We just have our cable box, use the DVR a lot (or our DVD/blu-ray player). We don't watch that much tv/movies, so it's fine. We gave up Netflix a while back, weren't using it much and since I was a DVD exclusive user, their changes didn't work for me, by the time that changed some stuff back, we were done with them.
Don't have my PC/laptop/tablet hooked up to my TV either. I occasionally watch some streaming stuff on my PC, but that's it.
And I am by no means a technophobe, been in software for 15 yrs, some tech just doesn't appeal to me, either usefulness or cost-benefit. But then again, maybe I am a dinosaur, I never had a Twitter account, to me it's a utter waste of time.
To me, the biggest (and worst) difference for this girl over what most of us went through is social media. I, like many others here posted, had a totally shitty middle school experience -- I'll spare the details, but let's just say it was a nightmare. Anyway, when school ended at 3 or so, I could go at least go home, and for a little while anyway, there was a reprieve -- maybe just enough for me to regain enough strength to face school again the next day. And then there was the weekend, 2 days without having to deal with it.
With the advent of texting, FB, twitter, instagram, etc -- there is no escaping. I could see this kind of thing being a 24 - 7 assault of sorts, no rests, no breaks. That's a helluva lot for a 12 year old to handle. And even if your child isn't on any social media, 'they' are still talking and teasing her/him, and will still get back to them eventually.
Kids can be brutally, mercilessly mean at that age, not having (or not perceiving) a way out of it would be a living hell for some.
Don't confuse the iZombies and MS knee-jerk haters with facts or information... they don't like that. Seriously I wish CmdrTaco was still here, there used to be some editorial objectivity back in the day. Now it's just 'post any MS article for automatic mod ups' .
because every time anything is posted about MS, it's just an echo chamber here, umpteen useless uninformative posts about how evil, bad, etc MS is (and usually how awesome Apple is). I don't even know why/. bothers to post any MS articles, the comments are the exact same every time -- pointless with no value.
Too bad Michael Crichton isn't still around, he'd love it - reminds me of his book "Prey" (I know, the subject's been covered by many other authors, but I like they way he wrote about tech)
Not surprisingly, things didn't end well for many people in that novel... not well at all.
Good catch, nice to way to sensationalize a non-story. Editors should have looked at the article, since it says 3 of 20 in the very first line of the story.
"The Surface pro is fucking terrible." Your opinion "The entire device lacks focus." Your opinion "If the Surface disappeared today no one would care." Again your opinion.
If your weren't just posting empty hyperbole instead of meaningful points, this could actually be a discussion.
I'd mod you up if I could, but I've commented here myself.
I have a first gen Surface Pro, and I think it's terrific (for the reasons you've stated as well as my own). I have a feeling the requisite MS bashing is keeping people from actually looking at them objectively. It's funny really, Google and Apple are just as much 'evil empires' as MS, but they're 'cool' and MS isn't for whatever reason./. always had a bit of an anti-MS slant, but the trolls have really run away with it here the last few years. Ah well.
"several cheap android tablets" -- can they use.NET and run full blown Visual Studio, SQL Server / Oracle, etc. I doubt it, so they're useless for me. Also, from what I've seen the cheaper ones simply aren't as powerful under the hood.
3G. Anywhere I've done contracting work, I've either been able to use Wifi or connect directly via a network cable. While 3G etc would be nice, for me, it's not been an issue, and you can always use a mobile card via the USB if you have to.
And back to the USB, it seems minor -- but it's insane not to have one on tablets (like the iPad), it gives flexibility (external data drives, dvd drive if you need it, a mouse if you don't like the keyboard touchpad, etc). To this day I can't fathom why Apple won't put them on the iPad.
Speaking of keyboards, having a real keyboard is a must for me. Trying to type on an onscreen keyboard is way too slow and takes up too much real estate on the screen when I'm coding.
Though I'm used to the default MS bashing here -- I have to wonder have many people have actually USED a Surface (esp the Pro) for more than 5 min in a MS store or at a friend's house?
Any issues I have with it are really Win8 GUI related, not device related. I have an iPad, and while yes it's cheaper, it's functionality is a joke compared to what I can do on the S-Pro. Since it's a full-fledged O/S, I can run all the development tools I want/need, and it's great for a contractor like myself who needs something with real functionality, performance and mobility. My wife, who is not particularly technical loves it, and prefers it over the iPad now -- she's impatient as h*ll, and the iPad is a lot slower, and while I know some people won't believe it -- it crashes a frickin' lot. Sure, they're pretty user-friendly crashes (browser just shuts down with ZERO explanation), but crashed nonetheless. And I think it's insane they STILL don't have a #@$! USB port on iPads, wtf?
Now, I think the RT isn't as useful (personally, but I want more than a tablet for mail/surfing), but the Pro is great imo -- the iPad is now is basically just my daughter's toy.
The only people I know who go/have gone aren't the kind of people I'd trust... with or for anything. Nobody likes to talk about it, but some really bad sh*t can happen at BM -- especially for women.
Plus I'm not sure the point of being drunk, high, weird, with 1000s of 'we're cool and fringe' pretentious strangers (yes, I know, gross generalization). If I wanted a good outdoor/camping experience, I'll just go hiking in southern Utah with a few close friends.
Yep, I like Microsoft, there I said -- I know, it's blasphemy here to say that, I'll go into an iChurch later and pray to the image of St. Jobs for forgiveness.
MSFT has squandered so many opportunities in the last decade, the mobile/phone market, tablets, O/S messes, etc. He should have been ousted been long ago. He took over a pretty solid company (like them or hate them) and just kind of coasted along at best or went down the wrong road at worst. I'm thinking Ballmer's replacement is unlikely to be any worse imo, time will tell.
please answer my question. I have never used Twitter, ever. Don't really feel compelled to, about the only social media I engage in is some FB.
I thought at it's core Twitter was just basically a 140 character text. So is this purchasing concept, essentially sending a text with product/store information to some kind of purchase processing service?
Actually I think there's a lot to be said for that. I live in SoCal, where it seems there's a never ending public school budget crisis, and then you read about about 3rd graders having $600 iPads. Really? And guess what, they get stolen... a lot. Not just one or two, and not by students, by organized groups of thieves getting dozens at a time.
"... you tend to see every problem as a nail" I think the old maxim applies to IT too. It's also a minuscule poll size at research heavy schools.
IT is just another tool, it may or may not be useful depending on the subject or discipline. I'm not sure there's some great use for expensive tech in classes where there may be a lot of discussion or debate; like in liberal arts courses (philosophy, sociology, history, religion, English literature, languages, etc.) I guess you could read material on tablets/iPads of course.
And what about the arts? Studio art (unless you're creating in a multimedia/animation class obviously). Dance. Theater. Seems like you have to force it.
In the sciences, I could see more perhaps for engineering, geology, chemistry, etc. But again, not necessarily in all situations.
I don't think it just that teachers/profs are necessarily lazy or inflexible, but good ones are usually busy and have a lot of experience in the class. I think most of them have a decent sense of what works and what doesn't
And really, their job is to teach not be IT specialists -- IF you show them the benefit, and ease of use, I think most would be fine with it. My profs were very current in the fields, I didn't feel they were resisted to new things/ideas/resources at all, if anything, they saw that as part of their job.
Given their security doesn't reassure me, I was done with them once they started requiring my SSN. I was nervous enough they had my bank info, but SSN? Given I've used them for non-essential purchases (games, hobby related items, etc), I said, no thanks. I tried to contact them to get a legit explanation about why they claim to need my SSN, especially since I'm ONLY a buyer, never a seller, so tax issues are not relevant.
You could use the funds for the very purpose described.
But of course not, because then that might acknowledge that guns are part of the problem with gun violence (shocker!). The fact she was endorsed by the NRA in 2012 has nothing to do with it either obviously...
Loved these guys in the Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights days, they supported a huge modding community and made in-depth, long RPG games that were a joy to play. Not so much now, though graphically Dragon Age is of course superior, I'd still take BG/NWN over DA any day.
Not sure if it's because they sold their soul to the devil (EA) or just greed, but they've become just another "rush it out the door, and nickel and dime them later" big company that forgot their roots imo. They don't even really support the mod community now, since they want to make their money by releasing ridiculously short RPGs (too much shiny fluff, not enough meat) then charge for DLCs from day 1. Patooeee...
This is why I hardly by games when they're released anymore. I'll wait until a year later when the special pack with the original game, patches, and all the DLCs comes out for 1/2 the price or less. I got like 9 premium titles with all the DLC/expansions during the Steam summer sale for like $55 a few weeks ago. They'll keep me busy for more than a year, easy.
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Nope, not just you.
We just have our cable box, use the DVR a lot (or our DVD/blu-ray player). We don't watch that much tv/movies, so it's fine. We gave up Netflix a while back, weren't using it much and since I was a DVD exclusive user, their changes didn't work for me, by the time that changed some stuff back, we were done with them.
Don't have my PC/laptop/tablet hooked up to my TV either. I occasionally watch some streaming stuff on my PC, but that's it.
And I am by no means a technophobe, been in software for 15 yrs, some tech just doesn't appeal to me, either usefulness or cost-benefit. But then again, maybe I am a dinosaur, I never had a Twitter account, to me it's a utter waste of time.
To me, the biggest (and worst) difference for this girl over what most of us went through is social media. I, like many others here posted, had a totally shitty middle school experience -- I'll spare the details, but let's just say it was a nightmare. Anyway, when school ended at 3 or so, I could go at least go home, and for a little while anyway, there was a reprieve -- maybe just enough for me to regain enough strength to face school again the next day. And then there was the weekend, 2 days without having to deal with it.
With the advent of texting, FB, twitter, instagram, etc -- there is no escaping. I could see this kind of thing being a 24 - 7 assault of sorts, no rests, no breaks. That's a helluva lot for a 12 year old to handle. And even if your child isn't on any social media, 'they' are still talking and teasing her/him, and will still get back to them eventually.
Kids can be brutally, mercilessly mean at that age, not having (or not perceiving) a way out of it would be a living hell for some.
Don't confuse the iZombies and MS knee-jerk haters with facts or information... they don't like that. Seriously I wish CmdrTaco was still here, there used to be some editorial objectivity back in the day. Now it's just 'post any MS article for automatic mod ups' .
because every time anything is posted about MS, it's just an echo chamber here, umpteen useless uninformative posts about how evil, bad, etc MS is (and usually how awesome Apple is). I don't even know why /. bothers to post any MS articles, the comments are the exact same every time -- pointless with no value.
Too bad Michael Crichton isn't still around, he'd love it - reminds me of his book "Prey" (I know, the subject's been covered by many other authors, but I like they way he wrote about tech)
Not surprisingly, things didn't end well for many people in that novel... not well at all.
Good catch, nice to way to sensationalize a non-story. Editors should have looked at the article, since it says 3 of 20 in the very first line of the story.
people would be singing its praises and talking about how totally amazing it is, but since it's MS... well, we can't do that now, can we :)
I wish they wouldn't even allow ACs on here. I ignore anything they post, they're just trolls 99% of the time... and bad ones at that.
"Seriously, you are going to use a 10.6 inch screen as your development device?" In short, yes.
"The Surface pro is fucking terrible." Your opinion
"The entire device lacks focus." Your opinion
"If the Surface disappeared today no one would care." Again your opinion.
If your weren't just posting empty hyperbole instead of meaningful points, this could actually be a discussion.
I'd mod you up if I could, but I've commented here myself.
I have a first gen Surface Pro, and I think it's terrific (for the reasons you've stated as well as my own). I have a feeling the requisite MS bashing is keeping people from actually looking at them objectively. It's funny really, Google and Apple are just as much 'evil empires' as MS, but they're 'cool' and MS isn't for whatever reason. /. always had a bit of an anti-MS slant, but the trolls have really run away with it here the last few years. Ah well.
"several cheap android tablets" -- can they use .NET and run full blown Visual Studio, SQL Server / Oracle, etc. I doubt it, so they're useless for me. Also, from what I've seen the cheaper ones simply aren't as powerful under the hood.
3G. Anywhere I've done contracting work, I've either been able to use Wifi or connect directly via a network cable. While 3G etc would be nice, for me, it's not been an issue, and you can always use a mobile card via the USB if you have to.
And back to the USB, it seems minor -- but it's insane not to have one on tablets (like the iPad), it gives flexibility (external data drives, dvd drive if you need it, a mouse if you don't like the keyboard touchpad, etc). To this day I can't fathom why Apple won't put them on the iPad.
Speaking of keyboards, having a real keyboard is a must for me. Trying to type on an onscreen keyboard is way too slow and takes up too much real estate on the screen when I'm coding.
Uh huh, and no tech company other than MS have ever used ideas from someone else... seriously, what's your point?
Though I'm used to the default MS bashing here -- I have to wonder have many people have actually USED a Surface (esp the Pro) for more than 5 min in a MS store or at a friend's house?
Any issues I have with it are really Win8 GUI related, not device related. I have an iPad, and while yes it's cheaper, it's functionality is a joke compared to what I can do on the S-Pro. Since it's a full-fledged O/S, I can run all the development tools I want/need, and it's great for a contractor like myself who needs something with real functionality, performance and mobility. My wife, who is not particularly technical loves it, and prefers it over the iPad now -- she's impatient as h*ll, and the iPad is a lot slower, and while I know some people won't believe it -- it crashes a frickin' lot. Sure, they're pretty user-friendly crashes (browser just shuts down with ZERO explanation), but crashed nonetheless. And I think it's insane they STILL don't have a #@$! USB port on iPads, wtf?
Now, I think the RT isn't as useful (personally, but I want more than a tablet for mail/surfing), but the Pro is great imo -- the iPad is now is basically just my daughter's toy.
The only people I know who go/have gone aren't the kind of people I'd trust... with or for anything. Nobody likes to talk about it, but some really bad sh*t can happen at BM -- especially for women.
Plus I'm not sure the point of being drunk, high, weird, with 1000s of 'we're cool and fringe' pretentious strangers (yes, I know, gross generalization). If I wanted a good outdoor/camping experience, I'll just go hiking in southern Utah with a few close friends.
That's all I have to say really, thank you :)
Yep, I like Microsoft, there I said -- I know, it's blasphemy here to say that, I'll go into an iChurch later and pray to the image of St. Jobs for forgiveness.
MSFT has squandered so many opportunities in the last decade, the mobile/phone market, tablets, O/S messes, etc. He should have been ousted been long ago. He took over a pretty solid company (like them or hate them) and just kind of coasted along at best or went down the wrong road at worst. I'm thinking Ballmer's replacement is unlikely to be any worse imo, time will tell.
It's patently obvious you have NEVER had a TechNet subscription -- especially if you think all there is to it is Office and a light version of VS.
This is a serious drag, especially for contractors/consultants, small shops, and MS developers of all kinds
please answer my question. I have never used Twitter, ever. Don't really feel compelled to, about the only social media I engage in is some FB.
I thought at it's core Twitter was just basically a 140 character text. So is this purchasing concept, essentially sending a text with product/store information to some kind of purchase processing service?
Actually I think there's a lot to be said for that. I live in SoCal, where it seems there's a never ending public school budget crisis, and then you read about about 3rd graders having $600 iPads. Really? And guess what, they get stolen... a lot. Not just one or two, and not by students, by organized groups of thieves getting dozens at a time.
"... you tend to see every problem as a nail" I think the old maxim applies to IT too. It's also a minuscule poll size at research heavy schools.
IT is just another tool, it may or may not be useful depending on the subject or discipline. I'm not sure there's some great use for expensive tech in classes where there may be a lot of discussion or debate; like in liberal arts courses (philosophy, sociology, history, religion, English literature, languages, etc.) I guess you could read material on tablets/iPads of course.
And what about the arts? Studio art (unless you're creating in a multimedia/animation class obviously). Dance. Theater. Seems like you have to force it.
In the sciences, I could see more perhaps for engineering, geology, chemistry, etc. But again, not necessarily in all situations.
I don't think it just that teachers/profs are necessarily lazy or inflexible, but good ones are usually busy and have a lot of experience in the class. I think most of them have a decent sense of what works and what doesn't
And really, their job is to teach not be IT specialists -- IF you show them the benefit, and ease of use, I think most would be fine with it. My profs were very current in the fields, I didn't feel they were resisted to new things/ideas/resources at all, if anything, they saw that as part of their job.
Given their security doesn't reassure me, I was done with them once they started requiring my SSN. I was nervous enough they had my bank info, but SSN? Given I've used them for non-essential purchases (games, hobby related items, etc), I said, no thanks. I tried to contact them to get a legit explanation about why they claim to need my SSN, especially since I'm ONLY a buyer, never a seller, so tax issues are not relevant.
You could use the funds for the very purpose described.
But of course not, because then that might acknowledge that guns are part of the problem with gun violence (shocker!). The fact she was endorsed by the NRA in 2012 has nothing to do with it either obviously...
...they want their headline back.
Loved these guys in the Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights days, they supported a huge modding community and made in-depth, long RPG games that were a joy to play. Not so much now, though graphically Dragon Age is of course superior, I'd still take BG/NWN over DA any day.
Not sure if it's because they sold their soul to the devil (EA) or just greed, but they've become just another "rush it out the door, and nickel and dime them later" big company that forgot their roots imo. They don't even really support the mod community now, since they want to make their money by releasing ridiculously short RPGs (too much shiny fluff, not enough meat) then charge for DLCs from day 1. Patooeee...
This is why I hardly by games when they're released anymore. I'll wait until a year later when the special pack with the original game, patches, and all the DLCs comes out for 1/2 the price or less. I got like 9 premium titles with all the DLC/expansions during the Steam summer sale for like $55 a few weeks ago. They'll keep me busy for more than a year, easy.