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  1. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time on Leaked Build of Windows 9 Shows Start Menu Return · · Score: 1

    Almost but I said home server for a specific reason. It doesn't have to be connected to a big screen at all. I have a $150 small-form factor box that runs headless and acts as a file server plus serves a few other functions. The most expensive device in the setup is probably the laptop/tablet device, not the home server.

    The tablet and laptop will merge in the future. Just as now, there will be an array to choose from - more svelte models and more heftier ones, but few will want to own a laptop and a tablet in the future. They will merge.

    But IMHO the home server is something important.
    The home server could also morph with the router/modem. Thus new routers now increasingly have NAS-like functions and many other functions as well.

  2. Re:Fuck Tiles! on Leaked Build of Windows 9 Shows Start Menu Return · · Score: 1

    Windows 8 with Classic Shell is the way to go. Even with Windows 7 Classic Shell was already the way to go.

  3. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time on Leaked Build of Windows 9 Shows Start Menu Return · · Score: 1

    But what's so important about the one device for everything idea? It makes sense to have at least one dedicated home device a.k.a file server a.k.a media server etc., one ultra-portable thing like a smartphone, and also a portable thing like a laptop also.

    The laptop could conceivably replace the home server but there are a lot of reasons why I always want a dedicated information appliance in my home.

    I would think there are very few people who would never travel and want to have a powerful information appliance with them (i.e. not just a smartphone).

    Where convergence will occur is when tablets morph into laptops, or laptops morph into things like tablets with detachable keyboards.

  4. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time on Leaked Build of Windows 9 Shows Start Menu Return · · Score: 1

    What about a universal remote like a Logitech Harmony? I always wondered how well those work with your type of setup.

  5. Re:Driving me crazy on Ball Lightning Caught On Video and Spectrograph · · Score: 1

    Otenki Oneesan is the series you're thinking of.

  6. Bypass the MS account on The Black Underbelly of Windows 8.1 'Blue' · · Score: 1

    Just wanted to add here that it is possible to bypass the attempt to force the user to create an MS account during 8.1 upgrade by simply DISCONNECTING THE INTERNET.

  7. It can maybe if it ditches the name on Ask Slashdot: Can Yahoo Actually Stage a Comeback? · · Score: 1

    Hello?!? Yahoo is a stupid name for a website.

  8. Re:Too little too late on Windows 8.1 May Restore Boot-To-Desktop, Start Button · · Score: 1

    I fully agree with this observation. Was just thinking earlier what a supreme waste of money the new MS kiosk stores in the malls are. Its also a PR disaster among the in-the-know crowd for a company to be perceived as so conniving and so desperate as MS are.

  9. Re:I like it on Windows 8: a 'Christmas Gift For Someone You Hate' · · Score: 1

    Is there any way to change the skyline to a different city?

  10. Re:That bad? on Windows 8: a 'Christmas Gift For Someone You Hate' · · Score: 1

    You might really want to try Classic Shell/Classic Start Menu then. Its an OSS project and I use it and do the categorizing like you say and find it essential. I always have several meta-categories and then copy in shortcuts for all relevant apps under those categories, e.g.:

    00 - Peripherals
                            -Webcam
                              -Printer
    01 - Graphics
    02 - Audio
    03 - Office
    04 - Viewers
    05 - Net
    06 - Utilities
    07 - System & Security

    I especially like having the Peripherals submenu since otherwise it beccomes difficult to track all the various apps and utilities which come with different devices.

  11. Re:That bad? on Windows 8: a 'Christmas Gift For Someone You Hate' · · Score: 1

    An idea, proposition, or an opinion is what it is, regardless of *anything* else. An argument about something is what it is, and the merits or lack thereof do not change because of other factors such as personal feelings, corporate agendas, etc.
    It is therefore in the best interest of truth to simply address all arguments on their merits. Dedication to truth or pursuit of knowledge should be a higher calling and anyone committed to it enacts it by upholding it in their own conduct.

  12. In perspective... on Is Silicon Valley Morally Bankrupt and Toxic? · · Score: 1
  13. Re:Obligatory on California's Unspoken Health Problem: Brain Parasites · · Score: 0

    A family member, friend or restaurant cook infected with an adult tapeworm can secrete tens of thousands of tapeworm eggs daily, which can be easily ingested by others.

    The major don't seems to be:

    Don't eat at a restaurant which has a cook who is an immigrant from one of the affected countries. Nowadays, that may be almost an impossibility.

  14. Re:There is no problem with this on Apple Rejects Drone Strike App · · Score: 1

    Absolutely wrong. As a provider of a platform for information exchange and communication, Apple's products must be required, by law, to be open and free.

    There is absolutely an overriding interest for the social good that a large platform provider, be it a cable company, large publishing house, or communications technology provider keep their platforms open and free.

    The opposite is essentially fascism. Right now the Obama administration is trying to prevent the content providers like Xfinity from controlling all the content. Xfinity already censors things like Al Jazeera and much other content which it doesn't want to compete with its own, inferior content that it controls.

    This case with Apple controlling everything is no different.

  15. Re:apple just doesn't want to touch that on Apple Rejects Drone Strike App · · Score: 1

    Wrong. We live in a time when companies like Apple are equivalent to feudal fiefdoms. The "freedoms" we seek are those granted or bestowed by one fiefdom or another, to which peasants can choose to be in allegiance with or not. The fiefdoms are what control the country. If you cannot see that this is the case and how the political system in America functions, you are blind.

  16. Re:apple just doesn't want to touch that on Apple Rejects Drone Strike App · · Score: 1

    History is replete with "successes" which were disastrous, usually accompanied with copious amounts of hubris and arrogance.

  17. Wordperfect could have done it on The True Challenges of Desktop Linux · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wordperfect was already being used extensively by legal offices. It would not have been a huge jump to get legal offices to switch to Linux running Wordperfect. But after version 8 Wordperfect was not a native Linux port but this convoluted thing that ran through an emulator layer which was insane. Then, not long after it died. That was the end of the chance for Linux to make an advance to the corporate/business desktop.
    I'm sure some other things didn't help as well. I still think one major issue is that package managers do not have a way to screen out crusty projects. There should be a way to ignore all software which hasn't been developed or changed in X amount of time, with X=6 months, 9, months, whatever, but some value that cuts out the immense amount of crust.
    I also think Linux should have done more to entice hardware and software makers to use it. In fact, it should have done everything absolutely possible to make life easy for hardware and software makers, including more flexible licenses. I don't think people were realistic enough to realize that, without the needed support of hardware and software makers, everything else is almost a moot point.

  18. CL are slimy on Craigslist Demands Exclusivity For Postings · · Score: 0

    About as slimy as you can get.

    I believe that deal they cut with eBay years ago, whereby they got a huge wad of cash, was so that they would NOT EVER innovate or improve buying/selling features of their site. I believe they got paid off to keep their interface crappy.

    So these extension sites come along and try to fill the gaps with the terrible interface and they get sued.

    And the EFF has awarded CL in the past for their "community" contributions. What a bunch of BS! I would love to see CL lose their monopolies and see a more open playing field.

  19. No IMAP/SMTP on Microsoft Unveils Outlook.com, Hotmail's Successor · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hello no IMAP/SMTP support goodbye

  20. Re:Ugh on Samsung Galaxy S3 Stripped of Local Search · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How can something as basic and obvious as performing a search of local system have a patent?

    I cannot be more thoroughly disgusted by Apple. Just like everything else in society, it is the people who purport to provide something who are ultimately the ones responsible for its deprivation.
    It is, for example, precisely because of the "healthcare" industry that there is so much actual deprivation of healthcare in our society. The deprivation would not be possible without it.
    It is precisely because we have a government obsessed with our "security" that, in actuality, we are deprived ot true security. The deprivation precisely requires it.
    And it is precisely because we have a company like Apple providing personal information technology that, ultimately, is becoming responsible for the deprivation of such technology.
    These patent wars are frivolous and sickening. We the actual people are just poor lowlife paeans getting thrown about as the big giants play their games. But I have to say, Apple has shown itself to be a bad player, with far more ill-will than other companies like Samsung. I have a hard time believing that most other tech companies would have initiated such frivolous and anti-innovative BS like Apple has. I'm willing to bet that most of these asian companies which, yes, often mimic successful ideas of other products, are just happy to do what they do and not fuss over BS and play pissy games like Apple. There is a long history of makers and craftsmen borrowing ideas and often improving upon them. But Apple is different. Its conduct is truly rotten and malevolent. They truly are not committed to the advancement of technology, but to sheer greed.

  21. Apple's conduct is reprehensible on Apple Must Publicly Post That Samsung Did Not Copy iPad · · Score: 4

    Samsung said in their statement: "Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited."

    Apple is like the #1 enemy in the tech industry. I remember that ad from years ago with all those drone-like people in front of the screen obeying their overlord. Well, can't people see that that's exactly what Apple and its users are like now?

  22. Re:Facebook is secure against hackers? on Chinese Spies Used Fake Facebook Profile To Friend NATO Officials · · Score: 1

    I just ran over Bo! I think we might need to force a password update this month.

    LOL

  23. Re:And clay iPads... on Fake IPad 2s Made of Clay Sold At Canadian Stores · · Score: 2

    It could also be some art project, like that artist who actually draws hundred dollar bills that look exactly like the real thing but end up being worth far more because of their artistic value.

    Still, if it were such a project, it would be dishonest and a form of theft unless they eventually come clean and admit it and offer to compensate the store.

  24. Re:Not surprising on Using a Tablet As Your Primary Computer · · Score: 1

    I think the future is a more powerful lightweight notebook with a detachable touchscreen. People are making it all look like these either/or choices but it seems like technology is clearly converging on this happening fairly soon. Already there are quad-core tablets now being released. Think about what is missing from a tablet that makes it more powerful: more storage, more RAM, slightly higher resolution screen/better graphics, and possibly more ports. All of these should be possible either with current technology or in the very near-term future with the progression of technology in areas such as flash storage and improving compact design.

    Turn it the other way around and look at what makes a ultra-portable laptop a bit still a bit too much to just easily throw in a purse and take with you - battery life not that great, hard drive - even if SSD - is still too bulky - basically whole thing is still too heavy to really be ultra portable.

    From either perspective there is definitely convergence occurring so considerations now about which is "best" are more matters of personal need/preference.

    One of my longer-term concerns will be, whichever platform is running, that there exists graphic or other software for it. For the time being Android and iOS might be safe but when the technology allows full-blown Windows to be on devices lighter than a pound then MS might be set to make a killing.

  25. Drones already have been used on Civilian Use of Drone Aircraft May Soon Fly In the US · · Score: 1

    Sometime back in 2002 or 2003, for many months there was a UAV flying a pattern in SF which crossed above my apartment about every 30 minutes. The noise from it was intolerable - it sounded like one of those extremely whiny 2-cycle things. I have photos of it somewhere that I could dig up. If they start using these things again I am very concerned about the noise. You do not want one of these things flying a route that passes above you regularly.