I guess I'm swimming against the tide. My $19.99 plan just dropped to 15.99, for 3 DVDs out at a time. I've never streamed, and as long as it's Silverlight only, I probably never will.
Maybe now they won't keep bringing up that page of recommendations that lists streaming links only, even though most of the titles are available both ways. Sometimes it's a good recommendation, but if I want to see it I have to remember the title and go searching for it.
Also note that if you turn off the Ajaxy stuff (as much as possible, some of it can no longer be tuned off) then you must scroll to the bottom of the (very long) page and click on something that says "moderate now." Or something like that.
I haven't successfully moderated in months -- the DHTML version of the site is too painful to use, and I always forget to scroll to the bottom and commit my moderations.
I use Gentoo, you insensitive clod. I *do* have to compile the code myself!
That said, Firefox 5 just got built on my home machine as part of the regular update. I haven't fired it up yet. But I'm not terribly thrilled about the interface changes in 4.0 -- I'm really not looking forward to 5.0. And speaking as a home user, I'm really not too happy about plugins going obsolete every few months.
Sorry, but the "waves" that you create from mp3 will never be better quality than the mp3s are. Information that was lost is gone. That's what "lossy" means.
And your example of scanning a printed doc to convert to pdf is an excellent analogy. Not in a good way.
Our CompSci department has very little involvement with campus IT. That's why I'm here -- the department didn't want to have to depend on campus IT, and campus IT didn't really want to deal with our servers, etc. Senior faculty didn't have the time to do all the IT stuff.
Most of our labs and all our servers are Unixish -- mostly Linux, but a few others as well. I have some labs that are Windows based. Faculty that use Windows on their own machines mostly get their support from the campus help desk. Aside from the odd printing problem, etc. Faculty that use Linux would get help from me -- except none ever have, since they tend to be self supporting.
All that said, I get along fine with campus IT. That doesn't mean I have a lot of influence with how they set up or manage the rest of campus. They *don't* support Linux, but they're not hostile to it either.
He's probably right. Our department used to pay $600 a year for a subscription to MSDNAA, which allowed all of our students to download all dev tools and operating systems for free. That includes (theoretically) all kinds of SDKs and server software as well.
A couple of years ago a Microsoft rep came by and said "You're paying for that? You should be getting it for free. Have them call me if they have any questions." Ever since, we've been getting the MSDNAA stuff for free. That includes lab copies and a copy for each student that makes the effort to ask me for an account.
It's to Microsoft's benefit to expose CompSci students to their development tools, so this makes sense from their perspective. Particularly since our "standard" programming environment has always been unix based, and without MS making some additional effort, our students would see a lot less of the MS tools than they do.
I don't have access to it, but they have a page up with details. You can request an invitation now.
I didn't request an invitation since they don't support Ogg, and they require a Windows machine to upload the music. Or Mac. Since I have neither, that doesn't do me much good.
Thanks for the Audiogalaxy link. I went for a look. It looks better in some ways -- more space and they support Ogg. But they still require a Windows or Mac machine to upload the music, and it appears that not only must you use their app to upload the music, but it must be on while you're streaming. I'm not brave enough to leave an unattended Windows machine running.
I have variously handed over cash, written a check, or even handed a clerk my credit card. They handed me a bag with either a CD or an LP in it.
I don't recall any contract ever being involved. If I signed something it was the check or credit card slip -- any contract would have been of the "I agree to pay..." variety and did not have anything to do with what sort of merchandise was involved.
Are you saying there was an "implied contract?" At the time I was buying most of my music, it most certainly not something that was "understood."
Why? That seems a bit odd to me, since mp3s play fine on the Droid. I store everything as Ogg, which plays fine if I store it on the phone. None of the streaming applications seem to want to have anything to do with it, however. Including Google's.
I doubt I'll upload music due to lack of space.
They're saying you're limited to 20,000 songs. That's a lot more than 20G, but I don't know if it's enough for you. It'd be fine for me if they supported Ogg and didn't require a Windows or Mac system to upload files.
I use my GPS anytime I go on a trip out of the local area.
I know my way. I know all the good restaurants and gas stations along the way. I *need* neither map nor GPS to figure out where to go.
But I like having a progress meter. The GPS gives me real-time information about my route and where I am on it, ETA, etc.
When I was a kid years ago, you couldn't pry the map out of my hands when we were traveling. Not because I was lost, but because I wanted to know *exactly* where we were. Just the same as now.
Are you sure the neighbor kid *can't* find her way without it, or if she just likes the convenience?
Sure. If you have a phone that uses a SIM card. But Verizon phones use a different technology. No SIM card.
It's your phone, but it is effectively locked to Verizon's network. It's not so much that you're not allowed to switch, but more that it won't *work* with any other network.
Unless, as someone else suggested, you can figure out how to make it work with Sprint. They use a similar technology.
I've got about 75 Ubuntu desktops and another 30 that used to be (Sun hardware, won't boot anything more recent than 9.04, now running Aptosid.) I just installed Linux Mint Debian Edition on my laptop, and based on that experience, I think my refresh this summer is going to be to LMDE. I'm hoping that LMDE will run on the Suns, because the only thing Aptosid has going for it is that it doesn't freeze right after GRUB like all current versions of Ubuntu.
I've been looking at KDE for years. I look at what it can do, and what it includes, and always say, "That looks like the desktop for me!"
Then I install it and after a few days I install Gnome again. KDE always strikes me as klunky. The Gnome devs may be fascists (and they've been that way for a very long time) but at least up until now you could massage their desktop into a *comfortable* desktop. Not without a fight -- they've always resisted making their desktop configurable, but it's been possible. Until now.
And focus doesn't work properly, and cut and paste is a pain in the butt.
I have a Macbook Pro from work that I can use, but I go back to my Gentoo or LMDE laptop when I want to get something done. The Apple hardware is very nice, and the OS is better than Windows, but (for me) not as easy to use as Gnome 2.
I might change my mind if I have to use Gnome 3 or Unity. I haven't tried KDE 4, but since I never liked KDE3 and all the KDE users say that KDE4 is now *almost* as good as KDE3, I don't have a lot of hope there.
If the libraries underneath it get upgraded, at some point Gnome 2 will break. Most software that you intend to run on a "modern," evolving system will need maintenance to enable it to co-exist with other software that *is* being upgraded.
Your other option is to just freeze your system, and never upgrade anything. That'll last until there is a big security hole you need to patch, or the new gimp gets some "gotta have" feature, or something similar.
No, it wasn't change for the sake of change. They have "plans" for the real estate on the right. I don't recall what they had in mind, I just remember thinking, "What if I have no interest in that?"
For a phone. Or a tablet where you do very generic things. Yeah, poking buttons and sliding sliders might be easy with that kind of an interface, but only a very tiny part of what I do with a computer consists of buttons and sliders.
Text is the most important element of my computing experience. Positioning a cursor in a text field is a royal pain with my fingertip. There are times when I wish I had a mouse for my phone, and I don't do a fraction of the text entry on my phone as I do on my computer.
I'm very skeptical that there is going to be some huge paradigm shift to finger pointing, or gestures, or speech, or any of the other snazzy new interfaces. They may play a role, but I don't see them taking over.
Even now expect to spend above $2k if you want a precision tablet screen. Capacitive touch screens are fine for phones or anything designed for clicking on buttons. If you need the precision of a stylus (for "inking") than a capacitive screen is close to useless.
I just bought two Thinkpad tablets and one Motion Computing tablet for my users, and they were all over $3k. Admittedly, we got SSDs instead of spinning drives, but other than that we didn't fancy them up much.
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I guess I'm swimming against the tide. My $19.99 plan just dropped to 15.99, for 3 DVDs out at a time. I've never streamed, and as long as it's Silverlight only, I probably never will.
Maybe now they won't keep bringing up that page of recommendations that lists streaming links only, even though most of the titles are available both ways. Sometimes it's a good recommendation, but if I want to see it I have to remember the title and go searching for it.
Also note that if you turn off the Ajaxy stuff (as much as possible, some of it can no longer be tuned off) then you must scroll to the bottom of the (very long) page and click on something that says "moderate now." Or something like that.
I haven't successfully moderated in months -- the DHTML version of the site is too painful to use, and I always forget to scroll to the bottom and commit my moderations.
I use Gentoo, you insensitive clod. I *do* have to compile the code myself!
That said, Firefox 5 just got built on my home machine as part of the regular update. I haven't fired it up yet. But I'm not terribly thrilled about the interface changes in 4.0 -- I'm really not looking forward to 5.0. And speaking as a home user, I'm really not too happy about plugins going obsolete every few months.
I'd like some of what you've been smoking.
Sorry, but the "waves" that you create from mp3 will never be better quality than the mp3s are. Information that was lost is gone. That's what "lossy" means.
And your example of scanning a printed doc to convert to pdf is an excellent analogy. Not in a good way.
Lots of people would disagree with you.
ONK?
Our CompSci department has very little involvement with campus IT. That's why I'm here -- the department didn't want to have to depend on campus IT, and campus IT didn't really want to deal with our servers, etc. Senior faculty didn't have the time to do all the IT stuff.
Most of our labs and all our servers are Unixish -- mostly Linux, but a few others as well. I have some labs that are Windows based. Faculty that use Windows on their own machines mostly get their support from the campus help desk. Aside from the odd printing problem, etc. Faculty that use Linux would get help from me -- except none ever have, since they tend to be self supporting.
All that said, I get along fine with campus IT. That doesn't mean I have a lot of influence with how they set up or manage the rest of campus. They *don't* support Linux, but they're not hostile to it either.
He's probably right. Our department used to pay $600 a year for a subscription to MSDNAA, which allowed all of our students to download all dev tools and operating systems for free. That includes (theoretically) all kinds of SDKs and server software as well.
A couple of years ago a Microsoft rep came by and said "You're paying for that? You should be getting it for free. Have them call me if they have any questions." Ever since, we've been getting the MSDNAA stuff for free. That includes lab copies and a copy for each student that makes the effort to ask me for an account.
It's to Microsoft's benefit to expose CompSci students to their development tools, so this makes sense from their perspective. Particularly since our "standard" programming environment has always been unix based, and without MS making some additional effort, our students would see a lot less of the MS tools than they do.
I don't have access to it, but they have a page up with details. You can request an invitation now.
I didn't request an invitation since they don't support Ogg, and they require a Windows machine to upload the music. Or Mac. Since I have neither, that doesn't do me much good.
Thanks for the Audiogalaxy link. I went for a look. It looks better in some ways -- more space and they support Ogg. But they still require a Windows or Mac machine to upload the music, and it appears that not only must you use their app to upload the music, but it must be on while you're streaming. I'm not brave enough to leave an unattended Windows machine running.
Um.
Which contract did I sign?
I have variously handed over cash, written a check, or even handed a clerk my credit card. They handed me a bag with either a CD or an LP in it.
I don't recall any contract ever being involved. If I signed something it was the check or credit card slip -- any contract would have been of the "I agree to pay..." variety and did not have anything to do with what sort of merchandise was involved.
Are you saying there was an "implied contract?" At the time I was buying most of my music, it most certainly not something that was "understood."
I transcode to AAC for playback on my Droid.
Why? That seems a bit odd to me, since mp3s play fine on the Droid. I store everything as Ogg, which plays fine if I store it on the phone. None of the streaming applications seem to want to have anything to do with it, however. Including Google's.
I doubt I'll upload music due to lack of space.
They're saying you're limited to 20,000 songs. That's a lot more than 20G, but I don't know if it's enough for you. It'd be fine for me if they supported Ogg and didn't require a Windows or Mac system to upload files.
I use my GPS anytime I go on a trip out of the local area.
I know my way. I know all the good restaurants and gas stations along the way. I *need* neither map nor GPS to figure out where to go.
But I like having a progress meter. The GPS gives me real-time information about my route and where I am on it, ETA, etc.
When I was a kid years ago, you couldn't pry the map out of my hands when we were traveling. Not because I was lost, but because I wanted to know *exactly* where we were. Just the same as now.
Are you sure the neighbor kid *can't* find her way without it, or if she just likes the convenience?
Inflation will wipe out your cash value. Deflation will put big savers on top of the world.
Sure. If you have a phone that uses a SIM card. But Verizon phones use a different technology. No SIM card.
It's your phone, but it is effectively locked to Verizon's network. It's not so much that you're not allowed to switch, but more that it won't *work* with any other network.
Unless, as someone else suggested, you can figure out how to make it work with Sprint. They use a similar technology.
I've got about 75 Ubuntu desktops and another 30 that used to be (Sun hardware, won't boot anything more recent than 9.04, now running Aptosid.) I just installed Linux Mint Debian Edition on my laptop, and based on that experience, I think my refresh this summer is going to be to LMDE. I'm hoping that LMDE will run on the Suns, because the only thing Aptosid has going for it is that it doesn't freeze right after GRUB like all current versions of Ubuntu.
I've been looking at KDE for years. I look at what it can do, and what it includes, and always say, "That looks like the desktop for me!"
Then I install it and after a few days I install Gnome again. KDE always strikes me as klunky. The Gnome devs may be fascists (and they've been that way for a very long time) but at least up until now you could massage their desktop into a *comfortable* desktop. Not without a fight -- they've always resisted making their desktop configurable, but it's been possible. Until now.
And focus doesn't work properly, and cut and paste is a pain in the butt.
I have a Macbook Pro from work that I can use, but I go back to my Gentoo or LMDE laptop when I want to get something done. The Apple hardware is very nice, and the OS is better than Windows, but (for me) not as easy to use as Gnome 2.
I might change my mind if I have to use Gnome 3 or Unity. I haven't tried KDE 4, but since I never liked KDE3 and all the KDE users say that KDE4 is now *almost* as good as KDE3, I don't have a lot of hope there.
If the libraries underneath it get upgraded, at some point Gnome 2 will break. Most software that you intend to run on a "modern," evolving system will need maintenance to enable it to co-exist with other software that *is* being upgraded.
Your other option is to just freeze your system, and never upgrade anything. That'll last until there is a big security hole you need to patch, or the new gimp gets some "gotta have" feature, or something similar.
No, it wasn't change for the sake of change. They have "plans" for the real estate on the right. I don't recall what they had in mind, I just remember thinking, "What if I have no interest in that?"
That sounds like a wonderful interface.
For a phone. Or a tablet where you do very generic things. Yeah, poking buttons and sliding sliders might be easy with that kind of an interface, but only a very tiny part of what I do with a computer consists of buttons and sliders.
Text is the most important element of my computing experience. Positioning a cursor in a text field is a royal pain with my fingertip. There are times when I wish I had a mouse for my phone, and I don't do a fraction of the text entry on my phone as I do on my computer.
I'm very skeptical that there is going to be some huge paradigm shift to finger pointing, or gestures, or speech, or any of the other snazzy new interfaces. They may play a role, but I don't see them taking over.
Which will get you Gnome 3.
And since it appears that Gnome has abandoned Gnome and has implemented something nearly as bad as Unity... Well, there are no good choices.
They seem to consider that lack of support for applets is a good thing. The Ubuntu rep at SCALE 9x was proud of that.
Even now expect to spend above $2k if you want a precision tablet screen. Capacitive touch screens are fine for phones or anything designed for clicking on buttons. If you need the precision of a stylus (for "inking") than a capacitive screen is close to useless.
I just bought two Thinkpad tablets and one Motion Computing tablet for my users, and they were all over $3k. Admittedly, we got SSDs instead of spinning drives, but other than that we didn't fancy them up much.
Um. The people I know have been using the term for at least two decades.
But I don't think I've ever heard the term in a restaurant. Unless we were talking about computers.
I guess it depends on where you live and the people you hang out with. Slang is not universal.
It is? And what is 60 divided by 8? In your world?
That's a great quote.
I'd repeat it if you showed where it came from. As it is, I'd have to say it was from "some guy on the Net."