Recent Posts

751

General Software Discussion / Which archive software are we using in 2010 (and why)?

« Last post by zridling on August 09, 2010, 08:49 PM »

I'm curious to see which archiver DC members are using these days. Most of them are cross-platform, but which is your favorite and why?

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Living Room / Re: Yea, but will your emotional robot mow my lawn?

« Last post by zridling on August 09, 2010, 08:43 PM »

I want that cool, smart robot in "I, Robot." At least that cat could draw. Not some whiny, moody teenaged bot!

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Living Room / Yea, but will your emotional robot mow my lawn?

« Last post by zridling on August 09, 2010, 12:28 AM »

Alok Jha writes for the Guardian: First robot able to develop and show emotions is unveiled:
Nao is a robot — the world's first that can develop and display emotions. He can form bonds with the people he meets depending on how he is treated. The more he interacts with someone, the more Nao learns a person's moods and the stronger the bonds become.
__________________________
It would also be helpful with old folks living alone, as long as they're not freaked out. More important: Will emotional-bot laugh when I fart? (I know I do.)

The implications are funny and serious.

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Living Room / Re: Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple

« Last post by zridling on August 06, 2010, 10:56 PM »

As the author notes, however, a key point is how Apple -- and its followers -- respond to the ordinary criticism that other companies have encountered. Apple and Steve Jobs choose to respond with threats, lawsuits, bluster, cutting off media access, among other embarrassing recent problems (such as how to hold the phone in a magical way that it doesn't drop calls). Apple invites further criticism if it doesn't step up and do right by its customers, no matter how fanatical or zealous.

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Living Room / Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple

« Last post by zridling on August 04, 2010, 11:42 PM »

Apple can't seem to catch a break lately, but just ask Microsoft, that comes with the territory. Mitch Wagner gets to the heart of the matter with 5 reasons why people hate Apple:

Every company has its opponents, but Apple really gets people worked up. Some people hate Apple a lot, more than they hate Nazis or Smurfs. They leave angry comments on Apple blogs. Based on my extensive observations of the species, Apple-haters fall into five categories. If you're an Apple-hater, which one of these categories do you fit in?

• You believe buying Apple undermines your individuality
• You hate Apple culture
• You've had a bad experience with Apple products
• Apple isn't right for you
• You hate Apple's closed architecture

Overall, my beef with the App Store restrictions aren't that they exist, they're that they need to be better. I want a native Google Voice App -- Google developed one, but Apple rejected it. I want an app that will let me update all my podcasts automatically, over the air, without having to sync to iTunes; Apple blocked a podcasting app in 2008.... While Apple kills those useful apps, it allows more than a hundred fart apps, including iFart Mobile, Atomic Fart, Fart Piano, 1,000,000 Fart Generator, and something called "Bluetooth Fart" (because, presumably, USB and Firewire farts just weren't good enough).

You stay classy, Apple.

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Developer's Corner / Re: The Inversion of the Open Source - Big Corporation Divide?

« Last post by zridling on August 04, 2010, 11:30 PM »

Note that I'm not talking about who benefits from *using* Open Source software -- I'm talking about which developers benefit from releasing their software as Open Source.

-mouser (July 29, 2010, 07:02 AM)

That depends on the software, doesn't it? A single freeware-type app in 2010 probably isn't going to make a splash like it could have in 2002. As others have noted, the term "open source" has been co-opted by many industries. The biggest example -- beyond Firefox, the Apache web server, and the MySQL database format -- is Linux, and more specifically, Red Hat. However, something big that is shared can make you a lotto winner, e.g., Wikipedia, MySQL, Innobase, and an endless list of industry-specific software bought out by such industries as airlines, autos, oil, healthcare, banking, travel, real estate, mapping, etc.

But writing software is the skill, and it's not the first "open" skill around:
- Carpentry
- Math
- Cooking
- Farming
- Repair (of just about anything)
- Fashion, sewing, weaving, etc.

Writing code is just another trade just like others.

A giant corporation like google can afford to open source most of its software because it's not the software that's valuable any more -- it's the company infrastructure that enables them to serve so many users, and the cross-marketing resources they can throw at the userbase any time it looks like they might be losing market share.  Open sourcing their software is merely a way to get more free publicity and free bug fixing for their code.

-mouser (July 29, 2010, 07:02 AM)

As Jaden says, Amazon's S3 service is available, as does Google, but then that begs the question in a way!

Meanwhile with the focus on online web services, for a indie coders without the money to compete with a large corporation, the paths forward are daunting. If you create something new and innovative, unlike the case with desktop software, you have to know that you won't be able to scale up the service to handle a large volume of users.

-mouser (July 29, 2010, 07:02 AM)

At least that's the hope; figuring out what to do with success, that is. I realize I'm out of my league here when talking about coding and its economics. Looking back, it's easy to see where computing was heading -- the web -- with increasing demands for smaller and more mobile hardware. From desktops to laptops to notebooks to netbooks to phones and now tablets, we all just want to have the internet at hand all the time. As a consumer of code, I recommend working in small groups, learn to take advantage of all the open code available to come up with your next great idea... Dick Tracy internet wristwatch, anyone?!

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Living Room / Re: Google demonstrates new communication platform "WAVE": mail, chat , wiki, ..

« Last post by zridling on August 04, 2010, 10:57 PM »

At least I'll give them credit for giving up on projects that don't work. Don't waste the time or money.

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Living Room / Re: Android and iPhone differences - a webcomic

« Last post by zridling on August 02, 2010, 09:45 PM »

  I'm so happy you guys like Linux, Android, that is!

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Living Room / Re: Learning from Cats -- My New Strategy for Dealing with Things I Don't Understand

« Last post by zridling on August 02, 2010, 09:43 PM »

I'm so old, I remember when you can beat the living crap out of a dial phone. These days, you press the button too hard on some of these machines and they get all pissy on you.

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Living Room / Richard Stallman Answers Your Questions

« Last post by zridling on July 30, 2010, 06:34 AM »

In a fascinating interview with this odd and sometimes lovable man, he admits:

• His biggest failing is how so many people confuse free software with open source software.
• Doesn't care for Hollywood movies.
• Recommends you buy the best books using cash, in a store.

Do you have any pets?
RMS: No. I spend most of my time traveling, so I could not have any pets.
If it were possible, I would like to have a friendly parrot.
____________________
If you could have one proprietary package/software released as Free
Software, which would it be and why?
RMS: Of the programs I know of, I think freeing Autocad would give the
biggest boost to the free software community.
____________________
We should use democracy to organize and together impose limits on what
 the rich can do to the rest of us. That's what democracy was invented for!
____________________
Why hasn't GNU or the FSF tried to make a market ("app store") for Free Software?
RMS: Would it even be possible? There is no platform that directs users to
get their free software from our app store. We don't make such
platforms. In general, each GNU/Linux distro has its own package
system and repositories. Each has its own developers' group which
maintains them.... I won't claim it is impossible to have a corporate controlled app
store for a system which is free software. I don't see how, but if
someone manages to do this, more power to her.
____________________
The main shortcoming of Linux is at the level of device support. The
obstacle there isn't a lack of ability among Linux developers, but
rather the use of devices whose specs are secret.
____________________
When a company says, "Don't inspect our plant, just trust us to
maintain safety standards," we need to respond, "You're probably
trying to cheat, so we will inspect you on a random day each year and
charge you what it costs."
____________________
It is ok to use a nonfree program for the purpose of developing its free replacement.
____________________
What is vim doing better than emacs?
RMS: Sorry, I have never tried using vim. I never felt I deserved such a large penitence ;-).

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Living Room / Re: Pirate vs. Paying Customer illustrated

« Last post by zridling on July 30, 2010, 05:39 AM »

New website on how to fight ACTA:
http://www.anti-acta.../Frontpage/Itemid,1/

"ACTA has several features that raise significant potential concerns for consumers privacy and civil liberties, for innovation and the free flow of information on the Internet, legitimate commerce, and for developing countries ability to choose policy options that best suit their domestic priorities and level of economic development."

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General Software Discussion / Re: Dell drops ubuntu support

« Last post by zridling on July 29, 2010, 05:15 PM »

Dell wasn't promoting them anyway. You had to do a google search to even find relevant pages on the dell site. Though I haven't tried 10.04, I don't recommend Ubuntu to anyone, even Linux users!

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Living Room / Re: You are Not So Smart: A Celebration of Delusion and the Anchoring Effect

« Last post by zridling on July 28, 2010, 06:15 PM »

So this explains why people pay five prices for Apple's heroin, er, products!

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Living Room / Re: Build a $200 Linux PC -- How-to by ExtremeTech

« Last post by zridling on July 27, 2010, 09:31 PM »

Probably because Oracle now requires users to purchase a service contract in order to use Solaris, thus jacking up the price of your $200 PC.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Media players

« Last post by zridling on July 26, 2010, 11:16 PM »

I formerly used Amarok (KDE) for music, but heck, I can create all kinds of playlists with VLC, and since VLC brings its own codecs with it, it's stupid-easy.

766

General Software Discussion / Re: Whoa, this gal hates MS Office 2010 -- 5 Reasons Why You Don't Need It

« Last post by zridling on July 26, 2010, 11:13 PM »

Face it, some folks -- including me -- honestly do NOT like the ribbon. No amount of perfume is going to make that pig smell any better. The ribbon is:

• Cheesy (really, this is just bad design and Microsoft poured too much cash in it to admit it)
• A waste of space (I got better uses than a dead ribbon eating up screen space)
• Looks like a 1st grader designed it (see cheesy above)
• Its icons are unnecessarily HUGE (I'm not a retarded blind person)
• Keyboard shortcuts and self-designed start pages are more efficient and economical (simple is better)

No matter. I no longer pay for OS, nor would I pay for an office suite. Ninety-nine percent of my work is done using a text editor.

767

Living Room / Build a $200 Linux PC -- How-to by ExtremeTech

« Last post by zridling on July 26, 2010, 06:55 AM »

I love the idea of building a cheap PC for either a relative or someone who doesn't think they could use one (such as my 75-year old mom). ExtremeTech came through with an honest build of a cheap PC, explaining each sacrifice for price. And they still managed to get a decent machine out of it.



Times are still tough out there, but our needs and desires don't always flag just because the economy does. If an accident or an equipment failure has punched an unexpected hole in your computing life, you may be in need of a system—any system—to fill it. Or maybe you've discovered that your family just needs one more box to use as a Web terminal to keep the more powerful systems free more often. Whatever the circumstance, you may be tempted to drop $500 or even more on one of the cheaper, pre-fab models you can find at Costco, Wal-Mart, or from one of the major manufacturers. But once you've factored in all the attendant costs, taxes, and shipping, you could be spending a lot more than you planned—and that's something to avoid, especially when every penny counts.

Even if you need a computer right away, there are plenty of good reasons to build one rather than buy one. You control the parts, so you get exactly what you need at the price you can best afford. You're assured of being able to upgrade any (or all) of the pieces later, when you have more money to spend. And, perhaps most importantly, you get the satisfaction of doing it yourself and maintaining complete control over it from the very instant you open the boxes. No matter how little you want to drop, building your own computer is still the best way to go.

So we asked ourselves: What's the lowest point at which these two goals could intersect? If we needed a simple computer right away, and wanted to spend as little as possible, what could we build? We knew we wanted to aim low, almost ridiculously low—so we decided on what seemed like almost an unthinkable total: $200, which would include everything needed for the base computer itself (but not counting the monitor, keyboard, and mouse, or tax and shipping charges).

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General Software Discussion / Re: Whoa, this gal hates MS Office 2010 -- 5 Reasons Why You Don't Need It

« Last post by zridling on July 23, 2010, 11:36 PM »

Microsoft Key card:
http://blogs.technet...oft-office-2010.aspx

Office 2010 is preloaded by PC manufacturers on their PCs. You buy a key card that unlocks the license to it for that machine only. No license portability, just works on one machine only.

769

General Software Discussion / Firefox Tab Candy will change the way I use a browser for good

« Last post by zridling on July 23, 2010, 11:31 PM »

The power of the browser has grown substantially in the last ten years. We now use the Web to multi-task the activities we juggle every day, like vacation plans, purchases, sharing pictures, listening to music, reading email, and writing a blog post.

It’s hard to keep everything straight with dozens of tabs all crammed into a little strip along the top of your browser. Your tab with a search to find a pizza parlor gets mixed up with your tabs on your favorite band. Often, it’s easier to open a new tab than to try to find the open tab you already have. Worse, how many of us keep tabs open as reminders of something we want to do or read later? We’re all suffering from infoguilt.

We need a way to organize browsing, to see all of our tabs at once, and focus on the task at hand. In short, we need a way to get back control of our online lives.

Enter: Tab Candy. Watch the video. This will be a hit, I promise.

770

General Software Discussion / Re: Whoa, this gal hates MS Office 2010 -- 5 Reasons Why You Don't Need It

« Last post by zridling on July 23, 2010, 12:15 PM »

One criticism the author didn't include was that MS Office 2010 is not a cross-platform product, unlike SoftMaker Office or OpenOffice, or for that matter, all those online freebies. I'm truly not fond of the new key card purchasing/licensing system for MS Office that ties the suite to one machine.

As Josh says, people either love or hate the ribbon. Odd that its extensive user testing didn't disclose this love/hate dichotomy and that in response Microsoft didn't make it fully customizable (and smaller).

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General Software Discussion / Whoa, this gal hates MS Office 2010 -- 5 Reasons Why You Don't Need It

« Last post by zridling on July 22, 2010, 10:35 PM »

Julie Sartain of PC World gives us Five Reasons You Don't Need Microsoft Office 2010, and she doesn't hold back:

(1) No more upgrades. If you are looking for an upgrade price, forget it. Microsoft has decided not to offer upgrade pricing anymore.
Next to Windows Millennium, Vista, the Office 2007 Ribbon, and the Kin bombshell, this is the worst marketing decision Microsoft has ever made.

(2) Free Alternative Programs. OpenOffice, et al.
Other alternative programs include IBM's Lotus Symphony, Google Docs, and Zoho--all free--and ThinkFree, which has both a free and a fee-based version.

(3) Few New Features, Nothing Impressive. You can save Word docs to SharePoint--or just copy and paste them in. Other new features include paste preview, so you can preview the page before you paste items into your document--or you could just go ahead and paste the items in, then select undo if you don't like how it looks.
There are a few other minor features. However, I still don't think these are anything to get excited about, and they're certainly not worth the new ‘non-upgradable' price tag.

(4) The Ribbon Changed, but It's Still a Bomb. The only real change worth mentioning on the Ribbon bar is its capability to customize the menus.
I hated it in Office 2007 and I still hate it. After using it for weeks and cursing it daily, I finally purchased a program from AddIn Tools that, when installed, redesigns the Ribbon bar menus back to the old Office 2003 menus.

(5) Simultaneous Editing. [This] is nothing more than a shared document feature.
This not a cool function. It actually creates a lot more confusion than it's worth, especially if you have ever used Adobe Acrobat to perform these same tasks. Every time I have ever used sharing and collaboration in Acrobat, it has resulted in chaos with one user changing what another just wrote or edited causing conflict between all participants because the original is no longer available unless someone had the foresight to make a backup copy.

_________________________________
I was with her until she suggested Corel's WordPerfect. Really?!

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General Software Discussion / Linux First Steps (fresh round of advice on where to start)

« Last post by zridling on July 22, 2010, 10:07 PM »

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols shares his thoughts on starting out with Linux:



Every now and again someone writes me and asks me "What's the best way for me to get started in Linux?" Over the years, I've answered in several different ways, but here's the summarization of my thoughts.
___________________
Definitely some things I haven't thought of, but I do like leaving your Windows system intact.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Strange Google Chrome Problem

« Last post by zridling on July 21, 2010, 11:46 PM »

My Chrome problem is that it crashes every time I try to attach a photo or file in a forum. Tried everything on the googles with no result. Running latest stable 5.x version. Truly blows.

September 21st update: Stable 6.0 version continues the same problem. Who does Google think they are, Canonical (Ubuntu)?

774

General Software Discussion / Aloha, free HTML5 Editor

« Last post by zridling on July 20, 2010, 05:31 PM »

Aloha, a free HTML5 Editor, is available under AGPLv3 license. "You can edit any website content instantaneously. You see the changes the moment you type. No training necessary to edit content of a website, wiki, blog or any other application." And it integrates with your browser, blog, etc. easily.

Nice!

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General Software Discussion / Re: weather.com

« Last post by zridling on July 20, 2010, 04:59 PM »

Deozaan, thanks for geoipweather.com, I love it.  

Also mouser, I'm finding it hard not to use intellicast daily. Wow, that's nice.