The main difference being, of course, that designing visual medium so that it supports both color-blind and normal visioned people equally well is extremely easy. Designing visual media that supports blind people is extremely difficult. There's no excuse, other than ignorance (which is the real reason in most cases), for not supporting color-blind people.
Have you tried Opera on a mobile? I've heard good things about it, but never tried it myself.
It's usable, but not that great. Screen size is the main limitation. You can either put it into "desktop" mode, which requires a lot of scrolling around, or "single column/fit to screen", which does a good job of only requiring vertical scrolling. The former is great in that it looks just like the desktop, but is a pain to use. The latter screws up formatting so much that a lot of websites are difficult to use.
Add to the mix slow processor speeds and (lack of) responsiveness, and you end up with a browser that's usable if you absolutely need it, but it'll usually take you longer to do anything useful than just finding a desktop computer and using that.
The browser (and larger screen) on the iPhone is the most appealing part to me.
The alphabet mode was a faulty solution to a problem with an obvious solution. If they'd just made the alphabet mode a real mode so that you went:
Music->
Artist->
all->
<all songs, like current>
A->
B->
B song 1
B song 2....
C->...
Instead of this psuedo-mode they have now the interface would be simple to work with. It's something I was hoping they would implement for a long time (after using a friend's audio player that DOES work like this). Instead they went with a piss-poor half-solution. I have the exact same problem you do - I always overshoot the first half of the alphabet letters and have to reverse. The threshold is too severe, and too hard to feel out. Same for the fast scroll threshold.
The scroll wheel has the potential to be better than a couple of buttons, but it needs more interface tweaking to be there. Lack of feedback, inconsistent sensitivity, and poor choice (in my opinion) of threshold levels all lead to a design that's just not quite there.
As do I. Which is why I'm pissed at Bank of America. Every time I have a customer service issue I use the bank mail and then get back a response saying that while they try to solve problems over email, sometimes a problem needs me to talk to someone over the phone. It's really frustrating.
I've never had a reason to contact Netflix, though. They don't hide the unsubscribe option (like XMRadio does). They even let you just suspend your account online for a few months (good for when you go through a phase of not watching movies).
T-Mobile lists incoming calls with date, time, originating number, duration, and (if applicable) details of how it was classified/billed. For example, from my bill:
for the record, yes, i think javascript and flash are pretty much crap. and no, i dont believe either of them belong on a page designed for "mobile" devices. As for hardware requirements, you would think that whichever idiots designed the CNN mobile page would have designed the site to work on both "older" hardware as well as on my 2 month old HTC Artemis. apparently it doesnt run on either
Well, there are cases where JavaScript is quite handy on mobile devices - and makes the experience a lot quicker for you, the end user. AJAX really shines on slow bandwidth connections, since you can download just the piece of data that has changed. For example, one of the applications I maintain is a web based mapping application for use over desktop/mobile connections. On the mobile connection each map movement (pan, zoom) could either require a) 10kb html, 30-90kb image, and flickering as the page moves around, or b) 30-90kb image and page position doesn't change because the image was changed inline.
Another aspect is if you present a lot of information that can be summarized with expandable titles (like/. does for comments). When you click on each individual item, you can either a) load the full page again with that summary expanded (or a new page), or b) load just the content, and have the data inserted in. The same advantages apply.
Mobile connections are extremely high latency and slow. Reducing the number of items to be fetched makes a huge difference in speed. The AJAXified page feels a lot faster, and so the experience is a lot nicer. Is it necessary? Absolutely not. The page was designed without ANY JavaScript to start off. It still works just as well with JavaScript turned off as on, but it feels a lot better with it turned on.
Properly used, JavaScript can make the experience a lot better. There are problems (bookmarks can be a big one), and it's often used improperly, but don't dismiss it outright.
I mean how many times are you doing to use GPS on a phone unless you were planning a hike in the great outdoors. At that point you probably want a dedicated GPS device.
I use it constantly. My ipaq has a decent built in GPS receiver and, using the TomTom software, I now have mapping data of pretty much anywhere I might want to go. With a car mount, I can use it in the car quite easily. If I'm on foot in the middle of an unknown city I can use it to find a restaurant or other business (Google Maps for Windows Mobile is nice for that as well). If I'm riding with a friend and we get lost, it's there to help us get unlost.
Do I need the GPS? Absolutely not. I still remember how to read a map, and I still prefer to do so to plan my route. I do, however, use the GPS at least once a week, and out of the car at least once a month. It's a killer feature for me; I don't really like the ipaq as much as some other Windows Mobile phones, but it's the only one to offer GPS along with the other features I want.
Battery life with the receiver turned on is horrible compared to my old Garmin V, so if I'm in the car I need a power supply. For a few random quick fixes on my location, though, it works quite well.
I don't see why [there's a limit to the ignore list]; filtering is presumably performed on the client. How much memory does a few dozen (or even a few thousand) UIDs take up?
Yes, World of Warcraft limits you to a rather small number of ignores. I think the maximum was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 when I was playing. I had a tendency to add people who used chat shorthand that particularly annoys me ("u" and "ur" top that list) and I quite frequently had to prune my ignore list to make room.
Yes, but isn't it irrelevant plain text? What does it have to do with the encrypted data? It's just a compiled public algorithm, isn't it?
Maybe I'm missing something.
At some point something has to be plain text. You can't have everything encrypted without something being unencrypted and runnable (even if it's in a chip or in the boot sector).
What crappy hardware are you using? My MacBook Pro doesn't leak any perceptible RF into the audio output.
My (and, judging by search engine results, many other peoples') Dell Latitude D810 leaks noise loud enough out the/built in/ speakers. Even when they are disabled through software. It's at about the same level as the background noise, so it's usually not noticable. If I take it into a quiet room, or at night when things have quieted down, it can drive me bonkers.
If this wasn't my work laptop, I would have returned it immediately based on this...
Wow, I paid just over $30 to file using TaxAct online. They even have an option where you don't pay in advance, but let them take their cut from the refund.
$13 for me - and that was just for the state efile (federal was free).
The option to deduct the file cost from refund option was not a good deal as it required you to allow the intermediate for your refund (HSBC, I think?) to skim another $10 off of the refund amount.
What I don't like is how they're lax like this with their web presence, and draconian with their credit/check cards. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to call their fraud department to get my card turned back on, and for really lame reasons
I'll counter your anecdote with one of my own. I've used my BOA Visa check card, Visa credit card, and MasterCard credit card extensively for the past two years. That's included travel to multiple foreign countries (admittedly all European or North American), ATM withdrawals in unusual places, multiple high dollar ATM withdrawals in the same day/hour, charges to obscure Russian credit card broker websites, periods of inactivity followed by bursts of large amounts of travel related purchases, etc. Not once has a single of my BOA cards been suspended due to suspected fraud.
I don't know if I'm just really lucky, or if your luck stinks.
In fact, BOA has been the most lax about calling regarding fraud as far as I'm concerned. I've had all of my other credit card companies call one time or another - never have they just suspended the card, though.
I use it to take banking information with me. Certificates, certain codes... I like to have them with me. I'm not exactly scared that anyone wants this information. I use it in case I lose my USB key: anyone finds it, will have a nice USB key that he can format and put his own stuff on. My banking information will not be visible to them. Just call it an insurance;-)
That's exactly what I use it for as well. That and for portable Firefox / portable gaim so I can browse without having my history/cookies/accounts/whatever easily discoverable if someone grabs my USB drive.
This works out great until ethanol doesn't get injected for some reason, at which point your engine has to withstand the pre-ignition (knock) before the knock sensor can detect it and the ecu can dial back your A:F, timing and/or wastegate settings.
People keep acting like the knock sensor is the only possible way to prevent a shortage of ethanol from causing problems. Think about it; there's got a tank of ethanol that's feeding this system. If my car can signal me when my windshield washer fluid is low, I think it can detect when this tank goes empty, too. All this takes is a level sensor (or pressure sensor) hooked up to the control unit. The knock sensor should be a final backup for detecting a problem, not the first line of defense...
If the ethanol fails to get to the injectors because of some other problem not related to a shortage - well, there's a lot that can go wrong in modern engines. This isn't really any likely to fail than any of the other high pressure delivery systems already supporting engines.
You guys all must be using that Westinghouse example as an industry wide example now of failure. They talked about how they would come to your house and fix it for you because they had the wrong timing for the handshake on there.
It's still a very real issue. I returned a Philips DVD player because it would consistently fail to renegotiate HDCP when I switched the TV's inputs off of the DVD player. Now, maybe this was just a timing problem and Philips failed to implement the specs correctly. Of course that's not HDCP's fault. It's entirely Philips's fault.
Still, no matter where the blame lies, the fact is it wouldn't be an issue AT ALL if HDCP didn't exist. It's because of HDCP that there are specs to implement incorrectly. I still don't buy the idea that HDCP is going to have any meaningful impact on piracy. It's just yet another inconvenience because the consortiums assume everyone is planning to do the wrong thing. It's insulting.
And why does an optical or HDMI cable of sufficient length end up costing more than most DVD players? It's a CABLE for Pete's sake.
Because that's where the big electronics stores make their profit. Ask a BestBuy employee how much that $100 monster cable costs him under the employee discount program. It'll be significantly closer to the $0 side of the range than the sticker price...
That said, there are some good companies out there that will sell perfectly good HDMI (and other) cables at reasonable prices. http://www.monoprice.com/ is one I've ordered from multiple times and had great results with. My last purchase was 10' of HDMI - I think I paid $10 shipped.
I actually was surprised to see that Target had 6' of HDMI for $15. A lot better than the $60/6' that was the best I found when I was looking for a quick cable at BestBuy...
And to answer that question, if there was a World Rally Championship racing game out there, then yes, I would. I would give anything for an awesome WRC game:(
You haven't looked, have you? There are tons of them. Some are better than others, though.
The only one I've played is Colin McRae Rally (one of the last two versions, I forget which) and it is quite enjoyable. It lets you race the WRC stages, with a co-driver giving you pace notes.
There's also a PC simulator whose name escapes me at the moment. It's supposed to be quite good, but quite graphics intensive.
I don't care either way about the throttle issue, but this comment seems fishy:
Most DVD's are damaged pretty badly because if the crappy mailing system. I recieve on average 2-3 cracked DVD's a month.
I've been a Netflix customer since nearly the beginning of their service. I've rented over 1000 DVDs (according to their online listing of my rental history). I've lived in four apartments during that time in three cities (thus, different mail paths). I've had exactly _2_ DVDs during that entire time that were unwatchable. One was scratched, and one was broken. The scratched one was most likely poor QA/QC by a shipper. I honestly don't think their mailing system is a problem at all.
I realize your situation might be slightly different, but I find it unlikely that you're getting anywhere near 2-3 damaged per month, unless you're getting hundreds of DVD's per month.
I often Push on the Pull doors, just to see if they work.
Often the Push/Pull sign is just some control freak placing arbitrary rules on things.
You're modded funny (and that might be your intention), but I do the exact same thing. Arbitrary rules piss me off. What annoys me more, though, is handles (that are easily pulled) on the side of the door you can only push. Talk about poor user interface design!
Live on the moon in 1/6th gravity. Never come to Earth again. Ridiculously expensive to have family and friends visit. Possible long term health consequences, possible heath effect for children, if children are even a possiblity.
I'm sure someone will challenge me on this (it happened last time I saw someone make this claim about a similar experiment on Mars), but sign me up. I'd go. Sure, it wouldn't be the most ideal life, but it's about living out a childhood dream. There's little I've wanted more since I first started reading science fiction books. Additionally, I'm not idealistic about much, but getting Humans out into space and on to other planets is a certain exception. I'd be willing to sacrifice a bit for that goal.
So, half selfish, half idealistic, but we all have our reasons. If I'm willing, there have to be a lot of other people like me. Enough to do what the grandparent was talking about, anyway.
Plus, the moon isn't that far away. We might still get a decent internet connection. Better latency than from Mars, anyway!
If you do that, make sure you do it with gift cards and not a credit card. Your $.99 Canadian iTunes purchase will result in a $3.00 foreign currency exchange fee on your credit card. Plus, the $.99 for the song.
If that's not hyperbole, then you should look at getting another credit card. The two cards I use for foreign transactions both charge me 2.89% of the purchase price (which is high in my opinion) plus a slightly-higher than market exchange rate for such transactions. I think paying an extra $0.03-$0.05 on the song is acceptable to most people.
Subscription, yes. But NOT subscription in perpetuity to listen. Once you download the mp3's, that's it. Listen now and forever, on whatever device you choose.
And that part is really good (the fact you keep the music forever). Still, I found the subscription to be tiresome. I don't buy music every month. I tend to buy 5CDs one month, and then none for the next two months. I don't like the fact that eMusic is basically pushing me into the same type of contract I hate having with my cellphone provider.
If they went back to unlimited downloads for a monthly fee, I might consider it. If they went à la carte, I might consider it. What they have now doesn't fit my needs enough.
Slashdot Mirror
The main difference being, of course, that designing visual medium so that it supports both color-blind and normal visioned people equally well is extremely easy. Designing visual media that supports blind people is extremely difficult. There's no excuse, other than ignorance (which is the real reason in most cases), for not supporting color-blind people.
It's usable, but not that great. Screen size is the main limitation. You can either put it into "desktop" mode, which requires a lot of scrolling around, or "single column/fit to screen", which does a good job of only requiring vertical scrolling. The former is great in that it looks just like the desktop, but is a pain to use. The latter screws up formatting so much that a lot of websites are difficult to use.
Add to the mix slow processor speeds and (lack of) responsiveness, and you end up with a browser that's usable if you absolutely need it, but it'll usually take you longer to do anything useful than just finding a desktop computer and using that.
The browser (and larger screen) on the iPhone is the most appealing part to me.
The alphabet mode was a faulty solution to a problem with an obvious solution. If they'd just made the alphabet mode a real mode so that you went:
.... ...
Music->
Artist->
all->
<all songs, like current>
A->
B->
B song 1
B song 2
C->
Instead of this psuedo-mode they have now the interface would be simple to work with. It's something I was hoping they would implement for a long time (after using a friend's audio player that DOES work like this). Instead they went with a piss-poor half-solution. I have the exact same problem you do - I always overshoot the first half of the alphabet letters and have to reverse. The threshold is too severe, and too hard to feel out. Same for the fast scroll threshold.
The scroll wheel has the potential to be better than a couple of buttons, but it needs more interface tweaking to be there. Lack of feedback, inconsistent sensitivity, and poor choice (in my opinion) of threshold levels all lead to a design that's just not quite there.
T-Mobile lists incoming calls with date, time, originating number, duration, and (if applicable) details of how it was classified/billed. For example, from my bill:
6/19/07 Incoming 2:50 PM 803-ZZZ-ZZZZ 4 -
6/20/07 Columbia, SC 7:08 AM 803-ZZZ-ZZZZ 33 -
Well, there are cases where JavaScript is quite handy on mobile devices - and makes the experience a lot quicker for you, the end user. AJAX really shines on slow bandwidth connections, since you can download just the piece of data that has changed. For example, one of the applications I maintain is a web based mapping application for use over desktop/mobile connections. On the mobile connection each map movement (pan, zoom) could either require a) 10kb html, 30-90kb image, and flickering as the page moves around, or b) 30-90kb image and page position doesn't change because the image was changed inline.
Another aspect is if you present a lot of information that can be summarized with expandable titles (like
Mobile connections are extremely high latency and slow. Reducing the number of items to be fetched makes a huge difference in speed. The AJAXified page feels a lot faster, and so the experience is a lot nicer. Is it necessary? Absolutely not. The page was designed without ANY JavaScript to start off. It still works just as well with JavaScript turned off as on, but it feels a lot better with it turned on.
Properly used, JavaScript can make the experience a lot better. There are problems (bookmarks can be a big one), and it's often used improperly, but don't dismiss it outright.
I use it constantly. My ipaq has a decent built in GPS receiver and, using the TomTom software, I now have mapping data of pretty much anywhere I might want to go. With a car mount, I can use it in the car quite easily. If I'm on foot in the middle of an unknown city I can use it to find a restaurant or other business (Google Maps for Windows Mobile is nice for that as well). If I'm riding with a friend and we get lost, it's there to help us get unlost.
Do I need the GPS? Absolutely not. I still remember how to read a map, and I still prefer to do so to plan my route. I do, however, use the GPS at least once a week, and out of the car at least once a month. It's a killer feature for me; I don't really like the ipaq as much as some other Windows Mobile phones, but it's the only one to offer GPS along with the other features I want.
Battery life with the receiver turned on is horrible compared to my old Garmin V, so if I'm in the car I need a power supply. For a few random quick fixes on my location, though, it works quite well.
Yes, but isn't it irrelevant plain text? What does it have to do with the encrypted data? It's just a compiled public algorithm, isn't it?
Maybe I'm missing something.
At some point something has to be plain text. You can't have everything encrypted without something being unencrypted and runnable (even if it's in a chip or in the boot sector).
My (and, judging by search engine results, many other peoples') Dell Latitude D810 leaks noise loud enough out the
If this wasn't my work laptop, I would have returned it immediately based on this...
$13 for me - and that was just for the state efile (federal was free).
The option to deduct the file cost from refund option was not a good deal as it required you to allow the intermediate for your refund (HSBC, I think?) to skim another $10 off of the refund amount.
I'll counter your anecdote with one of my own. I've used my BOA Visa check card, Visa credit card, and MasterCard credit card extensively for the past two years. That's included travel to multiple foreign countries (admittedly all European or North American), ATM withdrawals in unusual places, multiple high dollar ATM withdrawals in the same day/hour, charges to obscure Russian credit card broker websites, periods of inactivity followed by bursts of large amounts of travel related purchases, etc. Not once has a single of my BOA cards been suspended due to suspected fraud.
I don't know if I'm just really lucky, or if your luck stinks.
In fact, BOA has been the most lax about calling regarding fraud as far as I'm concerned. I've had all of my other credit card companies call one time or another - never have they just suspended the card, though.
That's exactly what I use it for as well. That and for portable Firefox / portable gaim so I can browse without having my history/cookies/accounts/whatever easily discoverable if someone grabs my USB drive.
It's a great use, and that's all I use it for.
People keep acting like the knock sensor is the only possible way to prevent a shortage of ethanol from causing problems. Think about it; there's got a tank of ethanol that's feeding this system. If my car can signal me when my windshield washer fluid is low, I think it can detect when this tank goes empty, too. All this takes is a level sensor (or pressure sensor) hooked up to the control unit. The knock sensor should be a final backup for detecting a problem, not the first line of defense...
If the ethanol fails to get to the injectors because of some other problem not related to a shortage - well, there's a lot that can go wrong in modern engines. This isn't really any likely to fail than any of the other high pressure delivery systems already supporting engines.
So true. I recently threw away the first computer I assembled myself, and the inside was still stained in various places with my blood.
These days, I build my new computer by ordering another laptop.
It's still a very real issue. I returned a Philips DVD player because it would consistently fail to renegotiate HDCP when I switched the TV's inputs off of the DVD player. Now, maybe this was just a timing problem and Philips failed to implement the specs correctly. Of course that's not HDCP's fault. It's entirely Philips's fault.
Still, no matter where the blame lies, the fact is it wouldn't be an issue AT ALL if HDCP didn't exist. It's because of HDCP that there are specs to implement incorrectly. I still don't buy the idea that HDCP is going to have any meaningful impact on piracy. It's just yet another inconvenience because the consortiums assume everyone is planning to do the wrong thing. It's insulting.
Because that's where the big electronics stores make their profit. Ask a BestBuy employee how much that $100 monster cable costs him under the employee discount program. It'll be significantly closer to the $0 side of the range than the sticker price...
That said, there are some good companies out there that will sell perfectly good HDMI (and other) cables at reasonable prices. http://www.monoprice.com/ is one I've ordered from multiple times and had great results with. My last purchase was 10' of HDMI - I think I paid $10 shipped.
I actually was surprised to see that Target had 6' of HDMI for $15. A lot better than the $60/6' that was the best I found when I was looking for a quick cable at BestBuy...
You haven't looked, have you? There are tons of them. Some are better than others, though.
The only one I've played is Colin McRae Rally (one of the last two versions, I forget which) and it is quite enjoyable. It lets you race the WRC stages, with a co-driver giving you pace notes.
There's also a PC simulator whose name escapes me at the moment. It's supposed to be quite good, but quite graphics intensive.
I realize your situation might be slightly different, but I find it unlikely that you're getting anywhere near 2-3 damaged per month, unless you're getting hundreds of DVD's per month.
So, half selfish, half idealistic, but we all have our reasons. If I'm willing, there have to be a lot of other people like me. Enough to do what the grandparent was talking about, anyway.
Plus, the moon isn't that far away. We might still get a decent internet connection. Better latency than from Mars, anyway!
And that part is really good (the fact you keep the music forever). Still, I found the subscription to be tiresome. I don't buy music every month. I tend to buy 5CDs one month, and then none for the next two months. I don't like the fact that eMusic is basically pushing me into the same type of contract I hate having with my cellphone provider.
If they went back to unlimited downloads for a monthly fee, I might consider it. If they went à la carte, I might consider it. What they have now doesn't fit my needs enough.