubby little fingers.  I experimented with MobiPocket when I was using Windows CE / Windows PPC / Windows Mobile (11 different devices over the years!) Then I was an "early adopter" of the original Kindle.  Blah! (That was a short, unexpected, reflexive BARF!) I found that I really just don’t LIKE reading "books" on a flat screen. I do keep reference books that I might need on the road, and I have a ton of free ebooks from Project Gutenberg. But give me a good old paper book that I can legally give away, sell, or whatever when I wish. And that I can stick a nice paper or even fancy brass bookmark in!

Jim

477

Living Room / Re: Google: Do no evil (once you're caught)

« Last post by J-Mac on February 21, 2012, 01:23 PM »

The 2000 vote in Florida is still being argued as if it were yesterday! Crazy!

A few completely ironic oddities about the Florida recounts:

• Gore was demanding a recount only of four specific counties in Florida where it was expected that a recount would greatly favor him. Fl. Secretary of State turned him down and "Certified" the results as they were reported.
• Gore sued for the limited recount - which Bush fought against - and the Florida Supreme ruled that the entire state would be recounted - which Gore had fought against.
• The US Supreme Court got the case and ruled that no recount would be done, making Bush president.
• In a supreme bit of irony, the Miami Herald, Washington Post, and several other news organizations actually conducted the recounts as they had been requested. The results? If only the four counties requested by Gore had been recounted Bush would have won! And had the statewide "limited" recount that was ordered by the Florida Supreme Court been done, Gore would have won by as few as 60 votes!

So sometimes it is best to NOT get what you want!

Jim

Link to the Washington Post article about the "after-the-fact" recounts:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12623-2001Nov11.html

478

Living Room / Re: Google: Do no evil (once you're caught)

« Last post by J-Mac on February 20, 2012, 12:20 PM »

Am I the only person here who looks at this and says...."So what?"

-Josh (February 20, 2012, 11:31 AM)

Well, I can almost say "So what?", but two things stop me:

• First, according to Cory on BoingBoing, this has caused some of his information that he doesn’t want found in search results to show up there. That probably isn't a "So what?" thing to anyone in that situation! Should definitely be fixed, though Google most likely doesn’t consider that broke at all.
• Any time the company running the search engine - check that... the largest, most used search engine in the world - manipulates the search results in order to benefit themselves, I don’t think that can be good either.

Other than that.... "So what?"   

Jim

479

Living Room / Re: New weapons in the file sharing war.

« Last post by J-Mac on February 11, 2012, 09:07 PM »

Love that portrait, 40hz!

Jim

480

Living Room / Re: New weapons in the file sharing war.

« Last post by J-Mac on February 11, 2012, 08:17 AM »

Are you guys crazy? Why would you want the Unabomber to return? What the heck is wrong with you?

-Deozaan (February 11, 2012, 12:41 AM)

Deozaan, now you're going to get all literal on us?

Besides, his theories weren't all that off.....  Except for the bombs.   

C'mon - why so serious?!

Jim

481

Living Room / Re: New weapons in the file sharing war.

« Last post by J-Mac on February 11, 2012, 12:02 AM »

Scary stuff, 40hz...

Where the hell is Ted Kaczynski when you need him?!   

Jim

482

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: myBase Desktop 5.x + Addons Pack discounted on BitsDuJour.com (2010-01-25)

« Last post by J-Mac on February 08, 2012, 11:54 AM »

rjbull:  Yes, I know that Tranglos said that about RightNote/KeyNote, but you had posted something about "Keynote done right" so I thought I would show that link.   

I probably use Evernote more than any of the others I have installed, mainly due to the web-clipping ease and access from all locations (connected of course). But for just writing down a note Evernote isn't that great. They use a non-standard editor and it is missing a lot of features IF you happen to want to type a nicely formatted note for some reason. Of course if it is just a quick memory-jogger for yourself, who cares about formatting?!

After going through a lot of crap with Ultra Recall's web page grabber, and the same with Surfulater, I have gone back to Local Website Archive for most of my web page captures. I use the Scrapbook extension in Firefox also, but you need to have Firefox installed and open in order to see any of them! For partial snips I mostly use mouser's Screenshot Captor - it is still the best for that! And Evernote for smaller clips. (Evernote does not do well at all with full page grabs).

And for a good notes organizer? Still looking at anything and everything that gets my attention!

Thanks!

Jim

483

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: myBase Desktop 5.x + Addons Pack discounted on BitsDuJour.com (2010-01-25)

« Last post by J-Mac on February 07, 2012, 02:17 PM »

I've moved to RightNote, and I'm sticking to it.

-superboyac (February 06, 2012, 03:14 PM)

Is that because of your history of coming from KeyNote?  All the others were stopgaps on the way to "KeyNote done right?"  Does RightNote match (enough of) the features in your roundup of notetakers?

-rjbull (February 07, 2012, 02:11 PM)

rjbull - According to Tranglos (Marek), RightNote IS Keynote done right, or actually done better! Here's where he talks about it:

https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=29504.msg273561#msg273561

Jim

484

Living Room / Re: Would you buy me a $0.99 track on Amazon?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 06, 2012, 11:22 PM »

Marek,

Let me know what you need - anytime - and I'll get it to you. Shouldn’t be this hard for you!

Jim

485

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: myBase Desktop 5.x + Addons Pack discounted on BitsDuJour.com (2010-01-25)

« Last post by J-Mac on February 05, 2012, 09:13 PM »

Thanks!

I also have Ultra Recall...  and AllMyNotes... Evernote, OneNote2010, TreeDBNotes Pro, ZuluPad, and more! But Ultra Recall Pro hasn’t been keeping up lately IMO, so I figured I'd look at competing apps.

Thanks again!

Jim

486

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: myBase Desktop 5.x + Addons Pack discounted on BitsDuJour.com (2010-01-25)

« Last post by J-Mac on February 05, 2012, 03:00 AM »

Do you have this rg? If so, how do you like it?

Thank you.

Jim

487

Living Room / Re: All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 31, 2012, 03:00 PM »

Looks like they're taking a page from teracopy...

-wraith808 (January 31, 2012, 10:03 AM)

Huh? You mean Microsoft is going to focus on Android and iOS products and ignore their mainstream products?!  (       )

-J-Mac (January 31, 2012, 10:54 AM)

That went over my head...

-wraith808 (January 31, 2012, 01:48 PM)

Sorry - back a year or two ago, there had not been development for almost a year, the developer had stopped responding to support requests, no blog posts about Teracopy. He finally blogged that he was focusing all his efforts on iPhone and Android apps because there was so much more revenue to be made there and he didn't know when he would get back to Teracopy. There were several hundred angry flames on his blog comments - which don’t seem to be there anymore BTW! That's what my comment (wisecrack!) was about.

Jim

488

Living Room / Re: All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 31, 2012, 10:54 AM »

Looks like they're taking a page from teracopy...

-wraith808 (January 31, 2012, 10:03 AM)

Huh? You mean Microsoft is going to focus on Android and iOS products and ignore their mainstream products?!  (       )

Jim

489

Living Room / Re: Looking for password "scheme" suggestions

« Last post by J-Mac on January 27, 2012, 09:01 AM »

Slightly OT, but I use LastPass for my logins, and I also use Keepass to store a database of all my known logins, passwords, passphrases, etc. A big problem, though, is trying to keep the data somewhat synchronized!

Not all the data in Keepass is needed in LastPass, but I do want all of the LastPass data stored in Keepass. However I haven't found a way to automate this. At first I tried to gt all my LP data nice and correct after the initial import of Roboform data. Then I exported tht and imported it into Keepass. (First I exported the existing Keepass data to a csv file). Then I added the passphrase and other unique data back into Keepass. So at thqt point LP had all my web logins and Keepass had all of that plus all my other non-web data. Of course it all started crumbling from there! Mostly, as new and/or changed logins that occur in LP don't always get changed in Keepass also. I could just wipe my Keepass data regularly and replace it with the latest export from LP, but that doesn't cover my other Keepass data.

Ayone else find a way around this?

Thanks!

Jim

490

Living Room / Re: All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 26, 2012, 03:47 PM »

I tried letting Windows Update get a driver for it - which I never usually do - but that came back with no driver and a link to Acer's site. Google finds a lot of people grumbling about the same monitor, and most of them have also been unsuccessful finding a driver that works. 

I'm sure that one of my kids can put the monitor to good use - they all run 32-bit Windows.

Thanks!

Jim

491

Living Room / Re: All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 25, 2012, 11:11 PM »

OT note: After getting my nice new monster 'puter delivered last week I found my 24" Acer monitor wouldn’t come out of sleep mode.  Looked into it and found, unfortunately, that the driver is not compatible with 64-bit and Acer is not going to release one! Well, that sucks!

So I got an Asus 27" LED backlit giant beast - thought I would need a crane to get it on my desk! Oddly enough the height of this monitor is almost exactly the same as the Acer - and actually a little shorter - but it is much wider! Guess that's how they maintained the 27" diagonal measurement. And now my neck is getting a workout as I keep having to turn my head left and right to see the whole damn screen!

Because this Asus monitor is shorter overall, the resolution is 1920 x 1080, while the Acer's resolution was 1920 x 1200. Looks pretty good to me, except for the "sitting too close to the screen in the movie theater" effect!

Jim

492

Living Room / Re: All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 25, 2012, 09:01 PM »

Kinda hard to go wrong with a large screen laptop. Portable if she needs it to be, but she can use it as a stationary PC if she has a favorite desk or nook where she likes to sit while computing. You definitely want to get as much screen real-estate as possible on a laptop.

-kyrathaba (January 25, 2012, 08:58 PM)

...And a full-size keyboard ...and a number pad... Yes, these can all be added - even an external monitor. But since she hates these things about laptops, why should I get her one?

Thanks!

Jim

493

Living Room / Re: I came to a conclusion this morning...

« Last post by J-Mac on January 25, 2012, 08:45 PM »

... thinking you're secretly immortal ....

...standing at Death's door... 

...  they will be coming to an end much sooner than you originally thought....

... they really won't be living forever. As in: really... won't...be.

...humbled by the realization that nothing is going to last forever. Not even them. ...

-40hz (January 25, 2012, 02:34 PM)

            

So... what are you sayin'???

Jim

 

494

Living Room / Re: All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 25, 2012, 08:37 PM »

Thanks wraith & 40hz.

BTW, remember folks that the specs I am considering aren't for me! 40, I just did purchase a desktop for me and it took quite some time! And a spreadsheet of all aspects. I personally will not be using this computer. Also I am fairly certain that I will be getting the Square Trade warranty I mentioned above, so I would expect to not have much at all to do inside the box.

vlastimil: I did mention above that the Asus I looked at comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse, plus I already have a Logitech K800 wireless KB and Anywhere MX wireless mouse for her.   

Thanks!

Jim

495

Living Room / Re: All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 25, 2012, 02:05 PM »

OK - I know she wouldn’t want a laptop because whenever she has used mine she bitched like crazy about it! Hates the smaller keyboard - says she can't get used to typing on it and makes far too many typos because of the smaller configuration. Also, since she loves playing PC games she says that she needs the full number pad. Now I realize that she could use an external keyboard and also an external number pad - I actually have both for my laptop - but let's face it: she's not going to lug it around with all that hanging from the laptop! For mobility she much prefers her iPad 2. So a laptop is pretty much out, though it is still close between the All-in-One and a standard desktop.

40hz - Thanks for the pricing from that you quoted; I shall review those now.   

Thanks!

Jim

496

Living Room / Re: All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 25, 2012, 01:20 PM »

What 40hz says resonates with me.  The all-in-one touch computers seem like a great gadget to have on display for public use -- i want to mount one on my wall.  But I find it hard to imagine actually using the touch features when actually sitting down to use the computer.  Touch interface works well on an ipad or phone -- where what you are doing is playing and noodling about -- but not as a main computer.  just my 2 cents.

-mouser (January 25, 2012, 12:56 PM)

Understood mouser. However this is my wife, who for the most part doesn’t touch her keyboard unless she is posting to Facebook. No productivity apps, no office-type stuff, no utilities... She really doesn’t use software other than games, Facebook, and email. No kidding there. And I have been trying to get her to discover more things she could do for almost four years now! She's just not interested. BTW, this Asus does come with a wireless keyboard and mouse, so the touch screen isn't the lone input source. I don’t know.... this is a tough one for me. Personally I wouldn’t touch one of these for anything that I do.  I recently got me a nice, new power desktop from Puget Systems - same builder that Java Jones used. 3.8 GHz Intel Core 7, 16GB of fast RAM, SSD system drive, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 graphics card...  I couldn't live with a touch screen for myself. But I have to consider how Robin will use it. I think she will appreciate the Multi-Touch screen more than the standard PC user. But that kind of preference is really tough to tell. Can't ask her because of her "I don’t NEED a new computer" philosophy. (Of course she does not realize that her chip is going to die very shortly with an inoperable fan! I dare not tell her... yet!)

Decisions, decisions.... I am weighing all advice here. Highly respected opinions!

Thanks mouser!

Jim

497

Living Room / Re: All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 25, 2012, 01:08 PM »

Thanks 40hz.

Maybe I just haven't had much luck with laptops but I have found working inside a laptop to be pretty tight! Then again my only experience inside laptops were all Dell laptops - and I have a feeling that those aren't the best by a long shot. (Also ditched a Dell laptop because it needed a battery and Dell was the only resource... A generic battery company started selling Dell-compatible but stopped when Dell sued them. Battery price from Dell: $259!! In a four and a half year old laptop.)

I know that the All-In-One pricing isn't the best, but I have to say that looking at regular desktops with comparable specs hasn’t been that fruitful at $799. Except for PCs like iBuyPower, which I found out can NOT be upgraded. Three components - mobo, power supply, and CD/DVD player. All else is "integrated". Blah...  But the Asus, Acer, Toshiba, etc. are priced right up there if I compare similar specs. (Desktops, that is. Don’t think Robin wants a laptop.) I'm keeping far away from both Dell and HP. Also - and this is heresy for me - I was even thinking about buying a separate warranty for it. Yikes! I never buy extended warranties! But I have heard from a few friends that Amazon's Square Trade warranties are excellent, especially for computers. The cost is reasonable, though Amazon has its price for the same Asus All-in-One at $849, so that adds another $50 on to the Newegg price.

Do you know anyone who has had to dig inside one of these AIO's?

Thanks again!

Jim

498

Living Room / All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 25, 2012, 12:00 PM »

The Dell POS computer I purchased for my wife, Robin, a few years ago is finally, finally nearing its end. (Never thought I would actually hope for a computer to die!!)When I purchased this box Robin had never used an actual computer. Only terminal-type devices for companies where she had worked. She mostly like PC games but I was hoping (dreaming maybe?) that she would take an interest in more computer-related activities if she had one. Sad to be so naive this late in life!! She developed an interest alright: Facebook! I loaded her machine up with several thousand of the family photos I have been collecting for the past few years, along with as much of my music tracks I felt she could stand. She does look at the photos now and then; never, ever listens to music on her PC; but she does do email now. So... email, Facebook, and PC games. That's about it, at least so far.

The computer I bought for her was a very inexpensive Dell - an Inspiron i510 desktop. Decent specs, particularly for someone who doesn’t do that much that requires any more power or memory. But being a Dell this machine has cost me a lot of hours troubleshooting things that just shouldn’t need to be troubleshot (Is that even a real word?!) in the first place! (I truly hate Dell, if you haven't figured that out by now - they have caused me much grief over the years). Only reason I got the Dell box was that it cost so little and I figured I would basically treat it as "disposable". For those interested, the computer cost a grand total of $500 - a $150 rebate, which in early 2008 was pretty cheap! Like most Dell PC's almost all components are made-for-Dell-only and so replacement parts must be purchased from Dell IF they still even stock them. Other components commonly do not fit into the non-spacious cases.

Anyway... back to my real reason for posting: I've been looking for a replacement for her computer - the CPU fan has died and I can't find one that will work without either paying Dell about 60% of the original cost of the whole computer, or modifying the case, forcing another fan in, and crossing my fingers. Ain't gonna bother - too damn old for that! While looking I noticed more than a few All-In-One PCs, and since Robin gets along fine with an iPad I know the touch screen will agree with her. I'm looking specifically at an Asus Multi-Touch - which I discovered means that you can perform tasks with both hands touching the screen rather than just a one-finger tap kind of operation. (I put that very nicely technical, didn't I?) Also it has an Intel i3 3.10 GHz, 4 GB DDR memory, Windows 7 Home Premium... a lot of nice touches that the touch screens usually haven't had till now. Or so I have read. Here's a link to it at Newegg.com:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220101

Regular price is $849, and the sale price (gotta put it in the shopping cart to see) is $799. I am wondering if anyone here has an All-in-One and/or a Multi-Touch computer and if so, could you please let me know how you - or whomever you know - likes it.

Thanks!

Jim

499

Living Room / Re: I came to a conclusion this morning...

« Last post by J-Mac on January 25, 2012, 06:05 AM »

Why thank you, Ren!!    (You rotten young fart!). 

Jim

500

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Calibre - e-Book (Personal Library/Document) Management - Mini-Review

« Last post by J-Mac on January 25, 2012, 05:32 AM »

I tried running this on my previous computer and it would constantly lock-up my system. Then again that PC had graphic card conflicts that often caused problems with certain programs. Anyway after importing a lot of PDF ebooks Calibre was spinning out of control - 50-60% CPU usage & a big chunk of memory. Couldn't shut it down without going into safe mode.

New 'puter now - maybe I'll give it another try.

Thanks!

Jim