Recent Posts

826

Living Room / Re: good Videos [short films] here :)

« Last post by Edvard on August 13, 2013, 12:54 AM »

The Final Moments of Karl Brant:

Wonderful cinematograhy and nicely understated special effects.  Stunning performances by Paul Reubens and Fay Masterson.  The other actors could have done just a wee bit better, the ending kinda unravels a little and wanders into predictable/cliche territory if you stay through the credits (wait for it... wait for it...) but otherwise the best short I've seen in a while.

827

Living Room / Re: Licensing Developers?

« Last post by Edvard on August 12, 2013, 11:08 PM »

 Just think of all the hospital equipment that's computer controlled.  The machines and software already have to pass the FDA before it can be used in an actual setting.  So it's already regulated in the medical field.....

-Tinman57 (August 12, 2013, 05:05 PM)

Whoooooaaa there, let me tell you something... medical equipment, hardware and software, is held to several orders of magnitude above 'normal' standards.  To be approved for medical uses, the equipment and software that may run in it has to not fail. Period. Ever.  It is SERIOUS business.  Are you willing to take on that level of responsibility?  If any coder would require a license to do business, it would probably be those in the medical equipment field.  But as has been mentioned before, the employer usually takes care of that.   I don't have any hard numbers or data, just anecdotal talk around the electronic hobbyist circles.  

As far as 'license to code' goes, I think it may happen, but only in certain markets, and GPL/Open/Free/Libre software will always be around as long as the internet is not completely locked down.  I believe restrictions on dissemination of information over the internet may be more prevalent as the years go by, simply through creeping regulation, but like some smart scientist said, the internet is built to route around errors, and control/suppression/censoring counts as an error in the current internet mindset and operation.
So, there is hope... for a little while

*EDIT* It was John Gilmore -- "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."

828

Living Room / Re: SOPA 2: The Resurrection...

« Last post by Edvard on August 11, 2013, 02:17 PM »

(I was just dying to make a zombie joke~!  )

I see what you did there

829

Living Room / Re: Edward Snowden's Email Provider Shut Down Rather Than Comply With Feds

« Last post by Edvard on August 09, 2013, 04:32 PM »

Not strictly true - unless all you senders and recipients also use the same service and you can guarantee end to end encryption

OK, yes, this much is true.  However, the central location where it ALL can be found would be on their server, which would be a much juicier prize, and if it's true that Lavabit was Edward Snowden's email preference, it would obviously be their first target in any prosecution proceedings.

Personally, I am just not that paranoid, or else I would have my family and friends all using GPG or some such when they communicate with me.  No, it was more about the peace of mind that my email account had some protection against ne'er-do-wells who would look through my mail for other attack vectors (bank account and business transaction names and communications, like eBay, PayPal, etc.)  Little did I know it would be my own government the ones come a-knockin'.
So what's the point of my concern?  Why do I think they would they care about lil' ol' me?  And why should I care about my government going looking for evidence it has a right to look for in a criminal case?  

Because with everything that's been happening lately, there is no longer any doubt that it is they who are the criminals.  This government has firmly and forever overstepped the bounds of the Constitution it claims to derive it's existence from.   I really try not to be political, and this isn't a rant against the Left or Right or anyone else, it is just the facts as they are manifest.  I mean, I'm with Wraith, it shouldn't have to be like this.  The simple choice of email provider shouldn't be a political action.  But now it is, and we are the worse off for it.

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

« Last post by Edvard on August 09, 2013, 12:36 PM »

Aaaaaand our next inductee into 2,000 posts is...

Ewemoa!!

.

831

Living Room / Re: Links to info for analog-mimicing digital recording techniques?

« Last post by Edvard on August 09, 2013, 03:37 AM »

First of all, go to TapeOp and start reading.  It's a free subscription if you like paper as well.  Oodles of information on the nitty-gritty of recording, especially in the analog domain, from some of the biggest and not-so-big names in the biz. (and read up on Steve Albini for another die-hard analog evangelist, though he can be a bit abrasive at times)

Second, tape is a physical medium with inherent flaws that we have come to associate with analog sound and actually be beneficial to the overall listening experience, probably (in my humble opinion) due much to how tape saturation deals with transients and affects dynamic range in a non-linear, not-very-static fashion.  I could be wrong, but that's what my ears tell me.

Digital is (for all intents and purposes) a virtual medium which has the goal of eliminating as many flaws as possible.  As good as digital recording is now, it still apparently loses some 'character' in the attempt, and it's flaws can be quite detrimental rather than beneficial.  I've used tape saturation and tube emulation plugins, with varying degrees of benefit.  Give it a shot, you might find some magic in them 1's and 0's yet...
 

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Living Room / Re: Edward Snowden's Email Provider Shut Down Rather Than Comply With Feds

« Last post by Edvard on August 08, 2013, 11:24 PM »

Damn damn damn damn 

Lavabit was MY email provider.  I used it because they were a small, relatively unknown email provider (read: smaller target), they used Linux servers (gotta support the flock ), but more importantly, they kept your email encrypted, with no master key.  Only YOU could read your email.  Ever. 

So, this is what it comes down to.  Submit to being spied upon at whim or else no goodies for you.

This is no longer a matter of whether it's not the United States I and millions of others used to know.  This is no longer the United States of America as defined by it's founding documents, period. 

P.S. If anyone knows of a good email service provider with a similar policy, please let me know.

833

Living Room / Re: Where/how do you mostly watch movies/videos?

« Last post by Edvard on August 05, 2013, 09:26 PM »

Computer/DVD to projector to tripod screen:



Old school baby, old school.   

834

Living Room / Re: good Videos [short films] here :)

« Last post by Edvard on August 04, 2013, 02:19 AM »

Old, but good.  Surreal and saccharine cute at the same time.

835

Living Room / Re: The fun of installing custom router firmware (tomato, dd-wrt) - an introduction

« Last post by Edvard on August 04, 2013, 12:38 AM »

BTW:
https://en.wikipedia...iki/Tomato_(firmware)

The most complete (feature-ful, that is) appear to be the Shibby, Teaman and RAF mods:
Shibby: http://tomato.groov.pl/
Teaman: http://code.google.c.../p/tomato-sdhc-vlan/
RAF: http://victek.is-a-geek.com/

I like Victek's simulation, so you get a try-before-you-buy look at what to expect:
http://victek.is-a-g...26/status-index.html
 

836

General Software Discussion / Re: ExtFS for Windows

« Last post by Edvard on August 01, 2013, 12:00 AM »

There are plenty of Linux filesystem viewers available for free (as in, read-only) and that's all I've ever needed.  The things I do on either OS are so different as to be disparate, and I find little use for write access from one to the other (although Linux has had solid ntfs support for quite some time now).  Anything I REALLY need to share, I just stick on a USB stick or in a shared folder on the NAS (running Samba, of course).

Nevertheless, native, transparent access to a Linux filesystem is an attractive idea.
Checking out Paragon's offering now, thanks for the tip.  

837

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

« Last post by Edvard on July 31, 2013, 11:21 PM »

(see attachment in previous post)
9 reasons why you don't want to be rich

-Arizona Hot (July 31, 2013, 02:47 PM)

The hatred of money is simply a plot by the rich to keep the poor from getting their hands on it.
- Author Unknown

838

Living Room / Re: good Videos [short films] here :)

« Last post by Edvard on July 30, 2013, 08:14 PM »

Yellow Belly End

839

Living Room / Re: good Videos [short films] here :)

« Last post by Edvard on July 29, 2013, 11:22 PM »

Best twist on the zombie movie genre... EVAR!!

840

General Software Discussion / Re: The Non-Notepad(MS) Thread!

« Last post by Edvard on July 29, 2013, 09:54 PM »

HA! Iain! I was waiting for a second on my vote.  Thank you 
Also a big fan of xplorer², when I'm on Windows that is...

841

Living Room / Re: good Videos [short films] here :)

« Last post by Edvard on July 29, 2013, 09:26 PM »

DEOZAAN: THE ONIONS!! OUT!!

Now for something a bit more light-hearted 

EDIT: the original appears to have gone down.  Link updated to a good copy.

842

Living Room / Re: Take back control of YouTube and STOP it downloading.

« Last post by Edvard on July 25, 2013, 01:25 AM »

If you're using Chrome or Opera, try Youtube Options, and check out the "disable auto-play" options.
 

843

Living Room / Re: The H - one of the best sites for tech and FOSS info says "bye-bye"

« Last post by Edvard on July 25, 2013, 01:13 AM »

Damn, just... damn. 

844

Living Room / Re: Build Your Own Linux Supercomputer With $99 Board

« Last post by Edvard on July 24, 2013, 11:36 PM »

Thanks for reporting that Tinman, I posted about the Parallella project earlier this year, and was wondering when the darn things would get out the door.

To clarify, this thing isn't the supercomputer-on-a-board it's touted to be, but a platform for learning parallel programming, which is where the future needs to go as CPUs keep getting smaller and smaller with more and more cores. See the other thread for more details.

Thanks, TM57!  

845

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

« Last post by Edvard on July 24, 2013, 11:07 PM »

 

846

Living Room / Re: Why you should avoid using social media

« Last post by Edvard on July 20, 2013, 02:55 PM »

I just posted about the security sign because it's a very effective "visual deterrent"; any thief would think twice unless they somehow knew beforehand it wasn't genuine.  The article also mentions that thieves won't touch a house that dogs obviously live at.  I leave a couple dog toys in the front yard to "remind" them.

...and on the subject of guns

If THAT doesn't stop them, I have had some training in home defense at the local rifle club, and I keep a trusty 20-gauge in an easily accessible (to ME) hiding place.  Knowing when NOT to pull the trigger is many times just as important as knowing when and how, and not having the guts to use it when your family is being threatened is worse than not having it at all, IMO.

847

Easy Screencast Recorder / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - Easy Screencast Recorder - v1.12.01 - Apr 22, 2015

« Last post by Edvard on July 20, 2013, 02:23 PM »

 
Wow, finally some PLAIN LANGUAGE about video codecs, containers and mux/demux.  This has eluded me for a loooong time.
Thanks Vurbal! 

848

Living Room / Re: Why you should avoid using social media

« Last post by Edvard on July 18, 2013, 02:03 AM »

1- Non-public Facebook profile: Check
2- Dog owner: Check
3- Fake security system sign in front yard: Check

849

Living Room / Re: HBO Asks Google to Take Down “Infringing” VLC Media Player

« Last post by Edvard on July 17, 2013, 11:51 PM »

I got a DMCA takedown notice because some xplorer2 icons I had posted on Mediafire had the filename "xplorer2.zip".
Nikos was very understanding, but said as much; it was a dolphin caught in the tuna net, and there wasn't much he could do after the fact. 
Result: I still had to take the files down, but then I uploaded under a different filename and all is well.

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Living Room / Re: Feds asked to avoid DEF CON this year

« Last post by Edvard on July 17, 2013, 12:07 AM »

OR... you could just show up as yourself and get the freekin' party started:

http://www.h-online....ference-1917800.html

General Keith Alexander, the Director of the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Commander of the United States Cyber Command, is to be a keynote speaker at this year's Black Hat conference.

* Edvard gets some popcorn and a lawn chair