Actually, having the real documents destroyed when a fake is opened would be even better protection, so long as you don't accidently open a fake yourself. If the drive is lost/stolen you probably aren't getting it back anyway so I wouldn't worry about recovering the information on it (you do have backups, right?).
Unplugging is a good first step, if that's all you can do. Strong EMP will induce currents in electronic circuitry stong enough to fry much solid state electronics.
Well, you can always put the device into a Faraday cage - essentially an all metal box. If the device is already in a metal box it may survive. Computers with an all aluminum or steel case are going to be more likely to survive than those with plastic cases and clear windows on the side. If you don't have an all metal box handy, I suppose you could try putting the computer into a microwave oven, as the casing and door are going to protect the computer from microwave and longer radiation.
With a USB thumbdrive, an Altoids tin would be a cheap and easy way to protect the drive from EMP.
I really do wonder how the hell they decide those sums.. do they use random number generators or something?
Oh no. It's really quite simple. First of all, we have to determine how many equilivent tracks you have. To play a MP3 file back on a PC, you need atleast a Pentium 75Mhz. The typical home computer is about 2400Mhz. 2400 divided by 75 is 32. That means when you listen to a MP3 file on a typical home computer, it is equilivent to listening to it 32 times. Now, the Black album by Metallica has 12 tracks, and we have to assume you have all 12 tracks on your computer, so 32 times 12 is 384 equilvent tracks. Now, it is common for a computer to have two optical drives, so we must double that to 768 equilivent tracks because it is possible to have two burned copies of the song in the computer at the same time! But that's not all, surround sound setups are becoming more common. Most surround sound setups are 5.1 - that means whenever you play back the MP3 file it is coming out of no less than 6 speakers, so we have to multiply 768 by 6 to get 4608 equilivent tracks. Now, to convert those equilivent tracks to a dollar amount, we have to determine the market value of an equilivent track. Luckily, that is easy, as iTunes sells that very track for $0.99. $0.99*4608 is $4562. Now, we have to add in the retail value of the CD ($18), and the retail value of the CD single for the track ($3) - which brings the total up to $4583. I hope this clears things up a little.
I'm surprised at how few people seem to know about Ghostscript/Ghostview. It's what I use on my computers - fast, unobtrusive, small, and so far has handled every PDF (and Postscript) file I have thrown at it.
It's pretty annoying to miss a left turn signal and have to wait for the light to cycle again because the person ahead of you is coasting...ever...so...slowly to the intersection. With that said, I still do the coast to the red light thing too, but only if no one is behind me has their turn signal on (if they don't know how to use their turn signal then its their loss).
I've found the small fans on video cards to be extremely unreliable. To make matters worse, getting the fans off of some cards can be a real challenge. I've had several fans die. On a ATI 8500 I managed to get a chipset fan to work on the card. On a GeForce2, I epoxied an on Pentium Pro heatsink (minus fan) onto the video card. Works fine, though I lost 2 PCI slots by doing it.
You just built your wife a AMD x2 3800... and I'm trying to think of why?
Obviously he's in it for the extra CPU cycles. Quite likely the computer is used for encoding DVDs in the background, and when it would otherwise be idle it acts as a node in his home SETI@Home cluster. And she has absolutely no idea any of this is occuring.
I had a few lemons with some VIA based Socket A boards. However, I feel that's more of a VIA problem than a ASUS problem (try to find a KT333 board from any manufacturer that is solid, especially with multiple PCI cards and/or multiple sticks of memory). I still buy ASUS, but I'm done building Socket A systems.
People are just whining because their new ultra-hot ultra-shiny toy doesn't stay that way forever and they wish it would. Boohoo, that's life.
I don't think people are complaining that the iPod Nano will scratch, everyone expects that it will acquire a scratch here and there as time passes. It's just that it scratches so damn easily. I can easily scratch an iPod Nano with my fingernail. I can't so easily on my Gameboy, cellphone, TI graphing calculator, HP graphing calculator, cheap watches, CD player, iRiver mp3 player, other iPods, LCD portable TV, digital camera, cordless phone, etc. Fact is, people are finding that their Nano's look worse than other portable devices they have had for years after mere hours of use. If you want proof, head over to the nearest Apple store and see how the display Nanos look like utter shit while other iPod's on display look more or less fine. It's unacceptable for a $200-$250 device.
If you download just a keygen off of some random site or from a random user in a P2P program like Kazaa, chances are you are getting a virus/trojan/rootkit/whatever. If you're in the know, I'm sure there are sites you can trust. But if you aren't in the know - using the keygen out of popular torrent that has been around for a while with lots of seeders is usually pretty safe.
Then there is the whole issue of different versions of software too. I couldn't use the keygen for Windows XP to fool a retail copy of XP, as most keygens only work for the corporate edition. I don't know if this is the case for Photoshop however.
Yeah, why can't they be more like Microsoft? Oh wait, nevermind...
Actually, Microsoft's hardware is pretty well constructed. The design may not be the best (XBox controller, goofy layouts on the newer keyboards), but they don't tend to cheap out on the materials like some other companies like to do.
I've gotten years of use out of a cheap $30 Target watch with hardly a scratch on the crystal, and I wore the watch all the time. My 9 year old TI-85 hasn't been treated well either, and the screen is mostly scratch free too. I'll put my cheap 2MP digital camera into my pocket unprotected and its LCD screen is in good shape. None of those products is very expensive when compared to an iPod. Apple simply takes the cheap route when it comes to the iPod (I see it as intentional move to artificially shorten the iPod's life, much like the battery issue, but others will disagree).
I expect Apple to have problems in the future when everyone already owns an iPod. These players can last a life time. It's not like a PC where it needs constant upgrades.
Apple is banking on most people buying a new iPod when the integrated battery craps out. In the Nano it's even soldered in! Sure, a few people are the DIY type that are capable of acquiring a new battery and taking their iPod apart, but most people aren't going to bother.
I've always found the entire "onboard audio is teh suck!1!" crowd to be quite silly. A company could take an Audigy 2 and hardwire it to the PCI bus on a motherboard (giving the exact same functional result as adding a PCI Audigy 2), and you guys would still sit there saying "buy a separate card because the onboard audio is teh suck!!1"
They would say that the rest of the devices in the motherboard (Northbridge, PS/2 ports, whatnot) are going to introduce noise and degrade the sound. If that's the case though, I certainly haven't noticed on any computer of mine that has a decent motherboard with a decent sound chip on it.
I haven't seen a player that doesn't do shuffle yet. Even most portable CD players can play the tracks in random order. I'm sure this new Dell player has a shuffle mode, but they probably aren't going to make a big deal out of it since it's a given that it's there.
Probably the reason Apple made such a big deal out of shuffle mode on the iPod Shuffle is because that is one of the very few features that player has.
The backlight in the original SP wasn't very well designed. Have a look at the SP's screen at odd angles (especially from the top) and note how much light is being thrown off at those angles. That's light that isn't being used to illuminate the screen when you're looking at it from the front. Nintendo could of simply made the new SP brighter by putting in a better mirror for the backlight.
I believe most of those non-sharable files are actually from leeches that used a hacked version of the client to appear to have a large library of files available, but not actually let people upload, hence the people with the infamous "0 of 0" available upload slots. Others would program MXMon (a cryptic tool that was designed to automatically boot leeches from your cue) to automatically boot everyone from their que. It was a never ending battle of banning these people from my upload que so legit P2P users could get to my shared files.
First off, the only reason WinMX fails in comparison with some networks or programs is because there is no tagging. All of the files are indexed by filename. One difference in a byte and then it becomes a completely different file.
Actually, WinMX uses hashes to determine unique files. One byte off will change the hash. However, WinMX handles renamed files with ease.
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Actually, having the real documents destroyed when a fake is opened would be even better protection, so long as you don't accidently open a fake yourself. If the drive is lost/stolen you probably aren't getting it back anyway so I wouldn't worry about recovering the information on it (you do have backups, right?).
Unplugging is a good first step, if that's all you can do. Strong EMP will induce currents in electronic circuitry stong enough to fry much solid state electronics.
Well, you can always put the device into a Faraday cage - essentially an all metal box. If the device is already in a metal box it may survive. Computers with an all aluminum or steel case are going to be more likely to survive than those with plastic cases and clear windows on the side. If you don't have an all metal box handy, I suppose you could try putting the computer into a microwave oven, as the casing and door are going to protect the computer from microwave and longer radiation.
With a USB thumbdrive, an Altoids tin would be a cheap and easy way to protect the drive from EMP.
*WHOOSH*
I really do wonder how the hell they decide those sums.. do they use random number generators or something?
Oh no. It's really quite simple. First of all, we have to determine how many equilivent tracks you have. To play a MP3 file back on a PC, you need atleast a Pentium 75Mhz. The typical home computer is about 2400Mhz. 2400 divided by 75 is 32. That means when you listen to a MP3 file on a typical home computer, it is equilivent to listening to it 32 times. Now, the Black album by Metallica has 12 tracks, and we have to assume you have all 12 tracks on your computer, so 32 times 12 is 384 equilvent tracks. Now, it is common for a computer to have two optical drives, so we must double that to 768 equilivent tracks because it is possible to have two burned copies of the song in the computer at the same time! But that's not all, surround sound setups are becoming more common. Most surround sound setups are 5.1 - that means whenever you play back the MP3 file it is coming out of no less than 6 speakers, so we have to multiply 768 by 6 to get 4608 equilivent tracks. Now, to convert those equilivent tracks to a dollar amount, we have to determine the market value of an equilivent track. Luckily, that is easy, as iTunes sells that very track for $0.99. $0.99*4608 is $4562. Now, we have to add in the retail value of the CD ($18), and the retail value of the CD single for the track ($3) - which brings the total up to $4583. I hope this clears things up a little.
Most people who hate iTunes don't know how to use it.
Or they are most familar with the Windows version of iTunes, which really does suck.
I'm surprised at how few people seem to know about Ghostscript/Ghostview. It's what I use on my computers - fast, unobtrusive, small, and so far has handled every PDF (and Postscript) file I have thrown at it.
It's pretty annoying to miss a left turn signal and have to wait for the light to cycle again because the person ahead of you is coasting...ever...so...slowly to the intersection. With that said, I still do the coast to the red light thing too, but only if no one is behind me has their turn signal on (if they don't know how to use their turn signal then its their loss).
Cygwin? If I put that on my mom's computer, she'd probably hit me.
Well don't tell her it's there then! It's not like she's going to find out about it on her own.
I've found the small fans on video cards to be extremely unreliable. To make matters worse, getting the fans off of some cards can be a real challenge. I've had several fans die. On a ATI 8500 I managed to get a chipset fan to work on the card. On a GeForce2, I epoxied an on Pentium Pro heatsink (minus fan) onto the video card. Works fine, though I lost 2 PCI slots by doing it.
You just built your wife a AMD x2 3800 ... and I'm trying to think of why?
Obviously he's in it for the extra CPU cycles. Quite likely the computer is used for encoding DVDs in the background, and when it would otherwise be idle it acts as a node in his home SETI@Home cluster. And she has absolutely no idea any of this is occuring.
I had a few lemons with some VIA based Socket A boards. However, I feel that's more of a VIA problem than a ASUS problem (try to find a KT333 board from any manufacturer that is solid, especially with multiple PCI cards and/or multiple sticks of memory). I still buy ASUS, but I'm done building Socket A systems.
People are just whining because their new ultra-hot ultra-shiny toy doesn't stay that way forever and they wish it would. Boohoo, that's life.
I don't think people are complaining that the iPod Nano will scratch, everyone expects that it will acquire a scratch here and there as time passes. It's just that it scratches so damn easily. I can easily scratch an iPod Nano with my fingernail. I can't so easily on my Gameboy, cellphone, TI graphing calculator, HP graphing calculator, cheap watches, CD player, iRiver mp3 player, other iPods, LCD portable TV, digital camera, cordless phone, etc. Fact is, people are finding that their Nano's look worse than other portable devices they have had for years after mere hours of use. If you want proof, head over to the nearest Apple store and see how the display Nanos look like utter shit while other iPod's on display look more or less fine. It's unacceptable for a $200-$250 device.
If you download just a keygen off of some random site or from a random user in a P2P program like Kazaa, chances are you are getting a virus/trojan/rootkit/whatever. If you're in the know, I'm sure there are sites you can trust. But if you aren't in the know - using the keygen out of popular torrent that has been around for a while with lots of seeders is usually pretty safe.
Then there is the whole issue of different versions of software too. I couldn't use the keygen for Windows XP to fool a retail copy of XP, as most keygens only work for the corporate edition. I don't know if this is the case for Photoshop however.
Yeah, why can't they be more like Microsoft? Oh wait, nevermind...
Actually, Microsoft's hardware is pretty well constructed. The design may not be the best (XBox controller, goofy layouts on the newer keyboards), but they don't tend to cheap out on the materials like some other companies like to do.
Rolexes aren't exactly cheap, you know.
Neither are iPods, you know.
How is this different from any other plastic screen for any other consumer electronic device ever made?
It scratches WAY easier. Have you even bothered to read any of the comments on this article?
I've gotten years of use out of a cheap $30 Target watch with hardly a scratch on the crystal, and I wore the watch all the time. My 9 year old TI-85 hasn't been treated well either, and the screen is mostly scratch free too. I'll put my cheap 2MP digital camera into my pocket unprotected and its LCD screen is in good shape. None of those products is very expensive when compared to an iPod. Apple simply takes the cheap route when it comes to the iPod (I see it as intentional move to artificially shorten the iPod's life, much like the battery issue, but others will disagree).
Why wait a year and pay half? Just wait an additional 10 years and pick up that AMD 3800+ off of someone's curb for free.
I expect Apple to have problems in the future when everyone already owns an iPod. These players can last a life time. It's not like a PC where it needs constant upgrades.
Apple is banking on most people buying a new iPod when the integrated battery craps out. In the Nano it's even soldered in! Sure, a few people are the DIY type that are capable of acquiring a new battery and taking their iPod apart, but most people aren't going to bother.
I've always found the entire "onboard audio is teh suck!1!" crowd to be quite silly. A company could take an Audigy 2 and hardwire it to the PCI bus on a motherboard (giving the exact same functional result as adding a PCI Audigy 2), and you guys would still sit there saying "buy a separate card because the onboard audio is teh suck!!1"
They would say that the rest of the devices in the motherboard (Northbridge, PS/2 ports, whatnot) are going to introduce noise and degrade the sound. If that's the case though, I certainly haven't noticed on any computer of mine that has a decent motherboard with a decent sound chip on it.
I haven't seen a player that doesn't do shuffle yet. Even most portable CD players can play the tracks in random order. I'm sure this new Dell player has a shuffle mode, but they probably aren't going to make a big deal out of it since it's a given that it's there.
Probably the reason Apple made such a big deal out of shuffle mode on the iPod Shuffle is because that is one of the very few features that player has.
The backlight in the original SP wasn't very well designed. Have a look at the SP's screen at odd angles (especially from the top) and note how much light is being thrown off at those angles. That's light that isn't being used to illuminate the screen when you're looking at it from the front. Nintendo could of simply made the new SP brighter by putting in a better mirror for the backlight.
I believe most of those non-sharable files are actually from leeches that used a hacked version of the client to appear to have a large library of files available, but not actually let people upload, hence the people with the infamous "0 of 0" available upload slots. Others would program MXMon (a cryptic tool that was designed to automatically boot leeches from your cue) to automatically boot everyone from their que. It was a never ending battle of banning these people from my upload que so legit P2P users could get to my shared files.
First off, the only reason WinMX fails in comparison with some networks or programs is because there is no tagging. All of the files are indexed by filename. One difference in a byte and then it becomes a completely different file.
Actually, WinMX uses hashes to determine unique files. One byte off will change the hash. However, WinMX handles renamed files with ease.
Azereus can chew up a lot of memory. Granted, I "only" have 512MB in this machine, but jeez.