Recent Posts

9526

Living Room / Re: What's Your Internet Speed/Reliability SATISFACTION?

« Last post by Renegade on September 07, 2010, 06:49 AM »

Speed to Toronto:



Dallas (where my main server is):



To Seoul:



It's actually been pretty good today. Yesterday was Hell.

9527

Living Room / Re: What's Your Internet Speed/Reliability SATISFACTION?

« Last post by Renegade on September 07, 2010, 06:43 AM »

...they are bastards for it nontheless...

-Gothi[c] (September 07, 2010, 05:22 AM)

It's a requisite to being (big && (telco || bank || government || etc. etc. etc.) ) =p

9528

Living Room / Re: The Weather...

« Last post by Renegade on September 06, 2010, 09:37 PM »

Melbourne. It's raining.

Overhead it's overcast.

North? Clear skies.

South? Clear skies.

East. Clear skies.

West. Overcast.

Just very odd. And it's always like that. 4 seasons in a day.

Anyone get bizarre weather?

-Renegade (September 06, 2010, 12:04 AM)

Come to think of it...was that not a (rather famous) song? 

-Shades (September 06, 2010, 07:45 PM)

No idea actually. Just a coincidence. It's a phrase though here. Dunno...

9529

Living Room / Re: What's Your Internet Speed/Reliability SATISFACTION?

« Last post by Renegade on September 06, 2010, 09:35 PM »

I should have done a speed test... Good idea!



It's good at the moment. But, just really unreliable. Everyday I hit times when it's excruciatingly slow.

9530

Living Room / What's Your Internet Speed/Reliability SATISFACTION?

« Last post by Renegade on September 06, 2010, 10:31 AM »

Sigh... I'm getting less than 1 digit of DL speed in kbps...

So, how does your connection stack up?

9531

Living Room / Re: The Weather...

« Last post by Renegade on September 06, 2010, 02:02 AM »

Melbourne. It's raining.

-Renegade (September 06, 2010, 12:04 AM)

huh? aren't you in korea?

and (in case you're wondering) it's a damn fine day here in Brisbane...

-Target (September 06, 2010, 01:03 AM)

I moved to Melbourne last November. But I really do miss Korea... Especially restaurants and shopping there!

9532

Living Room / The Weather...

« Last post by Renegade on September 06, 2010, 12:04 AM »

Melbourne. It's raining.

Overhead it's overcast.

North? Clear skies.

South? Clear skies.

East. Clear skies.

West. Overcast.

Just very odd. And it's always like that. 4 seasons in a day.

Anyone get bizarre weather?

9533

Living Room / Re: tc1100 tablet pc dies before i've even set it up

« Last post by Renegade on September 05, 2010, 11:03 PM »

http://www.auctionsniper.com

It's worked miracles for my percentage of bids won, and also, though I pay for the bid, I end up getting it for a lot less than I would have if I'd ended up in a bidding war.  And you only pay if you win... and it's a small amount.  I sound like a paid endorsement, but I'm not LOL

-wraith808 (September 05, 2010, 10:46 PM)

Hmmm... Might be an idea.

A fellow I know wrote this one:

http://www.auctionsentry.com/

He sold it a while back, but he was the first in the market. Do you know how it compares?

9534

Living Room / My Windows & Mac Boxes & Monitors...

« Last post by Renegade on September 05, 2010, 10:57 PM »

Sigh... Not going to rant. Much anyways. Already ranted here (includes profanity).

So I need to hook up one of my extra monitors to the Mac. Can't do the VGA one... Reasons in the rant above. Don't want to put the best monitor on the Mac -- it's on my Win7 box. But the portrait monitor would be PERFECT! I've wanted to do this for a while, but been busy with other things.

Think my Mac will "just work"? Nope. Sigh... It detects it, but won't display anything.

So, I suppose the Mac gets the good monitor (greedy <insert derogatory expression of choice />) and my Win 7 box gets the rest. Everything just works on Windows! It's not picky. It's like the...

Potentially Offensive Simile

$2 whore operating system that will go with anything!

I really thought that having a Mac would be easier than Windows when I got it. Every single thing though has proved that false. (There are a few good things on the Mac, like how it focuses for text input.) Surf & email. Nothing more. Everything else is a fight to get done... Sigh...

Anyways, back to the Mac for the iPhone version of GDT~!

Oh... On a pleasant note, I've been working with Mono and MonoDevelop with MonoTouch and only 1 word to say. WOW~! It is singlehandedly improving my negative view of the Mac. It IS possible to get stuff done reasonably~! If it keeps up like this, I may actually end up LIKING my Mac~!

9535

Living Room / Re: Wikipedia Book Creator

« Last post by Renegade on September 05, 2010, 08:51 PM »

Nice! That will prove extremely useful!

I've been binding my own books/printouts since I moved to Australia. If I were in Korea, I'd just have it done there as it's very cheap to do. Here? I don't even want to ask.

Anyways, for anyone that's interested, here's a very quick "how to".

* Print out the book.
* Align pages.
* About 2 cm from "spine", put 2 paint sticks, 1 on each side
* Clamp the spine using the paint sticks and some kind of a clamp, like a vice or whatever works
* Sand the spine down. Use a fairly fine sandpaper, e.g. 240 or so.
* Spread & massage glue (binders glue or PVC) down the spine. Work it into the pages a bit.
* Let dry

You can search for better and more complete directions.

It's actually pretty fun to do. Massaging the glue in takes the most time.

I just did one last night.

It's also very handy to know if you order books in PDF format. WROX and some other publishers do that now. (They're double the price here in Australia, and triple often, so buying the PDF from the publisher is much cheaper.) Waiting for shipping is, well... annoying. So a PDF version gives you instant gratification, while binding yourself saves you time and money.

9536

Living Room / Re: tc1100 tablet pc dies before i've even set it up

« Last post by Renegade on September 05, 2010, 08:38 PM »

aaaaaaaaargh.

someone has just bought it before me. i give up.

-nudone (September 02, 2010, 07:24 AM)

 

Sorry to hear that. I know how you feel. I always lose on bids at eBay. I've tried to get some new camera lenses... No luck. I don't want to pay 75% of the price of a new lense for a used one, so I lose. Maybe it's time to try my luck again...

9537

Living Room / Re: GDT on Bits du Jour for 50% off

« Last post by Renegade on September 05, 2010, 09:20 AM »

Just noticed! And emailed you as well!

FYI, I've setup a Facebook page for GDT here. I'm trying to get people to post feedback and their "Wish List" of things there. So, if you have any ideas or impressions, you can tell me there. (Here as well, or by email, or however is most convenient for you.Just the FB page is convenient for a lot of people that already have accounts there.)

I want the next versions of GDT to be largely customer driven.

9538

Living Room / Re: GDT on Bits du Jour for 50% off

« Last post by Renegade on September 05, 2010, 04:33 AM »

Tony, I sent a PM, but not sure if it sent ok or not. I've been using IE8 lately, and noticed some oddities...

9539

Living Room / Re: GDT on Bits du Jour for 50% off

« Last post by Renegade on September 04, 2010, 11:31 PM »

For the contest, I announced it only in my RM blog and through email. It was only open to current licensees. As you may have read though (from above), the contest was a total flop. As in 100% flop. I posted my thoughts on why that was. The short version is that the demographic, 35+ guys with money, don't give a rats pitootee about contests. They are busy, have money, and will spend it if they need/want something.

If anyone wants, I'll extend the offer to any DC members. PM me if you're interested or email me (ryan @ the domain name below). I didn't think that anyone here would want a copy. I just figured that I'd post it as something that might be interesting.

One unfortunately thing about email is that it is entirely broken. Spam has caused such chaos, that ISPs and email providers filter email so aggressively that they not only throw out babies with bath water, but they throw out the tub as well. I'm kind of wondering how many of my emails got through to people... Sigh...

9540

Living Room / Re: GDT on Bits du Jour for 50% off

« Last post by Renegade on September 04, 2010, 11:40 AM »

Posted here: http://renegademinds.com/Home/Blog/tabid/60/EntryID/213/Default.aspx.

9541

Living Room / Re: List the crappiest websites you know here. (warning: potentially NSFW)

« Last post by Renegade on August 31, 2010, 10:55 PM »

Experts Exchange recently changed again. (Checked them a couple days ago.) Now they've got a big  DIV covering the answer... Anyone feel like breaking out Firebug and doing some HTML editing just to view a page? Didn't think so... I generally just skip over EE now and look for other sites. They have some good content, but then again so does Stack Overflow.

It's about time that they got spanked for cloaking.

9542

Living Room / Re: Micro Reviews of Board Games From a Non-Competetive Perspective

« Last post by Renegade on August 30, 2010, 08:57 PM »

Do you like card games? Illuminati^w is a very fun game. Not sure if it's still in print or not.

9543

Living Room / Re: Is Apple patenting spyware?

« Last post by Renegade on August 30, 2010, 06:33 PM »

Does anyone know anything more about this?

-cyberdiva (August 29, 2010, 08:35 PM)

While I don't know much more than the article, I do believe that Apple ironically forecast their intentions during some past sporting event:

"And you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984..."

Because they're planning to delay it until 2010...

Sometimes I just want to shoot myself when I hear stuff like this.

9544

Living Room / Re: New Desktop - Super Easy OS Upgrade

« Last post by Renegade on August 29, 2010, 11:07 AM »

Yup.  There's only one install DVD no matter what version you put on. That may be a big reason why Ultimate doesn't take up 100 GB.  They had to trim it down so Home Premium purchasers wouldn't squawk.

-MilesAhead (August 28, 2010, 02:46 PM)

Actually, there are a LOT of different DVDs for Windows 7. Here's an MSDN list with file sizes:

[font="Courier New"]
Windows 7 Enterprise N (x64) - DVD (English)   2,674 (MB)
Windows 7 Enterprise N (x86) - DVD (English)   2,030 (MB)
Windows 7 Home Premium N (x64) - DVD (English)   2,774 (MB)
Windows 7 Home Premium N (x86) - DVD (English)   2,125 (MB)
Windows 7 Professional N (x64) - DVD (English)   2,774 (MB)
Windows 7 Professional N (x86) - DVD (English)   2,125 (MB)
Windows 7 Starter N (x86) - DVD (English)   2,125 (MB)
Windows 7 Ultimate N (x64) - DVD (English)   2,774 (MB)
Windows 7 Ultimate N (x86) - DVD (English)   2,125 (MB)
Windows 7 Enterprise (x64) - DVD (English)   2,977 (MB)
Windows 7 Enterprise (x86) - DVD (English)   2,289 (MB)
Windows 7 Home Basic (x86) - DVD (English)    2,386 (MB)
Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) - DVD (English)   3,075 (MB)
Windows 7 Home Premium (x86) - DVD (English)   2,386 (MB)
Windows 7 Professional (x64) - DVD (English)   3,075 (MB)
Windows 7 Professional (x86) - DVD (English)   2,386 (MB)
Windows 7 Starter (x86) - DVD (English)      2,386 (MB)
Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) - DVD (English)   3,075 (MB)
Windows 7 Ultimate (x86) - DVD (English)   2,386 (MB)

Unique File Sizes:

2,030 (MB)
2,125 (MB)
2,289 (MB)
2,386 (MB)
2,674 (MB)
2,774 (MB)
2,977 (MB)
3,075 (MB)[/font]

Those are all MSDN downloads though. The retail or RTM versions may differ slightly. Not sure.

9545

Living Room / GDT on Bits du Jour for 50% off

« Last post by Renegade on August 27, 2010, 11:05 AM »

Well, I finally asked Nico to put me on Bits du Jour at the Software Industry Conference this past July (pics are here and here), and lo and behold, you can now get Guitar & Drum Trainer for the amazingly, first time, 50% off, low, low price of $24.95~! 1-day only on Friday September 3rd!

(Had to get my cheesy hawker voice on there. )

I've never offered GDT for that low before, so this is a first.

I'm quite sure most people know about Bits du Jour. I interviewed Nico on the .Net Preacher Show (now gone) a while back when he first took it over. Not sure if anyone remembers that.

In any event, I will post back about what happens.

One thing I must say that I am thankful for is that my support time for GDT is near zero. So offering it at a lower price like that isn't a problem. When you spend a lot of time on support, it becomes a very real problem. Nico presented at SIC, and mentioned that issue. I giggled a bit as my work load there is like nothing.

If anyone would be so kind as to plug me in a blog post or mention it to a musician friend, I'd really appreciate it. (Like really really! The bold isn't kidding! )

I'm also FINALLY starting a Facebook page for GDT... It's about time. Got my lazy @$$ in gear for a change. So if you would like to help me out a bit, visit the page and give me a "Like". If you hate me, well, please reconsider.

Cheers,

Ryan

9546

Living Room / New Desktop - Super Easy OS Upgrade

« Last post by Renegade on August 27, 2010, 09:53 AM »

I'm quite frankly stunned. I bought a new desktop and it had Windows 7 Home Basic x64 on it, but I need Windows 7 Ultimate x64. So... upgrade time... Ouch... Pain... Been there. Done that. Hate it. Partioning sucks. New OS installations suck. Not fun.

SURPRISE~!

I ran the Windows upgrade advisor, stuck in my MSDN Windows 7 Ultimate license, and it worked perfectly.

To boot, it upgraded in less than 5 minutes.

I was SHOCKED~! It could not have been smoother.

As everyone well knows, Microsoft has had serious licensing issue in the past. But they seem to have everything covered now. And covered extremely well.

I posted a bit with a screenshot here. (WARNING: That post is safe, but the blog there is mostly a rant about Macs, Apple, OSX, and iPhone development. i.e. A LOT of profanity.)

Anyways, I was just so happy that I didn't need to install Windows that I needed to share it!

9547

Living Room / Re: I'm ready for the TV revolution to hit!

« Last post by Renegade on August 26, 2010, 11:58 PM »

I'm kinda dubious about a hardware resolution (save, perhaps, for hardware allowing a new delivery method).  That is what currently exists, and any hardware solution to this would be naught more than an extension of existing broadcast technology.

True innovation - and Smart TV may be such, I don't know - is going to be software technology related, whether a new application or a new delivery method or, mayhap, a new display method.  But it's going to have to take into consideration existing technology trends - laptops, desktops, tablets, smart phones - as well as make some effort toward predictions of technology to come (imagine a tablet laying on a table - or your lap - with a holographic display transmitted above it, for instance). 

I suspect there'll always be a place for a flat-panel home television, but if the TV folk are going to advance, they're going to have to concentrate on software and delivery thereunto.  Yeah, a Star-Trek-like holodeck in your living room would be nice, but I want to catch that same holographic effect on my laptop for the noon news break, perhaps for the State of the Union address.  Oh, yeah ... I'd like to have that without eye fatigue or damage that some of the current 3D efforts are predicted to provide  .

-barney (August 26, 2010, 11:27 PM)

Agreed. Like I said... A "glimmer" of hope...

But check this. It's a start. Albeit a pathetic start given what I'm sure most people here would like to see. Still... a glimmer...

9548

Living Room / Re: I'm ready for the TV revolution to hit!

« Last post by Renegade on August 26, 2010, 10:51 PM »

I saw a glimmer of hope...

I had some work come across my desk that included some corporate strategy information on Smart TV, and it gave me a glimmer of hope that all may not be lost. We'll see though.

If there is any salvation, it will come from Smart TV, I believe. The Internet is too software-based, and everyone is scared of software because it lets anyone do anything. Hardware can be controlled much easier, and as such, is less scary.

9549

Living Room / Re: HOSTS File for malware prevention

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2010, 03:03 AM »

+1 for Krishean -- Excellent explanations.

9550

Living Room / Re: More ammunition why patents are EVIL

« Last post by Renegade on August 20, 2010, 01:29 AM »

I am a patent lawyer, but I'm not your patent lawyer. If I were, you'd know better.

The patent shown in the OP does not cover all dual-screen e-readers. The title of a patent does not define the rights of its owner. The abstract doesn't either. The drawings don't either.

There is no good reason to penalize inventors (be they individuals, small companies, or large companies) who do not have the resources to market their inventions. Nor to call them names.

Patents and parts of patents that cover (actually cover, not "are misinterpreted by ignorant people and tech media personalities to cover") prior art are already invalid. So:

• Talking about patenting breathing does not advance any legitimate discussion.
• Table-thumping about evil and despicableness sure appears foolish when the opinion is based on (at best) misinformation.
• Talking about forcing losing patent owners to (perhaps in the judge or jury's discretion) pay the accused infringer's attorney fees might actually address the problem.

If you don't know, ask. Don't be a windbag.
</rant>

-MSchantz (August 19, 2010, 10:22 AM)

Welcome MShantz.

I'd be very interested to hear any further thoughts of yours. Here are a few of my own. (My post above would be understood by those that know me as a cynical statement. I will expand it here.)

Regarding:

Talking about patenting breathing does not advance any legitimate discussion.

-MSchantz (August 19, 2010, 10:22 AM)

It advances the discussion of silliness.

But it's still about as valid as many existing patents.

Amazon 1-click.

ORM (Object-Relational Modelling)

See here for a rant on ORM patents. It's simply obvious. Relational models. Object models. Functional models. Bridging the gap between them is obvious and trivial.

More on why software patents are a bad idea.

How does a patent get granted for trivial mathematical principles? It happens.

Have a look at this video for information on how adding names to a matrix gives you a patent. Some <expletive> has taken out a patent on Singular Value Decomposition and distances between vectors. Ahem... Patent #6,735,568.

This is very far from being a windbag. It's simply pointing out some complete idiocy. Like really... Basic, trivial mathematics get a patent? Somebody obviously didn't pay attention in class if they think that matrices are "non-obvious" or "novel". Others find it ridiculous as well. As do others.

Other views about how software patents are undesirable are here, here, here, and here, and that's not even a start.

Why can't so many companies use open source software? Because of potential patent issues down the road. Oracle is currently attacking Google over Android and its use of Java.

"Process" was added to what is patentable in 1952, prior to software. It was meant for industrial purposes.

In 1978 the Supreme Court ruled that non-novel mathematical algorithms are not patentable.

Breathing. Mathematical algorithms. They are both trivial.

You see, it's not that we're not advancing legitimate discussion... It's that the topic of discussion (software patents) is not legitimate.