Does he want to come do my Photoshop and InDesign work for me on a touch screen? I don't think so. I can hardly handle using my Laptop's trackpad to do this work when I forget my trackball, let alone having to use a touch my screen to do it. Why would I want my display covered with finger grease while trying to select individual pixels with my finger? Gah, sounds awful.
The mouse/trackball(my preference) and keyboard are a GREAT set if input devices for the computer. I don't understand the desire to hoist a worse solution upon people just because it's available. It's like these people are trying to justify their jobs by shoe-horning technology where it doesn't belong.
The only place where I could see touch input being useful in the home/office would maybe be something like Microsoft's "touch" tabletop, or some sort of large wall-mounted display board that would replace the traditional whiteboard/dry erase marker combo. That would seem more natural, and would be an easy way to share and examine images, documents, etc.
I've heard of more support on Linux for laptops than windows, so I'm extremely skeptical of your claim here.
Yeah, I don't know what the issue was. I was trying to install it on a Compaq laptop, and the actual installer would error out and I was never able to actually finish the installation. I tried making a new install disc and had the same problem. *shrug*.
Personally I'll stick with Homer Simpson's motto: "If something is hard to do, then it is not worth doing." Which is my rule regarding installing new Microsoft Operating Systems.
I'm no computer genius, but I've installed different versions of Windows on many computers over the years and rarely had a problem. Ubuntu, on the other hand, refused to work on my laptop, no matter what I tried. Microsoft might not make the best OSes ever, but they are a fair bit easier than Linux to get installed on a system, in my experience.
For them, they will be gleeful if all online music stores closed up shop. It will help clinch their hold on controlling what bands people listen to
True enough. I guess I was working under the assumption that they would actually want to increase overall listeners and revenue and not just control everything, which seems to be their real objective.
And by "they" I mean both parties, Apple and the music industry.
On one hand, I understand Apple's stance. The recording industry would be stupid if they made moves that could shut down what has so far been the most popular online music store to date. In my opinion, it is pretty F-ing stupid to try and pass a royalty hike at this point and time.
My thinking is this: Apple is doing all the hard work of running the store, and the record industry is profiting off of this additional sales stream. If they pass the royalty hike, they might not get their increased royalty revenues - likely, they'll get NO MONEY AT ALL if Apple goes through with its bluff of shutting down iTunes. Which is better, earning several million dollars a year in revenues from iTunes, or none at all? Stop being so greedy already.
On the other hand, how wise would it be for Apple to kill off part of what makes the iPod so popular? I'm a iPod owner who has never bought a track from iTunes, but obviously there are a LOT of people out there who use it. I don't think it would be so smart for Apple to shut such a service down... I wonder if their iPod sales would suffer as a result.
Weird file formats are also an issue. I have a Samsung slider phone (T-809 I think) with T-Mobile, and it's pretty easy to use, actually... but movies recorded with the onboard camera are stored in some sort of weird file format, that I guess I have to run through Samsung's software to decode if I want to watch them on my PC. Thanks but no thanks. I even tried simply renaming the extension, but that didn't work either.
The funny thing is, by simply renaming a.mp3 into a.m4u (or something like that) I was able to use mp3 song snippets as ringtones.:)
It also takes some of the wind from the FOSS folks sails, by creating something similar to the package systems for various distros and quiets some of the anti-trust bundling issues--without really giving up market share for their Apps, because they will be the first found by the average user.
Yes, in my ideal world the first time I booted a computer with Windows I'd be presented with a Window of "optional software". You'd simply select any items you may want (email client, MS Paint, whatever) and it would download those just like it does now for patches and updates. It's simple, gives the user more control, and like you said keeps the name in front of the customer.
I rather like the idea of having an OS with as little on it as possible.
Exactly! I know from a marketing standpoint you want to cram in as much of your own products as possible, in order to keep your brand in front of the customer, but having a truly modular OS would be very nice indeed.
As a "non-technical user" there are a lot of Windows services that I don't use that would be nice to remove without having to worry about undermining the stability and underlying structure of the OS.
Yeah, basically I turn on the TV for background noise while working on my laptop, so I tend to zone it out a lot. I didn't watch a whole ton of Olympic events, and then again... it was on in the background, hehe. I know I've seen a *few* PSAs, but I guess I just haven't really seen the majority of them.
My actual TV watching time is usually TIVOed shows I watch with a group of friends (like Lost) or DVDs once the season is out, like with Battlestar or The Wire.
This changeover needs to be done at some point... might as well be now. You can't remove all variables that could cause problems, but I will say they could certainly make it easier to find out whats going on for the 'average' person.
All I have is basic cable ($13/mo on top of my internet package to basically make sure my over-the-air channels come in clear, plus I get Discovery channel and a discount on my internet bill), so I know my TV will continue to work fine, but I've hardly heard word one about the change-over outside of techie sites such as this one. I don't watch much TV so maybe I've missed it, but I think the TV industry (whoever they may be) would be running a whole lot of PSAs on what is going to happen and how to make sure your TV still works.
You are making this far to complicated for a simple email issue. Just use Google Apps. They have a free version for people just like you. The reasoning that Google Apps "isn't actually intended for home users" is silly at best. It's EXACTLY for people like you.
The LAPD LIKE TOTALLY UNDERSTANDS how the scratches you'd get in the bumper from screwing on a license plate would mess up the value of your Maserati Limo.
Funny you'd bring that up. I listed to Adam Corolla in the mornings and he is always talking about how he keeps "dealer" plates on his BMW and keeps his real plates in the trunk in order to evade "the man". I wonder about the logic of talking about such a thing on-air, but hey, he's made it and I'm still a working stiff, so he's doing something right I guess.
Why bother? There are already simple covers that effectively prevent the red light cameras as it is. Granted a bit of DSP could also eliminate those being effective, so maybe a retractable cover is the right solution.
They tried a number of these on Myth Busters and none of them could effectively obscure the license plate numbers from the camera.
You get tickets for missing front plates? I have been driving a car for 11 years without a front plate and I have not got a single ticket in that time.
I think it's a state-by-state thing. Some want both and some only require one.
Not a whole hell of a lot either way, so we're going to rape everybody's privacy and invite abuse of sweeping power just for anomalies?
That has been the justification behind every major piece of "security theater" installed since 9/11. Some sort of random, one-off attack happens and you have this momentous knee-jerk reaction as entire industries are created or transformed in order top deal with this "new grave danger".
Just look at all the hassle we have to go through at the airports because some British nutjob tried to blow up a home-made shoe bomb. Or all the 3 oz container rules because of some rumor that you could assemble a chemical bomb from component parts in an airliner's lavatory.
I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but with all of the lobbying that goes on at the state and federal level, combined with what companies are able to get away with these days, it's not surprising our liberties are given away for new, lucrative profit creating endeavors.
No, that would be ridiculous. Instead, you have to move your photos to the digital darkroom and run them through carefully mixed solutions to fix the image, hanging them up on a clothesline under the glare of a red light.
We've had this for years. It's called EXIF data and file comments. I doubt my sloppy handwriting adds value to the data.
Exactly. Furthermore, I somehow doubt Nokia's photo flip/comment idea will be used by every device you view pictures on. What happens when you take a picture with your Nikon camera and then post it on Facebook, or send it to your in-law's email address? Will the comments show up as text below the image if the 'flip' function is not suppoted? EXIF is already wildly supported. This to me seems rather silly and pointless.
Note to application designers: just because you can do it "real life", doesn't mean you need to be able to do it on the computer. Please please please don't invent a "digital" Polaroid where I have to 'shake' the images with my mouse to have them show up on my screen...
The problem though is that Ford needs some place to build the engines. It has to either re-tool an entire assembly line for it, or build a new plant. Both of these take a lot of capital, which is something in short supply at Ford right now. All for a car that still might not sell here. While gas prices might be high, Americans are dumb and love their big, powerful cars/trucks/SUVs. There has been a shift towards smaller vehicles, but I'm still holding my breath to see how that turns out. Europeans are already accepting of much smaller and more efficient cars, making it less of a risk for the overseas market.
You are right. Using a laptop for a primary gaming device, unless you have a lot of money to burn is a rather silly idea since you cannot upgrade it. I found when I was in college and doing a lot of gaming that having a desktop I could upgrade every two years for about $500-800 was the way to go, and it would give me another two years of being able to play the latest titles.
I recently purchased a fully-loaded Dell XPS 1530 laptop for Photoshop on-the-go functionality, and it has been fun being able to to play some older titles like Half-Life 2 again, but I don't expect it to be able to keep up with what is coming out.
Do you have a link to any of these "what if" reports? Google isn't finding anything particularly interesting.
Hehe, like a typical user, I do not.
When reading about the bail out yesterday and the day before, I just remember coming across quotes from people in the finance sector saying it would have been catastrophic, as Freddie/Fannie are so linked to our debt in China among other places and hold billions in loans.
I wish I could remember an exact article, but I read so much news and go to so many sites during the day I just can't remember where now... it was probably on the NYTimes.
It would be so awesome if the Google news bot was able to dig up some old dirt on Google that would make it's ~$450 per share stock crater... that would be an awesome site to behold.
I doubt it'll happen, since there haven't been any previously bad financial reports that could come back and masquerade as current news, but you never know.
It also serves to show how fragile our financial system is (just read the "what if" reports on what would have happened if Fannie Mac/Freddie Mae were allowed to go under... it would have been BAD). Sure, United gained back most of its value but it's still down a good bit of cash. It reminds me of when Abbie Hoffman threw a bunch of $1 bills onto the NYSE trading floor and TRADING STOPPED as the floor traders ran around picking up the bills.
Variety is the spice of life. If every browser used the same engine, there'd be no competitive spirit to improve it.
Yes, and god forbid a web designer only has to design for ONE engine, and not several, each rendering what should be STANDARDS in slightly different ways, ugh. I don't understand why some design groups feel they can throw some of these things out the window when designing their browsers. "Well, we COULD follow the all the standards set for CSS, but hey... lets just follow SOME of them!" Bleh.
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Does he want to come do my Photoshop and InDesign work for me on a touch screen? I don't think so. I can hardly handle using my Laptop's trackpad to do this work when I forget my trackball, let alone having to use a touch my screen to do it. Why would I want my display covered with finger grease while trying to select individual pixels with my finger? Gah, sounds awful.
The mouse/trackball(my preference) and keyboard are a GREAT set if input devices for the computer. I don't understand the desire to hoist a worse solution upon people just because it's available. It's like these people are trying to justify their jobs by shoe-horning technology where it doesn't belong.
The only place where I could see touch input being useful in the home/office would maybe be something like Microsoft's "touch" tabletop, or some sort of large wall-mounted display board that would replace the traditional whiteboard/dry erase marker combo. That would seem more natural, and would be an easy way to share and examine images, documents, etc.
I've heard of more support on Linux for laptops than windows, so I'm extremely skeptical of your claim here.
Yeah, I don't know what the issue was. I was trying to install it on a Compaq laptop, and the actual installer would error out and I was never able to actually finish the installation. I tried making a new install disc and had the same problem. *shrug*.
Personally I'll stick with Homer Simpson's motto: "If something is hard to do, then it is not worth doing." Which is my rule regarding installing new Microsoft Operating Systems.
I'm no computer genius, but I've installed different versions of Windows on many computers over the years and rarely had a problem. Ubuntu, on the other hand, refused to work on my laptop, no matter what I tried. Microsoft might not make the best OSes ever, but they are a fair bit easier than Linux to get installed on a system, in my experience.
For them, they will be gleeful if all online music stores closed up shop. It will help clinch their hold on controlling what bands people listen to
True enough. I guess I was working under the assumption that they would actually want to increase overall listeners and revenue and not just control everything, which seems to be their real objective.
And by "they" I mean both parties, Apple and the music industry.
On one hand, I understand Apple's stance. The recording industry would be stupid if they made moves that could shut down what has so far been the most popular online music store to date. In my opinion, it is pretty F-ing stupid to try and pass a royalty hike at this point and time.
My thinking is this: Apple is doing all the hard work of running the store, and the record industry is profiting off of this additional sales stream. If they pass the royalty hike, they might not get their increased royalty revenues - likely, they'll get NO MONEY AT ALL if Apple goes through with its bluff of shutting down iTunes. Which is better, earning several million dollars a year in revenues from iTunes, or none at all? Stop being so greedy already.
On the other hand, how wise would it be for Apple to kill off part of what makes the iPod so popular? I'm a iPod owner who has never bought a track from iTunes, but obviously there are a LOT of people out there who use it. I don't think it would be so smart for Apple to shut such a service down... I wonder if their iPod sales would suffer as a result.
obviously getting the pics off will be hard.
Weird file formats are also an issue. I have a Samsung slider phone (T-809 I think) with T-Mobile, and it's pretty easy to use, actually... but movies recorded with the onboard camera are stored in some sort of weird file format, that I guess I have to run through Samsung's software to decode if I want to watch them on my PC. Thanks but no thanks. I even tried simply renaming the extension, but that didn't work either.
The funny thing is, by simply renaming a .mp3 into a .m4u (or something like that) I was able to use mp3 song snippets as ringtones. :)
It also takes some of the wind from the FOSS folks sails, by creating something similar to the package systems for various distros and quiets some of the anti-trust bundling issues--without really giving up market share for their Apps, because they will be the first found by the average user.
Yes, in my ideal world the first time I booted a computer with Windows I'd be presented with a Window of "optional software". You'd simply select any items you may want (email client, MS Paint, whatever) and it would download those just like it does now for patches and updates. It's simple, gives the user more control, and like you said keeps the name in front of the customer.
I rather like the idea of having an OS with as little on it as possible.
Exactly! I know from a marketing standpoint you want to cram in as much of your own products as possible, in order to keep your brand in front of the customer, but having a truly modular OS would be very nice indeed.
As a "non-technical user" there are a lot of Windows services that I don't use that would be nice to remove without having to worry about undermining the stability and underlying structure of the OS.
You must watch even less TV than I do.
Yeah, basically I turn on the TV for background noise while working on my laptop, so I tend to zone it out a lot. I didn't watch a whole ton of Olympic events, and then again... it was on in the background, hehe. I know I've seen a *few* PSAs, but I guess I just haven't really seen the majority of them.
My actual TV watching time is usually TIVOed shows I watch with a group of friends (like Lost) or DVDs once the season is out, like with Battlestar or The Wire.
This changeover needs to be done at some point... might as well be now. You can't remove all variables that could cause problems, but I will say they could certainly make it easier to find out whats going on for the 'average' person.
All I have is basic cable ($13/mo on top of my internet package to basically make sure my over-the-air channels come in clear, plus I get Discovery channel and a discount on my internet bill), so I know my TV will continue to work fine, but I've hardly heard word one about the change-over outside of techie sites such as this one. I don't watch much TV so maybe I've missed it, but I think the TV industry (whoever they may be) would be running a whole lot of PSAs on what is going to happen and how to make sure your TV still works.
maybe he doesn't like the privacy implications of going with google apps. I know I don't...
That was never outlined as rejection criteria in his original post, which I think would have been floated if it was of major concern.
You are making this far to complicated for a simple email issue. Just use Google Apps. They have a free version for people just like you. The reasoning that Google Apps "isn't actually intended for home users" is silly at best. It's EXACTLY for people like you.
It's incredibly easy to set up and will provide you with a "professional" looking email address. http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/editions.html Just sign up for the standard version.
The LAPD LIKE TOTALLY UNDERSTANDS how the scratches you'd get in the bumper from screwing on a license plate would mess up the value of your Maserati Limo.
Funny you'd bring that up. I listed to Adam Corolla in the mornings and he is always talking about how he keeps "dealer" plates on his BMW and keeps his real plates in the trunk in order to evade "the man". I wonder about the logic of talking about such a thing on-air, but hey, he's made it and I'm still a working stiff, so he's doing something right I guess.
Why bother? There are already simple covers that effectively prevent the red light cameras as it is. Granted a bit of DSP could also eliminate those being effective, so maybe a retractable cover is the right solution.
They tried a number of these on Myth Busters and none of them could effectively obscure the license plate numbers from the camera.
Here is a tiny article about it: http://www.autoblog.com/2007/03/08/mythbusters-fail-to-foil-the-speedcamera/
You get tickets for missing front plates? I have been driving a car for 11 years without a front plate and I have not got a single ticket in that time.
I think it's a state-by-state thing. Some want both and some only require one.
Not a whole hell of a lot either way, so we're going to rape everybody's privacy and invite abuse of sweeping power just for anomalies?
That has been the justification behind every major piece of "security theater" installed since 9/11. Some sort of random, one-off attack happens and you have this momentous knee-jerk reaction as entire industries are created or transformed in order top deal with this "new grave danger".
Just look at all the hassle we have to go through at the airports because some British nutjob tried to blow up a home-made shoe bomb. Or all the 3 oz container rules because of some rumor that you could assemble a chemical bomb from component parts in an airliner's lavatory.
I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but with all of the lobbying that goes on at the state and federal level, combined with what companies are able to get away with these days, it's not surprising our liberties are given away for new, lucrative profit creating endeavors.
No, that would be ridiculous. Instead, you have to move your photos to the digital darkroom and run them through carefully mixed solutions to fix the image, hanging them up on a clothesline under the glare of a red light.
I thought we did that already in Photoshop!
We've had this for years. It's called EXIF data and file comments. I doubt my sloppy handwriting adds value to the data.
Exactly. Furthermore, I somehow doubt Nokia's photo flip/comment idea will be used by every device you view pictures on. What happens when you take a picture with your Nikon camera and then post it on Facebook, or send it to your in-law's email address? Will the comments show up as text below the image if the 'flip' function is not suppoted? EXIF is already wildly supported. This to me seems rather silly and pointless.
Note to application designers: just because you can do it "real life", doesn't mean you need to be able to do it on the computer. Please please please don't invent a "digital" Polaroid where I have to 'shake' the images with my mouse to have them show up on my screen...
So build them in the US? I know, strange thought.
The problem though is that Ford needs some place to build the engines. It has to either re-tool an entire assembly line for it, or build a new plant. Both of these take a lot of capital, which is something in short supply at Ford right now. All for a car that still might not sell here. While gas prices might be high, Americans are dumb and love their big, powerful cars/trucks/SUVs. There has been a shift towards smaller vehicles, but I'm still holding my breath to see how that turns out. Europeans are already accepting of much smaller and more efficient cars, making it less of a risk for the overseas market.
You are right. Using a laptop for a primary gaming device, unless you have a lot of money to burn is a rather silly idea since you cannot upgrade it. I found when I was in college and doing a lot of gaming that having a desktop I could upgrade every two years for about $500-800 was the way to go, and it would give me another two years of being able to play the latest titles.
I recently purchased a fully-loaded Dell XPS 1530 laptop for Photoshop on-the-go functionality, and it has been fun being able to to play some older titles like Half-Life 2 again, but I don't expect it to be able to keep up with what is coming out.
Do you have a link to any of these "what if" reports? Google isn't finding anything particularly interesting.
Hehe, like a typical user, I do not.
When reading about the bail out yesterday and the day before, I just remember coming across quotes from people in the finance sector saying it would have been catastrophic, as Freddie/Fannie are so linked to our debt in China among other places and hold billions in loans.
I wish I could remember an exact article, but I read so much news and go to so many sites during the day I just can't remember where now... it was probably on the NYTimes.
Oh, and I should say "Fannie MAE, Freddie MAC", not the other way around. Whoops.
No, what is amazing is how Slashdot users can fail to properly parse a paragraph and read between the lines a little.
It would be so awesome if the Google news bot was able to dig up some old dirt on Google that would make it's ~$450 per share stock crater... that would be an awesome site to behold.
I doubt it'll happen, since there haven't been any previously bad financial reports that could come back and masquerade as current news, but you never know.
It also serves to show how fragile our financial system is (just read the "what if" reports on what would have happened if Fannie Mac/Freddie Mae were allowed to go under... it would have been BAD). Sure, United gained back most of its value but it's still down a good bit of cash. It reminds me of when Abbie Hoffman threw a bunch of $1 bills onto the NYSE trading floor and TRADING STOPPED as the floor traders ran around picking up the bills.
Variety is the spice of life. If every browser used the same engine, there'd be no competitive spirit to improve it.
Yes, and god forbid a web designer only has to design for ONE engine, and not several, each rendering what should be STANDARDS in slightly different ways, ugh. I don't understand why some design groups feel they can throw some of these things out the window when designing their browsers. "Well, we COULD follow the all the standards set for CSS, but hey... lets just follow SOME of them!" Bleh.