actually even an atom based Win8 tablet offers some fairly compelling features over any of the Googleship devices. The first and foremost is that they don't require a working network connection be be usable for anything other then consumption. I've got one (got in jan 2013) and am finding that to be the biggest issue with any droid version. You Must have a working network connection to enter anything into the god damn calendar, create a doc or reply to email because if you're not connected, they will not allow you to create anything. They're strictly a consumption device. I'd have been better off getting an iPad and it wouldn't have cost much more then the damn N7 I bought. The only reason I didn't go with the iPad is I dislike iTunes and how Apple does things but I'm also reaching the point of disliking Google enough to begin finding alternatives for shit like Gmail and Gdrive.
If you've got a decent working net connection, I've found that google's voice writing works decently. It's by no means any worse then MS or Nuances Dragon Speakings capabilities so yes, it's quite possible to write a decent length missive on one - N7. What I'm finding to be most annoying is that I can't update my g-calendar, write a draft response for g-mail or even create a god damn g-doc while off-line and that was supposed to be one of the features baked into droid 4.2
Give me a full win8 tablet such as the Surface Pro by MS (I'm thinking about the next gen after the new year) and not only can I add stuff to my calendar but I can write emails and create various docs while off-line instead of always being tethered to the god damn Googleship.
As with everything else, it does depend on the app. I've got several games that actually work quite well with the touch interface of Win7 - HP Touchsmart system that I suspect will work even better on a decent Win8 tablet but as said, it does depend on the fucking apps. Some of them are very dependent on keyboard/mouse and simply don't work with a damn on a tablet because of their designs.
As an artist (sketching/drawing) I've been looking at the latest Win8 Tablets and the only ones with a decent digitizer interface are the MS Surface Pro or the Wacom Companion (Overpriced for my needs). What I'm now planning is getting one of the Surface Pro 2 after the new year as I have plenty of software that will run on it without problem (have tested the apps on a laptop upgraded to Win8 Pro during the special pricing of $40). Hell I even write a bit and have used the MS Speech recognition feature since it works as well as Dragon Naturally Speaking while being built-in - Free.
I would if using Illustrator 9 (Have a legal copy along with Photoshop6) that works quite nicely with a digital pen/brush as that's what it was coded for. Another option is Corel Paint, which is designed specifically for digital pens/brushes and Wacom Digitizer tablets - even their cheap bamboo digitizer pads.
Laptops are too much of a security risk in some places and the places that do allow them are likely to insist on strong drive encryption.
Tell that to all the damn data breaches because some idiot had a copy of the corporate DB on their company issued laptop. Everyone of those involved a fortune 1000 company and they didn't require even usage of the Windows EFS (encrypted file system) to protect that data. Sorry but from a corporate PHB/MBA it doesn't improve the bottom line, it don't get done.
sounds like a hydroponic media that is not good for root production. They'd be better off using rock wool to promote root growth and give the plants something to bind to. Rock wool is pretty easy to create, especially in space where the energy is readily available using a sinmple solar concentrator and feed the matterial through the focal point.
Another advantage of rock wool is the ability to retain a nutrient solution near the root ball to promote plant growth
and as a Gentoo use, I don't use SystemD at all as it just adds complexity that's not needed. Hell the entire purpose of SystemD appears to be destruction of the LFsHS (Linux File System Hierarchy Standard) by requiring/usr to be on the same partition as/bin/sbin and/root. Since I don't use it, my/usr is actually on a seperate partition and drive for security reasons. Simply put, my/usr partition is mounted read-only so any attack that tries to modify user apps (Libre-Office, VLC) simply fails. Same for the/usr/portage directory. It's a seperate partition/drive and once I've finished the system build and stability testing, it's not even mounted. I have a cron job/script that mounts it on a quarterly basis to run emerge --sync then dismount it because I simply have little reason to update my software each and every month even if there is a severe vulnerability.
Why this is the case is that most of the vulerabilities I've seen tend to be in an optional component that I don't have installed like the Dbase need for Java. Well I don't do any Database work so Java isn't installed nor will it be as I have no need for it. The same for many of the other vulnerabilities that have occurred over the years. I simply don't have the god damn kitchen sink installed as Debian, RH/CentOS/Fedora tend to do.
So you have x11 clients running on those headless servers? Pitty as that's not how you're supposed to do it. You're supposed to run the x11 server on those servers and use a single client to access them. Better yet, toss the x11 service and simply push them out as javascript/web pages instead.
Check out the Win7 Tasks - Defrag is automatic and yes - NTFS requires defragmentation not only of the File system but the god damn index. BTW Don't allow an NTFS disk to exceed 50 percent full or you will suffer data loss/corruption - don't believe me? Check the MS Knowledge base and yes it still applies to Win8 since it's using NTFS.
And this is one of the many reasons I haven't bothered to upgrade/replace either of my CRT TV's. The 13 incher has better sound and includes game console hookups in front while the 23 inch isn't far enough away that I need anything larger.
Which Bush? Sr or Jr? It became law as part of the God Damn "Patriot Act" that should have been shot down immediately by SCOTUS before it even became law and each and every one of the idiots that voted yes on it should have been tried for Treason then and there. Might have saved some of our precious freedoms that people simply don't give a damn about so long as they've got their Simpsons, South Park and American Idol to watch
Even better is to change the behaviour to a "No Trust" model as I have and add exceptions for those sites you actually need. Remember the Diginotar mess? Since then, I've changed the trust of all Certificates by marking all of the Root CA's as untrusted. Sometimes it does create a bit of an issue since Firefox tends to be resistent to adding the needed exceptions but considering that I only have a couple of dozen exceptions out of how many certificates? I don't feel it's as big of an problem as folks think to add them. The main advantage is, none of the god damn advertisers or other idiots forcing https connections can infect my system by default as I get a warning about an invalid certificate chain as soon as the connection is made and yes, I've seen that in regards to some of the advertisers and other folks that I don't need to connect to.
seeing as how the entire Certificate Authority system is already compromised by its structure. Each and every key is a subkey of the Root CA master key. The question then becomes, who has a copy of that master key besides the Root CA?
Web of Trust - completely broken as it does not exist. PGP/GPG and Self Signed/Generated keys are the only solutions currently and for self-signed keys, a site needs to place their Public Key on the front page of their site so it can be downloaded.
Remember the Diginotar Incident? A Certificate Authority that had been compromised? I gave up trusting all Certificates at that time and although it's a PITA at times to add the needed exceptions, I've found that I only have a few more then a dozen certs I have exceptions for. That's on the entire web. Now if we could simply convince Mozilla to move to an Untrusted Model instead. Yes it'll piss people off suddenly getting warnings about certficiates but then it may at least get them thinking about the mess that the x509 certs has become.
This is the reason my next build is going to be an ITX design. Board sits on the bottom of the case with nothing hanging from it. Problem solved unless it gets knocked off the desk though that shouldn't happen due to building a custom desk for it - it'll be built in.
A far better list of test results can be found at http://www.silentpcreview.com/ where they test the hell out of coolers and fans and other components. This POS "I No Nutink" Review is just slightly better then useless for those who actually "No Nutink".
except the market they're aiming for isn't you and me but Corporate - offering a unified ecosystem that's managed by the AD servers and such. Allowing access using Office 365 Corporate Lan Version to those Tablets and Phones so companies can tell people "It's out network and no you can't BYOD unless it's running a supported OS such as Windows". That's what they're trying to do and one way MS could improve this is to buy Dell entirely. They've got enough Cash and to replace Balmer, bring in Michael Dell instead of the fucking idiot Elop.
I wish I was actually paid by MS to be shill instead of just being someone who has absolutely no loyalty to any product or company. Think about it. Could MS actually pull it off if they did this?
Actually not the first tablet to offer a digitizer. I vaugely remember one offered by Circuit City about a decade ago. Outrageous price at the time but still offered. Now I look at the price of the Surface Pro and it's in line with all the other Win8 tablets of the same size - look at the crap Acer Iconia's Wxxx tablets. I'm looking at one of the Surface pro's for the Wacom Digitizer and the fact I can install a Floss on it since it's not a locked down wannabe like the Nexus - yes I own a fscking Nexus and w/o a net connection it's no more usefull then a damn gameboy as you simply can't compose an email or add appointments to the Google Calendar/Gmail apps while off-line. God damn idiots. At least with a Win8 tablet I can do all of that.
I've actually been eyeballing one of the Surface Pro's from MS. Sure they're running Win8 but seeing as how their a full i5 with HD4000 GPU, there's no reason I can dump Windows and Install Gentoo or what ever other flavor of Floss I want on it. Specs look like all of the hardware is well supported so why in hell not other then the price? Look at the Acer Iconia's in the same size/specs and they're not much cheaper.
Hell compare the iPad price and you'll see that although $200 cheaper, they're not any better as you're locked into the Apple Store and Environment w/o jailbreaking the damn things and then there's little software to run on it with any reliability and no, I don't consider android to be worth it having dealt with a Nexus 7 tablet for 6 months - it needs an always on connection just to enter appointments into the Google Calendar - Come on Google, this is supposed to be your Flagship product so where in hell is the off-line feature and no, I'm not talking about a read-only calendar.
I've bought MS branded hardware in the past and although it's not been the cheapest, the quality has been damn good for the price (bang for buck) so I can actually justify buying one of these. What makes sense to me is for MS to buyout Dell so they can offer a fully integrated system of mice, keyboards, tablets and software. Should be able to offer some reason for business to buy em even at a slight increased cost over what Dell currently offers. Think about it. A closed ecosystem like Apple but with a focus on corporate business, which is exactly where Apple fails. They don't sell or even support business and don't want the market so why not stick with a known Devil like MS.
Check Waccom's page for the Cintiq Tablet - Win8 and has the full Cintiq digitizer interface. Pricey though at $2500 but if you're a digital graphics artist it may be worth the money. http://cintiqcompanion.wacom.com/CintiqCompanion/en/
Paypal isn't a bank according to U.S. Regulations. Otherwise their doing this would get them slammed by the Feds in a hurry as it violates many regulations. In fact, under the Feds, they would be slapped down for Money Laundring and I'd suggest the Project Devs push RICO Charges in Federal Court against Paypal (Racketeering/Corruption) which if successful would give them punitive damages of not triple but six to ten times the amount of the monies stollen and the profit Paypal is making from holding that money to play with it. How much money is Paypal making by holding those funds as they are - Stocks/Bonds market - 2+ percent per day? That's a lot of money when you look at the totals.
It's this kind of action by Paypal that pushed me to drop all family accounts with them and to quit using Ebay. It's not worth the agravation and I did vote with my wallet.
And Hairyfeet is a god damn Linux Idiot. I'm running Gentoo x86_64 and guess what, I haven't had problems with hardware suddenly stop working because of an update and the reason why is I don't run a crap Distro like Ubunta that tries to hide everything from the user. They're really no better then MS in that regards. If you want stability, you need to be running Debian itself as they don't screw the drivers up like Ubunta.
Even for Gentoo, hardware drivers are no longer an issue unless you're replacing a god damn kernel and in regards to things like Printers - simply prevent upgrades to Cups (same as used by Apple) to a version that breaks things.
A stable system is very easy to get with Gentoo and if you plan things out to begin with and not install every god damn piece of shit software in the repo's with lots of services starting as Ubunta/RH/CentOS/Debian all do then security isn't a fucking problem either.
One of the biggest things I appreciate about Gentoo is the ability to stick with a stable kernel and software plus I don't have every god damn piece of shit app being pulled in a a dependency as I know what I actually need on the system unlike Ubunta/RH/CentOS/Debina because they distribute Binaries instead of source only. Does it help? Yes as I've laughed many times at the GLSA (Gentoo Linux Security Advisories) in regards to problems that do not affect me as I don't have the library installed by default (they do tend to be optionals such as Java support for Libre Office that's needed for Dbase).
Anyone that thinks that all you need to do is install a god damn CD and accept the Defaults of the installer is in no better position that running Windows because they don't have a fucking clue what their real needs are unlike myself. Yes I'm a bit arrogant about it but then "This ins't Buger King but You can Have it Your Way instead of My Way." You just have to think before opening your mouth and inserting your foot.
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actually even an atom based Win8 tablet offers some fairly compelling features over any of the Googleship devices. The first and foremost is that they don't require a working network connection be be usable for anything other then consumption. I've got one (got in jan 2013) and am finding that to be the biggest issue with any droid version. You Must have a working network connection to enter anything into the god damn calendar, create a doc or reply to email because if you're not connected, they will not allow you to create anything. They're strictly a consumption device. I'd have been better off getting an iPad and it wouldn't have cost much more then the damn N7 I bought. The only reason I didn't go with the iPad is I dislike iTunes and how Apple does things but I'm also reaching the point of disliking Google enough to begin finding alternatives for shit like Gmail and Gdrive.
If you've got a decent working net connection, I've found that google's voice writing works decently. It's by no means any worse then MS or Nuances Dragon Speakings capabilities so yes, it's quite possible to write a decent length missive on one - N7. What I'm finding to be most annoying is that I can't update my g-calendar, write a draft response for g-mail or even create a god damn g-doc while off-line and that was supposed to be one of the features baked into droid 4.2
Give me a full win8 tablet such as the Surface Pro by MS (I'm thinking about the next gen after the new year) and not only can I add stuff to my calendar but I can write emails and create various docs while off-line instead of always being tethered to the god damn Googleship.
As with everything else, it does depend on the app. I've got several games that actually work quite well with the touch interface of Win7 - HP Touchsmart system that I suspect will work even better on a decent Win8 tablet but as said, it does depend on the fucking apps. Some of them are very dependent on keyboard/mouse and simply don't work with a damn on a tablet because of their designs.
As an artist (sketching/drawing) I've been looking at the latest Win8 Tablets and the only ones with a decent digitizer interface are the MS Surface Pro or the Wacom Companion (Overpriced for my needs). What I'm now planning is getting one of the Surface Pro 2 after the new year as I have plenty of software that will run on it without problem (have tested the apps on a laptop upgraded to Win8 Pro during the special pricing of $40). Hell I even write a bit and have used the MS Speech recognition feature since it works as well as Dragon Naturally Speaking while being built-in - Free.
I would if using Illustrator 9 (Have a legal copy along with Photoshop6) that works quite nicely with a digital pen/brush as that's what it was coded for. Another option is Corel Paint, which is designed specifically for digital pens/brushes and Wacom Digitizer tablets - even their cheap bamboo digitizer pads.
"power user" level tablets (say 8GB ram and equivalent to a present day i7 Quad)
It's called the Wacom Companion - The MS Surface is a Dual Core i5
Laptops are too much of a security risk in some places and the places that do allow them are likely to insist on strong drive encryption.
Tell that to all the damn data breaches because some idiot had a copy of the corporate DB on their company issued laptop. Everyone of those involved a fortune 1000 company and they didn't require even usage of the Windows EFS (encrypted file system) to protect that data. Sorry but from a corporate PHB/MBA it doesn't improve the bottom line, it don't get done.
sounds like a hydroponic media that is not good for root production. They'd be better off using rock wool to promote root growth and give the plants something to bind to. Rock wool is pretty easy to create, especially in space where the energy is readily available using a sinmple solar concentrator and feed the matterial through the focal point.
Another advantage of rock wool is the ability to retain a nutrient solution near the root ball to promote plant growth
and as a Gentoo use, I don't use SystemD at all as it just adds complexity that's not needed. Hell the entire purpose of SystemD appears to be destruction of the LFsHS (Linux File System Hierarchy Standard) by requiring /usr to be on the same partition as /bin /sbin and /root. Since I don't use it, my /usr is actually on a seperate partition and drive for security reasons. Simply put, my /usr partition is mounted read-only so any attack that tries to modify user apps (Libre-Office, VLC) simply fails. Same for the /usr/portage directory. It's a seperate partition/drive and once I've finished the system build and stability testing, it's not even mounted. I have a cron job/script that mounts it on a quarterly basis to run emerge --sync then dismount it because I simply have little reason to update my software each and every month even if there is a severe vulnerability.
Why this is the case is that most of the vulerabilities I've seen tend to be in an optional component that I don't have installed like the Dbase need for Java. Well I don't do any Database work so Java isn't installed nor will it be as I have no need for it. The same for many of the other vulnerabilities that have occurred over the years. I simply don't have the god damn kitchen sink installed as Debian, RH/CentOS/Fedora tend to do.
So you have x11 clients running on those headless servers? Pitty as that's not how you're supposed to do it. You're supposed to run the x11 server on those servers and use a single client to access them. Better yet, toss the x11 service and simply push them out as javascript/web pages instead.
Check out the Win7 Tasks - Defrag is automatic and yes - NTFS requires defragmentation not only of the File system but the god damn index. BTW Don't allow an NTFS disk to exceed 50 percent full or you will suffer data loss/corruption - don't believe me? Check the MS Knowledge base and yes it still applies to Win8 since it's using NTFS.
Tell that to Harely Davidson then. Damn bikes start at 20k and simply go up for a new one and yes I can buy a new Chevy or Ford for less.
And this is one of the many reasons I haven't bothered to upgrade/replace either of my CRT TV's. The 13 incher has better sound and includes game console hookups in front while the 23 inch isn't far enough away that I need anything larger.
Which Bush? Sr or Jr? It became law as part of the God Damn "Patriot Act" that should have been shot down immediately by SCOTUS before it even became law and each and every one of the idiots that voted yes on it should have been tried for Treason then and there. Might have saved some of our precious freedoms that people simply don't give a damn about so long as they've got their Simpsons, South Park and American Idol to watch
and the many design disabilities is why the Federation quit using the wrist communicators after Wrath of Khan.
Even better is to change the behaviour to a "No Trust" model as I have and add exceptions for those sites you actually need. Remember the Diginotar mess? Since then, I've changed the trust of all Certificates by marking all of the Root CA's as untrusted. Sometimes it does create a bit of an issue since Firefox tends to be resistent to adding the needed exceptions but considering that I only have a couple of dozen exceptions out of how many certificates? I don't feel it's as big of an problem as folks think to add them. The main advantage is, none of the god damn advertisers or other idiots forcing https connections can infect my system by default as I get a warning about an invalid certificate chain as soon as the connection is made and yes, I've seen that in regards to some of the advertisers and other folks that I don't need to connect to.
seeing as how the entire Certificate Authority system is already compromised by its structure. Each and every key is a subkey of the Root CA master key. The question then becomes, who has a copy of that master key besides the Root CA?
Web of Trust - completely broken as it does not exist. PGP/GPG and Self Signed/Generated keys are the only solutions currently and for self-signed keys, a site needs to place their Public Key on the front page of their site so it can be downloaded.
Remember the Diginotar Incident? A Certificate Authority that had been compromised? I gave up trusting all Certificates at that time and although it's a PITA at times to add the needed exceptions, I've found that I only have a few more then a dozen certs I have exceptions for. That's on the entire web. Now if we could simply convince Mozilla to move to an Untrusted Model instead. Yes it'll piss people off suddenly getting warnings about certficiates but then it may at least get them thinking about the mess that the x509 certs has become.
This is the reason my next build is going to be an ITX design. Board sits on the bottom of the case with nothing hanging from it. Problem solved unless it gets knocked off the desk though that shouldn't happen due to building a custom desk for it - it'll be built in.
Beat me to it AC. I've followed them for several years and have to agree they're the best in reviews for both quiet and effective components.
A far better list of test results can be found at http://www.silentpcreview.com/ where they test the hell out of coolers and fans and other components. This POS "I No Nutink" Review is just slightly better then useless for those who actually "No Nutink".
except the market they're aiming for isn't you and me but Corporate - offering a unified ecosystem that's managed by the AD servers and such. Allowing access using Office 365 Corporate Lan Version to those Tablets and Phones so companies can tell people "It's out network and no you can't BYOD unless it's running a supported OS such as Windows". That's what they're trying to do and one way MS could improve this is to buy Dell entirely. They've got enough Cash and to replace Balmer, bring in Michael Dell instead of the fucking idiot Elop.
I wish I was actually paid by MS to be shill instead of just being someone who has absolutely no loyalty to any product or company. Think about it. Could MS actually pull it off if they did this?
Actually not the first tablet to offer a digitizer. I vaugely remember one offered by Circuit City about a decade ago. Outrageous price at the time but still offered. Now I look at the price of the Surface Pro and it's in line with all the other Win8 tablets of the same size - look at the crap Acer Iconia's Wxxx tablets. I'm looking at one of the Surface pro's for the Wacom Digitizer and the fact I can install a Floss on it since it's not a locked down wannabe like the Nexus - yes I own a fscking Nexus and w/o a net connection it's no more usefull then a damn gameboy as you simply can't compose an email or add appointments to the Google Calendar/Gmail apps while off-line. God damn idiots. At least with a Win8 tablet I can do all of that.
I've actually been eyeballing one of the Surface Pro's from MS. Sure they're running Win8 but seeing as how their a full i5 with HD4000 GPU, there's no reason I can dump Windows and Install Gentoo or what ever other flavor of Floss I want on it. Specs look like all of the hardware is well supported so why in hell not other then the price? Look at the Acer Iconia's in the same size/specs and they're not much cheaper.
Hell compare the iPad price and you'll see that although $200 cheaper, they're not any better as you're locked into the Apple Store and Environment w/o jailbreaking the damn things and then there's little software to run on it with any reliability and no, I don't consider android to be worth it having dealt with a Nexus 7 tablet for 6 months - it needs an always on connection just to enter appointments into the Google Calendar - Come on Google, this is supposed to be your Flagship product so where in hell is the off-line feature and no, I'm not talking about a read-only calendar.
I've bought MS branded hardware in the past and although it's not been the cheapest, the quality has been damn good for the price (bang for buck) so I can actually justify buying one of these. What makes sense to me is for MS to buyout Dell so they can offer a fully integrated system of mice, keyboards, tablets and software. Should be able to offer some reason for business to buy em even at a slight increased cost over what Dell currently offers. Think about it. A closed ecosystem like Apple but with a focus on corporate business, which is exactly where Apple fails. They don't sell or even support business and don't want the market so why not stick with a known Devil like MS.
Check Waccom's page for the Cintiq Tablet - Win8 and has the full Cintiq digitizer interface. Pricey though at $2500 but if you're a digital graphics artist it may be worth the money. http://cintiqcompanion.wacom.com/CintiqCompanion/en/
Paypal isn't a bank according to U.S. Regulations. Otherwise their doing this would get them slammed by the Feds in a hurry as it violates many regulations. In fact, under the Feds, they would be slapped down for Money Laundring and I'd suggest the Project Devs push RICO Charges in Federal Court against Paypal (Racketeering/Corruption) which if successful would give them punitive damages of not triple but six to ten times the amount of the monies stollen and the profit Paypal is making from holding that money to play with it. How much money is Paypal making by holding those funds as they are - Stocks/Bonds market - 2+ percent per day? That's a lot of money when you look at the totals.
It's this kind of action by Paypal that pushed me to drop all family accounts with them and to quit using Ebay. It's not worth the agravation and I did vote with my wallet.
And Hairyfeet is a god damn Linux Idiot. I'm running Gentoo x86_64 and guess what, I haven't had problems with hardware suddenly stop working because of an update and the reason why is I don't run a crap Distro like Ubunta that tries to hide everything from the user. They're really no better then MS in that regards. If you want stability, you need to be running Debian itself as they don't screw the drivers up like Ubunta.
Even for Gentoo, hardware drivers are no longer an issue unless you're replacing a god damn kernel and in regards to things like Printers - simply prevent upgrades to Cups (same as used by Apple) to a version that breaks things.
A stable system is very easy to get with Gentoo and if you plan things out to begin with and not install every god damn piece of shit software in the repo's with lots of services starting as Ubunta/RH/CentOS/Debian all do then security isn't a fucking problem either.
One of the biggest things I appreciate about Gentoo is the ability to stick with a stable kernel and software plus I don't have every god damn piece of shit app being pulled in a a dependency as I know what I actually need on the system unlike Ubunta/RH/CentOS/Debina because they distribute Binaries instead of source only. Does it help? Yes as I've laughed many times at the GLSA (Gentoo Linux Security Advisories) in regards to problems that do not affect me as I don't have the library installed by default (they do tend to be optionals such as Java support for Libre Office that's needed for Dbase).
Anyone that thinks that all you need to do is install a god damn CD and accept the Defaults of the installer is in no better position that running Windows because they don't have a fucking clue what their real needs are unlike myself. Yes I'm a bit arrogant about it but then "This ins't Buger King but You can Have it Your Way instead of My Way." You just have to think before opening your mouth and inserting your foot.