Recent Posts

7076

Living Room / Re: Movies I Love to Listen To: Dialects and Accents

« Last post by 40hz on August 24, 2011, 12:48 PM »

Have to add in The Medicine Man.



Sean Connery doing Sean Connery - and the (then) young Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Rea Crane complete with a "Noo Yawk" Bronx accent to die for.

7077

Living Room / Re: U.S. East coast quake - Everybody OK?

« Last post by 40hz on August 24, 2011, 12:26 PM »

In southwestern Connecticut about 46.5 miles (75km) away from NYC and roughly 330 miles from the epicenter.

All is calm. All is bright.  

A little tremor. Definitely enough to notice, but nothing damaged as far as this morning's news has reported. Yay!

7078

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2011, 11:29 AM »

In this day-and-age, aren't we meant to create a facebook page and start a petition or campaign to highlight cnet's crass new system.

+1. Maybe sites like "Makeuseof" and "Lockergnome" and "Ghacks" can help spread the word ?

-mahesh2k (August 23, 2011, 10:58 AM)

Ghacks is already on it. So'sHackerNews.

7079

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2011, 10:21 AM »

I think a simple e-mail to their legal department informing them you do not agree to their revised terms of service and request your software immediately be removed from their site should be sufficient. If it isn't, there's always the DMCA notification route.

You might, however, want to be just a tiny bit discreet as to how heavy you get with them right up front. It's going to take some time before the degree of outrage registers with those in charge. And possibly a little longer before they realize the obligatory stalling moves and spin doctoring aren't going to sway people towards their story.  So when they do abandon this practice (which I'm sure they eventually will) you may want to be listed with them again. Making legal threats may make them think twice about letting your app back in.

Just something to think about if you're a developer.

Of course, if you don't care, by all means have at them.  

7080

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2011, 09:11 AM »

Wilder Security has words from a CNet staffer up on one of it's forums. Buried in a pile of negative other posts, there's now a very non-inspiring semi-official response from CNet.

Re: Cnet Download.com Installer
Hi,

My name is Catherine Hwang on the CNET Download.com team and wanted to get in touch with you all to address this issue regarding the CNET Download.com Installer.

The all-new CNET Download.com Installer is indeed a new feature we rolled out in the recent weeks, but it does not force a toolbar on any users. Instead, the users will encounter a single offer for an additional 3rd-party software during the download process, which is clearly disclosed and provides the option to accept or decline the offer before proceeding with the download. In addition, we only show offers for software that is approved for listing on CNET Download.com.

For more information, please visit our FAQ on Upload.com - http://cnet.custhelp...ers/detail/a_id/2065 and please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have. We welcome your feedback to make this a better experience for users and developers alike.

Thanks,
Catherine
Senior Partner Manager
CNET Download.com
 

7081

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2011, 08:43 AM »

Try www.snapfiles.com 

7082

Living Room / Re: Firefox fixes the version number problem

« Last post by 40hz on August 21, 2011, 09:31 AM »

And not one bad remark about Opera...need I say more?

-Stephen66515 (August 19, 2011, 06:22 PM)

Probably because most of us stopped caring about that years ago?

-f0dder (August 21, 2011, 08:56 AM)

I think many rather than most would be more correct.

Lately, I find myself using Opera more and more.  Especially when frequenting forums. 

7083

General Software Discussion / Re: What the Linux kids are watching today

« Last post by 40hz on August 20, 2011, 10:37 AM »

given the increasing velocity of innovation.

-kyrathaba (August 20, 2011, 07:36 AM)

Wonder if that will be enough to keep it ahead of the increasing velocity of litigation?

Especially now with all the patent trolling that's been going on.

Because the new name of the game seems to be EXPLOITATION rather than INNOVATION.

At least as far as the big companies are concerned.

7084

Living Room / Re: Stop the Machine! (anyone seen this?)

« Last post by 40hz on August 20, 2011, 10:26 AM »

hat's a *VERY* common misunderstanding of how things work in the US , but it's incorrect.

-mouser (August 20, 2011, 08:30 AM)

Mouser is correct. (Sad thing is I knew that too!)    

That's what I get for posting something when I've been up most of the previous night. 

Original post has been annotated. Apologies to all.

7085

Living Room / Re: Stop the Machine! (anyone seen this?)

« Last post by 40hz on August 20, 2011, 07:25 AM »

...but assume that when on average each of these households pays 1000 USD/year...

-Shades (August 18, 2011, 10:16 AM)

FWIW most households in the US pay more than $1000 per year for income tax.

Tax Year:   
Filing Status:    

If your taxable income is between...    your tax bracket is:
         0 and     8499                                 10%
    8500 and     34499                               15%
   34500 and    83599                               25%
   83600 and  174399                                28%
 174400 and   379149                               33%
 379150 and     over                                 35%

Most US taxpayers currently fall within the 15% and 25% tax brackets.

CORRECTION: Disregard following example and see Mouser's post immediately below.

Ignoring allowed deductions to income (which will vary from individual to individual) someone who earned $8499 would owe $850 in taxes. If they earned $1 more to make it $8500, their tax wold jump to $1275!

The rudest shock most US taxpayers ever experience is when they discover that they just barely made it into a higher tax bracket than they thought they'd be in. Usually, it was due to some windfall unexpected taxable income they made during the year. Often it's a small company bonus, a minor stock sale, or a prize of some sort that tipped the scale. When that happens, our hapless earner often finds himself scrambling to come up with several hundred additional dollars to pay off Uncle Sam by April 15th.

In the US, May 30th is referred to as Tax Freedom Day. Because that's the date by which the average wage earner has traditionally made enough to pay all of his or her tax obligations. So for five months out of the twelve, all US taxpayers are basically working for their government. They don't start working for themselves until June 1!

According to The American Spectator however, in 2011, the date is more correctly August 12th...

 

7086

Living Room / Re: Patent Wars: Apple Hits Samsung in EU

« Last post by 40hz on August 20, 2011, 06:22 AM »

Oh, but the iPad is an Etch-a-sketch - well, you can pretend if you like: http://getaheadcase.com/ipad.html

-nudone (August 20, 2011, 04:53 AM)

I remeber hearing that expression in the early days of the Macintosh. I think it was John Dvorak that first referred to the Macintosh SE/30 as a $6500 Etch-A-Sketch. ($6500 was the announced "introductory price." Yikes!!!)



 

7087

Living Room / Re: HP announces it's discontinuing all WebOS device development

« Last post by 40hz on August 20, 2011, 06:12 AM »

I'm hopeful they'll eventually hand the source for WebOS over to the OSF.

But knowing the way corporate boards work, it will probably never happen.

Especially if a patent has been filed for anything (no matter how trivial, stupid, or obvious) that's found within it. Look how Microsoft is allowing FoxPro to wither and die of neglect rather than release it to a community that can (and would) do something with it.

I'm guessing WebOS will eventually be sold and end up in some IP troll's portfolio.

7088

General Software Discussion / Re: What the Linux kids are watching today

« Last post by 40hz on August 20, 2011, 05:58 AM »

Portraying Stallman as a biblical Moses character was inspired. And not too far from the truth when you think about it. 

And powering 95% of all supercomputing? Wow! I knew Linux made inroads into that market, but I didn't realize it virtually owned it. 75% of all stock exchanges isn't too shabby either.

Very cool. Can't wait to see what the next 20 years will bring - assuming Apple and Microsoft don't finally figure out a way to litigate it out of existence.

 

7089

General Software Discussion / Re: InfoQube & TreeSheets: Information managers of the future

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2011, 07:03 PM »

@CyberDiva - I've noticed you often speak highly of Surfulator. Ever consider posting a review of Surfulator on DC? You're a longtime user so you'd be uniquely qualified to do it.
 

-40hz (August 19, 2011, 09:42 AM)

40hz, I wish I could, but I'm up to my eyeballs in work and personal commitments. 

-cyberdiva (August 19, 2011, 03:03 PM)

Understand. I'm much in the same position myself so I can sympathize. 

7090

Living Room / Re: HP announces it's discontinuing all WebOS device development

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2011, 07:00 PM »

Gonna have to side with Wraith on that point. It was far from being a 'token effort 'no matter how you want to look at it.

But HP has a board who's dancing the jig so many US companies dance to please the investment analysts and mutual and hedge fund managers. It's a practice that's netted billions for the financial community and corporate officer's stock options.

But it's destroying the very companies that are playing this game. To say nothing of destroying employment opportunities, innovation, and long-term economic viability.



Time was when these so-called financial experts and investors were called "carpet baggers."

Too bad the name (instead of the practice) went out of vogue.

7091

Living Room / Re: HP announces it's discontinuing all WebOS device development

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2011, 12:00 PM »

ArsTechnica just weighed in:

One of our favorite acronyms is ditching another one: Hewlett-Packard wants to spin off its personal computers division in a dramatic move. Whatever the means—spin-off, direct sale, or "other transaction"—HP is done with this low-profit market. Yes, that announcement comes from the current leader in worldwide PC sales. Speaking of the commodity PC business during today's earnings call, HP CEO Leo Apotheker said "continuing to execute in this market is no longer in the interest of HP and its shareholders."

And that's not all. The company is also buying British data analysis company Autonomy in a $10.2 billion blockbuster deal and effectively shutting down what's left of Palm. You'd think that the third-quarter report that's due after the closing bell would be enough excitement for one day, but HP didn't think so.

There's a common thread running through all of these changes, and it all starts at the top.

...

Apotheker is very much a software man. Coming in from decades of enterprise software experience at German powerhouse SAP, Leo was thrown into a world full of hardware at HP. From PCs and printers to UNIX servers—and even a finger in Intel's Itanium design—the Palo Alto giant must have looked alien to a man of Apotheker's pedigree.

HP's board of directors knew this when they hired him. If the steering committee wasn't okay with a radical shift into software and services, they would have hired somebody else.

 

7092

Living Room / Re: HP announces it's discontinuing all WebOS device development

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2011, 11:03 AM »

Here's what HP has to say about it's decision regarding its Personal Systems Group.

Looks like the current plan is to spin it off as a new company - but with the caveat they may not ultimately complete this plan.

HP, like most companies these days, has become enamoured of the opportunities to be found in "cloud" products and services.

Apparently the corporate world felt they missed the boat by not jumping all over the Internet and web technologies when they first appeared. Because now, they all seem hell bent on not letting the cloud slip away from them like the web did.


A

7093

General Software Discussion / Re: InfoQube & TreeSheets: Information managers of the future

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2011, 09:42 AM »

AFAIK AskSam is pretty much 'it' in the freeform text oriented database arena.

There were a few half-hearted FOSS project proposals. But none of them I knew about ever went anywhere. I don't think they even got much past the announcement and preliminary roadmap phase. Obviously it's harder than it looks to code something like that.

Maybe somebody will eventually crack the problem and we'll get something like The Librarian in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash novel.

That's an app I'd queue up to buy no matter what the price tag!

7094

General Software Discussion / Re: InfoQube & TreeSheets: Information managers of the future

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2011, 09:42 AM »

@CyberDiva - I've noticed you often speak highly of Surfulator. Ever consider posting a review of Surfulator on DC? You're a longtime user so you'd be uniquely qualified to do it.
 

7095

Living Room / Re: HP announces it's discontinuing all WebOS device development

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2011, 08:07 AM »

Many of us in server rooms all over the world would. 

So will a lot of developers who were interested in the WebOS platform. Especially since HP was doing everything it could to treat them right. Contrast with iOS if you need to examine why.

It's seldom a good thing when there's less competition in the market.

Just my tuppence.   

7096

Living Room / HP announces it's discontinuing all WebOS device development

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2011, 07:18 AM »

APRIL FOOLS!!!!

That is too funny. For a minute you really had me...

What?

You're kidding!

You mean it's not a joke?

No more WebOS?
No more TouchPad?
No more Pre 3?

And HP also announced it plans on getting out of the PC business?

Wow! Can you say "WTF?"

OSNews article here.

 

7097

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Captcha Brotherhood

« Last post by 40hz on August 19, 2011, 06:38 AM »

I'm not sure I like the idea of making a tool like this public - as an individual, you really don't spend that much energy on solving a captcha every now and then. Ah well, if you awarded credits can only be used for solving other captchas and there's no dollar-payout, it might not be that bad.

-f0dder (August 18, 2011, 05:10 PM)

Agree 100%

I just hope it doesn't turn into something similar to those 'malware construction kits' and 'haX0r L337' push-button apps the script-kiddies and wannabes are always downloading.

Because it probably will.
 

7098

Living Room / Re: "Upgrade" Button is Patented -- Trolls Come Out of Sewers...

« Last post by 40hz on August 18, 2011, 11:10 AM »

If push comes to shove, that particular patent has a life expectancy measured in milliseconds if they take it to court.  But they're definitely bottom feeding here. I'd guess Microsoft would be amused to learn their Win7 "anytime upgrade" button is patented.  Expect amicus briefs to be filed shortly - along with a motion to invalidate the patent.

-40hz (August 18, 2011, 10:09 AM)

Would Microsoft be able to enter the fray if they aren't being sued by the company? Makes you wonder why they're bottom feeding...

-f0dder (August 18, 2011, 10:24 AM)

I think they're playing a long shot hoping some big player will pay them off to go away. And also to be a barb for one of the players. Sorta like those countries with migrating loyalties that used to be so adept at playing the USA and the Soviet Union off against each other. It could go something like Apple decides to pay off the troll and tacitly acknowledge their IP. Now, with the weight of Apple behind it, troll sues Microsoft - and sets the value of the claim for damages squarely in the nuisance range so that Microsoft has incentive to settle. A parasite survives by not killing its host.  

Of course, Microsoft did something similar with it's semisecret cross-license deal with Novell over Linux. It uses that to spread FUD in the business community about FOSS by saying "See!!! SUSE recognizes the legal and technical validity of our OS patents. Why can't all the other distros, and their users, "get legal" by obtaining a license from us before it's too late? Because we'd sure hate to have to start hauling you guys into court. And right now we're just biding our time..."

Same old "same old."

7099

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by 40hz on August 18, 2011, 10:20 AM »

@nosh - The Man!

7100

Living Room / Re: "Upgrade" Button is Patented -- Trolls Come Out of Sewers...

« Last post by 40hz on August 18, 2011, 10:09 AM »

If push comes to shove, that particular patent has a life expectancy measured in milliseconds if they take it to court.  But they're definitely bottom feeding here. I'd guess Microsoft would be amused to learn their Win7 "anytime upgrade" button is patented.  Expect amicus briefs to be filed shortly - along with a motion to invalidate the patent.