Recent Posts

5226

Living Room / Re: SSD Drives - something to consider before taking the plunge

« Last post by Deozaan on June 18, 2011, 03:23 AM »

According to this talk, you are wasting your life if you don't own a SSD: http://www.livestrea...19-8aaf-35a839b6ecaa

-mouser (June 17, 2011, 09:03 PM)

I don't get it. What's are IOPS?

5227

Living Room / Re: Where have all the trackballs gone!

« Last post by Deozaan on June 18, 2011, 01:38 AM »

I've been using the Logitech M570 for about 4 months now and I really like it.

That review says it may be hard to find the mouse buttons with your fingers. I personally have not had this problem. It's very easy to locate the position of the buttons. The left mouse button is on the left of the scroll wheel, and the right mouse button is on the right of the scroll wheel. I don't see how that can be hard or confusing.

My biggest problem with the mouse is that after a few days the ball feels like it starts to drag and doesn't slide around as smoothly. This is because, as stated in the review, the casters have collected dust and grime. It is indeed very simple to pop out the ball and clean, nonetheless, the frequency in which I have to do this is a bit annoying.

As a gamer, I do occasionally have problems with games being less sensitive to the mouse than Windows is. In other words, it takes more effort to move the mouse around in games than in Windows. But most modern games allow you to adjust the mouse sensitivity in the options so this isn't that big of a problem. Also the Logitech SetPoint Software has a Gaming Mode detection that is pretty good at alleviating this. (I just realized I didn't have this enabled.)

The battery does indeed last a long time. As I said, I've been using it for about 4 months now and the indicator says I still have about 81 days left of juice. I think it is advertised to last up to 18 months. But I'm probably above average when it comes to time spent using the PC. I wish it had a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery inside it like my Logitech K800 keyboard, but I guess I won't mind having to change the battery approximately every 6-7 months. My previous wireless mouse (Logitech Laser MX-1000 IIRC) did have an internal rechargeable battery that needed to be charged every few days and worse: it had to stand on a dock to charge, so it couldn't be used while charging. So this is still a big improvement.

No need for a mouse pad. No need for space to move the mouse around in. In fact, the mouse doesn't even need to be on a flat surface. If I have it plugged into my netbook on the go, I can simply rest the mouse on my knee or a couch cushion or wherever is handy. I've actually used it vertically, perched against my chest (with my hand "over my heart" as if honoring the flag) because there was nowhere else handy for it to go.

It's great. I love it. I would recommend it to just about anyone.

5228

Living Room / Re: Scented USB Drives?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 17, 2011, 07:31 PM »

Now if it only had some internal flash memory as well!

5229

Living Room / Re: New DVD Rewinding Service

« Last post by Deozaan on June 17, 2011, 06:40 PM »

Perhaps I can interest you in ocean front property in Nevada. It's a fantastic investment! I'll even cut you a special deal.

-Deozaan (June 17, 2011, 05:02 PM)

You're trying to sell beach front property to a Floridian, and I'm the fool? 

-Stoic Joker (June 17, 2011, 05:17 PM)

When the next big earthquake hits and California falls into the ocean, you'll wish you had taken me up on my offer.

 

5230

Living Room / Re: New DVD Rewinding Service

« Last post by Deozaan on June 17, 2011, 05:02 PM »

I know nothing of investing. But this is just too weird to pass up.

-Stoic Joker (June 17, 2011, 06:50 AM)

And I've got great ocean front property to sell you for cheap in Colorado!

-Deozaan (June 17, 2011, 07:14 AM)

Investing is the part I'm unclear on...I didn't say I was an idiot.

-Stoic Joker (June 17, 2011, 11:06 AM)

Yes indeed you're one smart cookie! Colorado doesn't fit you. I can see that now. Perhaps I can interest you in ocean front property in Nevada. It's a fantastic investment! I'll even cut you a special deal.

5231

DC Gamer Club / Re: RIFT - MMORPG Beta Invite

« Last post by Deozaan on June 17, 2011, 04:44 PM »

FYI this weekend only you can buy RIFT for $10 or the Collector's Edition for $17 but here's the catch:

It doesn't include ANY gameplay time.

5232

Living Room / Re: New DVD Rewinding Service

« Last post by Deozaan on June 17, 2011, 07:14 AM »

I know nothing of investing. But this is just too weird to pass up.

-Stoic Joker (June 17, 2011, 06:50 AM)

And I've got great ocean front property to sell you for cheap in Colorado!

5233

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Sins of a Solar Empire Trilogy - 50% off

« Last post by Deozaan on June 16, 2011, 11:50 PM »

The entire Sins of a Solar Empire trilogy is on sale right now for $10 on Impulse.

http://www.impulsedriven.com/sinstrinity

5234

DC Gamer Club / Re: Terraria

« Last post by Deozaan on June 16, 2011, 11:12 PM »

Are you using the .NET installer that comes with Terraria or the official one from Microsoft? Or have you tried both?

5235

Living Room / Re: VIDEO: Pixels by Patrick Jean

« Last post by Deozaan on June 16, 2011, 11:05 PM »

I believe 3D pixels are called voxels.

5236

Living Room / Re: OK, I know theres 6 month left to go...but...

« Last post by Deozaan on June 16, 2011, 06:20 PM »

IIRC it started about this time last year. Much earlier than previous years.

5237

DC Gamer Club / Re: Terraria

« Last post by Deozaan on June 16, 2011, 06:18 PM »

Terraria's 1 month anniversary:

-By The Numbers- As of (06/16/2011)

Copies/4Packs Sold Total - 350,000+ (Copies Owned - 432,000+)
Days/Top Ten Sales List on Steam - 32 days
Days/Top Ten Played List on Steam - 32 days
Players Online at once - Peaks we have seen range from 14k to 32k a day.
Facebook Likes - 28,773
TerrariaOnline Members -40,992
YouTube Trailer Views - (Old-Gameplay) 1,181,691, (Release Trailer) 866,285

-http://www.terrariaonline.com/threads/one-month-a-milestone.30213/

Pretty impressive for a game that started development only 6 months ago!

They also announced that in the next update there will be an optional hardcore mode, wherein character death is permanent. Watch your step while spelunking!

5238

DonationCoder.com Newsletters / Re: --> Newsletter for June 12th, 2011 - "Summer Server"

« Last post by Deozaan on June 16, 2011, 02:58 AM »

Thanks for the great newsletter. As usual, there are some really good topics featured.

5239

Living Room / Re: Friends: Brace yourselves for another economic turn.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 15, 2011, 08:08 PM »

You forgot to add that world food stocks are going down and population is going up

-Gothi[c] (June 15, 2011, 05:16 PM)

Thank goodness for Japanese ingenuity!

Some hardcore carnivores have a hard time finding meat alternatives such as soy protein or tofu burgers to be palatable. But non-meat eaters may lose their appetite along with their carnivorous friends over this one – a meat alternative made from HUMAN EXCREMENT. Yep, you heard me correctly — Japanese scientist Mitsuyuki Ikeda has developed a “burger” made from soya, steak sauce essence, and protein extracted from human feces.

-http://inhabitat.com/poop-burger-japanese-researcher-creates-artificial-meat-from-human-feces/

The world hunger problem is solved!

Eat. Poop. Eat poop. Poop. Eat poop. etc.

EDIT: Just saw this hilarious YouTube comment on the video about the poop burgers:

2 Girls One Cup was a sobering depiction of our not-too-distant future.

5240

Living Room / Re: Friends: Brace yourselves for another economic turn.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 15, 2011, 06:38 PM »

Who are you quoting?

5241

Living Room / Re: Spam Viagra Operations (Harder to follow than I'd imagined)

« Last post by Deozaan on June 15, 2011, 04:53 PM »

I think these scientists just wanted an excuse to spend a few thousand dollars on viagra.

5242

Living Room / Re: Why ebooks are bad for you

« Last post by Deozaan on June 14, 2011, 04:23 PM »

EDIT: Erm, I guess this is off topic for this thread. Oops!

On a related note, technology is forcing the music industry to reinvent itself -- or embrace annihilation:

-zridling (June 14, 2011, 05:38 AM)

Responding to the Economist article:

It will search devices for tracks purchased from the iTunes store, and automatically give customers the rights to download the music to any Apple device. That puts Apple’s service ahead of recent offerings by Amazon and Google, which require users to upload music to the cloud.

-http://www.economist.com/node/18805473?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/ar/digitallyremastered

That only puts Apple's service ahead of Amazon and Google if you own an Apple device and use iTunes. Whereas for me Google Music is much way ahead of iCloud because I don't use iTunes and I don't own an iDevice.

Even if I did use iTunes, not all music is available on it so just putting tracks I purchased from iTunes in the cloud doesn't help me get my entire collection on the cloud. I owned music before iTunes even existed. What about those songs?

Oh, here's Apple's solution for those songs:

Apple also announced a service, not available even in America until later this year, which will scan computers for all music tracks and offer cloud-based access to them for $24.99 a year. Apple will take a cut of sales and give the rest to the record companies. Whereas the iCloud is simply better than the competition, this is a breakthrough. In effect, it will allow music companies to levy an annual fee for the use of their music, whether ripped from CDs or downloaded illegally.

So they're going to charge me money to access music I already bought or got for free (e.g. CC licensed music or otherwise free tracks) to get cloud access to it. Meanwhile Google Music lets me access all my music on the cloud for free? Oh yeah, Apple is definitely way ahead of Google.

The ZDNet article seems to get it, though. Speaking of Google Music:

If a user can put 20,000 tracks from an iTunes collection into the cloud and stream to any device, the company takes all of those Android devices out there and turns them into music players. Sure, we could always play music from those devices, via the SD card in the phone, but exponentially intensifying that with a cloud-sync offering raises the stakes - and kind of makes me wonder why I need an iPod.

-http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/google-to-hollywood-well-do-music-with-or-without-you/2942

5243

Living Room / Re: Show us the View Outside Your Window

« Last post by Deozaan on June 14, 2011, 03:56 PM »

That's right. The clock says 11:36 PM! I guess that's why they call it the Land of the Midnight Sun

-Deozaan (June 14, 2011, 03:02 AM)

Yes, and in the winter it's the Land of the Noon Stars.

-Arizona Hot (June 14, 2011, 12:59 PM)

Indeed. My family lived in Alaska when I was a baby (so I don't remember it) and I've heard stories from my siblings about them going to school in the dark and coming home from school in the dark. All the daylight hours passed by while they were in the classroom.

And while we're on the subject, my mom sent me even more photos taken well after 1 AM and it looked as bright outside as it is now (nearly 3 PM) where I am in Idaho. As I said, I'd heard about it before, but it still is kinda crazy (IMO) to see for yourself.

5244

Living Room / Re: Backup Strategy: "The Threes"

« Last post by Deozaan on June 14, 2011, 03:47 PM »

RAID 5 (striping with parody (my favorite))

-Stoic Joker (June 14, 2011, 07:12 AM)

I think you meant parity.

Thanks for the explanation.

So here's another question: If you have a RAID setup, would Windows show the individual drives in My Computer, or would they all appear as a single drive?

5245

DC Gamer Club / Re: Spiral Knights - a free-to-play MMOG that's fistfuls of fun...

« Last post by Deozaan on June 14, 2011, 12:02 PM »

Spiral Knights is now also available on Steam (for free of course!) along with some other free-to-play games.

Edit: The downside is that there doesn't seem to be a way to merge your account with your Steam account. So you either still have to login with your old account (which isn't different from how any other MMO works on Steam) or you have to create a new character.

5246

Living Room / Re: Show us the View Outside Your Window

« Last post by Deozaan on June 14, 2011, 03:02 AM »

My mom just sent me this photo a few minutes ago from Fairbanks, Alaska where it's just after midnight.



That's right. The clock says 11:36 PM! I guess that's why they call it the Land of the Midnight Sun.

5247

Living Room / Re: Backup Strategy: "The Threes"

« Last post by Deozaan on June 14, 2011, 01:07 AM »

And I would see RAID-1 as logical because when one drive fails, you go out and buy a new drive and then just re-duplicate the data and move on (no restoration process, fastest system possible). Makes drive failure as convenient as possible.

-wreckedcarzz (June 13, 2011, 10:46 PM)

The main reason RAID is so attractive as a backup solution is that it is 100% automatic after it's set up.

-mouser (June 13, 2011, 10:47 PM)

So in a mirror RAID setup, if one drive failed and you replaced it with a new one, does it automatically restore the mirror or do you have to configure stuff with the new drive first?

And does it continue to work while one drive is out of order so you can still use your PC for those few days it takes to ship a new drive?

5248

Living Room / Re: Backup Strategy: "The Threes"

« Last post by Deozaan on June 13, 2011, 10:43 PM »

So if I understand you correctly, as long as you have a proper backup strategy (and if what you do isn't so critical it can't wait a few days to replace failed hardware) then there is pretty much no reason for the average/home user to implement a RAID setup.

5249

Living Room / Re: Backup Strategy: "The Threes"

« Last post by Deozaan on June 13, 2011, 10:24 PM »

I've heard this mentioned a few times here on DC and am really curious, so would someone who is knowledgeable on the subject please explain why RAID is not (or should not be) considered a backup strategy?

5250

Living Room / Re: Why ebooks are bad for you

« Last post by Deozaan on June 13, 2011, 10:14 PM »

The lion's share of the money still goes to the publishers - who used to justify their percentage because of the mechanical reproduction costs they incurred by printing, binding, and shipping books. But now that most of that has gone away (save for the relative low overhead of maintaining licensing and distribution servers) they justify their percentage by...I'm sorry - exactly how do they justify their share?

-40hz (June 13, 2011, 07:24 PM)

For providing the DRM of course!