Recent Posts

4801

Developer's Corner / Re: DVD Burning

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2012, 01:25 AM »

Heheh! I know how you feel. I've lost track of the number of times I've tried to use some program to burn a CD/DVD and just had everything botched.

I can tell you from firsthand experience that there are bugs in some of the SDKs for the standards, so, that trickles down into the consumer-level stuff as well.

4802

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2012, 11:50 PM »

Looks like here:

http://blog.malwareb...passing-the-bitcoin/

4803

Developer's Corner / Re: DVD Burning

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2012, 02:59 AM »

Renegade just want to make a dvd that will play on home player, don't need menus, titles, or editing functions.
"A lot of DVD players are capable of playing video files that aren't actual "DVD" formatted videos. Does that count?" Is ashampoo able to do this?,
what kind of files are needed for a DVD player to see or play them? See your screenshot above what is VCD support? or how do you check to see
if dvd player has it?  For nudone and tomos will check out your picks, it's not that I mind paying and I have, more than once and never seems to work and they give little or no support once you pay them.
nudone seen the problem before that you mentioned about being out of sink, think it was with a product I payed for! Thanks all for your inputs
TEDD

-SQUIDMAN (September 30, 2012, 01:13 AM)

It all depends on the DVD player manufacturer. Most also play Xvid or DivX as well, so if you have an Xvid encoded AVI, it should play.

VCD is "video CD". It's a cheap version of DVD. Similarly with SVCD, it's "super video CD".

Check out this link:

http://www.videohelp...earch+or+List+Guides

I think you'll find exactly what you want to do there with some excellent explanations. VideoHelp.com is a good site.

If you use VideoLAN, you might try this:

http://wiki.videolan.../How_to_Create_a_DVD

I've not used that though, and can't really comment on it.

4804

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2012, 02:47 AM »

I think it's some kind of a piggy-bank.

4805

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2012, 01:06 AM »

Some funky finger art - not humor, but entertaining anyways:

4806

Living Room / Re: Internet Privacy Law Intact

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 10:25 PM »

But really, there's room for an upstart few politicians to go be "rebels" and go the Pro-Privacy route as the ticket to re-election. Not sure how they can roll back 10 years worth of influential money, but hey, that this story got out there at all is something.

-TaoPhoenix (September 29, 2012, 06:58 AM)

  You would think, but then again, the majority of the politicians don't do what they promise once they do get into office.  They will promise you the moon during election time, but once they're in they start taking money from all the special interest groups through lobbyist and vote accordingly.
  If the politicians did what they said they would do when we voted them into office, we wouldn't be having half the problems we have now....

-Tinman57 (September 29, 2012, 06:12 PM)

+1

for laughs

I've seen some videos/graphics/charts/tables of what politicians promise and what they do... They're hilarious. Like, pee your pants laughing while you pass out from oxygen deprivation as you laugh so hard you begin to hyperventilate.

It's almost like you can take whatever they say they'll do, exactly reverse it, then vote based on that.

Similarly for legislation and organization names. Take the name, reverse the meaning, and poof! You have what it does/means.

4807

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 12:58 PM »

Ooooops... Did I just say that I was full of shit?

4808

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 12:57 PM »

However, the average human does NOT poop two pounds a day!

-TaoPhoenix (September 29, 2012, 12:47 PM)

True enough. I figure mine is 2 kg.

4809

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 12:38 PM »

^ Hehe, thanks for that, Ren.

-kyrathaba (September 29, 2012, 12:12 PM)

Which? The poop or the shit?

4810

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 11:12 AM »

There are some truly shitty topics, and this is one of them:

(from onlineschools.org website)

4811

Developer's Corner / Robosoft for Beginners - Software Marketing 101 ;)

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 08:30 AM »

Well, this has been sitting around since last October, so almost a full year, and I've finally published it. No edits or whatever, but just actually finally published it...

http://cynic.me/2012...osoft-for-beginners/

In there I go through all the basics of using Robosoft.

If you write software, and you don't use Robosoft, you're missing out. Badly. Very badly.

Hope that's useful for someone here.

4812

Living Room / Re: Write Python Book - Distribute Over Bittorent - Banned from Google

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 08:20 AM »

Yeah, me by myself is pretty meaningless. I know. Doesn't mean that I shouldn't do what I can.

-Renegade (September 29, 2012, 07:20 AM)

Agree. Being afraid or disgusted is no excuse for abandoning one's principles. At least not from my perspective. (Other people's mileage may vary. No blame.)

However, if I'm ever going to be put up against a wall, I insist on having the satisfaction of knowing it was something I myself did that put me there.

I have no problem with dying for something. But I would find it personally offensive to be slaughtered. And one way to avoid that is by not allowing yourself to be viewed as sheep.

-40hz (September 29, 2012, 08:01 AM)

I certainly won't claim to be on any higher moral pedestal. I've done work for companies that while I'm proud of the job it did (it was damn good), was not ethical work - it was sublimely deceptive, and the vast majority of people would swallow it up and "feel good" about it despite it being at best a half-truth. And I mean the work that I did for "fortune 100 companies", and not for "porn". The porn work I did was perfectly ethical. Or at least comparatively.

I make no assertion that everything I do is ethical. I do unethical things for money. Quite frankly, I'm trapped and have no other options. I'm working to get out of it, but it's very hard to escape the spider's web...

4813

Living Room / Re: Write Python Book - Distribute Over Bittorent - Banned from Google

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 07:20 AM »

It's bad precedent if the world  allows them to get away with it.

-40hz (September 29, 2012, 07:11 AM)

I've already withdrawn my support for Google. I dropped Google AdWords a while ago. I also now primarily use DuckDuckGo.

All it takes is for more people to withdraw their support for these kinds of organizations and their antics.

Yeah, me by myself is pretty meaningless. I know. Doesn't mean that I shouldn't do what I can.

4814

Living Room / Re: Internet Privacy Law Intact

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 07:03 AM »

For those that don't know "Little Bobby Tables", it's one of those classics!

http://xkcd.com/327/



 

(I love that one!)

4815

Living Room / Write Python Book - Distribute Over Bittorent - Banned from Google

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 06:53 AM »

Yes. More from the jaw dropping, glazed look, that's beyond the previous level of insanity department...

• Buddy writes an ebook about programming in Python.
• Gives it away for free.
• Distributes through bittorent.
• Links to where you can get it on The Pirate Bay and Demonoid.
• Pulls in the princely sum of about $6 a month from Google ads on his site.
• Google emails to tell him he's been banned.

No good deed goes unpunished.

http://rt.com/news/g...-ad-torrent-ban-215/

Google ad service bans author for linking to self-published book on The Pirate Bay

An author was banned from Google’s advertising program for using Bittorrent to distribute his book for free, and for linking to the torrents on his site. Though he removed the offending links, Google refused to rescind the ban.

Cody Jackson authored a book about the programming language Python while he was deployed in Iraq, he told the website Techdirt. He made the book publicly available as gesture of gratitude to the free software community, which was tremendously helpful for him over the years, he said.

On his website, Jackson posted links to sites where the book can be downloaded, including The Pirate Bay and Demonoid. He also participated in Google’s AdSense service, which netted him around $6 a month in advertising revenue.

...

His site:

http://python-ebook.blogspot.com.au/

Article at Techdirt:

https://www.techdirt...g-his-own-book.shtml

Google's Copyright Crackdown Punishes Author For Torrenting His Own Book

from the too-aggressive dept

Over the years, we've pointed out repeatedly a massive Achilles Heel for Google: its often dreadful customer service. Trying to communicate with Google can often be like facing a giant white monolith, rather than any sort of human being. More recently, we've been concerned about Google's willingness to be overly aggressive in "enforcing" copyright, in an effort to keep Hollywood (and Hollywood's supporters in government) off its back. Combine those two issues, and you've got quite a story... such as the one from Techdirt reader Cody Jackson.

A few years ago, Jackson, while deployed in Iraq, wrote a book about Python (the programming language) called Start Programming with Python. He decided to give away the book for free, as a "thank you" to the open source community which, he notes, has provided him with tremendous value over the years. He has always made the book available for free, and linked to various sources where you can get it. At the same time, he's offered people the option to support him via donation. He also made a little bit of money via Google AdSense ads on his site.

...

 

4816

Living Room / Re: Internet Privacy Law Intact

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 06:44 AM »

I kind of wonder if these are just distractions. It's simply hard to believe that they'd actually entertain not giving themselves...

4817

Living Room / Re: Government spies on Twitter

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 06:42 AM »

Is anyone surprised?

-40hz (September 29, 2012, 06:30 AM)

Nope. 

4818

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 06:41 AM »

Saw a funny rebuttal video by Reason.tv:

It's what you would expect from Reason.tv. Sarcastic, political, etc. etc.

Short commentary on why I'm not embedding the original - caution - politics and note on history

While the original is somewhat humourous, I simply don't want to link to it as it advocates wholesale slaughter. That is, if you understand what is being said and know enough history. I mean that quite literally - it advocates many of the exact same policies and principle passed and perpetrated by the National Socialist German Worker's party. But again, you need to know your history to pick up on it, and I'm not really all that enthused about going over history lessons. (And yes - I know who produced it. Doesn't change things. They probably don't know much history.

Anyways - it's simply so utterly objectionable (says a lot coming from me), that I wouldn't link to it anymore than I would link to some seriously funny blatherings in a racist web site forum. e.g. As in here. Better to link to Wikipedia.

But I must say, I do like Samuel Jackson. He's a great actor, and very entertaining. Too bad he's sullied himself in that video.

4819

General Software Discussion / Re: How to tell a Story: Live, Lite, Turbo

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 05:27 AM »

I had a look there at the site, but couldn't find a compelling reason to use it. I guess that I already have a lot of other tools to do those kinds of things though, so I'm not really the target audience for it. (e.g. Word, InDesign, Photoshop, etc.)

I guess that there are people that could really use it, and for $0.99? Sheesh. It's worth a buck just to play with it if you're remotely interested.

4820

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 04:34 AM »

What's the news like in South Africa?

4821

Developer's Corner / Re: DVD Burning

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2012, 01:24 AM »

A lot of DVD players are capable of playing video files that aren't actual "DVD" formatted videos. Does that count? Or are you looking for DVD authoring software to do the video with menus and all that stuff? If that's what you're looking for, Mediachance has some good DVD authoring tools - payware, but relatively easy to use.

This is the relevant menu from ashampoo:



As you can see, you need the DVD actually finished as the proper files there. However, there's (S)VCD support there too.

I've never really had any luck with free tools.

4822

Living Room / DRONE - web video series

« Last post by Renegade on September 28, 2012, 10:00 AM »

Seems like there are more really good web series out there. I think a few people here might like this:

http://www.youtube.c...t=PL6BF5DAE7D4915461

(via)

EP 1:

4823

Mouser's Zone / Re: IP Address

« Last post by Renegade on September 28, 2012, 01:48 AM »

 Depends on what you want to do. But, really, the best solution is to use a VPN. There are free web proxies, but really, they kind of suck. Badly. I'm understating the case. Really.

I'd recommend that you use a decent one. It won't be free. I use Privacy.IO and am quite happy with it. But, it pops out in Sweden. There are a couple good articles on VPNs at Torrent Freak. Check those out.

4824

General Software Discussion / Re: The Demise of the Desktop (Free ALTools licenses too!)

« Last post by Renegade on September 27, 2012, 08:11 AM »

Businesses will flirt with vendor supplied cloud technologies for about ten years before going back to in-house hosted IT infrastructures and desktop based computing. Which will be hailed as a "breakthrough."

Not that it will matter. By then, the US economy will be gone and innovative US businesses a chapter in an economics textbook.

(I'm in a sunny mood this morning. Does it show?  )

-40hz (September 27, 2012, 06:26 AM)

I'd hadn't noticed this before now - perhaps your sunny mood is rubbing off -- but economic textbook... wow... seriously evil combination. The first has NO in the middle, and the second has TB~!

4825

Living Room / Re: Internet freedoms restrained - SOPA/PIPA/OPEN/ACTA/CETA/PrECISE-related updates

« Last post by Renegade on September 27, 2012, 04:46 AM »

New bill attempts to curb Big Brother’s ability to snoop and squelch free speech online
http://www.pcworld.c...e-speech-online.html

-Tinman57 (September 26, 2012, 08:39 PM)

Wow! Let's hope they go through OK. Looks like it might be two seriously intelligent and hopeful pieces of proposed legislation:

• H.R. 6529 - ECPA 2.0 Act of 2012: This act seeks to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which was enacted in 1986.
  
  
• H.R. 6530 - Global Free Internet Act of 2012: This bill seeks to establish a formal process for the U.S. government to evaluate policies that "pose threats to Internet users and online services".
  

If I was an American, their proposer, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (California Democrat) would get my vote for that.

-IainB (September 26, 2012, 11:53 PM)

Hmmm...

The text of this bill is not yet available. Please check back soon.

Now let's see, what was that other little bit:

This bill seeks to establish a formal process for the U.S. government to evaluate policies that "pose threats to Internet users and online services".

Kind of makes me think that "pose threats to Internet users" means "give them privacy", and "threats to online services", means "the possibility of disabling or disrupting surveillance"...

Not sure whether I'm being cynical or not.

Isn't the purpose of legislation to create a Trojan horse to slip in another step in the totalitarian tip-toe? Or am I being cynical?

But seriously - why can't the text of the bill be made available? What is there to hide? Oh... right... Greek soldiers...