MS really dropped the ball. But it isn't the first time either. They were very late to the browser game, yet steamrolled ahead and crushed their competition, at least for a while. Same thing with the Xbox, a little late but $billions$ to steamroll again has made them relevant. WP7 is not a bad OS, had it made it to market 2 years ago they would be lightyears ahead. I hear the steamrollers coming so don't count them out just yet. MS has a surprising way of defeating the odds with piles of cash and steamrolling.
What I'm questioning is the strength and depth of Android's third-party developer support.
Which are the apps, from developers other than Google, that I should feel like I'm missing out on because I don't have an Android device? Where are the killer apps for Android?
Turn the table and we could be here all day running down the list of high-quality, interesting apps which are exclusive to iOS.
This is a little unfair. The way I see it Android didn't really become relevant until earlier this year, or reached critical mass anyway. If you look at the numbers and current trends, the explosive growth in just the past few months probably caught most devs by surprise and are now only beginning to consider Android. Developing on another platform, especially one like Android that has multiple platforms in and of itself will take time. Look where iOS was in its infancy, huge growth was happening even before Apps or an App Store were thought of due to the Apple brand and appeal of the new device. They were the pioneers in this game so it is not surprising in the least that iOS has more exclusive 3rd party apps, they are the ones with a light-year head start. Only when Android vastly surpasses iOS will I expect to see the balance tip the other way. If current trends hold it is inevitable. It will be PC vs Mac all over again with PC trouncing Mac in applications like it does now. This doesn't suggest that iOS is inferior to Android, but it will come down to economics like it always does. It just seems that more often than not open formats/platforms prevail against closed ones in the long term. Much like VHS vs Beta. Even when the closed one is considered superior by those who use them.
I agree with this. In my opinion I would have been very happy if Stargate ended when it was supposed to end, Season 7. After that it was just terrible writing and became campy with a few good episodes here. So I just convince myself that it did end with season 7 just like the Matrix ended with the original movie.
Also similar are office copiers. Even simple things like postscript, touch screen, fax, scanning, email, etc are often disabled and enabled by a entering a key after purchase. Granted these are usually leases and could be part of the contract.
I don't think 'Troll' is the proper moderation here. At least the part about not liking the name. The name is horrible IMO. I don't even know what it means. Even if I did, it is one of those strange words that everyone is going to misspell, mispronounce, etc. I really hope a better, more simple name can be made up or the masses are going to ignore it.
Droid X running the leaked 2.2 Froyo works fine. I have to activate the flash elements by single tapping them (I have mine set to manually run flash), but after that it looks the same as Firefox on the desktop.
Could be that with FM you can use just about anything for an antenna, in the case of a portable music player headphone wires work great. AM on the other hand requires something much more exact and bulky. iPod nano wouldn't be nano anymore.
I don't know about this. I've used HE for various hosting needs for over a decade and they were never the 'Wal-mart' in their price and quality range. Using the big box store analogy, I'd rank them a Macy's.
You can use a resistor to drain the caps safely. This is the preferred method as shorting them with bare metal can cause damage to the cap especially if it is highly charged. This is ELE-100 stuff here. Take a 25K 10W resistor, hold it with a pair of insulated pliers and short the leads of the capacitor with the resistor for about 30 seconds. Verify that it is actually drained by measuring it with your DMM. Repeat if necessary.
What I find interesting is how many people were frustrated with the big N and their dark GBAs. Some enterprising individual found a way to retrofit a front light onto the LCD using what they called Afterburner They underestimated the demand and quickly sold out. Several months later with pre-orders in the 100,000s they released a DIY kit with decent instructions for about $35. I installed the lights on many GBAs for friends and family who became the envy of their peers and even more wanted them, even willing to pay me an extra $150 in some cases. Battery life was only diminished minimally, so Nintendo's claim of leaving it out to save on battery life is plain and simple BS. Nintendo was and still is very arrogant and rarely listened to what consumers wanted. IMO Nintendo got a face full of egg watching the public willing to spend 2x as much of the original to have a $10 part installed. I don't know if the SP was already in development, or did they only consider making it due the the huge demand for aftermarket installations. Even still, the GBA feels more comfortable than the SP.
I think it is more widespread. I'll take my local bank as an example. I stop by to make a deposit, I notice the teller minimizing her facebook page as I glanced at the screen. I am shocked that a bank would allow any www access on a machine that has direct access to accounts. Dollars to donuts there is some form of malware on that machine, or already throughout their network. It was my belief that competent IT would only allow the necessary Intranet infrastructure to run the banks applications. But I would bet their policies get changed by ignorant management that are sold on 'security' appliances and software to protect themselves while granting www access.
There is a reason popcorn and a coke at the movies cost $10 more than it should. Would you rather your movie ticket be more even if you don't want the food? How would a cinema stay in business if they did this while others didn't? I prefer my cell bill to be lower when I don't want SMS.
This along with the Computer Interface will be much more reliable. It is sophisticated enough to learn what appliances turn on and for how long and breaks down the usage detail for each.
This does require opening your breaker box and installing a loop around the incoming hot lines. This can kill you if you do not know what you are doing. If you are not familiar with working in hot boxes I recommend having an electrician install it.
My utility provides a box with a smart card that shows real time power usage, balance left on the card and approximate minutes until disconnect. Check with your utility for something similar. I like it much more than the monthly bill.
If this scenario didn't occur on the TV show "24" it well could have. Life imitates art or vice versa?
When seeing our new president elect and first lady I can't help but be reminded of the first and second season of 24. When watching it back then I thought it was too far fetched to see this happen in my lifetime. CTU must be very busy now.
I use MG Chemicals Super Wash Cat# 406B-425G for cleaning most PCBs. The important thing to consider is if the electronics are new enough and worth saving it probably as BGA components that water will lurk under for weeks. This chemical can has 3 power settings and setting it to HI with the straw will push the residual water out. I have recovered many water soaked laptops using this and failing to get under the BGAs will lead to failure later on.
Not realy, but I only entered the DVD market in 1999. My first DVD purchase was the Matrix for $14.95 and an RCA DVD player that still has the never to light-up DIVX logo on the VFD screen for $195. This was after spending $39 for the Matrix on LD. I was reluctant to get a DVD because at the time I believed LD to be superior and still do for some movies. But the DVD had the extras, behind the scenes and that way cool intro on the DVD Menu. I was hooked from that point on and eventually replaced most of my LD library for DVD. They were 1/3 the cost and much easier to stack on a shelf and access. Perhaps I was a much later adopter than you, I never paid more than $20 for a single DVD.
At this time I have no interest in Blu-ray or HD. I really can't tell the difference of a DVD playing on my 32" Wega XBR vs a 42" HD playing a Blu-ray at sofa distance. Wasted money IMO.
As compact as mobile phone have become many have resorted to putting the microSD slot in the battery compartment. Not very convenient but I still like the idea. If it ever caught on and was standardized it would be a good format. Heck even having a slot on the front of HDTVs and getting movies this way would be cool. Although I would opt for something a little bigger. I can just see having to buy Finding Nemo for the 6th time because the kids left it out and it got lost in the sofa or heaven forbid vacuumed up. Lost a few DS games that way.
Having dealt with ASUS over the last 10 years I am not surprised that such carelessness happens within their organization. In the late 90s and early 2000s I probably had 500 or more of their motherboards in use at various small businesses. Early on I had a great deal of confidence in their product, never had any defects so never had to deal with their company. This was very rare at that time. That was until their A7x series of motherboards came along. Countless failed NB fans, intermittent PS/2 port failures, etc. When calling for support I was expecting very professional help but was met with people that didn't give a sh*t. They would only send one replacement fan at a time even though every single one failed and I needed like 10-20 at a time. Getting a motherboard replaced was insane especially when dealing with intermittent problems. They directed me to an incredibly bothersome webform rather than assisting me over the phone. They had a bad habit of sending the same defective board back to me 3 times saying it 'passed' their diagnostics. Out of frustration I resorted to putting them in the microwave for few seconds to make them really dead before I would get better working products. I lost thousands in lost hours and handling my own warranty. ASUS didn't give a sh*t for my problem, and it was probably the same attitude that led to this recovery disk debacle. When I saw this I hear so clearly the words of Nelson... HAH HAH! And can't agree more.
If this really is a drop-in replacement without annoying CALs, we'll be Microsoft-free on our servers by Monday.
And there lies a big problem. When you have CALs for Exchange you also have licenses to Outlook which last time I checked are about $80 each. Unless you already have outlook as part of an MS office suite this isn't going to be cheap.
If warranty is needed connect the HDD to another PC and do a wipe. If you don't have a way to take it apart, or if there happens to be a warranty seal over the HDD compartment. Just put it in the microwave for 3 seconds. This is the only effective way I ever get ASUS motherboards replaced instead of 'repaired'
This is not uncommon especially with HP Pavilion. You will need to get used to programs like nLite to slipstream the southbridge drivers onto a new XP iso. Your laptop probably has intel's ICH9 in AHCI mode which will BSOD on XP unless the driver slipstreamed. The F6 floppy install rarely works for me. If the BIOS supports disabling AHCI (I doubt it with HP) then it will be easier but not optimal. Other hurdles you will run into are audio drivers, but there are many hacked versions out there (edit the inf file, etc) Google is your friend. Narrow your searched to the actual sound chip as Gateway, Dell, Acer, etc usually use the same ones and there are XP drivers out there. Once you do get it all together, make an image or a new slipstreamed XP disc for your laptop. Post it to a blog somewhere where you can pass the info onto others.
I was told by someone from Shanghai that in Traditional Chinese (Mandarin) sorting is done by number of strokes, but the newer Simplified Chinese is sorted by alphabetical/phonetic pinyin.
Although when I asked about it I was inquiring how Windows Explorer sort files using Chinese characters.
MS really dropped the ball. But it isn't the first time either. They were very late to the browser game, yet steamrolled ahead and crushed their competition, at least for a while. Same thing with the Xbox, a little late but $billions$ to steamroll again has made them relevant.
WP7 is not a bad OS, had it made it to market 2 years ago they would be lightyears ahead. I hear the steamrollers coming so don't count them out just yet. MS has a surprising way of defeating the odds with piles of cash and steamrolling.
What I'm questioning is the strength and depth of Android's third-party developer support.
Which are the apps, from developers other than Google, that I should feel like I'm missing out on because I don't have an Android device? Where are the killer apps for Android?
Turn the table and we could be here all day running down the list of high-quality, interesting apps which are exclusive to iOS.
This is a little unfair.
The way I see it Android didn't really become relevant until earlier this year, or reached critical mass anyway. If you look at the numbers and current trends, the explosive growth in just the past few months probably caught most devs by surprise and are now only beginning to consider Android. Developing on another platform, especially one like Android that has multiple platforms in and of itself will take time.
Look where iOS was in its infancy, huge growth was happening even before Apps or an App Store were thought of due to the Apple brand and appeal of the new device. They were the pioneers in this game so it is not surprising in the least that iOS has more exclusive 3rd party apps, they are the ones with a light-year head start.
Only when Android vastly surpasses iOS will I expect to see the balance tip the other way. If current trends hold it is inevitable. It will be PC vs Mac all over again with PC trouncing Mac in applications like it does now.
This doesn't suggest that iOS is inferior to Android, but it will come down to economics like it always does. It just seems that more often than not open formats/platforms prevail against closed ones in the long term. Much like VHS vs Beta. Even when the closed one is considered superior by those who use them.
I agree with this. In my opinion I would have been very happy if Stargate ended when it was supposed to end, Season 7. After that it was just terrible writing and became campy with a few good episodes here.
So I just convince myself that it did end with season 7 just like the Matrix ended with the original movie.
Also similar are office copiers. Even simple things like postscript, touch screen, fax, scanning, email, etc are often disabled and enabled by a entering a key after purchase. Granted these are usually leases and could be part of the contract.
I don't think 'Troll' is the proper moderation here. At least the part about not liking the name.
The name is horrible IMO. I don't even know what it means. Even if I did, it is one of those strange words that everyone is going to misspell, mispronounce, etc.
I really hope a better, more simple name can be made up or the masses are going to ignore it.
Droid X running the leaked 2.2 Froyo works fine.
I have to activate the flash elements by single tapping them (I have mine set to manually run flash), but after that it looks the same as Firefox on the desktop.
Could be that with FM you can use just about anything for an antenna, in the case of a portable music player headphone wires work great. AM on the other hand requires something much more exact and bulky. iPod nano wouldn't be nano anymore.
I don't know about this. I've used HE for various hosting needs for over a decade and they were never the 'Wal-mart' in their price and quality range. Using the big box store analogy, I'd rank them a Macy's.
You can use a resistor to drain the caps safely.
This is the preferred method as shorting them with bare metal can cause damage to the cap especially if it is highly charged.
This is ELE-100 stuff here.
Take a 25K 10W resistor, hold it with a pair of insulated pliers and short the leads of the capacitor with the resistor for about 30 seconds. Verify that it is actually drained by measuring it with your DMM. Repeat if necessary.
What I find interesting is how many people were frustrated with the big N and their dark GBAs. Some enterprising individual found a way to retrofit a front light onto the LCD using what they called Afterburner They underestimated the demand and quickly sold out. Several months later with pre-orders in the 100,000s they released a DIY kit with decent instructions for about $35. I installed the lights on many GBAs for friends and family who became the envy of their peers and even more wanted them, even willing to pay me an extra $150 in some cases. Battery life was only diminished minimally, so Nintendo's claim of leaving it out to save on battery life is plain and simple BS. Nintendo was and still is very arrogant and rarely listened to what consumers wanted. IMO Nintendo got a face full of egg watching the public willing to spend 2x as much of the original to have a $10 part installed. I don't know if the SP was already in development, or did they only consider making it due the the huge demand for aftermarket installations. Even still, the GBA feels more comfortable than the SP.
Sorry for the self-reply. Don't know why my link didn't work:
http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/china/chinese-currency-rmb-vs-us-dollar-2/
You are correct.
I think it is more widespread. I'll take my local bank as an example. I stop by to make a deposit, I notice the teller minimizing her facebook page as I glanced at the screen.
I am shocked that a bank would allow any www access on a machine that has direct access to accounts. Dollars to donuts there is some form of malware on that machine, or already throughout their network.
It was my belief that competent IT would only allow the necessary Intranet infrastructure to run the banks applications. But I would bet their policies get changed by ignorant management that are sold on 'security' appliances and software to protect themselves while granting www access.
There is a reason popcorn and a coke at the movies cost $10 more than it should. Would you rather your movie ticket be more even if you don't want the food? How would a cinema stay in business if they did this while others didn't?
I prefer my cell bill to be lower when I don't want SMS.
This along with the Computer Interface will be much more reliable. It is sophisticated enough to learn what appliances turn on and for how long and breaks down the usage detail for each.
This does require opening your breaker box and installing a loop around the incoming hot lines. This can kill you if you do not know what you are doing. If you are not familiar with working in hot boxes I recommend having an electrician install it.
My utility provides a box with a smart card that shows real time power usage, balance left on the card and approximate minutes until disconnect. Check with your utility for something similar. I like it much more than the monthly bill.
If this scenario didn't occur on the TV show "24" it well could have. Life imitates art or vice versa?
When seeing our new president elect and first lady I can't help but be reminded of the first and second season of 24. When watching it back then I thought it was too far fetched to see this happen in my lifetime.
CTU must be very busy now.
I use MG Chemicals Super Wash Cat# 406B-425G for cleaning most PCBs. The important thing to consider is if the electronics are new enough and worth saving it probably as BGA components that water will lurk under for weeks. This chemical can has 3 power settings and setting it to HI with the straw will push the residual water out. I have recovered many water soaked laptops using this and failing to get under the BGAs will lead to failure later on.
$15 per can at your local Fry's
because it suggests that high-density fuckupitude, rather than sophisticated malice
Hammer hits nail square on the head.
Wish I had the mod points
Not realy, but I only entered the DVD market in 1999.
My first DVD purchase was the Matrix for $14.95 and an RCA DVD player that still has the never to light-up DIVX logo on the VFD screen for $195.
This was after spending $39 for the Matrix on LD. I was reluctant to get a DVD because at the time I believed LD to be superior and still do for some movies. But the DVD had the extras, behind the scenes and that way cool intro on the DVD Menu. I was hooked from that point on and eventually replaced most of my LD library for DVD. They were 1/3 the cost and much easier to stack on a shelf and access.
Perhaps I was a much later adopter than you, I never paid more than $20 for a single DVD.
At this time I have no interest in Blu-ray or HD. I really can't tell the difference of a DVD playing on my 32" Wega XBR vs a 42" HD playing a Blu-ray at sofa distance. Wasted money IMO.
As compact as mobile phone have become many have resorted to putting the microSD slot in the battery compartment. Not very convenient but I still like the idea. If it ever caught on and was standardized it would be a good format. Heck even having a slot on the front of HDTVs and getting movies this way would be cool. Although I would opt for something a little bigger. I can just see having to buy Finding Nemo for the 6th time because the kids left it out and it got lost in the sofa or heaven forbid vacuumed up. Lost a few DS games that way.
Having dealt with ASUS over the last 10 years I am not surprised that such carelessness happens within their organization. In the late 90s and early 2000s I probably had 500 or more of their motherboards in use at various small businesses. Early on I had a great deal of confidence in their product, never had any defects so never had to deal with their company. This was very rare at that time. That was until their A7x series of motherboards came along. Countless failed NB fans, intermittent PS/2 port failures, etc. When calling for support I was expecting very professional help but was met with people that didn't give a sh*t. They would only send one replacement fan at a time even though every single one failed and I needed like 10-20 at a time. Getting a motherboard replaced was insane especially when dealing with intermittent problems. They directed me to an incredibly bothersome webform rather than assisting me over the phone. They had a bad habit of sending the same defective board back to me 3 times saying it 'passed' their diagnostics. Out of frustration I resorted to putting them in the microwave for few seconds to make them really dead before I would get better working products. I lost thousands in lost hours and handling my own warranty. ASUS didn't give a sh*t for my problem, and it was probably the same attitude that led to this recovery disk debacle.
When I saw this I hear so clearly the words of Nelson... HAH HAH! And can't agree more.
If this really is a drop-in replacement without annoying CALs, we'll be Microsoft-free on our servers by Monday.
And there lies a big problem. When you have CALs for Exchange you also have licenses to Outlook which last time I checked are about $80 each.
Unless you already have outlook as part of an MS office suite this isn't going to be cheap.
If warranty is needed connect the HDD to another PC and do a wipe. If you don't have a way to take it apart, or if there happens to be a warranty seal over the HDD compartment. Just put it in the microwave for 3 seconds.
This is the only effective way I ever get ASUS motherboards replaced instead of 'repaired'
This is not uncommon especially with HP Pavilion. You will need to get used to programs like nLite to slipstream the southbridge drivers onto a new XP iso.
Your laptop probably has intel's ICH9 in AHCI mode which will BSOD on XP unless the driver slipstreamed. The F6 floppy install rarely works for me. If the BIOS supports disabling AHCI (I doubt it with HP) then it will be easier but not optimal.
Other hurdles you will run into are audio drivers, but there are many hacked versions out there (edit the inf file, etc) Google is your friend. Narrow your searched to the actual sound chip as Gateway, Dell, Acer, etc usually use the same ones and there are XP drivers out there.
Once you do get it all together, make an image or a new slipstreamed XP disc for your laptop. Post it to a blog somewhere where you can pass the info onto others.
I was told by someone from Shanghai that in Traditional Chinese (Mandarin) sorting is done by number of strokes, but the newer Simplified Chinese is sorted by alphabetical/phonetic pinyin.
Although when I asked about it I was inquiring how Windows Explorer sort files using Chinese characters.