Recent Posts

5651

Living Room / Magnetic Bacteria for Storage

« Last post by Renegade on May 07, 2012, 11:07 AM »

This seems very cool. I've not thought through the implications, but on the surface, it sounds cool:

http://www.bbc.co.uk.../technology-17981157

A team from the UK's University of Leeds and Japan's Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology have used microbes that eat iron.

As they ingest the iron, the microbes create tiny magnets inside themselves, similar to those in PC hard drives.

The research may lead to the creation of much faster hard drives, the team of scientists say.

As technology progresses and computer components get smaller and smaller, it becomes harder to produce electronics on a nano-scale.

So researchers are now turning to nature - and getting microbes involved.

Not sure how it will turn out, but it is interesting.

5652

General Software Discussion / Re: Basic word processor and active URLs

« Last post by Renegade on May 06, 2012, 07:02 AM »

What do you mean by "active"? It opens the link in a browser?

5653

Living Room / Re: SuperMoon Pictures - Post Them Here :)

« Last post by Renegade on May 06, 2012, 12:08 AM »

I tried to take pictures of the last one, but failed miserably. Need to learn a bit more about how to take pictures properly...

5654

Living Room / Re: Firefall developer: "Consoles, I believe, are dead"

« Last post by Renegade on May 05, 2012, 10:52 AM »

Surely you all heard the meme from the current generation console release:

The PS3 has no games!

And rightly so. Consoles really are only useful for big title releases of games that are intended for mainstream audiences, and are built from the ground up by corporate for corporate as platforms to corner the market in a way that nobody else can possibly break into.

Also a quick note on most mobile devices:
Most cellphones or tablets that you got from your wireless company are in fact not yours. Clearly written in the contract you signed when you signed up for their services it states that at all times the device and all of it's contents are the property of the company that you get service from, and as such they are free to do whatever they please with them regardless of if you like that or not.

Your only recourse if you object to this is to get service somewhere else.

Now there are ways around this of course, since some carriers do let you provide your own device and I believe under those circumstances they would not gain ownership of it, but most of the time people buy the device with the service contract.

-SeraphimLabs (May 05, 2012, 10:24 AM)

Interesting...

Regarding tablets not being "my" property, I didn't sign anything. I know some do. For my tablet, I didn't. It's mine flat out. If I want to lie to MY property, that's my perogative. If I want to destroy it? Same. There are NO rights beyond MINE on MY tablet.

Which is why I'm so f**king pissed that those c**ts at Google deleted software on MY tablet. Very, very, very NOT happy here.

I pretty much need to shut up at this point, because anything further I have to say on it goes in Soap Box. (Already ranted on this before -- still ticked when it comes up though.)


EDIT: I know I'm going to get flak for this... Bring it. I'll justify it.

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Living Room / Re: Firefall developer: "Consoles, I believe, are dead"

« Last post by Renegade on May 05, 2012, 02:34 AM »

Incidentally, the "Android Marketplace" app on 1 of my Android devices got automatically removed and "upgraded" to "Google Play". Ahem... You mean you f**ked with MY device? You deleted s**t without asking me? Yeah... F*** you too. Not happy about that.

-Renegade (May 03, 2012, 05:49 PM)

Huh?

How do you expect to keep using the Android Market if it doesn't take you to Google Play? It's the same thing. It's just been renamed and got a new icon. You don't complain when the DNS entry for "donationcoder.com" updates to a new IP address, do you?

-Deozaan (May 04, 2012, 01:25 PM)

If I owned "donationcoder.com", you're damn straight I'd be pissed! But I don't.

I own my tablet. It's mine. Not someone else's. Mine. Deleting anything on it WITHOUT asking me isn't acceptable. It doesn't matter if the old marketplace is dead or not. The point is that something was deleted on MY property without asking me.

If someone comes into your house and takes your couch because you happened to be late on a payment, that's still theft. You owe those people money - not a couch. Breaking and entering is breaking and entering. Theft is theft. Hacking is hacking.

They could have avoided pissing me off by simply displaying a notice. That's all it would have taken. But they didn't. They just went ahead and deleted it. THAT's what ticks me off. Because if they'll do it for one thing, they'll do it for another.

As for being renamed and given a new icon -- that's not what happened. That would have been just that, and while somewhat odd, still acceptable. There was a very clear market icon, and it's now gone. Completely. Not replaced. Instead, a different piece of software was installed and it is located in a different location.

Anyways, I'm over it. I don't like people breaking into my computers, but that's life. If you are a government or big corporation, you get to do whatever you want. Might makes right.

5656

Living Room / Re: Apple Rejecting Apps That Use Dropbox

« Last post by Renegade on May 04, 2012, 10:59 PM »

the day we stop resisting it we become part of it.

-mahesh2k (May 04, 2012, 01:05 PM)

That seems to be a danger. The problem being, who controls "it". I fear it will not be the person chipped that is in control.

He's got a point Ren, gilded cages are still cages ... yet the occupants rush to close themselves inside.

-Stoic Joker (May 04, 2012, 03:46 PM)

I'm not sure I follow. The guilded cage of reality where you are forced to follow the laws of physics vs. the cage of an artificial reality controlled by someone else?

5657

Living Room / Re: Pirate My Film... Dot Com.

« Last post by Renegade on May 04, 2012, 10:30 PM »

The site is like Kickstarter for films, so it's not really for downloading movies so much as for encouraging people to fund people's ideas. It's part of the whole crowd-sourcing/crowd-funding thing.

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Living Room / Pirate My Film... Dot Com.

« Last post by Renegade on May 04, 2012, 10:41 AM »

Here's a cool site to help independent film makers get their ideas out:

http://piratemyfilm..../static/how_it_works

Legal pirating of creative commons, crowd funded media projects

All projects on PirateMyfilm are CreativeCommons licensed unless otherwise stipulated by project owners. Dividends are distributed to shareholders by project owners at their discretion.

Getting started: Click on 'Need Money' list a project during any stage of development, specifying the funds needed and various details. The system automatically creates enough shares to meet the funding request and then makes these shares available for reservation to all members. All shares are priced at $5. All shareholders receive a credit on the finished project and are eligible for cash dividends distributed by project owners at their discretion.

Etc.

If you really want to dive down the rabbit hole, investigate the fellow behind the site and what he has to say about the current state of affairs.

5659

Living Room / Re: Anybody In Favour of the blocking of PirateBay, Please Read

« Last post by Renegade on May 04, 2012, 09:41 AM »

Alright kids, fight nicely - Before the thread really does draw the wrong kind of attention...

-Stoic Joker (May 04, 2012, 09:11 AM)

Either that or move it to Soap Box!  : )

-TaoPhoenix (May 04, 2012, 09:24 AM)

Wait a sec... They're talking about squirt guns... I thought Soap Box was for the dirty fights...

5660

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

« Last post by Renegade on May 04, 2012, 08:06 AM »

I just saw this video. It's pretty heavy, so maybe not for everyone, but if you support Wikileaks, then I'm pretty sure you will enjoy it.

5661

Living Room / Re: Apple Rejecting Apps That Use Dropbox

« Last post by Renegade on May 04, 2012, 07:02 AM »

If you start accepting such monopoly as fair practice and then also dont mind google stalking you as annoying, or try to justify every act of your favorite brand then you're perfect candidate for chip implants in head.

-mahesh2k (May 03, 2012, 12:08 PM)

Are you suggesting there may be something wrong with having chips implanted in one's head?
Enquiring minds need to know.     

-IainB (May 03, 2012, 12:37 PM)

Nothing wrong actually if you are not part of 'em.

-mahesh2k (May 03, 2012, 02:05 PM)

...But one of the chips primary features is to prevent you from enquiring about things that might upset you. It's the new medication free way to maintain calm from the inside out!

-Stoic Joker (May 03, 2012, 03:25 PM)

I think things don't end there. Matrix (or inception ) stuff starts from there. It has its own market if it comes to reality. I mean you get to experience things which you can't do. Like say, you never got to do X or Y stuff in real world, inset the chip, login and do whatver stuff you want. Something like second life in mind connected to web.

-mahesh2k (May 04, 2012, 06:22 AM)

Somehow I really rather doubt that the purpose of chipping people is recreational... Imagine that you get to experience a virtual horror movie where you're the victim, just because you didn't do as you were told. That's probably closer to what it will end up being.

5662

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

« Last post by Renegade on May 04, 2012, 04:58 AM »

This is just fucking beautiful~!

Oh, it's VERY NSFW, so do keep that in mind. Enjoy~! 

I love Adam Kokesh~!  

5663

Living Room / Re: Apple Rejecting Apps That Use Dropbox

« Last post by Renegade on May 03, 2012, 07:28 PM »

Being "chipped" is the end. It changes you from being human to being property - slavery. It is the ultimate in surveillance and total control.

-Renegade (May 03, 2012, 05:22 PM)

Right. Knew that. I was just doing a sarcastic parody of a futuristic sales brochure.

-Stoic Joker (May 03, 2012, 06:36 PM)

Ah - sorry - that wasn't meant to be a response to you -- just to the topic of chips.

Your comment about medication reminded me of the new research into altering human emotions.

5664

Living Room / Re: Firefall developer: "Consoles, I believe, are dead"

« Last post by Renegade on May 03, 2012, 05:49 PM »

If anyone has ever looked at what it takes to get a game on a console... it's a massive amount of effort.

The last console I had was an Atari 2600. It's been a while.

Back then, the word for "console" was "Atari".

I won't cry if consoles die though. They're a choke point, and we're better off with free distribution on the Internet instead of controlled, walled-gardens.

Incidentally, the "Android Marketplace" app on 1 of my Android devices got automatically removed and "upgraded" to "Google Play". Ahem... You mean you f**ked with MY device? You deleted s**t without asking me? Yeah... F*** you too. Not happy about that. It's not that the marketplace got replaced - it's that I don't walk into your house and s**t on the floor, and I don't expect others to do the same to me. Malware deletes stuff without asking you. Breaking into a computer that belongs to someone else and deleting stuff while installing other stuff is what we call "a criminal offense" in most places - you go to jail for it. But somehow it's ok if Google does it?

Nah... This entire control-freak stuff like consoles has to go.

What I would like to see is a version of Android that isn't malware. iOS will always be malware, so there's no hope there, but Android has a faint glimmer of hope...

It would be nice to see consoles more open as well. I'd be more inclined to get one if they were...

5665

Living Room / Re: Apple Rejecting Apps That Use Dropbox

« Last post by Renegade on May 03, 2012, 05:22 PM »

If you start accepting such monopoly as fair practice and then also dont mind google stalking you as annoying, or try to justify every act of your favorite brand then you're perfect candidate for chip implants in head.

-mahesh2k (May 03, 2012, 12:08 PM)

Are you suggesting there may be something wrong with having chips implanted in one's head?
Enquiring minds need to know.     

-IainB (May 03, 2012, 12:37 PM)

Nothing wrong actually if you are not part of 'em.

-mahesh2k (May 03, 2012, 02:05 PM)

...But one of the chips primary features is to prevent you from enquiring about things that might upset you. It's the new medication free way to maintain calm from the inside out!

-Stoic Joker (May 03, 2012, 03:25 PM)

Being "chipped" is the end. It changes you from being human to being property - slavery. It is the ultimate in surveillance and total control.

The technology has been researched for a long time, and they're even at the point now where they're looking into altering human emotions via chips. You can search and find all that out there.

There are only 4 words you need to know when they come to chip you - "Over my dead body."

5666

General Software Discussion / Re: Powerful Yet Light Weight Image Editor

« Last post by Renegade on May 03, 2012, 01:05 AM »

Nothing on DC as far as I know, but Paint.NET is a pretty full-featured image editor that's comparatively lightweight.

-wraith808 (May 02, 2012, 12:44 PM)

+1 for Paint.NET. It's quite good. 

To be honest, I think it would be a complete waste of time for most people here to build an image editor, with perhaps the exception of mouser as it relates to existing software of his (Screenshot Captor). The market is flooded with editors. Unless someone comes up with a truly novel approach to editing - something that isn't out there now - I don't see any point in it. Special purposes are a different story though -- there's always room there.

Has anyone here ever thought of writing an image editor?

5667

Living Room / Re: Apple Rejecting Apps That Use Dropbox

« Last post by Renegade on May 03, 2012, 12:52 AM »

This is arguably a form of industrialised victimisation of the consumer.

-IainB (May 02, 2012, 11:30 PM)

+1!

Actually, if I may be so bold as to edit a tiny bit...

This is arguably a form of industrialised victimisation of the consumer.

It's the same thing as planned obsolescence or engineered obsolescence. It's purely predatory.

5668

Living Room / Re: Apple Rejecting Apps That Use Dropbox

« Last post by Renegade on May 02, 2012, 10:46 PM »

Sigh...

Does any of this surprise anyone?

5669

General Software Discussion / Re: "FlyRights" Targets TSA Abuse

« Last post by Renegade on May 02, 2012, 12:42 AM »

"That App constitutes obstruction of justice and anyone using it is a terrorist!" 

-TaoPhoenix (May 02, 2012, 12:21 AM)

Or did you mean:

That App constitutes obstruction of terrorism and anyone using it is justified!

5670

General Software Discussion / "FlyRights" Targets TSA Abuse

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2012, 11:54 PM »

A new mobile app targets TSA abuse with real time reporting:

http://www.activistp...-put-end-to-tsa.html

A new mobile app called FlyRights has been introduced by The Sikh Coalition, a civil rights advocacy group.  The app provides a real-time direct connection to the TSA and DHS complaint system.

The impetus behind the app is ostensibly the profiling of certain racial, ethnic, and religious groups, as The Sikh Coalition asserts has taken place after the September 11th attacks.  However, the very first complaint to come in via FlyRights was from a woman who disclosed that she was carrying breast milk and was subsequently "mistreated."  The second was in fact from a Sikh gentleman who said he was taken aside for special treatment even though he not set off any of the usual alarms.

App site: http://www.fly-rights.org/

Introducing a quick and easy way to report complaints of air travel discrimination in real time, right after the incident occurs.

Images from press kit:











It's kind of interesting to see software being used for things like this. Though, it is rather sad that it is needed...

5671

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... a used Web page identifier

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2012, 11:46 PM »

Ah... ok. I think I know what you mean. The proper term for it is "an orphaned page". That is, a page that exists on the site, but has no links to it, and hence, no way to get to it, and hence, is "unused". Is that about right?

I don't know any software that I can recommend, but if you search with "orphaned page" or "orphan page", that should point you in the right direction to get what you're looking for.

5672

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... a used Web page identifier

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2012, 08:42 PM »

It sounds like you want a web log analyzer. There are MANY out there.

Basically, just run it, then look for pages with zero visits. (That's what you're looking for when you say "unused", right?)

5673

Living Room / Re: Android Tablets

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2012, 08:11 PM »

Those ASUS tabs look mighty sexy! I really do like the "transformer" idea there.

I bought a separate keyboard for mine:

http://www.samsung.c...R-K14AWEGSTA-gallery

But I do like the ASUS ones there better. The "shell" feature is just slick.

5674

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

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

“Well” says the doctor “You’ve got brothel sprouts.”

-Target (April 29, 2012, 06:33 PM)

Hahahaha~! I like that one~!

Got a real, true, honest idiotic statement from a politician...

Speaking about protesters and mass strikes & protests in New York city, Mayor Bloomberg says...

They don’t have a right to disrupt other people and keep other people from protesting...

Bwahahahaha~!

Source: http://rt.com/usa/ne...l-strike-us-ows-329/

Gentlemen, let's get this thing straight, once and for all. The policeman is not here to create disorder. The policeman is here to preserve disorder.

-Richard J. Daley

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General Software Discussion / Re: Simple means of joining images?

« Last post by Renegade on April 30, 2012, 09:35 PM »

Why not just bite the bullet and learn to use the GIMP or Paint.NET? They do everything and more, and really, once you know how to use them, they're pretty easy to use, and free. Doing what you are asking to do is still very quick in both of them. There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you know the few little bits that you need to do that, it's trivial.

At the end of the day, you'll likely spend less time learning the GIMP or Paint.NET than you'd spend trying to find something that does only what you want. Often it's simply faster & easier to abandon the search for some specific functionality in favour of broader functionality.