I'd be interested to know how good these are at actually doing UI updates - I'm assuming they're all similar in implementation to VNC, which is a shame as you cannot really compare VNC-based systems to the speed of more integrated solutions like RDP and NX.
I am happy to pay more for Steam titles - not having to worry about physical media is super great, especially since Steam lets you use your games on multiple computers. I have complete access to my Steam games library anywhere, and the games I do have installed are automatically patched and updated as needed.
Yes, internet access speeds in the US make downloading some games painful, but it's still faster than waiting for next-day delivery, and gives you a smug "I'm not needlessly polluting the air by driving to a store" feeling (well it would if I had a car to not drive).
Someone smart once told me that in addition to savings, you should always have enough money spare to be able to walk away from your job and last you until you get a new one. This ranks as some of the best advice ever given - it gives you, especially while you're young, just that little bit of extra confidence to stand up for yourself and to push back on management, which I've found leads to a better feedback loop between you and your managers, removes 'silent grumbling', and has (in the past) lead to a far more enjoyable workplace.
So don't budget for being laid off, budget for freedom.
Australia has been getting screwed for a long time. They have some of the most outragous connection fees and draconian limits on use. Good for them.
In many areas, it's not been so bad since ISPs took things into their own hands and started installing their own DSL equipment at the exchanges - I'm sitting here in South Melbourne on ADSL2 (only 12mbs at the moment), paying about US$70 per month for 80GB downloads, unlimited 1mbs upload - more than I generally need.
The thing is, i'm moving to San Francisco in about a month, and I'm yet to find any plans over there that match this (I could be wrong - I haven't spent THAT much time looking).
You might like http://digg.com/, which is completely user-run. The amusing part is that it still manages to get its fair share of dupes and people who whine about trolls posting Slashdot articles.
I find stroke-it to be invaluable after some jigging of the default settings. It's a mouse-gesture recognition system, and can be configured to do just about anything (although I mainly use it for open browser, open explorer and close window.
I also use trip regularly, but I wrote it, so I'm quite biased.
Odds are it has a headphone jack. Should play mp3 files without issue.
That's what I thought when I bought my Axim X30 (the same model as the poster) - unfortunately, the audio contains so much static that an audio cassette being played sideways through a tube of antiseptic burn cream on a violin would sound better.
Care to explain the feature of iRider that allows you to maintain "several trees of thought"?
Simple - it has tree-based tabs, so you can follow your research process down several paths simultaneously, and *quickly* scan up, down and sideways through the tree.
Pretty simple, really, and I'm suprised that no-one else has done it.
However... you run a $29 Internet Explorer Shell? Have you not heard of free shells such as Maxthon? Or even Avant? Using either over Opera or Firefox is just silly, though.
Sorry, you missed the point on that one as I didn't highlight it too well - iRider has certain features that make me far more productive than any other browser. I realise that these features are useless to most of the population, but for those who like to maintain several trees of thought (most apparent when browsing Wikipedia), iRider can't be beat. I'd probably switch to any of those browsers you mentioned if they had the same core feature, but they don't. The cost is inconsequential - I'm not going to make browsing more painful for the sake of $29.
But it all ties back into my central point - people are productive in whatever suits them; there is no 'right' answer.
The funny thing about comparing operating systems is that frequent users of each OS are blind to the failings of their own, and are driven insane by the failings of others. For example, I find scrolling in even the latest OSX to be painful, but I love it on Windows. People get driven nuts by explorer pausing when it tries to find things that aren't there, but I don't notice it and instead go batty when Finder wastes time panning to the right in column view.
On Windows, I have a small set of utilities (notably strokeit, trip* and remote desktop) that I rely on heavily, and while other platforms have their equivalents, I just don't find them anywhere near as good (remote desktop, in particular).
Now don't get me too wrong - I would rather use default OSX over default Windows, but give me a customised Windows, and I'll take it over any other OS. It's the same reason I use an IE shell (iRider) over FireFox - one may be the technically 'better' solution, but the other just does exactly what I need it to, and lets me do it faster.
I guess my point is the obvious - people are most productive in whatever they're used to, and whatever suits them.
Anyone notice that all the stories on the front page are now listed as posted by 'samzenpus'? The fact that such a glaringly obvious dupe was posted kinda raised the 'this website has been hacked' alarm.
1. Years ago, after playing Thexder, I began getting brief moments of seeing things in EGA. Just a little disturbing.
2. When I'm at work and someone comes up to ask me some annoying question, my immediate reflex is to move my mouse to the right and click furiously. This is a result of playing far too many FPS games.
The biggest use (and what makes it a necessity for me now) I have for a desktop search tool is searching for a webpage I partially remember visiting a few weeks ago, but need more information from. GDS indexes the content of all pages as you visit them, making finding them relatively easy - as far as I could tell (tested over half an hour), Copernic only indexed title and URL, which was of much less use.
A minor point for the geekier here - GDS can also be activated using quicksearch URLs from IE or Firefox, which is handy for those used to getting everything from one field.
I'm suprised that no-one's mentioned that the PSP has a user-accessible battery - it means that users can just carry an additional one around in their bag of UMDs. Sure, it's not an ideal situation, but it means that on your flight from whereever to whereever, you're not totally stuffed.
An admirable work, congratulations to them. Though doesn't this sort of encourage users to think that it's right to download and run small executables in order to get to bigger files? We should probably be teaching users to be a bit more discerning about what they click 'Open' on.
While what others say about not having talent meaning not having any talent, that doesn't mean you can't do something passably basic.
Find a muted colour palette, and STICK TO IT, then do all your icons in an EXTREMELY SIMPLE style - start with just square boxes - you may not even need borders. Do things on the pixel level, and don't, please don't add any 'flair'.
If you're feeling adventurous, try some isometric '3d' icons - it's pretty easy to do simple non-shaded ones.
That all said, if you're building an app, stick to default widgets - they may seem ugly to you, but you can be sure that more people will like them than your attempts at icons.
The end result may look average, but that's all you want - if your app works out well, you can hire an artist later. People understand that not everyone is an artist, but people do not forgive those who try to be.
NB If you're building a non-abstract game that requires 2D sprites, there's no debate - you need an artist, a damn good one - even commercial artists have trouble doing game sprites successfully, since all the sprites have to work in the context of other sprites and the background. Creating game sprites is no small feat.
If your PPC doesn't have internet access, then get a nice large memory card and put Wikipedia on it.
Having Wikipedia so instantly accessible is largely responsible for my loss of long term memory.
Other than that, I use the Netfront browser, because of its superior JS/Java support, and Agile Messenger (which is free) to handle all my IM needs.
Pocket streets is also good, but they've stuffed up the Melbourne coverage, which finishes 5km south of the city (which is heavily populated), and 30k north (which is mostly empty country). Useful!
... is one passkey I will not mind publishing on my webpage...
So, you wouldn't mind putting an image of your fingerprint on a webpage, where it can be downloaded and printed in gelatin, and then used to unlock all of your devices forever, thus excluding you from ever using fingerprint based security?
Which, as another poster suggested, raises the great problem with a lot of biometric security - as soon as it's defeated - someone taking a gelatin mold of your fingerprint, someone making a nice glass replica of your eye (for example), you're doomed - EVERYTHING you access then becomes invalid. Sure, you can just use your remaining eye, or fingers, but those are a finite resource.. it's like putting all your eyes in one squishy basket
I strongly recommend at least giving them the opportunity to be exposed to processing - I've had the fortune of sitting in on one of the classes at UCLA by one of its creators, Casey Reas, and the students in there (from art courses all over, most of whom had no prior programming experience) were all digging into it like rabbits into a carrot sale. Beautiful to watch.
Some students won't like it, that's a given with any programming subject, but those that do will thank you endlessly for it.
Re:How do I use it with glasses?
on
Wearable LCD Display
·
· Score: 3, Informative
How do I use it with glasses?
When headset manufacturers say things like 'equivalent to a 90" screen at 7 feet!!', it's not just fancy marketing talk - the distance is usually the focal distance of the display. I found out this out with my i-glasses, which were specced as a massive screen at 8' or so - I worked out the ratio and said "that's like a 19" screen at 3', cool." unfortunately, while I can easily read a 19" screen at 3', I can't read the equivalently large screen at 8' due to short sightedness. Wearing normal glasses or contacts underneath helps, if you can get them to fit.
Some headsets include adjustable focal length, which I think is a necessity.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd be interested to know how good these are at actually doing UI updates - I'm assuming they're all similar in implementation to VNC, which is a shame as you cannot really compare VNC-based systems to the speed of more integrated solutions like RDP and NX.
I am happy to pay more for Steam titles - not having to worry about physical media is super great, especially since Steam lets you use your games on multiple computers. I have complete access to my Steam games library anywhere, and the games I do have installed are automatically patched and updated as needed.
Yes, internet access speeds in the US make downloading some games painful, but it's still faster than waiting for next-day delivery, and gives you a smug "I'm not needlessly polluting the air by driving to a store" feeling (well it would if I had a car to not drive).
Someone smart once told me that in addition to savings, you should always have enough money spare to be able to walk away from your job and last you until you get a new one. This ranks as some of the best advice ever given - it gives you, especially while you're young, just that little bit of extra confidence to stand up for yourself and to push back on management, which I've found leads to a better feedback loop between you and your managers, removes 'silent grumbling', and has (in the past) lead to a far more enjoyable workplace.
So don't budget for being laid off, budget for freedom.
In many areas, it's not been so bad since ISPs took things into their own hands and started installing their own DSL equipment at the exchanges - I'm sitting here in South Melbourne on ADSL2 (only 12mbs at the moment), paying about US$70 per month for 80GB downloads, unlimited 1mbs upload - more than I generally need.
The thing is, i'm moving to San Francisco in about a month, and I'm yet to find any plans over there that match this (I could be wrong - I haven't spent THAT much time looking).
You might like http://digg.com/, which is completely user-run. The amusing part is that it still manages to get its fair share of dupes and people who whine about trolls posting Slashdot articles.
It doubles as a run prompt, and can be used to access services other than google. It also doesn't stay resident in memory.
That said, Trip's not for everyone.
I find stroke-it to be invaluable after some jigging of the default settings. It's a mouse-gesture recognition system, and can be configured to do just about anything (although I mainly use it for open browser, open explorer and close window.
I also use trip regularly, but I wrote it, so I'm quite biased.
That's what I thought when I bought my Axim X30 (the same model as the poster) - unfortunately, the audio contains so much static that an audio cassette being played sideways through a tube of antiseptic burn cream on a violin would sound better.
Simple - it has tree-based tabs, so you can follow your research process down several paths simultaneously, and *quickly* scan up, down and sideways through the tree.
Pretty simple, really, and I'm suprised that no-one else has done it.
Sorry, you missed the point on that one as I didn't highlight it too well - iRider has certain features that make me far more productive than any other browser. I realise that these features are useless to most of the population, but for those who like to maintain several trees of thought (most apparent when browsing Wikipedia), iRider can't be beat. I'd probably switch to any of those browsers you mentioned if they had the same core feature, but they don't. The cost is inconsequential - I'm not going to make browsing more painful for the sake of $29.
But it all ties back into my central point - people are productive in whatever suits them; there is no 'right' answer.
The funny thing about comparing operating systems is that frequent users of each OS are blind to the failings of their own, and are driven insane by the failings of others. For example, I find scrolling in even the latest OSX to be painful, but I love it on Windows. People get driven nuts by explorer pausing when it tries to find things that aren't there, but I don't notice it and instead go batty when Finder wastes time panning to the right in column view.
On Windows, I have a small set of utilities (notably strokeit, trip* and remote desktop) that I rely on heavily, and while other platforms have their equivalents, I just don't find them anywhere near as good (remote desktop, in particular).
Now don't get me too wrong - I would rather use default OSX over default Windows, but give me a customised Windows, and I'll take it over any other OS. It's the same reason I use an IE shell (iRider) over FireFox - one may be the technically 'better' solution, but the other just does exactly what I need it to, and lets me do it faster.
I guess my point is the obvious - people are most productive in whatever they're used to, and whatever suits them.
Anyone notice that all the stories on the front page are now listed as posted by 'samzenpus'? The fact that such a glaringly obvious dupe was posted kinda raised the 'this website has been hacked' alarm.
1. Years ago, after playing Thexder, I began getting brief moments of seeing things in EGA. Just a little disturbing.
2. When I'm at work and someone comes up to ask me some annoying question, my immediate reflex is to move my mouse to the right and click furiously. This is a result of playing far too many FPS games.
The biggest use (and what makes it a necessity for me now) I have for a desktop search tool is searching for a webpage I partially remember visiting a few weeks ago, but need more information from. GDS indexes the content of all pages as you visit them, making finding them relatively easy - as far as I could tell (tested over half an hour), Copernic only indexed title and URL, which was of much less use.
A minor point for the geekier here - GDS can also be activated using quicksearch URLs from IE or Firefox, which is handy for those used to getting everything from one field.
I'm suprised that no-one's mentioned that the PSP has a user-accessible battery - it means that users can just carry an additional one around in their bag of UMDs. Sure, it's not an ideal situation, but it means that on your flight from whereever to whereever, you're not totally stuffed.
Copernic doesn't seem to index the page-content of your browser history, only the URLs.
Not that the GDS does such a great job of it - sometimes it just plain misses pages, no matter how many times I revist them.
Well, it didn't affect irider, which is IE-based, presumably because it opens popups in its own (excellent) 'tree-tab' system.
An admirable work, congratulations to them. Though doesn't this sort of encourage users to think that it's right to download and run small executables in order to get to bigger files? We should probably be teaching users to be a bit more discerning about what they click 'Open' on.
I'm nitpicking, of course
While what others say about not having talent meaning not having any talent, that doesn't mean you can't do something passably basic.
Find a muted colour palette, and STICK TO IT, then do all your icons in an EXTREMELY SIMPLE style - start with just square boxes - you may not even need borders. Do things on the pixel level, and don't, please don't add any 'flair'.
If you're feeling adventurous, try some isometric '3d' icons - it's pretty easy to do simple non-shaded ones.
That all said, if you're building an app, stick to default widgets - they may seem ugly to you, but you can be sure that more people will like them than your attempts at icons.
The end result may look average, but that's all you want - if your app works out well, you can hire an artist later. People understand that not everyone is an artist, but people do not forgive those who try to be.
NB If you're building a non-abstract game that requires 2D sprites, there's no debate - you need an artist, a damn good one - even commercial artists have trouble doing game sprites successfully, since all the sprites have to work in the context of other sprites and the background. Creating game sprites is no small feat.
If your PPC doesn't have internet access, then get a nice large memory card and put Wikipedia on it. Having Wikipedia so instantly accessible is largely responsible for my loss of long term memory. Other than that, I use the Netfront browser, because of its superior JS/Java support, and Agile Messenger (which is free) to handle all my IM needs. Pocket streets is also good, but they've stuffed up the Melbourne coverage, which finishes 5km south of the city (which is heavily populated), and 30k north (which is mostly empty country). Useful!
How about doing all that .. in Lego!.
So, you wouldn't mind putting an image of your fingerprint on a webpage, where it can be downloaded and printed in gelatin, and then used to unlock all of your devices forever, thus excluding you from ever using fingerprint based security?
Which, as another poster suggested, raises the great problem with a lot of biometric security - as soon as it's defeated - someone taking a gelatin mold of your fingerprint, someone making a nice glass replica of your eye (for example), you're doomed - EVERYTHING you access then becomes invalid. Sure, you can just use your remaining eye, or fingers, but those are a finite resource .. it's like putting all your eyes in one squishy basket
Some time ago I used the powermate in a wearable computing project using tones and computer-synthesised voice as feedback.
I strongly recommend at least giving them the opportunity to be exposed to processing - I've had the fortune of sitting in on one of the classes at UCLA by one of its creators, Casey Reas, and the students in there (from art courses all over, most of whom had no prior programming experience) were all digging into it like rabbits into a carrot sale. Beautiful to watch.
Some students won't like it, that's a given with any programming subject, but those that do will thank you endlessly for it.
When headset manufacturers say things like 'equivalent to a 90" screen at 7 feet!!', it's not just fancy marketing talk - the distance is usually the focal distance of the display. I found out this out with my i-glasses, which were specced as a massive screen at 8' or so - I worked out the ratio and said "that's like a 19" screen at 3', cool." unfortunately, while I can easily read a 19" screen at 3', I can't read the equivalently large screen at 8' due to short sightedness. Wearing normal glasses or contacts underneath helps, if you can get them to fit.
Some headsets include adjustable focal length, which I think is a necessity.