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User: BlueWaterBaboonFarm

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Comments · 58

  1. Re:Users disagree with him on The Condescending UI · · Score: 1

    I guess I wasn't clear. Sit down at a Windows box, press Alt. That's a feature I want. What OSx does instead isn't a powerful.
    Example scenario: using a program I don't use often, I might know that the command I want is in the menu under 'File' but I haven't set up a short cut because (a) I don't use it often (b) if I knew the short cut I'd also know the key combo as well.

  2. Re:Users disagree with him on The Condescending UI · · Score: 2

    It amazes me that Apple hasn't moved menus from the top of the screen to the actual window they are attached to yet.

    Clearly you're a Windows or Linux user that's got used to the screen wasting and Fit's law conflicting Windows mutation of pull-down menus. Apple don't change it because Mac users overwhelmingly appreciate that this way is better.

    I like not having to mouse one monitor over to get the menu. I also appreciate being able to use keyboard commands to open menus. I could never find a way to do this on OSx. I not really a Windows fan boy, but OSx menus are a big fail with multiple monitors in my opinion.

  3. Re:compression on Canadian Music Industry Seeks Copy Tax On Memory Cards · · Score: 1

    Nitpick: AIFF AND FLAC are lossless compression format, while MP3 is a lossy compression format.

  4. What's a computer on Dutch Court Rules WiFi Hacking Not a Criminal Offense · · Score: 1

    I have an ASUS rt n16 with 128 MB RAM and a Broadcom4718A at 480 MHz, an external 2TB drive. By early 2000 standards that's a heck of a rig.
    I was going to use an old p3 and use that as a router, but I guess it wouldn't work if I went to the Netherlands?

  5. Re:havent used a single coupon from groupon ever ! on Groupon Could Challenge Google's Record IPO · · Score: 1

    This is surprising to me.
    I would guess that more than half of my friends have heard of groupon and at least 10% have used it. At least a few of my friends check it everyday.

  6. Re:Domination on China Switching To Home-Grown Chips For Supercomputers · · Score: 1

    A 1990s Toyota is "easy" to make today, but if China starts making them in bulk then Toyota wouldn't be happy.

    In a world where slightly outdated chips are "good enough", and the marginal cost of making them is probably a few bucks, I'd be very worried if a really big competitor was breathing down my neck.

    It would be commercially suicidal to try and undercut AMD, because a price war would leave no profits for either competitor. So even if it's "easy" to start a price war, nobody wants one. Unless, of course, they happen to be a very large country, that would like to buttress their national accounts by driving down the price of chips.

    Chip manufacturers are near monopolies, who invest their profits into research. Great. But chip design is becoming one of those problems that doesn't *really* need solving. Incremental upgrades will be nice, and I'm sure that there will still be some innovation, but many people would rather have slower innovation and cheaper parts than expensive parts and faster innovation.

    I was under the impression that CPUs generally had fairly large profit margins. A price war might be exactly what China would want. Especially since these days China seems interested in world wide prestige for their firms and might back them with there very deep pockets.

  7. Re:Simple on Safari/MacBook First To Fall At Pwn2Own 2011 · · Score: 1

    Exactly, you might just as well say the FF takes a full day to hack because it wasn't scheduled until the next day.

  8. Re:as always depends on the person on Can For-Profit Tech Colleges Be Trusted? · · Score: 1

    If you're paying $1000+ in texts per semester you are do it wrong. I made it through my last 2 years paying $500 (nope not $500/semester, $500 total over 2 years) doing a math degree. It would have been less but I prefer not to sell most of my texts back.

    Buy your texts as ebooks saves you roughly 50%
    Borrow them from the library save 100% (pay some late fees and keep it the full semester save 90%)
    Buy the "international edition" (questionable legality?....oh well like you said "fuck McGraw Hill") I paid as little as $17 for a softcover international shipped when the book store wanted $150 (hardcover edition). The pages were thiner, and there was some chinese characters on the front but it was otherwise identical on the inside.
    Buy/borrow from a friend
    Buy used from Amazon, you can sometimes even make money doing this. I bought a physics text and then sold it back to the book store for more than I paid.

    The book store is only for if you really want to take the plastic off or you put off buying book until classes started (even still there rush shipping on almost any site).

  9. Re:We don't fear reprisal now... on Canadian Songwriters Propose $10/mo Internet Fee · · Score: 1

    Exactly!
    Already in Canada you CANNOT BE SUED FOR DOWNLOADING MUSIC for personal use*. Let me be clear, I do not mean I song that you own, I just mean any old song. This is due to our copyright laws which are admittedly a bit strange compared to other countries. This has been tested in the Supreme Court of Canada.

    This essential is forcing you to buy a right** that you already have (and already pay for again with the blank media tax).

    *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMG_v._John_Doe
    **I'm abusing this word I know

  10. Re:Not bad on IPad 2 33% Thinner, 2x Faster, iOS 4.3 · · Score: 1

    I thought it was 2000 for a second there.

  11. Some observations on Slashdot Launches Re-Design · · Score: 1

    Some observations I didn't notice elsewhere (I didn't look very hard)
    1. Autoscroll is annoying to use in Opera 11 (build 1156). The side bar goes up and down and that's annoying as hell. Not true in FF or Chrome so it could just be Opera's fault.
    2. Holy crap! Slashdot actually works in the default Android browser. Reading AND replying!
    3. Replying to comments doesn't work well in Miren. This was true before.
    4. Opera Mini and Mobile are still hopeless with this site, but they at least can load the front page now.

  12. Re:And for phones? on Android 3.0 Platform Preview and SDK Is Here · · Score: 1

    Is that conjecture well sourced now? I've heard that before but I thought it was speculation.

  13. Re:Yay! on The Case of Apple's Mystery Screw · · Score: 1
    I use MediaMonkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com/). It's not perfect either but I've rarely had problems with it.

    I like that it has flac support (no fiddling required) and it's not bogged down with 1TB of music (30000 songs) like most others seem to. Also you can probably sync your iPod with it. I can't verify this because I don't have one, but others have said it works fine, while others can't get it to work without specific versions or something.

  14. Re:I'll be first to say WTF on Polynomial Time Code For 3-SAT Released, P==NP · · Score: 1
    Mod parent up!

    Good read.

  15. Re:I can't make a gmail account. on Yahoo IPv6 Upgrade Could Shut Out 1M Users · · Score: 1

    I believe if you have someone invite you to gmail then you don't have to supply a phone number.

  16. Re:Answers on 45 Years Later, Does Moore's Law Still Hold True? · · Score: 1

    Bravo!

  17. Re:Number of components, not computing power on 45 Years Later, Does Moore's Law Still Hold True? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Since when can't you call someone a troll for telling you the truth? ~

  18. Re:Windows 7 on Windows 7 Trumps Vista By Reaching 20% Share · · Score: 1
    What 3rd party apps?

    I'm just curious. I haven't had any issues with Windows search (but I don't use Outlook). I have my 1TB 7200 RAID 1 and 2TB 5400 RAID 1 array indexed and it seems to work flawlessly as far as I can tell.

  19. Re:Not just them... on Android vs. iPhone — Who Wins In 2011? · · Score: 1
    World record doesn't have much to do with everyday use for a normal person.

    I use Swype now and I assume I will eventually be faster than I was on my 5 years worth of Blackberrys, but the Blackberry has the advantage of being stupid proof and 100% accurate. This (arguably) makes it frustration free. Speed isn't everything.

  20. Re:I'm confused on CIA Launches WTF To Investigate Wikileaks · · Score: 1

    And shipping it via FedEx Express.

  21. Re:What the hell on FCC To Allow Texting To 911 · · Score: 1

    That is retarded.

    Dial 911, simply do not SAY anything but do not hang up. cops will be on the way.

    What moron thinks the 911 dispatcher will go "hello? hello? Nobody there, I'll hang up and ignore it....."

    Due to a design flaw with one of my past phones I made approx. 20 calls over a 2 years to 911 with knowing it. I never once received a call back. So no you're wrong.

  22. Re:Happened in one of my CompSci classes a decade on 200 Students Admit Cheating After Professor's Online Rant · · Score: 1

    That makes me think the hype about ethics in this is overdone. There is almost no consequence for turning yourself in (in their case a 4 hour ethics lecture/nap time). Combine that with false positives on the innocent group and you might turn yourself in even if your innocent. Ethically wrong but possibly the easiest path.

  23. Re:Quick Canada Lesson on CRTC To Allow Usage-Based Billing · · Score: 1
    I have the opposite experience.

    I download my favorite shows 2 hours earlier then they are on TV. Granted I'm on the west coast and they are popular shows, but they're ready for me when I get home from work (fully automated), 720p, and commercial free. I really wouldn't mind paying for a similar service from one of these cable companies, but nothing exists and apparently I can finagle something much better myself.

  24. What.cd on Pirate Bay Down; Police Raids Across Europe · · Score: 1

    Doesn't seem to be working right now. I hope this is just a strange coincidence. Any news?

  25. Re:More broadly... TFA is just plain dumb on Six Reasons Why Flash Isn't Going Away · · Score: 1

    I read the article with increasing amazement the farther into it I got. Among the six reasons why OMG we'll all die if we can't keep flash:

    ....That's funny. I could have sworn this article was about why we should WANT Flash, not about why Adobe should burn in hell for 10,000 years.

    The other three, while not quite as egregious, are still not exactly compelling arguments for why web users should be very, very sad if Flash dies. What the hell was the author thinking here?

    I don't think you really understood TFA, or the TFS or even the damn title. The article is not about why we should want flash, it was about why it's not going away anytime soon.