Anyway, Apple's "support" of Java is pretty pathetic. They're usually a year or more behind the curve and its not acceptable.
You're absolutely right about that. Apple decided that they'd be better than Sun at creating a JVM for their OS, so they did it themselves.
The result? PPC Macs are stuck on Java 1.5; Intel Macs have outdated, slow, and exploit vulnerable Java 1.6...
I'm more inclined to let the company that specializes in that stuff deal with it - but then again, maybe it gave them much needed experience for their Rosetta technology.
Wouldn't surprise me. I'm amazed how many developers spend months deciding whether to implement something, when it's clear to almost anyone that it's a bad idea.
Big developers and big teams seem to lose sight of what's easily doable, and easily exploitable. Some features just aren't worth the time or hassle, especially when what you currently have actually works.
It's depressing watching developers shoot their games in the foot, but many MMOs go that way. I guess the design teams feel the MMO has "stagnated", so they want to spice it up a bit? Usually they just ruin it.
You're talking about the Mosquito Teen Repellent, which I mentioned in my post.
Isn't it so annoying when some random object makes a sound for a second, then goes quiet? It makes it hard to pinpoint.
My Uncle was telling me about an annoying dripping sound at his old house. After days of trying to figure out where it was, he finally understood. The drips were coming from the septic tank outside, then echoing up through the pipes into his house!
If I lose my password, I probably lost my computer(or my memory?), which means creating a new account is less hassle than what I'd be going through at the time.
But... I've never lost a password yet. The only troubles I've had with passwords is when sites get hacked. They give you short new ones by email, but the new ones sometimes don't work when you try to change them(to something more secure), so then you're stuck with them.:/
If you actually use the secret questions from time to time, I suggest you lock your passwords away with KeePass and put a good master password on it instead. Random hexadecimal passwords of random lengths are way harder to guess than a secret question!
Oh. Heh, I thought everyone could hear those. We are supposed to be unusual?
I don't know; clearly there's a couple people on slashdot with the same thing going on, but in the real world most people just look at me funny when I mention the noises coming from stuff.
I'm sure most young people can hear CRTs, but most adults I talk to don't. And they certainly can't hear noises from (some) cordless phones or clocks, so like everything there's got to be different strengths or levels.
h.264 encoding didn't improve with more shaders for some of the results(like PowerDirector 7), because of the law of diminishing returns.
I remember reading about x264 when quad-cores were becoming common. It mentioned that if quality is of the utmost importance, you should still encode on a single core. It splits squares of pixels between the cores; where those squares connect there can be very minor artifacts. It smooths these artifacts out with a small amount of extra data and post processing; the end result is a file hardly 1-2% bigger than if encoded on a single core, but encoded roughly 4x faster.
Now, if we're talking about 32 cores, or 64, or 128, would the size difference be bigger than 1-2%? Probably. After a certain point, it would almost certainly not be worth it.
This is supported by Badaboom's results, where the higher resolution videos (with more encoded squares) seem to make use of more shaders when encoding, while most of the lower resolution vids do not. (indicating that some shaders may be lying idle)
What I'm curious about, is could the 9800GTX encode two videos at once, while the 9600GT could only manage one?;)
I'm also curious why the 320x240 video encoded so quickly - but that could be from superior memory bandwidth, shader clockspeed, and some other important factor in h.264 encoding.
Take it with a grain of salt; I'm not an encoder engineer; just regurgitating what I once read, hopefully accurately.;)
And some people (like myself) probably aren't sexually attracted to Angelina Jolie at all. I can think of a few actors that I love to watch, but she isn't one of them.
I already have extra senses(or extra strong; same thing), and I can tell you they're damn annoying.
I can locate electronics by the extremely annoying ringing/screeching sounds they emit. It was an utter pain finding a clock for beside my bed; I finally settled on one that runs off an AAA battery, and only needs a new battery every couple years. No audible noise coming from it.
I can locate TVs, monitors(CRTs, malfunctioning LCDs), DVD players, and some PSUs and Mobos by the sounds they make. Some devices still make sounds when "off", and others don't. Even some power bricks make annoying sounds. Some cordless phones do too; one actually gave me headaches, but most don't.
(it really is hit or miss, per device rather than per model; device quality really must vary!)
That's one of the reasons that my main computer is an Athlon XP 2400+; it doesn't make any annoying noises... though I suppose the 4000RPM fan is a tad loud.;) But at least it isn't screeching at me!
Having a sense of direction would be neat, but let me assure you super hearing isn't what it's cracked up to be. It might be acceptable if I was surrounded by the outdoors, but surrounded by electronic gadgets... gah!
Interestingly, it appears to be genetic. My Uncle could hear that "Mosquito teen repellent" noise until 50-55 years old.
I don't like crowds, because I have trouble understanding what people are saying over the background noise.:/
Note to the Mozilla devs: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
More directly: if it ain't broke, don't break it!
How about if it is broken, they do fix it?
I've been waiting for searched bookmarks to display their location for a long time now! Like lets say I'm stashing away dozens of bookmarks related to various programming languages. They're all stored under Coding/Language/Topic/[Simple, Detailed, Reference]
Some articles don't fit; they might cover multiple topics or multiple languages. Firefox doesn't want you to duplicate bookmarks in different locations, so what's your alternative? Stick it in one location and hope you can find it later!
If I remember the name of the bookmark, I can search it out (hasn't been a problem so far), but I still can't find it in my way-too-huge list, to put other related bookmarks beside it.
I rarely get up to "20" open tabs, but I really very much prefer 20 tabs than a task bar with 20 Firefox buttons on it, all of them squished so much that you just see the little Firefox logo with no meaningful text.
I much prefer Windows to Tabs. Often I have 20-40 windows open. My reasoning used to be that Windows didn't leak memory like crazy, but then I just got used to them.
But hey, I have a big monitor, so why not? They aren't squished for me, even with 20 open.
I'd like tabs more if they were at the bottom of the screen - below the statusbar, but above the taskbar. Then it'd be like a logical extension.
Another option is the very top of the screen, which avoids wasting vertical space, and makes them easier to click on. Google Chrome did that.
Where they currently are doesn't suit me, so I don't use them...
Though it's worth mentioning that at least in Ubuntu, font rendering is done better than in Windows. In Windows, some text is antialiased and some isn't; some scales based on DPI and some doesn't. (Noticeable on Vista netbooks, like the original Compaq Mini-Notes) In Linux, it's all or nothing, which is a plus.
But X windowing sure is slow! You need a good videocard and some OGL acceleration, for sure. Software rendered, it can take seconds for stuff to unminimize!
#4 is absolutely correct. Even using Ubuntu, I've found most of my configuration tasks have to be done using sudo gedit blah
#6 is absolutely correct, too. The new kernel in 9.04 corrupted my SATA drives. Stupid onboard VIA crap!:P
That's big, though. If they plan to partially cut support for old SATA controllers in the future, then people could find one day that their whole HDD is corrupted. As a victim of this happening already, I'd go so far as to say this is likely, and a looming problem for many users.
1) Ubuntu updates to new kernel. 2) It automatically runs fsck upon next reboot, because of I/O errors. 3) It "fixes" the problems, and now your whole partition is garbage.
#7 is huge, too. Incredibly stupid bugs or spelling mistakes hang around for years. In windows programs, they'd be fixed in a couple days! I don't understand it, but I have observed it.
I've also had experience with 8.1, trying to set up a home network. Lots of cursing.;) FreeNAS saved me.
#9 is correct as well. 9.1 is funny.
I still have a 2ghz Athlon XP lying around, running Win2k. OpenOffice cold starts in less than 8 seconds, and warm starts in ~1 second. Portable OpenOffice cold starts in under 4 seconds. Under Linux (and heck, Vista), OOo takes significantly longer to start.
#12 is absolutely correct. I often copy install commands directly off webpages, because damnit, I'm not typing out a half-dozen full lines of cryptic commands to install something! If I need 26 packages to get this program to run, you can bet I'm copying the install command without looking up what every package does. It's not worth the time; if I screw things up, I'll reformat... (sound familiar?)
I've got to give this guy props - his list is very concise!
Have you got an idea on how to make it more "scientific"?
It seems that lately many people have the misconception that science is exact. Math is exact; science is mostly just guesses, based on what is assumed to be fact for a while.
It also brings plugins for a 3D modeling program called SketchUp.
You mean Google SketchUp? That's that super easy 3D scene modeller, right? Not like the other "easy" 3D modelling software - it's literally drag'n'drop the objects around?
Slashdot Mirror
If we can sue them, then we also have to sue Comcast!
They frequently slow down my browsing with their cruddy filtering, to the point where some jumps take seconds.
This isn't right(since I'm Canadian), but tracert doesn't lie!
It's horrible when a game's servers have comcast lines between them and me. Rather than 50-150 ping, I face 700+. :(
Anyway, Apple's "support" of Java is pretty pathetic. They're usually a year or more behind the curve and its not acceptable.
You're absolutely right about that. Apple decided that they'd be better than Sun at creating a JVM for their OS, so they did it themselves.
The result? PPC Macs are stuck on Java 1.5; Intel Macs have outdated, slow, and exploit vulnerable Java 1.6...
I'm more inclined to let the company that specializes in that stuff deal with it - but then again, maybe it gave them much needed experience for their Rosetta technology.
Nah, that couldn't be. Yeah, they're just dumb.
Wouldn't surprise me. I'm amazed how many developers spend months deciding whether to implement something, when it's clear to almost anyone that it's a bad idea.
Big developers and big teams seem to lose sight of what's easily doable, and easily exploitable. Some features just aren't worth the time or hassle, especially when what you currently have actually works.
It's depressing watching developers shoot their games in the foot, but many MMOs go that way. I guess the design teams feel the MMO has "stagnated", so they want to spice it up a bit? Usually they just ruin it.
Which wrapper are you using? psVoodoo, or some other one?
I searched out a few dozen, but most of them haven't been updated in ages, or only work with specific programs.
Did you ever see those Stargate movies, The Ark of Truth and Continuum?
Very good usage of special effects - nothing fancy for the purpose of being fancy.
Though I must admit, I do enjoy a good lightsaber battle with lots of pew pew going on in the background.
Plugin - which means it's the same as flash, java, quicktime, and all the rest.
On the bright side, the page will still load for linux users - it'll just have a big empty box in it. ;)
Oh good. More electronics, even closer to my ears!
You're talking about the Mosquito Teen Repellent, which I mentioned in my post.
Isn't it so annoying when some random object makes a sound for a second, then goes quiet? It makes it hard to pinpoint.
My Uncle was telling me about an annoying dripping sound at his old house. After days of trying to figure out where it was, he finally understood. The drips were coming from the septic tank outside, then echoing up through the pipes into his house!
My pet's name is JDianD_6S8pXOHMK8m2C!
If I lose my password, I probably lost my computer(or my memory?), which means creating a new account is less hassle than what I'd be going through at the time.
But... I've never lost a password yet. The only troubles I've had with passwords is when sites get hacked. They give you short new ones by email, but the new ones sometimes don't work when you try to change them(to something more secure), so then you're stuck with them. :/
If you actually use the secret questions from time to time, I suggest you lock your passwords away with KeePass and put a good master password on it instead. Random hexadecimal passwords of random lengths are way harder to guess than a secret question!
Oh no! My 20 year old Toyota Corolla Station Wagon only gets 35mpg! :(
I might have to get a new car some day.
Oh. Heh, I thought everyone could hear those. We are supposed to be unusual?
I don't know; clearly there's a couple people on slashdot with the same thing going on, but in the real world most people just look at me funny when I mention the noises coming from stuff.
I'm sure most young people can hear CRTs, but most adults I talk to don't. And they certainly can't hear noises from (some) cordless phones or clocks, so like everything there's got to be different strengths or levels.
h.264 encoding didn't improve with more shaders for some of the results(like PowerDirector 7), because of the law of diminishing returns.
I remember reading about x264 when quad-cores were becoming common. It mentioned that if quality is of the utmost importance, you should still encode on a single core. It splits squares of pixels between the cores; where those squares connect there can be very minor artifacts. It smooths these artifacts out with a small amount of extra data and post processing; the end result is a file hardly 1-2% bigger than if encoded on a single core, but encoded roughly 4x faster.
Now, if we're talking about 32 cores, or 64, or 128, would the size difference be bigger than 1-2%? Probably. After a certain point, it would almost certainly not be worth it.
This is supported by Badaboom's results, where the higher resolution videos (with more encoded squares) seem to make use of more shaders when encoding, while most of the lower resolution vids do not. (indicating that some shaders may be lying idle)
What I'm curious about, is could the 9800GTX encode two videos at once, while the 9600GT could only manage one? ;)
I'm also curious why the 320x240 video encoded so quickly - but that could be from superior memory bandwidth, shader clockspeed, and some other important factor in h.264 encoding.
Take it with a grain of salt; I'm not an encoder engineer; just regurgitating what I once read, hopefully accurately. ;)
You are correct.
And some people (like myself) probably aren't sexually attracted to Angelina Jolie at all. I can think of a few actors that I love to watch, but she isn't one of them.
I already have extra senses(or extra strong; same thing), and I can tell you they're damn annoying.
I can locate electronics by the extremely annoying ringing/screeching sounds they emit. It was an utter pain finding a clock for beside my bed; I finally settled on one that runs off an AAA battery, and only needs a new battery every couple years. No audible noise coming from it.
I can locate TVs, monitors(CRTs, malfunctioning LCDs), DVD players, and some PSUs and Mobos by the sounds they make. Some devices still make sounds when "off", and others don't. Even some power bricks make annoying sounds. Some cordless phones do too; one actually gave me headaches, but most don't.
(it really is hit or miss, per device rather than per model; device quality really must vary!)
That's one of the reasons that my main computer is an Athlon XP 2400+; it doesn't make any annoying noises... though I suppose the 4000RPM fan is a tad loud. ;) But at least it isn't screeching at me!
Having a sense of direction would be neat, but let me assure you super hearing isn't what it's cracked up to be. It might be acceptable if I was surrounded by the outdoors, but surrounded by electronic gadgets... gah!
Interestingly, it appears to be genetic. My Uncle could hear that "Mosquito teen repellent" noise until 50-55 years old.
I don't like crowds, because I have trouble understanding what people are saying over the background noise. :/
I round up to the nearest $5 or $10. I figure I make $1-3 most of the time. Basically nothing, considering the amount of time it took. :P
But that's only for friends.
Note to the Mozilla devs: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
More directly: if it ain't broke, don't break it!
How about if it is broken, they do fix it?
I've been waiting for searched bookmarks to display their location for a long time now! Like lets say I'm stashing away dozens of bookmarks related to various programming languages. They're all stored under Coding/Language/Topic/[Simple, Detailed, Reference]
Some articles don't fit; they might cover multiple topics or multiple languages. Firefox doesn't want you to duplicate bookmarks in different locations, so what's your alternative? Stick it in one location and hope you can find it later!
If I remember the name of the bookmark, I can search it out (hasn't been a problem so far), but I still can't find it in my way-too-huge list, to put other related bookmarks beside it.
I rarely get up to "20" open tabs, but I really very much prefer 20 tabs than a task bar with 20 Firefox buttons on it, all of them squished so much that you just see the little Firefox logo with no meaningful text.
I much prefer Windows to Tabs. Often I have 20-40 windows open. My reasoning used to be that Windows didn't leak memory like crazy, but then I just got used to them.
But hey, I have a big monitor, so why not? They aren't squished for me, even with 20 open.
I'd like tabs more if they were at the bottom of the screen - below the statusbar, but above the taskbar. Then it'd be like a logical extension.
Another option is the very top of the screen, which avoids wasting vertical space, and makes them easier to click on. Google Chrome did that.
Where they currently are doesn't suit me, so I don't use them...
Reading, yes - but coding?
Are you using one of those IDEs that prefers that you keep a line under 70 chars long...?
I myself just keep stretching the lines further to the right. (I've got a big monitor, so why not?) I rely on highlighting and good font choice.
But I do try to restrict it to 1 statement per line. None of that a = b++; crud for me!
I've got to say, this guy nailed his list.
Though it's worth mentioning that at least in Ubuntu, font rendering is done better than in Windows. In Windows, some text is antialiased and some isn't; some scales based on DPI and some doesn't. (Noticeable on Vista netbooks, like the original Compaq Mini-Notes) In Linux, it's all or nothing, which is a plus.
But X windowing sure is slow! You need a good videocard and some OGL acceleration, for sure. Software rendered, it can take seconds for stuff to unminimize!
#4 is absolutely correct. Even using Ubuntu, I've found most of my configuration tasks have to be done using sudo gedit blah
#6 is absolutely correct, too. The new kernel in 9.04 corrupted my SATA drives. Stupid onboard VIA crap! :P
That's big, though. If they plan to partially cut support for old SATA controllers in the future, then people could find one day that their whole HDD is corrupted. As a victim of this happening already, I'd go so far as to say this is likely, and a looming problem for many users.
1) Ubuntu updates to new kernel.
2) It automatically runs fsck upon next reboot, because of I/O errors.
3) It "fixes" the problems, and now your whole partition is garbage.
#7 is huge, too. Incredibly stupid bugs or spelling mistakes hang around for years. In windows programs, they'd be fixed in a couple days! I don't understand it, but I have observed it.
I've also had experience with 8.1, trying to set up a home network. Lots of cursing. ;) FreeNAS saved me.
#9 is correct as well. 9.1 is funny.
I still have a 2ghz Athlon XP lying around, running Win2k. OpenOffice cold starts in less than 8 seconds, and warm starts in ~1 second. Portable OpenOffice cold starts in under 4 seconds. Under Linux (and heck, Vista), OOo takes significantly longer to start.
#12 is absolutely correct. I often copy install commands directly off webpages, because damnit, I'm not typing out a half-dozen full lines of cryptic commands to install something! If I need 26 packages to get this program to run, you can bet I'm copying the install command without looking up what every package does. It's not worth the time; if I screw things up, I'll reformat... (sound familiar?)
I've got to give this guy props - his list is very concise!
Have you got an idea on how to make it more "scientific"?
It seems that lately many people have the misconception that science is exact. Math is exact; science is mostly just guesses, based on what is assumed to be fact for a while.
Hi! I'm from Canada! We're sitting on top of you.
What tank music? It never plays for me! :(
I think I disagree with you. The Survivor_SpecialInfected mod is pretty funny, as are the Boomer thongs.
It also brings plugins for a 3D modeling program called SketchUp.
You mean Google SketchUp? That's that super easy 3D scene modeller, right? Not like the other "easy" 3D modelling software - it's literally drag'n'drop the objects around?
Well... that seems like a plus.
I once went 40 hours without sleep.
Now I find time for a 1.5h nap if I don't get to sleep at night. It really helps a ton, and will get you through to the next night.
After skipping sleep one night, I usually get 10 hours the next, and wake up a bit tired.
Keep a notebook beside your bed!
Electronics are nice, but not very helpful when groggy. I can write in a notebook with the lights off, and it comes out semi-readable!
It's enough that I can remember (or figure out) the brilliant solution. ;)