Recent Posts

5276

Living Room / Re: Apple - not quite grasping the concept of privacy.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 06, 2011, 06:23 PM »

don't think so. The Android phone would still need to know your location to provide you with phone service.

-Deozaan (June 06, 2011, 02:19 PM)

  The "Phone" part of the phone only needs to know that a (totally ground based) cell tower is near enough for good signal. The tower's exact location isn't important, and the phones is completely irrelevant (to the phone).

-Stoic Joker (June 06, 2011, 02:56 PM)

Yeah I guess I was a bit unclear on what I meant.

As I understand it, any cell phone looks for nearby cell towers in an attempt to get the strongest signal, and usually there are enough towers within range to triangulate your position. So the phone company would be able to know your position whether you had GPS/Wifi enabled or not.

In other words, disabling those two options wreckedcarzz mentioned might keep phone apps from getting access to your location details, but your service provider would still know (approximately) where you are as long as your phone has service.

5277

General Software Discussion / Re: Dropbox....without dropbox?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 06, 2011, 05:15 PM »

FTPBox looks pretty neat. It lacks encryption but at least this is mitigated by the fact that you choose where the files are uploaded to.

Thanks for pointing this out!

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Living Room / Re: Apple - not quite grasping the concept of privacy.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 06, 2011, 02:19 PM »

I don't think so. The Android phone would still need to know your location to provide you with phone service. I'm not 100% sure about that though.

Maybe it would work if you enabled Airplane mode, which AFAIK completely disables all wireless communications on the device.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Naming one's product

« Last post by Deozaan on June 05, 2011, 08:30 PM »

clients who may not know the meaning of pus or pus##

-Curt (June 05, 2011, 11:23 AM)

The "pus##" makes me wonder if perhaps even you don't know the meaning of pus^w?

Or is there some other 5-letter word that starts with "pus" I don't know of that needs to be censored?

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Living Room / Re: Are EULA's as negative as DRM

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2011, 01:14 PM »

And for reference, here's a link to the EULA (PDF!) http://items.gog.com/EULA.pdf

As wraith said, it seems to be the same EULA used for everything all EA titles on GoG.com.

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Little Voice Commander / Re: Latest Little Voice Commander Release v1.35.01 - May 31, 2011

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2011, 01:46 AM »

One comment that I do have (before being able to run the program) is that I am not interested in the speech engine part - it would have been nice to have this as an option so that one does not have download and install another bloated piece of software.

-capitalH (June 03, 2011, 01:39 AM)

If you don't want it to recognize your speech then it sounds like you want CrazyLittleFingers.

5282

Living Room / Re: Microsoft unveils new UI prototype - Windows 8?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2011, 01:33 AM »

If computers were the size of mobile phones, or rather, if mobile phones were as powerful as desktop PCs, with a docking station port, it would be awesome! Imagine all the places that would most likely provide keyboard, video (monitor), mouse, and internet. You could have your PC anywhere you wanted, no need for cloud.

-Deozaan (June 03, 2011, 12:50 AM)

Why stop with someone else providing just the monitor, keyboard, mouse and internet link?

Have them throw in a standardized computing platform (i.e. PC) and all you'd need is a USB flash drive. Just boot from that.

Your choice of OS, plus all your apps and data, on one convenient little hunk of plastic you could wear around your neck or drop in your pocket...

-40hz (June 03, 2011, 01:17 AM)

I wouldn't want that, because that's almost like just having your data in the cloud. I mean, it's great if you just want to get online, and it's almost basically what's already available with the Chromebooks running Chrome OS. But what if the publicly provided PC couldn't handle the games I wanted to play that my powerful rig at home could?

That's why I'd like to be able to buy a customized computer (not really a mobile phone) that was small like a tablet or mobile phone but as powerful as I wanted/needed for what I do and then take it with me and use wherever I want at convenient docking stations in public (school, library, airport, bank, coffee shop, grocery store (?)) or even in private (e.g. people's houses).

5283

Living Room / Re: Is the Core i7 2600K really worth the extra cost over Core i5 2500K?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2011, 01:11 AM »

Guess I should have made that more clear.   

-steeladept (June 03, 2011, 01:08 AM)

No, it was my fault. I skimmed the first sentence you wrote (even though I quoted it! ) which made it pretty clear that your question wasn't directed at/about me.

Sorry. 

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Living Room / Re: Is the Core i7 2600K really worth the extra cost over Core i5 2500K?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2011, 12:56 AM »

Here is a related question for those of you who know....Assuming you are not gaming or doing any high-quality artwork, is there any reason not to use onboard video?

-steeladept (June 03, 2011, 12:46 AM)

First of all, your assumption is wrong. I'm a gamer.  

Second of all there is no such thing as "Onboard Video" for the motherboards that maximize the efficiency allow overclocking of the CPU I'm getting.

IIRC, there are P67 and H67 motherboards for these CPUs, the H67 series enables the CPU's video abilities (Intel HD 3000) and the P67 series unlocks the CPU's overclocking abilities, but disables the built in video capabilities. Or something.

Anyway, the point is that I wanted to overclock so I'm getting a P67 series motherboard, so I'd need a discreet GPU anyway.

But I think you're right, and most people would be happy with the H67 mobo that has video stuff without a discreet GPU.

Here's a video detailing the features of these CPUs:

EDIT: added screenshot of slide seen at about 6:11 in the video above:



EDIT 2: I just realized that your question wasn't directed at me, but that it was a question in general about whether or not onboard video would be good enough in the scenario you described.

5285

Living Room / Re: Microsoft unveils new UI prototype - Windows 8?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2011, 12:50 AM »

I would love to have a tablet that has the power of a desktop. With ports for external monitors (4), a keyboard, mouse, printer, speakers, etc.

-Renegade (June 03, 2011, 12:38 AM)

I agree! I'd love to be able to carry my computer around with me wherever I go and then connect it to a public (or private) docking station for bigger monitor, keyboard and mouse.

If computers were the size of mobile phones, or rather, if mobile phones were as powerful as desktop PCs, with a docking station port, it would be awesome! Imagine all the places that would most likely provide keyboard, video (monitor), mouse, and internet. You could have your PC anywhere you wanted, no need for cloud.

5286

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

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2011, 12:43 AM »

From Failbook.com:

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Developer's Corner / Re: GarageGames: $99 Game Engines (with Source!)

« Last post by Deozaan on June 02, 2011, 08:23 PM »

Torque 3D just released a massive update to version 1.1:

We fixed all known crashes in our tools except for one known issue in the gui editor (I’ll post the fix...it just didn’t make the last round by a few hours). In a herculean effort, Rene rewrote zones and portals because the old system was too brittle and he wanted to get it right for our users. We’ve fixed hundreds upon hundreds of bugs (248 confirmed fixes) and performance issues since beta 3. This is the most stable version of Torque since TGE and our QA team of four has done an amazing job! Special thanks also to those who provided feedback and reproduction cases in our forums from the preview we released almost two months ago.

-http://www.garagegames.com/community/blog/view/21045

And it's still $99 for the time being.

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Living Room / Re: Is the Core i7 2600K really worth the extra cost over Core i5 2500K?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 02, 2011, 07:37 PM »

Hmm... That's good to know. I had an nVidia on my wishlist.

So what's a good ATI video card to add to my wishlist? I think the last time I used ATI was back when GPUs went in an AGP slot (rather than PCIe), so I'm kind of out of the loop on what is good for ATI/AMD. In fact I didn't even know that ATI and AMD merged or partnered or whatever.

The nVidia I had in my wish list (GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5) is about $125-$150 (depending on if you count Mail In Rebates against the price or not), so approximately that budget range would be nice. But it's looking more like I'd go for the Core i5 which means I could perhaps afford to spend a bit more on the GPU if there was significant reason.

5289

Living Room / Re: Sony details welcome back package for PSN users

« Last post by Deozaan on June 02, 2011, 02:37 AM »

Apparently the PSN Store is back up right now (at least in the USA) and will be up almost everywhere else today.

Though there weren't that many days left in this week in which to relaunch PSN, Sony has officially narrowed down the date for reactivation of the PlayStation Store and other services -- to today (June 2). Qriocity services will also come back.

In a brief press release sent out tonight, Sony announced plans to "fully restore" services everywhere but Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Additional details about each region's "Welcome Back" package (like, we assume, how to get it) will be announced soon.

-http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/02/psn-will-be-fully-restored-today/

EDIT: It's kind of hit and miss for me. I keep getting an error. Then it works. Then it errors. Error again. Then it works. etc.

5290

Living Room / Re: Microsoft unveils new UI prototype - Windows 8?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 01, 2011, 08:01 PM »

Yeah, making the "flicking" motions with the mouse all the time to navigate seems like it would be annoying.

When he was showing off Excel I did see the standard looking Windows 7 task bar and "Windows" button, etc. So there's some hope for that.

5291

Living Room / Re: Microsoft unveils new UI prototype - Windows 8?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 01, 2011, 07:49 PM »

So yeah... Windows 8 does seem to be more like a Tablet OS than a desktop OS. . .

5292

Living Room / Re: Is the Core i7 2600K really worth the extra cost over Core i5 2500K?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 01, 2011, 06:41 PM »

I'm running Windows 7 x86 on an AMD 64 X2 3800+ with 2GB of (Mushkin) RAM here at the office, and it's actually quite tolerable for a 4/5 year old machine. Having 50 windows, MSVS2005, and a Virtual PC running doesn't even cripple it (Adding a 2nd VM will however).

I've setup several i5 (and i3) office workstations and the i5's really are nice even with a basic (business) hardware package.

-Stoic Joker (June 01, 2011, 07:04 AM)

I don't know what's wrong with my PC. It's frequently sluggish even on fresh boot of Windows 7 x86, and uses up about 1.5 GB (of 2GB) RAM, IIRC. I think I may be having hardware (mobo) problems, too, so I'm not sure how that affects it, if at all.

AMD CPUs tend to be cheaper - have you seen the Phenom II x6 processor - I am VERY happy with mine and I haven't managed to max it out yet (despite trying)!!

AMD seems like a lot better value and the mobos are the same price.

-Carol Haynes (June 01, 2011, 01:28 PM)

I probably would have been more interested in a 6 core AMD, but I asked about it earlier this year and the response I got was that even a 6-core AMD wasn't as good as a 4-core Intel. But maybe I misunderstood and that was just for the specific scenario I asked about?

5293

Living Room / Re: Who else is sick of difficult word verifications on the web?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 01, 2011, 06:25 PM »

Fine, so it's possible to type upside down, but how about sideways?

5294

Living Room / Re: Is the Core i7 2600K really worth the extra cost over Core i5 2500K?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 01, 2011, 01:49 AM »

What budget are you targeting for, if you don't mind me ask?

-phitsc (June 01, 2011, 01:39 AM)

Well my budget was mostly... put together a really nice computer and then see how much it costs.

I've currently got it at just under $1,000 (with the i7) but I'd love to bring that down.

On the other hand, I was going to "recycle" some parts out of my current PC, like DVD Burner, HDDs, WiFi adapter, etc. But I'd also like to get an SSD and that hasn't been added to the wish list yet. I'm still waiting for a 120GB SSD for about $100, so that may be a future upgrade after I buy the PC.

And I was also considering getting a couple 2 TB drives in a mirror RAID. But as with the SSD those could be part of a future upgrade and aren't necessarily related to this thread. And also some recent threads here on DC have discouraged RAID for home machines, so I'm not so sure I want to do that anymore. . .

5295

Living Room / Re: Is the Core i7 2600K really worth the extra cost over Core i5 2500K?

« Last post by Deozaan on May 31, 2011, 08:50 PM »

If I had an extra $100 burning a hole in my pocket, I'd opt for a more powerful video card rather than spend it on a hotter CPU. But that's me. I'm usually out for more 'bang for the buck' than I am for absolute specs. So I always look for that sweet spot.

-40hz (May 31, 2011, 07:59 PM)

Yeah, that's the situation I'm in as well. I don't have extra money for the luxury of a new PC, so I doubt I'll be buying this "Wish List PC" for several months. But shaving about $100 off the cost would allow me to spend it elsewhere or not have to save up for so long before having the money to buy it.

I'm just so sick of my doggone slow AMD 64 3500 that I keep thinking I'm going to spend a lot of money on a really nice CPU so I won't have to worry about upgrading it for a good long time. But now that I've looked into the differences between the i5 2500K and the i7 2600K I think it's probably not really worth the extra cost.

Then again, maybe by the time I've saved up the money to buy the machine the difference in cost between the two CPUs will be more proportional to the difference in performance. . .

5296

Living Room / Is the Core i7 2600K really worth the extra cost over Core i5 2500K?

« Last post by Deozaan on May 31, 2011, 07:27 PM »

I've been building a NewEgg wishlist for a new computer I'm saving up for, and I've been drooling over the new Core i7 2600K ever since I heard about it a few months ago. But dang! It's nearly 1/3 of the entire build cost just for the CPU!

So today I decided to look at the Core i5 2500K and compare the two. According to NewEgg's Details pages on the two CPUs, there are only three differences between the two:

The Core i7 has

• Hyperthreading support
• 2MB more (8MB total) for the L3 cache
• 0.1 Ghz faster clock speed

Is it really worth almost $100 more just for that? Is there more to it that I'm not seeing or thinking about? E.g. does the i7 overclock a lot higher or with more stability than the i5?

I went to Tom's Hardware to compare the two and of course in most cases the i7 performs better, but is it really going to be that big of a boost to justify the extra cost?

My uses for the PC would be as a gaming machine, as well as a media server (probably just music but possibly video), as well as some (relatively) lowpoly 3D modeling, and of course having a zillion tabs open in my browser. Possibly all at the same time.

5297

Living Room / Re: Sony details welcome back package for PSN users

« Last post by Deozaan on May 31, 2011, 06:52 PM »

I read on Joystiq that the Store is already up enough (in USA) that you can buy stuff.

-Deozaan (May 31, 2011, 03:17 PM)

Well, it definitely wasn't available in Europe yesterday.

-phitsc (May 31, 2011, 03:20 PM)

I just checked the PSN Store on my PS3 and it still says it's undergoing maintenance.

So I'm not sure how you're supposed to be able to buy stuff from PSN when the Store is still down. . . Which means I have no idea what Joystiq is talking about.

5298

Developer's Corner / Re: Game Engines and Apps

« Last post by Deozaan on May 31, 2011, 04:27 PM »

Just thought I'd mention a couple more:

The Unity 3D Game Engine is pretty cool, and there's a free version for indies.

Also, a free (cross-platform!) Flash game engine called Stencyl just launched today. It uses a drag and drop "programming" method similar to MIT's Scratch or Carnegie Mellon's Alice. ReadWriteWeb has an article about it.

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Living Room / Re: Sony details welcome back package for PSN users

« Last post by Deozaan on May 31, 2011, 03:17 PM »

There has to be some serious jonesing going on in PS3-land.

That is really way toooooo long.

-Renegade (May 31, 2011, 03:00 AM)

Nah, the people who are that serious about/addicted to online fragging (Call of Duty, etc.) have sold their PS3 and bought 360s during the outage so they could get their fix.

The rest of us have just played single player games offline or let the PS3 collect dust or watched Blu-Rays, etc.

Ah, they just announced that end of this week everything should be back up.

http://blog.us.plays...re-return-this-week/

-phitsc (May 31, 2011, 05:53 AM)

I read on Joystiq that the Store is already up enough (in USA) that you can buy stuff.

The company says that customers can now purchase games and videos from the PSN for PS3 and PSP.

-http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/31/psn-to-be-fully-restored-by-the-end-of-the-week-sony-says/

If that's true, then I don't know what else needs to be restored for the PSN Store to work.

5300

General Software Discussion / Re: Plants Vs Zombies - Android Version - Free Today, 31MAY2011, on Amazon App Store

« Last post by Deozaan on May 31, 2011, 03:09 PM »

Thanks!