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Recent Posts

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7576
General Software Discussion / Re: Google's ChromeOS Laptops for $20/month
« Last post by Renegade on May 11, 2011, 01:30 AM »
...“student package”  that combines both hardware and online services, according to a senior Google executive.  The product is almost certainly a precursor to an enterprise offering.

Well, building up to it makes sense. We'll see though. I don't know anyone that uses Google Apps in the real world that doesn't prefer MS Office... Online makes sharing easier though. But I think I'd rather just see the ability to open a URL in Office and save it to the cloud. Oh, that's Sharepoint I believe... Or perhaps any one of a trillion issue trackers...

$20 is hard to beat though. Now, how much was that broadband connection? :D
7577
DC Gamer Club / Re: Space Pirates and Zombies
« Last post by Renegade on May 11, 2011, 01:11 AM »
I watched the first video, but it didn't really inspire me much. I still have no idea what the game is. That's just as well though, as I should be playing games anyways... But man... The name is way cool. Love that - SPaZ. :) Almost makes me want to try it just for the name!
7578
Living Room / Re: Droid Texting - Fail!
« Last post by Renegade on May 10, 2011, 11:32 PM »
So... What you're telling me is this kind of horse shit is normal?!? Christ no wonder I avoided these things for so long.

I'd think from all the hype that the Google/Android phones would be just dandy at all this Social Networking crap. Simple Message Service my ass!

I'd hoped it was a setting that was off but could be fixed. But I guess I'll have to get her switched to a Windows phone because her office is insisting on her being able to text the doctor.

Hell my Windows phone came with Office Mobile and connects to our Exchange server just fine. The VP got a Droid (same as the wife's) and it locks up daily. I thought they were supposed to be great phones...?
-Stoic Joker (May 10, 2011, 10:59 PM)

Oh -- I didn't mean that it happens normally on Android -- I was speaking about any technology or service or product or anything in general... i.e. Less than promised...

My HTC Desire HD certainly isn't perfect. But it's ok. My next phone will be Windows Mobile though. That way I can easily program what I want for it quickly. I'm finding that anything I want to do on iOS is simply mind-numbingly horrid. I've not done enough on Android yet to say much though. Microsoft simply produces better tools to get things done. I had no problems a few years ago doing stuff on Windows CE/2003 or whatever it was. I forget now.

As for SNS stuff and all that... Ready to lose your last threads of sanity? Check out the documentation for some of the popular SNS SDKs/APIs.

e.g. http://developers.facebook.com/docs/

WTF? It's a bloody maze. Where is the documentation? Huh?

http://developers.fa...reference/api/photo/

Now it's starting to look like documentation, but how it relates to anything isn't obvious.

So, the whole social networking service stuff still seems to be very much in its infancy. Mobile is still in its infancy as well, and I think that the fast paced world of Wall Street is pushing things out the door prior to them being prime-time ready.

Compound that with flaky network infrastructure and dubious providers, and you've got 80%. :)

I recently went through my HTC and ripped out a bunch of software as it was bogging things down.

Well... go figure. Once you run something, it's always in memory. Want to close an app? Guess what? CTRL+ALT+DEL and kill it. Well, the mobile equivalent anyways. Or you can reboot... Reboot to close an app? Ummm... Yeah... It's THAT bad.

Try it -- Start an app, close it. Next, Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Running. You'll see a complete horror story there.

Some applications behave properly, but it doesn't seem like many do.

I suppose that's part of the price of having an open platform as opposed to a closed one.

Apple's polish vs. freedom? I'm hoping that Windows Mobile 8 comes screaming out of the gates, guns blazing, and addresses those issues.
7579
General Software Discussion / Re: Google Music Beta Now Live
« Last post by Renegade on May 10, 2011, 10:44 PM »
Dial-up has been relegated to backup service for transferring connections, and broadband is pretty much ubiquitous. It's the quality of "broadband" that varies, and it varies very widely. In some places, you're screaming fast if you get over 128k, while in others, 128M is soon to be relegated to the slow lane. Billing options in different jurisdictions/places also affect the practicality of the service.

I wish more US companies would off-shore their legal departments and figure out how to get around restrictions. It would make a lot more things viable for a lot more people. Sigh...
7580
Living Room / Re: Droid Texting - Fail!
« Last post by Renegade on May 10, 2011, 10:40 PM »
I don't use SMS, or extremely rarely. Even with a keyboard, with my big thumbs, I'm exactly that -- all thumbs.

But I can sympathize. I've encountered things like that before. Localization/globalization issues can drive you far beyond the wall of sleep and deep into the mountains of madness. I'd be rich if I had a dime for every profanity I've uttered over issues like that. If volume were factored in, I'd be getting $100 bills. (On more than 1 occasion I've been driven to insanely screaming like an absolute idiot.)

I try to not let it bother me anymore. I'm resigned to the fact that anything I want to do will only be 80% supported by the tools that purport to do them.
7581
Living Room / Re: Farewell Skype ...
« Last post by Renegade on May 10, 2011, 10:31 PM »
A Skype SDK would be fun...
-Stoic Joker (May 10, 2011, 10:23 PM)

I was thinking that the other day -- I've been working with the Facebook and Twitter SDKs/APIs lately.
7582
That's the kind of thing that a commercial dictionary software author might do.

Without a solid dictionary, it's impossible.

With a solid dictionary, it's problematic. e.g. How do you pronounce:

  • URL
  • SQL
  • etc.

There are some words that have a different number of syllables in different English accents as well, though I can't recall any at the moment.

Stress is another thing... And even more problematic as it differs more in different accents.

Accuracy would be very difficult, and the amount of research that it takes to get a high level of accuracy is prohibitive for any small software guys. You need specialized skills, linguistics, to approach the topic.

Now, there may be some grammar/spell checkers that could speed things up, but unless they also include pronunciation keys... Then if you did have pronunciation keys, you still need them for different accents.

e.g.

"water" -- In North American English the medial "T" is glottalized, making it sound like a "D", while in other accents, it's not, and is pronounced as a "T".

"schedule" in North American English begins as "sk", while in others begins as a harder "sh".

I'm drawing a blank on words with different numbers of syllables at the moment...

Ah... "poem". Po-em or pome?

There are others.

If you have a dictionary available, and it includes pronunciation keys, then the job becomes easier -- though the accuracy could be suspect in some places.

Here's some info:

http://www.phonicson...eb.com/syllables.php

It's a good general guide, but English really is a bastard language, made up of a bunch of others, and consequently it has a lot of "exceptions". (Not really though as it's just a matter of mis-applying the proper rule, e.g. "to boldly go" is correct English grammar, but incorrect Latin.)
7583
Living Room / Re: Farewell Skype ...
« Last post by Renegade on May 10, 2011, 09:30 PM »
Maybe MS could also start funding Mono, make it a first class .NET alternative, then rewrite Skype in Mono for the Mac and Linux~! :)

Wishful thinking...
7584
General Software Discussion / Re: Google Music Beta Now Live
« Last post by Renegade on May 10, 2011, 06:49 PM »
It would be nice if the hardware world could keep up with the software world...

I can't see keeping media in the cloud as being remotely desirable from here. Limited bandwidth... I miss fiber...
7585
Living Room / Re: If a tree falls (in c#)
« Last post by Renegade on May 10, 2011, 06:32 PM »
Remember we had N-1 string * N+1 drinks, making a grand total of 2N-1 (drinks/string whatever) So if N > 10, then we have almost double the string, and way too much to drink.

Remember not to do calculus when drinking though: don't drink and derive :p


Hahahahahaha~! :D


I'm a bit confused - I've been following the process and all I ended up with was zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


Who's the lush? :P
7586
Odd... Generally nobody cares if you have a trial available... Very odd...

That's a lot more polite than what I called it.  ;D

I'm gonna have to look at the EULA and see what it says about 3rd-party codecs.

I'm also guessing Microsoft will have some stake in whichever codecs are creating the licensing issue. Probably as a member of whatever "industry standards" body owns the codec.

If Apple is one of the patent holders, then that would explain it all. :P
7587
Odd... Generally nobody cares if you have a trial available... Very odd...
7588
Living Room / Re: Farewell Skype ...
« Last post by Renegade on May 10, 2011, 05:44 PM »
MS can't do any worse on the Mac version of Skype than it already is -- It's horrid on the Mac.

We'll see though. I like Skype and use it daily.
7589
One thing that I find works very well is to have your monitor slightly angled -- just a few degrees (say 10 or so). It forces your eyes to change focus.

You sure about that? It's been awhile since I worked in optical so I can't put number to it of the top of my head. But a 10deg tip of a typical monitor isn't going to impact the focal distance enough to matter. Nor will sitting forward and/or backward in your chair (a considerably longer distance). The problem is the intense fixed gaze that is being maintained for hours at a time. That's what needs to be broken by letting you eyes unfocus and relax for a bit now and then.
-Stoic Joker (May 09, 2011, 10:56 PM)

It could be entirely coincidence. (Maybe 15 degrees -- haven't measured.)
7590
One thing that I find works very well is to have your monitor slightly angled -- just a few degrees (say 10 or so). It forces your eyes to change focus.

I've not had any eye strain problems since working like that.
7591
Looks good!

Do you support FLAC or any non-lossey formats?
7592
Developer's Corner / Re: Database for a Desktop?
« Last post by Renegade on May 09, 2011, 09:54 AM »
Unfortunately, unless the 'much less' is $300 or less, I'll have to do without.  The perils of full time employment vs contracting.  When I was contracting, money wasn't really an object for development tools.  Now, doing it on the side, it's a lot bigger obstacle, unfortunately.

Email them and see what they say. Point them back here maybe? Dunno... Worth a shot anyways. Maybe you can work out a deal.
7593
Developer's Corner / Re: Database for a Desktop?
« Last post by Renegade on May 09, 2011, 08:49 AM »
That being said, VistaDB is WAAAAAYYYYY better than SQLite... There's no comparison. Broken skateboard and space shuttle.

At $1295 for a license, I should hope so...?

Well, I didn't pay that. I've had a license for a long time, so I only had to maintain it with 'upgrade protection', which expired last week. For the next year => $300.00 -- Which is fine. I like to support good software that I like. It's a fantastic product, and for mISVs (that would be many of the people here), you can get it for much less than $1295. They have a mISV program. Face it, $1,295 is jack all for a company for a product of that caliber, but for a 1-man-band, it's a big chunk of change. Again, their licensing policy is fair and helpful, which only makes me more prone to keep with the upgrades.

But yeah... you definitely get what you pay for.

Integer, None, Text, Real, and Numeric just make me cringe. I like my DateTime and Bit types (amongst others).

It basically makes me feel dirty to store a datetime in a text field. Ick... So I'm not too broken up about abandoning SQLite. I've used it in a mobile SDK for testing, but the SDK was very kind and hid all that nasty dirtiness.
7594
Living Room / Re: If a tree falls (in c#)
« Last post by Renegade on May 09, 2011, 08:15 AM »
If N>10, then you have way too much string.
I think if I have had N+1 drinks I would get entangled in all of it. And then go from falling trees to 'string theory'

Wait, if whenever you have string, and need N, you have N-1, then would that be N-1>10 or N>10-1? :)

As for string theory? That requires copious amounts of LSD, not alcohol. :P

Speaking of... I hear N[4 or 7] calling me now...
7595
Developer's Corner / Re: Database for a Desktop?
« Last post by Renegade on May 09, 2011, 07:33 AM »
Well, time has won out. I've abandoned SQLite.

I'm working on other things and I've gone back to VistaDB.

I'm simply rusty on some CRUD stuff in .NET, and I don't want to spend any more time on it than I have to.

Laziness and time pressure wins.

That being said, VistaDB is WAAAAAYYYYY better than SQLite... There's no comparison. Broken skateboard and space shuttle.
7596
And the courts are busy enough that they tend not to suffer fools gladly.

Are these the same people involved in granting/enforcing patents? :P
7597
Developer's Corner / Re: Keeping the UI Responsive - What Would You Do?
« Last post by Renegade on May 09, 2011, 07:18 AM »
Anyways... I'm still debating things... Not sure myself...

As a rule I agree with worstje completely about highly stylized UIs being an annoyance. However (that being said) I think you've done a fine job of splitting the difference. Honoring the Spirit-of-the-law so to speak.
-Stoic Joker (May 09, 2011, 06:57 AM)

That's what I've been aiming for. A balance.

The normal Windows UI is boring and dull.

I'm trying to reach out to "regular people" and create a bit more fun experience...

My general design skills are not very good, so I'm trying to be very minimalistic. A gradient. Some flashier buttons. A cartoon here and there. Not sure if I'm succeeding though... And still very much debating it all...
7598
As long as the software they host isn't illegal, then they shouldn't be held responsible for what's done with it. If the software can be used to do illegal things, but is itself completely legal, then they still shouldn't be held responsible.

Punish the people who break the law. Not the tools (or people who provide the tools) which can be used both "properly" (legally) or improperly (illegally).

That's my opinion.

+1

e.g. There's nothing wrong with tools like LOIC.
7599
Living Room / Re: If a tree falls (in c#)
« Last post by Renegade on May 08, 2011, 10:59 PM »
this is not a solution as the only output is 2X(N-1)

However, the wonderful side effect when N > 10 is that you just don't care much anymore. :)
7600
Developer's Corner / Re: Pointers to nullable types (C#)
« Last post by Renegade on May 08, 2011, 07:32 PM »
IntPtr doesn't help, eh?
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