I can second this recommendation. While I have to use NT, they make life bearable. And Steeve is a cool, friendly author who's put a *lot* of work into these (and other) programs. I registered them several years ago and they've been rock solid.
Vern creates a virtual desktop you can split up into any number of cells in an x-by-y grid, the cells are sizable. Vern can: - autohide, - show 3d miniwindows (icons of the apps), - mouse wrap on screen edges, - move among cells when moving windows; - set the wallpaper and desktop color for each cell; - support multiple monitors; - glue apps to the desktop (they move when you change cells - activate cells via a hotkey - show all process with window handles, positions, class information, style bits, etc. - adjust process priorities, - hide and show windows
Blanch is a similar toolbar of cells, icon sized that launch programs. It can have multiple pages of icons; supports drag-n-drop; has a basic chron facility, a basic clock/chime facility; and can autohide.
They're not skinnable (Steeve isn't as much a sucker for eye-candy as I am:), but for power with efficient operation on NT (especially if you're in an office of MS-heads), I love them. Litestep is an excellent choice as well. I run that when I can and at home when not futzing with Linux.
"Every day it gets clearer and clearer that yesteryear's methods of democracy just don't cut it these days." I have to wonder - when in any time in the History of Man has there been a method of democracy that did cut it? Haven't people always been "dictated to by a group of essentially greedy and corrupt 'leaders'"? (Even the ancient Greek democracy of Athens(?) was a democracy of upper class men - not everyone, IIRC.) Thank goodness we now have the internet and places like Slashdot to learn about these important issues and like Project Vote Smart to help us make our voices heard.
We all need to become more aware of more issues that affect us. (I know, duh!) I'm a computer geek and my wife's a pharmacist. For every issue like UCITA or encryption regulations that could significantly affect geek and non-geek alike, there are at least as many similar issues in the pharmaceutical/medical fields. I laugh (or cry) at how some news stories about computer virii or such get skewed by the media - and she does the same for many medical-related stories, ones that without her corrective input I'd have gone, "oh, wow that sounds bad/good" on the media's word alone. That's scary to me.
How many other aspects of life are we being manipulated for others profit without our voice being heard? I suspect almost every one. And that's sad because our best choice is to become more knowledgable about all these issues - and who's going to have the time or desire to spend that much time and effort on issues, especially as they get more and more distant from one's areas of expertise and interest? I'm thankful there are consumer-protection groups out there - but I will have to get off my butt on more issues, make my opinions known more often to my representatives, and not rely on them or the sand my head gets stuck in to protect me. We all should.
Yes, this is a nitpicking question, but is it "CG" or "CGI"? Unless there's a new meaning for CGI that I'm not aware of, I thought CG meant Computer Graphics, and CGI meant C(omputer?) Gateway Interface. The former being computer generated imagery or special effects, the latter being the early web mechanism for web servers to run external programs to generate web pages. It seems that the latter is being used more and more when the former is meant.
"A lot of people are disenchanted with the revelation that the Force comes from 'little critters', as it were. To me it makes perfect sense; it makes sense that the Force has a _cause_"
I thought this at first too, but later on learned that the midichlorians are merely the conduit by which people are able to sense and use the Force, they are not the cause of the Force itself. It's still "a big energy field that surrounds everyone and everything". To me that makes more sense - if midichlorians cause the Force, then how does the Force penetrate nonliving objects? How does it extend beyond the bounds of living objects?
And yes, I think it says something about the movies that they inspire such strong emotions and discussion on both sides. Brin is right that it gets close to the core of the human psyche with a story based on ancient patterns and thus appeals to many people. (Though the incessant hype of the greedy companies wishing to cash in on "a sure thing" really puts me off and makes it easy for people to get irritated at or dismiss the whole thing - lowering the level of discussion possible.)
If it's only a film, then why does Brin get so upset about it?
(If someone gets that upset about something I like, I tend to get a little irritated and defensive, but at least many here have posited thoughtful responses. I tried to ignore Brin's strident tone and understand his arguments, some of which I agree with and some of which I don't.)
Re:The Danger of PC Commoditization
on
Cool PC Cases
·
· Score: 1
While I think you've got a good point here, I don't think it'll get that bad. (knock on wood) For all of the non-tech types I've talked to about getting a PC (dozens or so), future expandability - or more accurately upgradability to stave off obsolescence - *was* a factor in their considerations. Just not as a high a factor as "just make it work so I don't have to fiddle with it". I think most people realize computers get old quick and they want to make the most of their money too. But there's a relationship between price and features - if PCs get cheap enough, more (common) people won't mind replacing them more often. Sure it won't be the longest lasting PC they could get, or the most feature-filled, but if it fulfills the first priority of ease of use/maintenance and is cheap, they'll pay. So if the prices remain relatively high, more people will want more capable/upgradable machines, otherwise more will go for the simpler, cheaper machines and other factors will come into play - like what shade of fuscia goes best with the drapes...
The range of PC types may slide down toward the cheaper closed systems where the profits are in volume sales, but there'll still be a number of better systems - they'll just cost more.
Couldn't we come up with some truly cool cases that would be at least as manufacturable as those cases, but with really useful as well as cool features? Ideas?
Re:BunnyPeople[tm] must die
on
Cool PC Cases
·
· Score: 1
re: First: - well, they could be considered "cute" and we all know that that appellation signals the end of any potential intimate relationship...
re: Second: I have no idea - but it could be interesting coming up with various things to do to the bunny people dolls Intel sells.
re: Third: I'd say *bad* advertising is evil. The ads that make it obvious that they care nothing for the customer but just want your money. Their advertising comes from soulless advertising corporations that are willing to gloss over important facts (lie), play to people's basest insticts (sex, greed, fear - "buy this car and you too will be hip and get the chicks"), anything goes if it will bring in that almighty dollar.
But I have to believe there are some people doing business that have good products and services, that honestly want to help people while making a living, etc. There must be examples of their advertising around somewhere, right? Good advertising that doesn't try to manipulate people other than informing them of their business, perhaps using humor as the hook. Can anyone think of examples? --- Please?
I was given the book, "The Physics of Star Trek" by Lawrence Krauss, a professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University, for Christmas last year. Prof.Krauss and many of his colleagues in academia are apparently Trekkers - partly for the fun of discussing the next day what the ST writers got wrong and what they got right. And there are several times in the book that he calls the writers foresighted - e.g. when in the original series, the crew encountered a "black star" (black hole) before the term black hole had been coined. He does talk about their gaffs, but in general he seems impressed by all that the writers have gotten right. I don't think he saw the Voyager episode you mention when he wrote the book though...
I really believe that it was the not the pressure of "little" public interest groups (the good guys) but the fact that the IDs would create a real problem with the EU that could hamper trade - i.e. "big" money flow:
The Fed "must assure Europeans that the United States has adequate privacy protections or risk a prohibition against businesses in those 15 countries [of the European Union] from disclosing personal information about citizens there to U.S. companies." Follow the money...
Slashdot Mirror
Vern creates a virtual desktop you can split up into any number of cells in an x-by-y grid, the cells are sizable.
Vern can:
- autohide,
- show 3d miniwindows (icons of the apps),
- mouse wrap on screen edges,
- move among cells when moving windows;
- set the wallpaper and desktop color for each cell;
- support multiple monitors;
- glue apps to the desktop (they move when you change cells
- activate cells via a hotkey
- show all process with window handles, positions, class information, style bits, etc.
- adjust process priorities,
- hide and show windows
Blanch is a similar toolbar of cells, icon sized that launch programs. It can have multiple pages of icons; supports drag-n-drop; has a basic chron facility, a basic clock/chime facility; and can autohide.
They're not skinnable (Steeve isn't as much a sucker for eye-candy as I am :), but for power with efficient operation on NT (especially if you're in an office of MS-heads), I love them. Litestep is an excellent choice as well. I run that when I can and at home when not futzing with Linux.
I have to wonder - when in any time in the History of Man has there been a method of democracy that did cut it? Haven't people always been "dictated to by a group of essentially greedy and corrupt 'leaders'"? (Even the ancient Greek democracy of Athens(?) was a democracy of upper class men - not everyone, IIRC.)
Thank goodness we now have the internet and places like Slashdot to learn about these important issues and like Project Vote Smart to help us make our voices heard.
We all need to become more aware of more issues that affect us. (I know, duh!) I'm a computer geek and my wife's a pharmacist. For every issue like UCITA or encryption regulations that could significantly affect geek and non-geek alike, there are at least as many similar issues in the pharmaceutical/medical fields. I laugh (or cry) at how some news stories about computer virii or such get skewed by the media - and she does the same for many medical-related stories, ones that without her corrective input I'd have gone, "oh, wow that sounds bad/good" on the media's word alone. That's scary to me.
How many other aspects of life are we being manipulated for others profit without our voice being heard? I suspect almost every one. And that's sad because our best choice is to become more knowledgable about all these issues - and who's going to have the time or desire to spend that much time and effort on issues, especially as they get more and more distant from one's areas of expertise and interest? I'm thankful there are consumer-protection groups out there - but I will have to get off my butt on more issues, make my opinions known more often to my representatives, and not rely on them or the sand my head gets stuck in to protect me. We all should.
Yes, this is a nitpicking question, but is it "CG" or "CGI"? Unless there's a new meaning for CGI that I'm not aware of, I thought CG meant Computer Graphics, and CGI meant C(omputer?) Gateway Interface. The former being computer generated imagery or special effects, the latter being the early web mechanism for web servers to run external programs to generate web pages. It seems that the latter is being used more and more when the former is meant.
I thought this at first too, but later on learned that the midichlorians are merely the conduit by which people are able to sense and use the Force, they are not the cause of the Force itself. It's still "a big energy field that surrounds everyone and everything". To me that makes more sense - if midichlorians cause the Force, then how does the Force penetrate nonliving objects? How does it extend beyond the bounds of living objects?
And yes, I think it says something about the movies that they inspire such strong emotions and discussion on both sides. Brin is right that it gets close to the core of the human psyche with a story based on ancient patterns and thus appeals to many people. (Though the incessant hype of the greedy companies wishing to cash in on "a sure thing" really puts me off and makes it easy for people to get irritated at or dismiss the whole thing - lowering the level of discussion possible.)
(If someone gets that upset about something I like, I tend to get a little irritated and defensive, but at least many here have posited thoughtful responses. I tried to ignore Brin's strident tone and understand his arguments, some of which I agree with and some of which I don't.)
For all of the non-tech types I've talked to about getting a PC (dozens or so), future expandability - or more accurately upgradability to stave off obsolescence - *was* a factor in their considerations. Just not as a high a factor as "just make it work so I don't have to fiddle with it". I think most people realize computers get old quick and they want to make the most of their money too. But there's a relationship between price and features - if PCs get cheap enough, more (common) people won't mind replacing them more often. Sure it won't be the longest lasting PC they could get, or the most feature-filled, but if it fulfills the first priority of ease of use/maintenance and is cheap, they'll pay. So if the prices remain relatively high, more people will want more capable/upgradable machines, otherwise more will go for the simpler, cheaper machines and other factors will come into play - like what shade of fuscia goes best with the drapes...
The range of PC types may slide down toward the cheaper closed systems where the profits are in volume sales, but there'll still be a number of better systems - they'll just cost more.
Couldn't we come up with some truly cool cases that would be at least as manufacturable as those cases, but with really useful as well as cool features? Ideas?
re: Second: I have no idea - but it could be interesting coming up with various things to do to the bunny people dolls Intel sells.
re: Third: I'd say *bad* advertising is evil. The ads that make it obvious that they care nothing for the customer but just want your money. Their advertising comes from soulless advertising corporations that are willing to gloss over important facts (lie), play to people's basest insticts (sex, greed, fear - "buy this car and you too will be hip and get the chicks"), anything goes if it will bring in that almighty dollar.
But I have to believe there are some people doing business that have good products and services, that honestly want to help people while making a living, etc. There must be examples of their advertising around somewhere, right? Good advertising that doesn't try to manipulate people other than informing them of their business, perhaps using humor as the hook. Can anyone think of examples? --- Please?
I was given the book, "The Physics of Star Trek" by Lawrence Krauss, a professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University, for Christmas last year. Prof.Krauss and many of his colleagues in academia are apparently Trekkers - partly for the fun of discussing the next day what the ST writers got wrong and what they got right. And there are several times in the book that he calls the writers foresighted - e.g. when in the original series, the crew encountered a "black star" (black hole) before the term black hole had been coined.
He does talk about their gaffs, but in general he seems impressed by all that the writers have gotten right. I don't think he saw the Voyager episode you mention when he wrote the book though...
The Fed "must assure Europeans that the United States has adequate privacy protections or risk a prohibition against businesses in those 15 countries [of the European Union] from disclosing personal information about citizens there to U.S. companies."
Follow the money...