Recent Posts

9026

Circle Dock / Re: Suggesting names for new derivitative of CircleDock

« Last post by wraith808 on August 06, 2010, 03:00 PM »

Good point about the 'Dock' word - but it is, (for want of a better description) a 'guiding' word - people know straight away what it's about

-tomos (August 06, 2010, 02:55 PM)

+1, and branding is everything, especially in a commercial product.  Though I suppose there are other words that might convey the same thing, especially since the 'Dock' doesn't actually dock to anything, unlike other docks out there.

Maybe launcher, i.e. Circle Launcher?

Looking at synonyms for launch- Cast is one that it puts forth.  So App Caster?  Or maybe Activator would be a word to use since it's also a synonym.

Just brainstorming...

9027

Living Room / Re: Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 06, 2010, 01:18 PM »

I'd planned to use my jungle disk account and dropbox for the heavy lifting where file storage is concerned

-wraith808 (August 06, 2010, 11:46 AM)

You know what I use for this stuff?  HFS.  I set up my own file server at home and use the web interface.  I really like it.

however, one day my next big project is to create my own personal server with really fast speeds.  My ISP has slow upload speeds, as do most isps.  One day, i want my own commercial grade server to put all my websites, shared files, file transferring, etc.  I want to have control over all of that eventually.  The only thing I don't want to control, nor can i, is the grid access.  I want a fast line for uploading/downloading/traffic and all the hardware, web space, servers, etc. is under my control.  I don't like committing to any cloud services.  I'd much rather set up an application myself on my own hardware, and simply use the isp to access it from anywhere.  This is my goal eventually.

-superboyac (August 06, 2010, 12:13 PM)

I *could* set up my own service- in fact I've done it before.  Why did I change?  Reliability.  Jungle Disk allayed a lot of my concerns about my data by the fact that I have it on S3.  And now I don't have to worry about hardware issues.  I have my data on a dedicated home machine, but I know that if it goes out, I don't have to worry about the financial costs (and time) of replacing it/troubleshooting it immediately.

9028

Living Room / Re: Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 06, 2010, 11:46 AM »

The bag I purchased is
http://www.ebags.com...-netbook-pack/145502

With that, I carry it around with me.  It is heavier than the iPad (as you know), but it works for me.  I actually bought that bag just as I was about to get the iPad, and thankfully it worked for the tc1100.

One point:

I'd like to be able to stick a usb drive in and browse the file contents also and even transfer some files back and forth.

-superboyac (August 06, 2010, 11:22 AM)

You can't do that with the iPad.  I'd planned to use my jungle disk account and dropbox for the heavy lifting where file storage is concerned, which is why I'd decided to go with the 16GB version; as I didn't plan to do heavy media consumption, I just didn't need the space.

9029

Living Room / Re: Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 06, 2010, 10:59 AM »

Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?

The way I would answer that question would be heavily weighted toward which one has the applications I want to run, and the best development environment to lure developers from all corners.

-daddydave (August 06, 2010, 10:54 AM)

This. That was how I looked at it.  Also the use case, i.e. carrying it around all the time, or a living room type luxury device.

9030

Living Room / Re: Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 06, 2010, 08:51 AM »

wraith!  Thanks for posting those pictures.  We actually had one of those models years ago in my first company.  We didn't end up using it much because of a lot of reasons.  It's amazing how time flies!  I still find it shocking that apple, several years after the tablets started coming out, was able to implement in a form that made it usuable.  Not that the Hp is not usable.  But that whole instant-on, lightweight, minimalist design.  It's the same thing with the ipod...mp3 players were out for years, yet apple grabbed that market with the ipod by doing it in a way that appealed to more people.  Sony should have never let that market go.  They had it way back in the early 90's when they invented the discman.  But they never had the proper vision.

-superboyac (August 06, 2010, 08:42 AM)

What I find shocking is that using the iPad vs using the HP... other than weight, battery life, and the instant on factor... isn't *that* much more advanced than the HP.  And I'm tackling instant on and battery life next.  From what I've read, upgrading to an SSD (which is what the iPad has over the HP) makes a world of difference to battery life and the time to resume from standby.  And I've also read that adding Windows 7 makes it that much better, and I have a copy around here somewhere that I never used...  

9031

Circle Dock / Re: Suggesting names for new derivitative of CircleDock

« Last post by wraith808 on August 05, 2010, 09:21 PM »

Icon Orbit

Orbit Dock

OrbiDock

9032

Circle Dock / Re: Change of Licensing from Version 2 (Cancelled)

« Last post by wraith808 on August 05, 2010, 07:18 PM »

Heh. I feel you . Whoever coded this @&$!& spellcheck belongs in the same hell as the person who coded the windows recycle bin defaults and uac!

9033

Circle Dock / Re: Change of Licensing from Version 2 (Cancelled)

« Last post by wraith808 on August 05, 2010, 03:27 PM »

If I take a dead GPL'd project, and use that source and project as an inspiration to build the same project, but with my own source, is my project now GPL'd?  I don't think so...

-wraith808 (August 05, 2010, 08:59 AM)

If you use THAT SOURCE, your app is GPL'd. Period. If you recode from scratch, you're safe. They admitted to use GPL-based source, even misquoted a part of it in a previous post.

Anyway, best of luck guys.

-scancode (August 05, 2010, 01:54 PM)

Look at the part that I additionally highlighted... it seems that some comprehension was missed in the post... 

9034

Circle Dock / Re: Change of Licensing from Version 2 (Cancelled)

« Last post by wraith808 on August 05, 2010, 01:13 PM »

But can *you* do that once it's released?  From what it seem like, once the genie is out of the bottle, there's no putting it back...  *You* the creator can't take back the rights to give it to someone else for pay, since that would be a derivative work...

9035

Living Room / Re: Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 05, 2010, 10:49 AM »

OK, now I'm sort of leaning towards a new laptop...11-13" range.  i don't know.  I do kind of want a tablet.  Something I can carry around with me to do light computing.  I already have a laptop and it's not easy to use for light computing.  If you want to just browse the web for 5 minutes, you hesitate to open the laptop, boot it, etc.  With a tablet, you'd just quickly do your thing and that's it.

-superboyac (August 05, 2010, 09:34 AM)

This is why I was looking at the tablet, and finally purchased one.  I got a netbook for this purpose, but the form factor kept it from being used in this way.  The tablet form factor just lends itself to writing and reading, IMO.  That's also what I like about the tc1100- the keyboard is *really* thin, and swings out of the way (or removes) very quickly, but it's there if you need it.

I took some pictures this morning for my upcoming blog posts- I'll post a few here for a preview

If you want to just browse the web for 5 minutes, you hesitate to open the laptop, boot it, etc.  With a tablet, you'd just quickly do your thing and that's it.

-superboyac (August 05, 2010, 09:34 AM)

So you're saying that the tablets have the boot time of a light bulb?? <- Seriously, I'm curious/don't recall hearing that angle before)

-Stoic Joker (August 05, 2010, 10:10 AM)

iPads do.  And tablet pcs from standby aren't much behind that if you limit what starts up and optimize it for this use.

9036

Circle Dock / Re: Change of Licensing from Version 2 (Cancelled)

« Last post by wraith808 on August 05, 2010, 08:59 AM »

The GPL might be unenforceable, but keep in mind it was a matter of respect. You're basically not giving a damn about what the original author wanted.
  from me.

So long, and thanks for [the lack of] all the fish.
To be honest, I expected more from a DC member.

-scancode (August 05, 2010, 07:29 AM)

...That seems a bit harsh - I doubt the original author wanted someone to become a cash hemorrhaging martyr. The costs described above are quite real, and have to be covered in some fashion that preferable doesn't include bankruptcy.

-Stoic Joker (August 05, 2010, 08:44 AM)

+1 - Especially when CD doesn't resemble the original CD at all other than the concept, apparently.

If I take a dead GPL'd project, and use that source and project as an inspiration to build the same project, but with my own source, is my project now GPL'd?  I don't think so...

9037

Circle Dock / Re: Change of Licensing from Version 2 (Cancelled)

« Last post by wraith808 on August 04, 2010, 03:10 PM »

So he's in violation and has to stop distributing it, by what the license says. /me shrugs

9038

Circle Dock / Re: Change of Licensing from Version 2 (Cancelled)

« Last post by wraith808 on August 04, 2010, 02:52 PM »

Um, you'd also have to offer sourcecode for YOUR binary build (aka latest circle dock!)
That's how it works, unfortunately. It was kind of expected, tho.

-scancode (August 04, 2010, 02:24 PM)

Not if he stops working on it and removes it from the market.  And also not if he removes all GPL code from any new build of CD that he does.

9039

Circle Dock / Re: Change of Licensing from Version 2 (Cancelled)

« Last post by wraith808 on August 04, 2010, 12:55 PM »

You could decide that it's worth spending a few weeks rewriting the core code from scratch, cleaning up the code in the process, and re-launch a similar commercial product with a new name and new license and without any of the original code.

-mouser (August 04, 2010, 12:39 PM)

I don't have a dog in this race so to speak.  I've thought about looking at CD, but haven't, so take this with that in mind.

Considering all that the developers have done on CD, and if the amount of code written is as much as you say, I'd say re-brand it as something else, clean up the code and remove any references to his code, and do as you will with it.  Especially as you've already consulted a lawyer on this, and I know that they are not cheap (one of the stopping points for several projects that I've considered has been legal fees).

Just my opinion.  I think your license was more than fair, especially considering some of the other docks out there.  I use a few, and many of them are licensed per year to give you an example of what some others do.  The only change that I see that you could have made is to offer license to those that did donate- therefore anyone who was whinging after that would be people who utilized the software for free and didn't donate.

That's my .02.

9040

Living Room / Re: Honestly, who here actually owns an iPad? be honest!

« Last post by wraith808 on August 04, 2010, 09:19 AM »

I just got it in on Friday.  My initial reactions are that it was definitely the right move for me.  There are disadvantages (battery life most of all), but the advantages more than make up for it.  And I haven't spent *any* money on software yet- I'm sure I would have spent a lot more in the app store getting the iPad to the point where it does all that my tablet does right now, so I'm pleased.

More to come soon!

9041

Living Room / Re: Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 04, 2010, 09:14 AM »

The tablet pc doesn't have a clunky interface- it's actually a lot more elegant with the right software installed.  I'm trying to catch up on my blogging, and I'll show you some things that really blew the iPad out of the water- and this is from my friends that have iPads!

In the end the decision between a tablet pc and an ipad consists of two things apart from functionality that I've found: weight and convenience.  The tc1100 is the same form factor as the iPad- it's just thicker.  But that thickness is weight.  Then the convenience and weight converge when you get to endurance.  If you're going to be on the run a lot, and want to be able to grab the device and know that it's more than likely charged, the iPad is going to do that for you.  So far, I've been able to get about 3 hours on the Tablet.  It hasn't shut down, but it's been pretty close by the time I plugged it in.  Another battery will either have longer life, or I'll be swapping them (they're warm swappable from what I understand).  So that's more convenience lost, and more weight to carry.

There are other differences, but this is the main one in my eyes.  So if you're going to be using it away from home for extended periods, the iPad might be better for you (or maybe one of the newer tablets- I don't know what battery life is going to be like on those).  If you're just going to be using it around the house and taking it out occasionally, then one of the tablet pcs gives you a *lot* more functionality.

(Oh... and I didn't vote )

9042

Living Room / Re: My iPad Quest

« Last post by wraith808 on August 04, 2010, 09:05 AM »

Hmmm...this makes me think twice about my ipad.  What's the best altertnative out there right now?  I'm guessing it's something that runs Droid?  But I suppose Win7 works also.

-superboyac (August 04, 2010, 08:45 AM)

Truthfully, I don't think there *is* a best alternative out there right now- sort of like back when Microsoft first introduced the tablet.  But the iPad has made people look at the tablet differently, so I think that we're very close to getting there, which is one of the reasons I decided to go old school for now to save money and not get burnt by being on the bleeding edge.  I figure 3-400 now, and play a waiting game for at least the next 18 months to see if something solid comes out of it from any other players.  Even if nothing materializes, the iPad should have gone through a couple of iterations by then, making the wait worth it in any case.

9043

Living Room / Re: My iPad Quest

« Last post by wraith808 on August 04, 2010, 09:03 AM »

i hope you discover a lot of nice things with the tablet too, wraith808. i see your blog hasn't any real news yet.

-nudone (August 04, 2010, 08:41 AM)

I've been too busy with my toy    I have a couple of posts worth of info to put up there... I've updated with one, and I'll try to get to the actual unit and my initial experiences tonight.  Though there are definite pros and cons, I'm very satisfied so far.  The only area that's a real bummer (though I sort of expected that) is battery life, though I'm not sure if it's the battery.  I'm thinking about getting a new one to see- and since they're hot swappable, it might be a good idea anyway.  And there's always the SSD option, which I've heard massively improves battery life.

9044

General Software Discussion / Re: Tabbles on BDJ on Wednesday

« Last post by wraith808 on August 02, 2010, 09:46 AM »

I haven't actually used it again since I purchased it 

9045

General Software Discussion / Re: Synchronizing a few folders between two machines?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 29, 2010, 01:12 PM »

One of the folders is 10 GB so at least the free account is not an option. I don't really want to have to upload to some remote server to do sync between two local computers either, that seems like a waste of bandwidth.

-Jibz (July 29, 2010, 12:42 PM)

Dropbox has an option to sync to local computers via lan.



Doesn't solve the other problem, but just wanted to point that out.

9046

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

« Last post by wraith808 on July 29, 2010, 09:01 AM »

So are iProducts... but... 

9047

Living Room / My iPad Quest

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2010, 06:42 PM »

As I said in another post, I have been really considering getting an iPad.  I've just been holding off as I do when some new tech captures my attention- to do some due diligence and such.  That quest is over now... and I'm not getting an iPad. 



When I saw the image above, I decided to instead gett a tc1100 to see how it stacks up.  I'm chronicling my quest and how it turns out on my blog.

9048

Living Room / Re: New Government Rules make Jailbreaking Legal

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2010, 06:04 PM »

^ Well, you never hear that rooting your phone isn't legal, so they deserve it, IMO.

9049

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

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2010, 06:03 PM »

There are other uses also for Word other than 'tarting up text'  

IMHO, mrainey got it right...

Ninety-nine percent of my work is done using a text editor.

Same here.  That's why I don't feel qualified to evaluate the ribbon.   

-mrainey (July 27, 2010, 11:35 AM)

If you use a text editor for your work and it's enough, then you wouldn't see the use of the ribbon.  For those of us that do other things, it's a better way to get to what we use.

9050

General Software Discussion / Re: How to [partially] blur screenshots?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 27, 2010, 03:18 PM »

^ I was just thinking of an option to apply the blurring algorithm more than once, though the idea of some user specified text seems like it would work even better, since it would act sort of like a private key.