Recent Posts

5826

Living Room / BBM Private Messages Torpedoed in India

« Last post by Renegade on April 08, 2012, 10:08 PM »

Well, looks like yet another shot at privacy with RIM succumbing to pressure from India in allowing the Indian govt. access to private BBM messages.

http://www.therecord...-blackberry-messages

After a battle lasting almost two years, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has knuckled under to the Indian government, giving security forces in that country access to private instant messages.

Experts say the change, first reported in the newsmagazine India Today, could lead to similar access for other spy agencies and government bodies around the world — if they don’t already have it.

Sad day for RIM and Indians.

5827

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: OpalCalc 1.41

« Last post by Renegade on April 08, 2012, 11:24 AM »

Wow... Just checked it out, and... in a word... WOW!

When I saw this thread a while ago, I thought... Oh god... who cares about a calculator... There are plenty of crappy ones out there already... But you've really come up with something out of the box here! I think I'm going to like this a lot. 

I'll be giving this a spin over the next while as I just about always have an instance or 3 of Calc.exe open.

Oh - and for the colour values -- that would be awesome. I've done colour programming here and there (in .NET and JS), and I think that you'll be surprised at just how easy it is (I don't know about how it would fit into OpalCalc, but the actual colour stuff isn't very hard). It can be somewhat tedious, but there is lots of code out there, and there are lots of charts that can be put in a permanent array for reference.

5828

Living Room / Hack a Mac, or 500,000

« Last post by Renegade on April 08, 2012, 08:56 AM »

Well, you knew it was coming at some point. Looks like a massive hack on Macs is underway.

And this is bad... really, really bad...

http://bits.blogs.ny...sers-no-longer-safe/

This week, security researchers discovered a new computer virus had infected half a million Mac users — about half of them in the United States. The virus is infesting users in the most surreptitious way possible: users need not manually click on any malicious links or manually download any malware to get infected. The program simply downloads itself. Once downloaded, the malware’s creators gain a back door that gives them unauthorized access to the victim’s computer.

“This is the largest scale attack on Mac OS X to date,” said Roel Schouwenberg, a senior researcher at Kaspersky Lab, an antivirus software company who has analyzed the malware. “And much more sophisticated.”

For now, the malware’s creators appear to be using infested computers for click fraud, in which they manipulate clicks on a Web advertisement in exchange for kickbacks. But as with all malware, its creators can choose to use infected computers however they like.

The malware infects computers in one of two ways. In some cases, users receive a pop-up prompt purporting to be from Adobe Flash asking them to install an update and type in their password — hence the Trojan’s name, “Fakeflash” or “Flashback.” But in most cases, attackers appear to have exploited a loophole in Java software that automatically downloads the malware onto victims’ machines without any prompting.

Remote root exploit? Nasty...

So...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA~!

I can't wait to hear some of the total BS from the fanbois... If anyone reads any particularly idiotic blathering, please post it here for a laugh!

5829

Living Room / Re: Cool Video: News report from 1981 about the Internet.

« Last post by Renegade on April 08, 2012, 07:48 AM »

Its hard to believe back in 81, there were that many people willing to spend the money on computers, dial up access just to read the paper!  $5 per hour for access, compared to today it would be like $20 per hour.

-techidave (April 08, 2012, 06:12 AM)

And a newspaper was what? $0.15 or $0.25?

5830

Living Room / Re: LOL Internets

« Last post by Renegade on April 08, 2012, 04:19 AM »

Get high.

Go to urbandictionary.com

Notice you’ve typed ictionary.com in the address bar

*LULZ*

Realize someone has actually bought that domain.

*MADLULZ*

-nosh (April 08, 2012, 04:17 AM)

Bwahahahahah~!

Check DC.

Notice new post.

Read about getting high.

*LULZ*



Thanks for the lulz~! For sure~!

5831

General Software Discussion / Re: xls to png

« Last post by Renegade on April 08, 2012, 03:10 AM »

This isn't a one-click solution but you can do the same thing in Excel 2003.
Found this on Bright Hub How to Save an Excel Object as an Image

-bob99 (April 06, 2012, 04:54 PM)

omg, those people at Microsoft did this on purpose? this excellent feature is hidden in a way most could never imagine to trigger (ie. open a filemenu entry, while keep SHIFT pressed, does nothing in most GUIs)

-kalos (April 07, 2012, 05:31 PM)

Yeah, it's so well hidden that if MS didn't have a strong anti-Easter egg policy, you'd have to guess that it was an Easter egg.

5832

General Software Discussion / Re: Next big opportunity - ditching the laptop in favor of mobile computing

« Last post by Renegade on April 08, 2012, 02:12 AM »

As I type on my tab... I think you're right, but I also think it will be a bit in coming as new UI tools/devices/paradigms will need to be more commonplace.

I use a keyboard with my tab as I type now, but I'd NEVER attempt to type this using the onscreen keyboard - it's simply too clunky and slow. Form factor will always play a crucial role, so it will be up to new, innovative software approaches to overcome the limitations of form factor to truly make the new mobile world more productive.

I'm a bit of a bigot when it comes to some mobile technologies though -- I loathe onscreen keyboards that are completely covered by my 2 thumbs, and refuse to use them. So my phone is out. My tab is much better, and I can actually use it for SHORT input.

Voice is currently out of the question as the licensing models for it are prohibitive. i.e. The server/service model makes using it in any kind of software too expensive for anyone except the major corporations that develop or own the software. This is NOT good for consumers - it is a hindrance and it is stopping the advance of mobile technology/software/productivity more than anything.

Were voice to become practical for software authors to use, it would instantly revolutionize computing overnight.

Check out 1 interview Andrew and I did at http://thedocreport.com/ -- it covers some of this.

The next big input will be the "minority report" gestures control, but that is still very far away. Camera sensor technology is more than advanced enough for it. But again, there are proprietary considerations that will exclude it for some time. Also, it really needs a holographic display to interact with, which is again, a fair distance away.

I'm hoping for a tablet/desktop marriage that lets the 2 truly merge as 1 device so I don't have to fart around with syncing and all that BS. It's possible, but it needs some work to get there.

Just imagine plugging your tablet into your desktop, doing video editing, taking the tab off to a client, showing the video, then doing a few minor touchups on the video right in front of them on your tab, delivering the final video right there, then going back, plugging the tab into the desktop and RESUMING the edit to archive it without screwing around with syncing and all that BS.

I really want to see my tab and desktop share all the same resources as a sort of grid computing where the individual nodes can function on their own or together.  That would be sexy stuff. Just add more nodes for more power. Yeah, definitely sexy stuff!

5833

Living Room / Re: Free Speech Online Suspended in Arizona

« Last post by Renegade on April 07, 2012, 11:54 PM »

They turned Arizona into Pleasantville!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120789/

Plus, I posted it elsewhere but I'll repeat it in this thread.
1. Post nude picture of myself looking scary
2. Get arrested for posting nude picture
3. Strip searched nude for looking scary.

-TaoPhoenix (April 07, 2012, 10:01 AM)

Sadly, you can be strip searched for anything at all now:

http://www.nytimes.c...ny-offense.html?_r=3

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband.

Good news for people that like being perversely violated.

Hmm... Arizona also passed that controversial law that allows police to detain and question anyone they think "looks" like an illegal alien.

So what if I report some illegal alien-looking person I don't like and refer to him/her as a "f**king illegal alien"? Do we both get arrested?    

-J-Mac (April 07, 2012, 11:03 AM)

Hahahaha~!

Well, I suppose that your next worry is whether you're strip searched first or not, and if you're second, does the searcher put on a new pair of latex gloves~?

You could always help the situation by eating lots of baked beans and tacos with lots of hot sauce before reporting the illegal alien.

5834

Living Room / Re: ODDNS: Decentralized and Open DNS To Defeat Censorship

« Last post by Renegade on April 07, 2012, 10:02 PM »

Looks a bit overly complicated at the moment. Which is a shame as I could really use it right now... and just don't have the time to play around with installing PHP, PEAR, and all that stuff.

5835

Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

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

That boycott there sounds like a very good thing.

Resisting temptation to rant about academia... working very hard...

Ok.

Coming up with a system to publish scientific papers really isn't that hard. It could even easily be done in real time. Any farting around on the issue is simply due to a lack of imagination. The ONLY problem would be user identification and verification, and even that's not all that difficult to solve.

Actually, I'm getting a few ideas that would be pretty darn wild to implement... Hmmm...

5836

General Software Discussion / Re: The start of the Start Button Menu things for Win8

« Last post by Renegade on April 07, 2012, 04:44 AM »

For me, Windows 8 is a huge no-go.  It will fail as a Desktop OS, and it will fail as a Tablet OS.

-Stephen66515 (April 02, 2012, 06:49 PM)

I think you're wrong there. Win8 will succeed because it's a step towards greater control over the user with less privacy. These are things that are being forced on us, and you will see glowing reviews for Win8 from everywhere.

It really will have no bearing on the UI. It's all about control. The Metro interface is more cloud oriented (or Internet oriented) with HTML5/JavaScript as the primary development tools. This is a step backwards as HTML5/JS are not well suited to write applications because they are simply far too CPU intensive compared to better tools like C++ or Delphi or whatever. So, you're going to lose power - which will drive computer sales as people need more RAM and more CPU to get less done. You're going to lose privacy as well as the network will basically strip any privacy that you had remaining. Google is your friend spymaster.

So while your computing experience deteriorates, and you lose your privacy, the corporate goons that profit off of you as "you are the product" - they will laugh all the way to the bank. Oh, did I mention that there is new legislation that encourages companies to spy on their customers and report "terrorists"? Yeah - Win8 will help there, but it won't help you.

And that's why Win8 will succeed - because it's bad for you and good for your slave overlords.

5837

Developer's Corner / Re: Introductory C# web-based tutorials

« Last post by Renegade on April 07, 2012, 02:15 AM »

For anyone interested, it's extremely simple, in C#, to determine whether your internet connection is "up" (connected) or "down" (not connected). I've done a C# project demonstrating:



download link

-kyrathaba (February 05, 2012, 08:35 AM)

Very nifty tutorial program!  

5838

General Software Discussion / Re: reserved characters in NTFS

« Last post by Renegade on April 07, 2012, 01:56 AM »

Someone (I think it's Skwire in one of his apps) uses the Yen symbol for paths

-tomos (April 06, 2012, 05:42 AM)

Actually, that is a side effect of running Japanese as the default language on my English Windows boxes; most backslashes show up as Yen symbols.  I've gotten so used to it over the years that I hardly notice it anymore.

-skwire (April 06, 2012, 07:50 AM)

The Korean won symbol (₩) serves the same purpose. However, I don't think either are legal in file names...

Scratch that... I just did a quick look, and it appears that the won symbol (and yen symbol) are legal, BUT, the \ character in Korean and Japanese is displayed differently as a won and yen symbol, respectively. So, while they "look" different than the \ character, under the hood they are the same.

So, if you use a \, then convert it to Korean/Japanese, it will change, and vice versa. And none of those characters are equivalent to the KRW or JPY symbols - ₩ or ¥.

5839

Living Room / Free Speech Online Suspended in Arizona

« Last post by Renegade on April 07, 2012, 12:41 AM »

Sigh... I'm really getting sick of this... It's just non-stop, all the time. 

In any event, Arizona has effectively ended free speech. They passed legislation that has insanely broad language that makes it illegal to offend anyone. Seriously? I find that law rather offensive. Perhaps they should charge and imprison everyone that voted for the law.

Turley: Arizona Law is a Stake in the Heart of Free Speech
Arizona Passes Sweeping Internet Censorship Bill - Legislation to make it illegal to use “offensive” language online
Internet censorship? Arizona law could outlaw trolling on the web
Arizona Legislature Passes Internet Censorship Bill
Arizona Internet Censorship Bill So Ridiculous, Even The MPAA And RIAA Are Against It
Trolling Could Get You 25 Years in Jail in Arizona

6 months in jail + $2,500 fine. For calling someone a name, or being "offensive". 

I don't think I ever want to go to the US ever again. Not the way things are now, or not in the direction they are going. The place is being systematically destroyed. I hope things reverse... The US desperately needs to be restored back to what it was originally intended to be when the founding fathers wrote the Constitution. I'd love to go back and visit that place...

Judge Andrew Napolitano recently said: "I think the president is dangerously close to totalitarianism." While it's off-topic from Arizona banning free speech, all this stuff is pointing in the same direction.

5840

Living Room / Re: It's Official - Anonymous are Terrorists

« Last post by Renegade on April 06, 2012, 12:44 PM »

In a five-four ruling this week, the supreme court decided that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offense, however minor, at any time. This horror show ruling joins two recent horror show laws: the NDAA, which lets anyone be arrested forever at any time, and HR 347, the "trespass bill", which gives you a 10-year sentence for protesting anywhere near someone with secret service protection.

Article here.

-cranioscopical (April 06, 2012, 11:58 AM)

You are so totally baiting me... and I'm about to bite...

But I won't.

The article is decent in pointing out the utter insanity.

I hope more people realize that this totalitarian agenda is accelerating.

None of this is isolated. It's all by design.

5841

Living Room / Re: A Free Movie - A bit of a story here...

« Last post by Renegade on April 06, 2012, 11:59 AM »

Well that was. . . interesting.

I had no idea what it was about when I started watching it.

-Deozaan (April 06, 2012, 11:49 AM)

And when it's done, it's in a totally different space...

Yeah -- I didn't know that it would be that intense. I've heard a lot of that elsewhere, but their presentation was excellent!

It was much different that what I was expecting, but still, I very much enjoyed it, and can appreciate their scholarship in the documentation they provide. THAT IS GOLD! 

5842

Living Room / Re: Flying Car

« Last post by Renegade on April 06, 2012, 12:57 AM »

My knowledge in automobile is pretty much shallow, so I don't know any known improvement as of now. I see a lot of changes in electronics world but I have yet to see any 2-4 wheeler cars for domestic market that consumes less fuel. So far the cars in market are in moderate points when it comes to fuel.

Most of the time the racing is around speed and control, not fuel saving. I doubt they have any goals or even research on fuel saving front in these races. I agree that innovation is driving factor, but it's hard to notice such innovation from domestic front if the fuel part is ignored. Sure, we can see A-list people surfing on moon station, even today, unless it gets cheap in domestic market, it hardly gets noticed.

-mahesh2k (April 06, 2012, 12:34 AM)

Fuel efficiency has been largely buried. Search for patents on fuel efficiency or energy and you'll turn up a wealth of things that have been buried.

So it's no surprise that we've never seen a fuel efficient vehicle -- all the cheap/free energy technologies get killed off.

Here's a starting point that describes some different energy technologies:

http://www.wanttoknow.info/freeenergy

There are lots of links there to MSM stories as well.

5843

Living Room / Re: More YouTube Censorship

« Last post by Renegade on April 06, 2012, 12:25 AM »

I tripped across another incident of YouTube censorship quite by accident.

I'm putting it in a spoiler though as the topic of the censored video is likely to cause some controversy. I am not trying to highlight any controversy or advocate any position or discredit any position, so please don't get that idea -- I am merely pointing out censorship (or what certainly looks like censorship -- you decide for yourself though).

For those that are predisposed to being easily offended, don't click the spoiler.

Potentially offensive to some people

So, I came across a link to this site:

http://pilotsfor911truth.org/

And was interested in what they had to say about the science/facts. Clicking through to here:

http://pilotsfor911truth.org/WTC2.html

They link to this video:

http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=lXEdrpzU_Qg

With a note below it:

The above video has been removed from youtube. However, we are leaving the link to show how evidence is disappearing from the net.

Now, given the highly charged nature of the topic, I find it rather difficult to believe that the account was terminated for any other reason than to censor.

In any event... I don't know the absolute Truth about exactly why that video is gone, but it is rather suspect.

5844

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

« Last post by Renegade on April 05, 2012, 10:37 PM »

This is worth a laugh or 2:

http://www.huffingto...etention_For_Browser



That there is just so utterly ridiculous... "Although he was correct... Alex would be better off simply accepting my teachings without resistance." That's seriously ****ed. Ignorance is strength.



Foxfire.exe~!

Nothing like making a mockery of education... Because resistance is futile~!

5845

Living Room / Re: A Free Movie - A bit of a story here...

« Last post by Renegade on April 05, 2012, 10:26 PM »

The movie is now available for free. It's a bit over 2 hours long and almost 2 GB, so you might want to download it with something like YouTubeDownloader or whatever.

http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=lEV5AFFcZ-s

5846

Living Room / Re: Flying Car

« Last post by Renegade on April 05, 2012, 10:18 PM »

Fuel. That seems to be the problem here. People are already wasting fuel in NASCAR/Formula 1. If this flying car gets into the market, fuel sources on earth will go down in one year. Another point is about safety. Jetson animation is hard to realize on practical  terms.

-mahesh2k (April 05, 2012, 09:33 PM)

I'm not so sure that fuel really is a problem. Countless oil wells in the US are capped. The price of oil is largely artificial.

The vehicle itself is quite light, so as a car, I'm betting that it's fuel consumption is lower than many others.

I'll skip the entire alternative energy thing though -- but suffice it to say that there are plenty of buried energy sources. (Search for something like "buried energy patent" or "free energy" or something like that if you're interested.)

5847

Living Room / Flying Car

« Last post by Renegade on April 05, 2012, 09:22 PM »

Well, here's another flying story:

http://rt.com/news/t...lying-car-plane-392/

For decades science fiction writers, and their more practical cousins, engineers, have dreamt of building a flying car. Now that one is about to arrive on the market, the real question emerges: what are flying cars actually for?

US company Terrafugia has variously labeled its Transition model as a “roadable aircraft” and a “street-legal airplane”, perhaps in a quest to avoid the inherent fantastical connotations of “flying car.” Particularly when they are trying to make customers shell out $279,000 for each one.

But functionally, the Transition is definitely a flying car.

Practical or not, it definitely seems cool!

5848

Living Room / Re: More YouTube Censorship

« Last post by Renegade on April 05, 2012, 07:36 PM »

If you do not believe me, here is a link with her mugshot:

http://www.whitman.e...mrpresident/norgaard

Not shopped!

5849

Living Room / Re: More YouTube Censorship

« Last post by Renegade on April 05, 2012, 07:27 PM »

This video has been removed as a violation of YouTube's policy
prohibiting content designed to harass, bully or threaten

Dunno what google are thinking - **
I presume they were put under (a lot of?) pressure to remove this, but even so, what kind of response did they expect...

-tomos (April 05, 2012, 01:50 PM)

So, in other words, they were politically motivated to remove the video... Which is even worse. (I'm glad you pointed that out as I didn't want to, but rather leave it for someone else to notice.)

looks like you're poking fun a bit at the professor as well :p
She does seem to mostly have a fairly quirky expression, but I cant help wondering if the first pic you show is photoshopped (*not* saying you had anything to do with it if it is!)

-tomos (April 05, 2012, 01:50 PM)

That's the thing - I didn't poke fun at her at all. I didn't need to. I merely needed to post her picture, and leave it to you to poke fun at her without any intervention from myself.

She looks crazed.

And no - that photo isn't photoshopped. That's her.

** [edit] then again, I havent seen the video - is it on show anywhere else? [/edit]

[another_edit] here it is. I'd censor it for not being funny; for being very personal (harrassing bullying?); but I dont believe in censorship myself, &, I suppose it's besides the point - but I've seen lots worse on youtube [/another_edit]

-tomos (April 05, 2012, 01:50 PM)

Alex isn't a great comedian, and his humour is a bit over the top sometimes. So yeah, I can certainly see why some wouldn't find it very funny. He goes more for ridiculous than funny.

But still - nothing in the video warranted censorship.

5850

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

« Last post by Renegade on April 05, 2012, 06:12 AM »

And one pissed off, errr... pissed on dog.