I buy more physical media, CD and SACD, than ever. Reasons: there is a huge used market and it's very, very cheap. Even new discs are relatively cheaper than ever. Even SACDs are rippable now (by using certain older networked Blu-Ray/DVD/SACD players, see Computer Audiophile forum for details). I get a lossless audio disc which is simple to back up/duplicate/rip. With classical music I usually get a full booklet which I can scan, and often I can download a full pdf from the vendor/label.
The only downside is physical storage space, but I quite like having shelves displaying my favourite music.
I'm not a Luddite, I do sometimes buy digital downloads, but it's usually cheaper to obtain the physical media and do the rest myself.
I have a headphone port and it is immensely useful while still being crappy in some respects. My phone is an LG V20. The audio system is excellent: it adaptively supports low and high impedance IEMs and headphones. It offers bit perfect decoding and playback of all the music I own (ranges from 16-bit 44100 kHz to 24-bit 88200 kHz derived from SACD as well as purchased 24-bit 96 and 192 kHz tracks. But the port/jack itself is a thowback, and especially bad on a portable device that is exposed to the elements, pocket lint etc.
Surely the ideal solution is not to force the decoding and amplification into a low power and inadequate chip, but to update the very simple physical interface from a crude jack into to one of pins with reliable connection and the capacity to be adapted and enhanced? It would also make converters very simple and cheap and universal.....oh shit, I forgot....it's not about quality or customer satisfaction, it's about squeezing more money out of us cattle.
I upgraded this year from a 2012 Galaxy Note II LTE to a LG V20. The main incentives were h.265/HEVC video playback support, fingerprint sensor and a much more capable audio system. The biggest thing was the Note's inability to play HEVC as there is no workaround for that (I can just about tolerate a tiny micro USB DAC angling from the phone and face recognition for unlocking is not great but is OK). I expect and hope it's another few years until I again feel that the device is an obstacle. Naturally Nougat and Oreo are an improvement on KitKat such that I no longer need to root the device to make it work how I want, but the main thing is if the hardware supports the file types/protocols I want to use and the software gets security fixes then I prefer to spend my money elsewhere (my Note II still got security updates until May 2017 in UK on EE).
There are lots of me, or at least people with the same first and last names.
I got my firstnamelastname@gmail.com address before all the other motherfuckers but that doesn't stop them forgetting they have to insert an initial, a symbol, a number or whatever.
So, I get mail for a fireman in New Zealand, a photographer in Nottingham UK, some guy in California, and a bird watcher in South Wales, a small business in unknown location in UK permanently late with its bills, an agricultural supplies salesman in Eire, and more. I get all sorts: apple product activation confirmations, hotel bookings, flight confirmations, tax demands, late payment warnings, the latest news on farm drainage.
I have tried to do the decent thing where possible and alert senders that they are discussing finance and business with the wrong person. This usually works out.
The bigger difficulty is when the person making the error is not sending to firstname but is the idiot who believes their own actual email address is firstnamelastname@gmail.com. I tried the polite way but doofus insisted on continuing to try to use my address (his actual real address has the word _info appended to the name but he is too dumb to remember). Eventually I emailed his business address book (he loves cc all) with the title "sorry to be an arse", attaching an image of a hairy arse and describing his idiocy and the fact that attempting to deal with him in a polite and helpful manner and resulted only in sour, moronic responses from him. Problem solved.
So, if you have a network unlocked phone, you can buy a SIM only deal from a phone company. It can be a monthly contract with a fixed term, or a rolling monthly contract, or a PAYG (Pay As You Go) with pre-pay cards/visa card top ups/cash top ups via token etc.
It doesn't surprise me that more people are going down this route. Here in UK there is decent competition for access to the national 3G and 4G networks. 4G smartphones have been the norm for about 5 or 6 years, even before there was good national 4G coverage. If you have a good 4G phone why not unlock it and shop around and get a better deal? What exactly is a 2018 or 2017 phone offering that wasn't already there in your 2014/5/6 phone? Almost nothing in effect.
I bought my Galaxy Note II on ebay a few years ago, unlocked it, and used it on different networks according to who offered me the best deal. Then I bought an unlocked LG V20 on aliexpress and put the SIM in the V20. I'm on a monthly SIM only deal so I can use any network unlocked phone I like. A few months ago the phone company (EE) informed me they were raising the tariff. I informed them I was requesting they get ready to port my number to a competitor. Result: I stayed with the same phone company with the same price for another year but now with a 20GB data allowance instead of 12GB. Sometimes the market works.
It's time to admit the truth. I have no rodent problem. No mice, no rats. Some squirrels in the garden but that's fine. Here is the real reason for me looking at rodent traps on aliexpress: my young nieces wanted pets. Their mother, my sister, got them fancy rats. The girls like them but not enough to properly take care of them, clean their living spaces and all the stuff that domesticated animals require.
I do not like rats. I have lived in Bangkok. I do not ever want to be close to another rat, wild or domesticated, cooked and presented on a stick, or live and actively ratty, or anything in between. I am rather keen on helping these unwanted pets on their journey to rat heaven or hell, which are probably indistinguishable to the human eye but may actually closely resemble Bangkok. Or Chennai (less fresh food but the human faeces is that much more accessible). So I casually browsed rodent traps on my favourite shopping site. I didn't buy any yet, but have greatly enjoyed the very explicit and frank illustrations of the products' successes.
It's not even an American stamping a logo. I was looking at rodent traps on aliexpress and noticed some stamped "Made in Iowa". I'm in the UK and if I bought these items their connection to the USA would not even be as much as a freight carrier or a delivery man.
Good decision by Dropbox as it's prompted me to have another look at SyncThing. I need sync across a couple of Android devices and multiple PCs, laptops, an x86 tablet and embedded devices, running variously Debian, Windows 10 and Armbian.
I tried Syncthing last year and it was frustrating to set up, didn't always sync, and didn't inspire confidence. Trying it again since getting the shitty Dropbox messages on my XFS based desktop and I am very pleasantly surprised. Set up has been easier and quicker and sync is working very quickly and reliably across WAN and LAN.
Am currently going through all my gear, uninstalling Dropbox and setting up Syncthing.
It is advertorial but it's also true. In my tiny, anecdotal experience:
Helping friends and family with keeping their Windows systems functional was horrible and occurred too frequently for everyone concerned. Non technical users have true difficulty in describing the very real problems they do definitely encounter in using traditional desktop operating systems. Sometimes the OS or applications update and new problems arise; sometimes the users explore and try stuff and encounter bugs or deeply a unhelpful UI that leaves them unable to undo changes. It's really hard to diagnose this stuff, or often even to have it demonstrated to you. I did try encouraging people to try Linux based systems (I did the installs as am not a total sadist) and, of course, the Windows issues are negated but other stuff crops up which seems just as bewildering for the user. The fact that it is much easier to fix or explain for me is totally beside the point to them.
Chromebooks have pretty much killed off these socially awkward situations. Occasionally I'm asked about a seemingly insurmountable problem and I can say clever stuff like "it's down to Chrome caching everything, even your typos when trying to log in places, just power it right down and restart." This works a mere 99% of the time. The remaining 1% is when the poor user imagines they can set up their fully functional USB printer or scanner. Hahahahahahahaha. Easy answer though: "Buy a new one that is certified to work with Chromebooks so Google can parse all your printed matter".
I don't use a Chromebook, but I definitely encourage their use by any person who I would otherwise expect to seek PC help via family/friend networks.
I'll switch back as soon as Firefox starts supporting ALSA again. I could put up with all the other shit, even moving to new plug in architecture, that the fuckwit brogrammers at Mozilla did, but abandoning support for Linux's only universal sound architecture was simply beyond cretinous and well into the realm of counter-productive hipster stupidity. I suppose it was cool and ironic but I'm neither of those, and I prefer simple ALSA over ALSA+ so at that point it was goodbye to Firefox after almost 15 years of using it on Windows, Linux and lately Android, and hello to Chrome and Chromium.
What is the origin of the affected devices? I never heard of myPhone but Archos and ZTE are long established companies who have established reputations by offering products with, respectively, excellent multimedia capability and relatively high end specs at relatively modest price. They don't seem like the kind of no-name companies or desperate rebranding enterprisesd who would deliberately play the malware/gouging the customer game. I haven't owned an Archos phone but I did own several of their older Android devices dedicated to video and audio playback and they definitely did not load up their custom Android versions with bloatware, scamware, adware etc. In fact they did some great stuff that Google was very bad at doing at the time (think back to Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread era) such as really slick smb and upnp browsing and playback integration into their custom file browser and multimedia apps, support for streaming flac, ogg vorbis and so on.
I just find it hard to believe that they would risk a niche position and a decent reputation like this. Absolutely anywhere in the supply chain from the factory to the retail outlet could be the weak link, it is not necessarily the brand name/designer/enterprise who commissioned the goods.
Xiaomi the way to go home I'm tired and I want to go to bed I had a little drink about an hour ago And it's gone right to my head Wherever I may roam On land or sea or foam You can always hear me singing this song Xiaomi the way to go home.
Slashdot Mirror
I buy more physical media, CD and SACD, than ever. Reasons: there is a huge used market and it's very, very cheap. Even new discs are relatively cheaper than ever. Even SACDs are rippable now (by using certain older networked Blu-Ray/DVD/SACD players, see Computer Audiophile forum for details). I get a lossless audio disc which is simple to back up/duplicate/rip. With classical music I usually get a full booklet which I can scan, and often I can download a full pdf from the vendor/label.
The only downside is physical storage space, but I quite like having shelves displaying my favourite music.
I'm not a Luddite, I do sometimes buy digital downloads, but it's usually cheaper to obtain the physical media and do the rest myself.
I have a headphone port and it is immensely useful while still being crappy in some respects. My phone is an LG V20. The audio system is excellent: it adaptively supports low and high impedance IEMs and headphones. It offers bit perfect decoding and playback of all the music I own (ranges from 16-bit 44100 kHz to 24-bit 88200 kHz derived from SACD as well as purchased 24-bit 96 and 192 kHz tracks. But the port/jack itself is a thowback, and especially bad on a portable device that is exposed to the elements, pocket lint etc.
Surely the ideal solution is not to force the decoding and amplification into a low power and inadequate chip, but to update the very simple physical interface from a crude jack into to one of pins with reliable connection and the capacity to be adapted and enhanced? It would also make converters very simple and cheap and universal. ....oh shit, I forgot....it's not about quality or customer satisfaction, it's about squeezing more money out of us cattle.
Popular with the two developers and the five users.
At first glance I thought it said mosques. For a second there I was impressed.
er... dangling, not angling.
I upgraded this year from a 2012 Galaxy Note II LTE to a LG V20. The main incentives were h.265/HEVC video playback support, fingerprint sensor and a much more capable audio system. The biggest thing was the Note's inability to play HEVC as there is no workaround for that (I can just about tolerate a tiny micro USB DAC angling from the phone and face recognition for unlocking is not great but is OK). I expect and hope it's another few years until I again feel that the device is an obstacle. Naturally Nougat and Oreo are an improvement on KitKat such that I no longer need to root the device to make it work how I want, but the main thing is if the hardware supports the file types/protocols I want to use and the software gets security fixes then I prefer to spend my money elsewhere (my Note II still got security updates until May 2017 in UK on EE).
Ah men!
Nobody of my generation is surprised by this news. Ever since we saw The Thing we've been expecting it.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0...
Hande hoch!
First ze big hand hoch zen ze little hand hoch!
For you ze DST ist ofer.
There are lots of me, or at least people with the same first and last names.
I got my firstnamelastname@gmail.com address before all the other motherfuckers but that doesn't stop them forgetting they have to insert an initial, a symbol, a number or whatever.
So, I get mail for a fireman in New Zealand, a photographer in Nottingham UK, some guy in California, and a bird watcher in South Wales, a small business in unknown location in UK permanently late with its bills, an agricultural supplies salesman in Eire, and more. I get all sorts: apple product activation confirmations, hotel bookings, flight confirmations, tax demands, late payment warnings, the latest news on farm drainage.
I have tried to do the decent thing where possible and alert senders that they are discussing finance and business with the wrong person. This usually works out.
The bigger difficulty is when the person making the error is not sending to firstname but is the idiot who believes their own actual email address is firstnamelastname@gmail.com. I tried the polite way but doofus insisted on continuing to try to use my address (his actual real address has the word _info appended to the name but he is too dumb to remember). Eventually I emailed his business address book (he loves cc all) with the title "sorry to be an arse", attaching an image of a hairy arse and describing his idiocy and the fact that attempting to deal with him in a polite and helpful manner and resulted only in sour, moronic responses from him. Problem solved.
that's 20GB per month
punter = customer.
Literally a punter is someone taking a punt, a punt being another term for a bet. In common usage it equates to a buyer in the market, i.e a consumer.
SIM only: you buy separately your phone and your SIM card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
So, if you have a network unlocked phone, you can buy a SIM only deal from a phone company. It can be a monthly contract with a fixed term, or a rolling monthly contract, or a PAYG (Pay As You Go) with pre-pay cards/visa card top ups/cash top ups via token etc.
It doesn't surprise me that more people are going down this route. Here in UK there is decent competition for access to the national 3G and 4G networks. 4G smartphones have been the norm for about 5 or 6 years, even before there was good national 4G coverage. If you have a good 4G phone why not unlock it and shop around and get a better deal? What exactly is a 2018 or 2017 phone offering that wasn't already there in your 2014/5/6 phone? Almost nothing in effect.
I bought my Galaxy Note II on ebay a few years ago, unlocked it, and used it on different networks according to who offered me the best deal. Then I bought an unlocked LG V20 on aliexpress and put the SIM in the V20. I'm on a monthly SIM only deal so I can use any network unlocked phone I like. A few months ago the phone company (EE) informed me they were raising the tariff. I informed them I was requesting they get ready to port my number to a competitor. Result: I stayed with the same phone company with the same price for another year but now with a 20GB data allowance instead of 12GB. Sometimes the market works.
I see dead people.
That's right. You're not engaging in real life. You're merely commenting on it. In a thoroughly predictably way. To no effect.
I didn't read all of that. It just seemed agitated and mad in line one, which is where I quit.
Have some cheese.
We don't have Hallmark here in UK. Or wolves. There is no moral or ethical conflict. The rats are in deep shit.
It's time to admit the truth. I have no rodent problem. No mice, no rats. Some squirrels in the garden but that's fine. Here is the real reason for me looking at rodent traps on aliexpress: my young nieces wanted pets. Their mother, my sister, got them fancy rats. The girls like them but not enough to properly take care of them, clean their living spaces and all the stuff that domesticated animals require.
I do not like rats. I have lived in Bangkok. I do not ever want to be close to another rat, wild or domesticated, cooked and presented on a stick, or live and actively ratty, or anything in between. I am rather keen on helping these unwanted pets on their journey to rat heaven or hell, which are probably indistinguishable to the human eye but may actually closely resemble Bangkok. Or Chennai (less fresh food but the human faeces is that much more accessible). So I casually browsed rodent traps on my favourite shopping site. I didn't buy any yet, but have greatly enjoyed the very explicit and frank illustrations of the products' successes.
Thank you for your interest. Have some cheese.
I don't, but the local rodents do. This is all about to change, thanks to an enterprising Chinese man who knows how to spell Iowa.
It's not even an American stamping a logo. I was looking at rodent traps on aliexpress and noticed some stamped "Made in Iowa". I'm in the UK and if I bought these items their connection to the USA would not even be as much as a freight carrier or a delivery man.
Good decision by Dropbox as it's prompted me to have another look at SyncThing. I need sync across a couple of Android devices and multiple PCs, laptops, an x86 tablet and embedded devices, running variously Debian, Windows 10 and Armbian.
I tried Syncthing last year and it was frustrating to set up, didn't always sync, and didn't inspire confidence. Trying it again since getting the shitty Dropbox messages on my XFS based desktop and I am very pleasantly surprised. Set up has been easier and quicker and sync is working very quickly and reliably across WAN and LAN.
Am currently going through all my gear, uninstalling Dropbox and setting up Syncthing.
Goodbye Dropbox and fuck you very much!
Yes, seriously, that's exactly it. It's low effort, low maintenance for *me*. I like that.
Complicated stuff huh?
Next please.
It is advertorial but it's also true. In my tiny, anecdotal experience:
Helping friends and family with keeping their Windows systems functional was horrible and occurred too frequently for everyone concerned. Non technical users have true difficulty in describing the very real problems they do definitely encounter in using traditional desktop operating systems. Sometimes the OS or applications update and new problems arise; sometimes the users explore and try stuff and encounter bugs or deeply a unhelpful UI that leaves them unable to undo changes. It's really hard to diagnose this stuff, or often even to have it demonstrated to you. I did try encouraging people to try Linux based systems (I did the installs as am not a total sadist) and, of course, the Windows issues are negated but other stuff crops up which seems just as bewildering for the user. The fact that it is much easier to fix or explain for me is totally beside the point to them.
Chromebooks have pretty much killed off these socially awkward situations. Occasionally I'm asked about a seemingly insurmountable problem and I can say clever stuff like "it's down to Chrome caching everything, even your typos when trying to log in places, just power it right down and restart." This works a mere 99% of the time. The remaining 1% is when the poor user imagines they can set up their fully functional USB printer or scanner. Hahahahahahahaha. Easy answer though: "Buy a new one that is certified to work with Chromebooks so Google can parse all your printed matter".
I don't use a Chromebook, but I definitely encourage their use by any person who I would otherwise expect to seek PC help via family/friend networks.
I'll switch back as soon as Firefox starts supporting ALSA again. I could put up with all the other shit, even moving to new plug in architecture, that the fuckwit brogrammers at Mozilla did, but abandoning support for Linux's only universal sound architecture was simply beyond cretinous and well into the realm of counter-productive hipster stupidity. I suppose it was cool and ironic but I'm neither of those, and I prefer simple ALSA over ALSA+ so at that point it was goodbye to Firefox after almost 15 years of using it on Windows, Linux and lately Android, and hello to Chrome and Chromium.
What is the origin of the affected devices? I never heard of myPhone but Archos and ZTE are long established companies who have established reputations by offering products with, respectively, excellent multimedia capability and relatively high end specs at relatively modest price. They don't seem like the kind of no-name companies or desperate rebranding enterprisesd who would deliberately play the malware/gouging the customer game. I haven't owned an Archos phone but I did own several of their older Android devices dedicated to video and audio playback and they definitely did not load up their custom Android versions with bloatware, scamware, adware etc. In fact they did some great stuff that Google was very bad at doing at the time (think back to Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread era) such as really slick smb and upnp browsing and playback integration into their custom file browser and multimedia apps, support for streaming flac, ogg vorbis and so on.
I just find it hard to believe that they would risk a niche position and a decent reputation like this. Absolutely anywhere in the supply chain from the factory to the retail outlet could be the weak link, it is not necessarily the brand name/designer/enterprise who commissioned the goods.
Xiaomi the way to go home
I'm tired and I want to go to bed
I had a little drink about an hour ago
And it's gone right to my head
Wherever I may roam
On land or sea or foam
You can always hear me singing this song
Xiaomi the way to go home.