Recent Posts

7726

Living Room / Re: Apple - not quite grasping the concept of privacy.

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 07:59 PM »

@tomos

I'm not so sure about the truth of that. In #5 they are flat out lying (intentionally or unintentionally), so I find it hard to take anything they say at face value.

Reading that part again, I don't know if that's a half-truth either. But I'm not about to bother trying to check any of it. Got better things to do.

Still, I would be interested to read from someone that would actually do an impartial and clean investigation to find out exactly what is happening. Or at least up to the point of the Apple "black box".

7727

Living Room / Re: Anarchists! Unite! Or whatever... :)

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 07:54 PM »

Sometimes the more information you have, and the more you truly "understand" something, the greater your contempt and loathing grows.

-40hz (April 28, 2011, 12:39 PM)

Sadly, I think that's very true for politics and the like.

I try not to let it get under my skin, and try to simply laugh it off as idiocy, but I most often fail.

The only solution is to not read any news.

I sometimes wonder how we all manage to not sink into a suicidal state of despair.

7728

Living Room / Re: iPhone in White

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 07:46 PM »

Yes, this is all satire. Everyone can take offense to that ad, and all it shows is that they are narrowminded idiots who feel far too insecure about their place in the world.

-worstje (April 28, 2011, 06:25 PM)

+1

If you showed that to a kindergarten class, they'd never see any racism. They just haven't learned it yet.

People project their own "issues" onto things. What they say about something often says just as much about themselves.

In cases like this, it's rather sad.

Still, Sony should have known better (that people would take offense), and should have done the ad in a better way.

7729

Living Room / Anarchists! Unite! Or whatever... :)

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 11:00 AM »

This is fun:

Poll reveals regular internet users are less likely to respect the law

http://www.news.com....frfro0-1226046534296

FREQUENT internet users are less likely to respect the law, serve on a jury or do volunteer work, a study has found.

...

“Those who use the internet more frequently actually know more about politics in general,” Dr Pietsch said.

And perhaps that last part there is the reason that they have no respect for the law~!

Hehehehe~!

7730

Living Room / Re: Apple - not quite grasping the concept of privacy.

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 09:40 AM »

Ooops... I kind of started some thread derailment there... anyways... back on track...

THESE ARE NOT THE DROIDS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. MOVE ALONG...


Apple denies tracking iPhone users, but promises changes

http://www.pcworld.i...rs_promises_changes/

Apple today denied that it tracks iPhone and iPad users, saying that "users are confused" about the issue.

In a statement posted on its Web site, Apple defended the practice, but admitted that there were bugs in its software that would be fixed "in the next few weeks" with an update to iOS, the mobile operating system that powers the iPhone and iPad.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA~!

Ahem... I believe that I had it right the first time... These are not the droids you are looking for...

From the horse's mouth:

http://www.apple.com...4/27location_qa.html

3. Why is my iPhone logging my location?
The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location

Huh? Then whence came the journey maps?

9. Does Apple currently provide any data collected from iPhones to third parties?
We provide anonymous crash logs from users that have opted in to third-party developers to help them debug their apps. Our iAds advertising system can use location as a factor in targeting ads. Location is not shared with any third party or ad unless the user explicitly approves giving the current location to the current ad (for example, to request the ad locate the Target store nearest them).

Their EULA says otherwise.

Spin. Spin. Spin.

It's possible that they are telling the truth. Remotely possible. But for a company with a consistent track record of treating their customers and developers with such utter contempt, I rather doubt it.

5. Can Apple locate me based on my geo-tagged Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
No. This data is sent to Apple in an anonymous and encrypted form. Apple cannot identify the source of this data.

Nonsense. If they want to, they can. All phones have unique identifiers that are readily available and personally identifying. Cell tower triangulation is accurate to within 100 m or so. Whether or not they use it is another matter. Can they? YES! Do they? I don't know. (It's encrypted anyways, so only Apple can know.) But saying they "cannot" is a black lie. Did they slip up and simply write that badly? Don't know. But it's still factually incorrect. (I'm nitpicking a bit, but Apple seems to like nitpicking. What's good for the goose and gander and all...)

I wish I knew the truth behind all of this.

7731

Living Room / Re: Apple - not quite grasping the concept of privacy.

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 08:19 AM »

I found this one cute:

7732

Living Room / Re: iPhone in White

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 04:41 AM »

Meh.

Apple's not the first company to initially offer only a single color choice and then about a year later start offering other colors. It's annoying (for early adopters who would have preferred a different color) but not exclusive to Apple.

-Deozaan (April 28, 2011, 04:28 AM)

The thing is that it's late. It's not a new introduction. The ran into "production" difficulties. It would be different if it were a new color intro, but it's not. It's a late color retro.

7733

Living Room / iPhone in White

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 03:18 AM »

Ok, this just kills me... Almost a year to get "white" right. Like how dumb is that?



And they can't even get a menu working properly on their site either... Sigh...

I do wonder though if it isn't some experiment to find out just how sycophantic and moronic people are, by launching something as idiotic as a different color a year late, then seeing if people buy it and "upgrade" from black to white.

I'd bet that there are people that will do it. I just wonder how many, and was it all intentional on Apple's part. Seriously. A year to get "white" right? Nobody is that stupid or incompetent. It simply can't be an accident...

7734

Living Room / Re: Apple - not quite grasping the concept of privacy.

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 03:01 AM »

Random Mac user funniness:

http://www.facebook....127772446&type=1

7735

Living Room / Re: Apple - not quite grasping the concept of privacy.

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 02:14 AM »

The latest Southpark is simply off-the-hook (VERY NSFW):

It reams on Apple a little bit. Not much, but a little. They really could have gone further than they did. Never the less, it's still very NSFW.

7736

Developer's Corner / Trial Pay

« Last post by Renegade on April 27, 2011, 10:02 PM »

Not sure if anyone uses TrialPay, but it's a good way to convert non-buying customers.

I got an email from them with a link to some interesting case studies and marketing information:

http://info.trialpay.../top_touchpoints.pdf (PDF)

Anyways, just passing that along as it may help someone.

7737

Living Room / Re: The great toilet paper debate

« Last post by Renegade on April 27, 2011, 09:53 PM »

I make wicked amazing tacos, but if I put too many hot peppers on... Man... The over/under debate is irrelevant. I just need another roll~!

7738

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free WinX DVD Copy Pro Apr.23 to Apr.25

« Last post by Renegade on April 27, 2011, 11:04 AM »

in my mind Renegade was merely saying that it is not a surprise that this happens a lot with programs from smaller companies.

-Curt (April 23, 2011, 02:18 PM)

Exactly.

Regarding elements disappearing off the page, there are many reasons for that. Usually you can right-click on a taskbar icon to get the move menu item then work from there, but it's arrow buttons from there.

7739

Living Room / Re: Wilderssecurity site down ?

« Last post by Renegade on April 27, 2011, 10:48 AM »

Works here as well.

ISP problem? That's common. ISPs often cache information, and that can screw up things with odd errors.

7740

Developer's Corner / Re: Announcing with UDP in C# - Punching above my weight

« Last post by Renegade on April 27, 2011, 10:41 AM »

Sorry -- I'm a bottle of wine in, and off the top of my head, I'm drawing a blank.

Hopefully someone can chime in with something useful.

Check StackOverFlow. There's usually something there that's a good pointer. I just struck out there with some EXIF issues, but most often they've got an answer. Just follow the links and explore a bit. You likely won't find anything to directly answer the question, but people often point to something that answers it in one way or another.

7741

Developer's Corner / Re: Announcing with UDP in C# - Punching above my weight

« Last post by Renegade on April 27, 2011, 10:17 AM »

I'm not sure I know what you're asking for.

Are you broadcasting over the LAN or WAN?

I don't know what your requirements are, but my gut is telling me that you'll need to do a significant amount of modifying.

7742

UrlSnooper / Re: What do you use to record rtsp://?

« Last post by Renegade on April 27, 2011, 10:13 AM »

I use C#~!

7743

General Software Discussion / Re: automating web procedures

« Last post by Renegade on April 26, 2011, 08:03 PM »

If the site has an API, then it's a lot easier to do. Otherwise, it relies on scraping, parsing, and then web automation, which is all inherently unreliable.

7744

Living Room / Re: Who else is sick of difficult word verifications on the web?

« Last post by Renegade on April 26, 2011, 07:17 PM »

(nevermind)

-MilesAhead (April 26, 2011, 03:54 PM)

It would also solve government ID problems too~! Really! Like who would want to use anyone else's ID verification chair?

7745

Living Room / Re: Who else is sick of difficult word verifications on the web?

« Last post by Renegade on April 26, 2011, 03:36 AM »

It's hitting a low point.  Now when I try to Send an email from hotmail, it wants me to identify a Captcha!! And I'm already logged into the thing!

Why don't we just have thumb print and get it over with instead of this annoying crap?

Do a retinal eye scan. Just don't ask to me guess what some garbled crap spells!

-MilesAhead (April 25, 2011, 11:34 PM)

I'm not so sure that's a great idea... Y'know... They always get around retinal scans in the movies... Maybe anal scans... Incorporate them into ergonomic chairs. Y'know... A little security stub. Work in some Morse code butt flexes for a kind of PIN... Ribbed or studded versions could be an upsell. Like what an awesome value proposition!

I guess that if you're going to take it there anyways, you might as well make it a tad more useful.

7746

Living Room / Re: Loss of ownership / control over a .org domain - advice requested

« Last post by Renegade on April 25, 2011, 05:06 AM »

The "www" part of domain names refers to what the internet is - the Wild, Wild West. People suck.

-f0dder (April 25, 2011, 05:00 AM)

The suckier part is that you can't just run around and shoot people that piss you off anymore though...  

7747

Living Room / Re: Higgs Boson, God Particle, rumored to have been found.

« Last post by Renegade on April 25, 2011, 04:54 AM »

@Renegade:

Well, I'm not bowing down to or worshiping anything called "boson".

But do you bow down to anything else - Mammon, perhaps?          

-IainB (April 25, 2011, 01:16 AM)

Nah... (Money is good, but it's just a tool.)

Though you are reminding me of this:

It's just silly, but fun never-the-less. (The Dayglo Abortions^w are one of the most fun, nutty bands ever. Total unmitigated insanity and 100% fun.)

7748

Living Room / Re: Higgs Boson, God Particle, rumored to have been found.

« Last post by Renegade on April 24, 2011, 11:44 PM »

Well, I'm not bowing down to or worshiping anything called "boson".

It would be wonderful if more people would observe Ludwig Wittgenstein's 7th proposition from the Tractatus-Logico Philosophicus^w when talking about religion and science:

"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." („Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen.“)

It will be interesting to see if the particle is confirmed.

When I think of GUT, and all the things we don't know, I'm often sad that I'm going to die, never knowing it all.

7749

Living Room / Re: Techno-Addicts

« Last post by Renegade on April 24, 2011, 11:36 PM »

...assumption made that western values and culture are somehow innately superior to those from the East. A dubious premise at best)

-tsaint (April 24, 2011, 09:30 PM)

I see that all the time.

There are good and bad aspects no matter where you go.

In the west, people often confuse selflessness and harmony for conformity. It's not about that, though that is an apparent side-effect.

But, values are hard to pin down, harder to express, and almost impossible to understand unless you live inside of them/their environment.

Regarding your #1 - You can stumble down the street at 3am in Seoul, perfectly safe. If anyone stops you, it's probably because they're trying to help you.

Singapore is a fantastic place. I don't go there nearly enough though, but it's on my list of places to spend more time.) You have only to walk through Changgi airport to know that you've reached a very different, and special place. I love that airport -- it's absolutely a pleasure to use. Can't say that about any airport I've been through in the US, though the airport in Vancouver is the nicest one that I've been through in North America.

It's not an easy thing to be able to glean the good and run with that. Often the bad is like a spotlight, blinding you to everything else. (I know I'm guilty there.)

7750

Living Room / Re: Please kill me now - just bought an iPad off of eBay

« Last post by Renegade on April 24, 2011, 02:45 PM »

PETA? It's fscking AWESOME, man!

-f0dder (April 24, 2011, 01:43 PM)

That was funny!