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User: Grant29

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  1. TV viewing is dropping anyway on National TV Turn Off Week · · Score: 4, Interesting

    According to this previous slashdot article, we are watching less TV anyway. Especially now that the summer is getting close, TV viewing will drop even more. I guess soon enough somebody will start a National turn off the Internet Surfing week. I could turn off the TV a lot easier than staying off the web.

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    Retail Retreat

  2. Re:bah on ECC2-109 Winners Certified · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'll take it any day.. What's my loss? My computer's always on, so I guess I'm burning some electricity and lost CPU cycles. But it's probably cheaper than the lottery and I'm sure it's got about the same odds. At least you are donating something towards research. In the end, the contest host always wins, but it's a way for the USA to advance our tech research.

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    Retail Retreat

  3. Re:Won't work... on Florida Ponders Communication Tax on LANs · · Score: 1

    Right, but didn't a Canadian ISP already strike down attempts to determine the users based on thier IP addresses? Hopefully that will filter into the US.

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    Retail Retreat

  4. Won't work... on Florida Ponders Communication Tax on LANs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nowadays home LANs are pretty common. Try to enforce it on individuals and all hell will break loose. I expect them to go after the large companies first, and when they strike it down, the home users won't worry about having to fight it.

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    Retail Retreat

  5. I hate it... on Why Mobile Phones Are Annoying · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can't stand when someone has a cell phone conversation and speaks too loud. It's as if these people are trying to let everyone else know that they are "cool" and talk so loud that you can pretty much follow thier conversation, even though you are only hearing one side. I think it's funny too the people that pimp through the mall with the high-tech headset attatched. Usually these are the people that appear not to have a dime to thier name, but somehow still have the most expensive phone on the market. I wish people on cell phones would be more courteous, and only take calls where acceptable, and then only speak as loud as they need too.

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    Retail Retreat

  6. Re:Testing on iPod Mini Design Flaw? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I thought a lot of companies did the torture tests where they drop the unit, vibrate it, spash water, repeatedly hit the buttons, etc... I wonder if they did 35-40 days worth of real-life testing. They are an experienced company and they probably did. If not, it was a huge oversight.

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    Retail Retreat

  7. Re:overlap? on Use Multiple Channels for Faster Wireless Networking · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you have the Linksys WRT54G, you can use a hacked firmware to get all 14 channels. Check out http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/viewforum.p hp?f=6 for the forums on how people are doing it. I'm not sure if you can hack the wireless lan card do access the same channels or not. They sell the WRT54G domestically and internationally. The chipsets can handle all the channels, but the firmware limits the US version to 1 - 11.

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    Retail Retreat

  8. Re:Compatability Issues on First Look At S-ATA Optical Storage Drive · · Score: 1

    As with all new technologies, I usually try to wait for the tech to mature a little. Sometimes it's hard to resist getting some of the cool bleeding-edge products, but I like to wait until they are cheaper and more robust. I'm ready to go SATA, but I'd like to get harddrives an doptical drives with the native SATA instead of having to get an adapter.

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    Retail Retreat

  9. Conservation only works when... on Massachusetts Considering Desalination Plants · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Conservation only works when people contribute to the effort. These days people use water for household uses, lawns, washing cars, etc. Once we are used to having it on demand, it's kinda hard to think about conserving. Ususally it's too late when a shortage occurs. Might as well start building the plants now, by the time they are finished being built, they will be needed.

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    Retail Retreat

  10. Re:Worse financial situation than we think? on Sun Sacks UltraSparc V and 3300 Employees · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They can't compete with the cheap hardware. Sure their HW and SW is top notch, but it's just as easy and cheap to through a small linux cluster together to get the high performance needed. (ala Virginia Tech Mac cluster). Sad to say, but I think that the innovative ideas will be squashed by the cheap alternatives. This goes for many companies other than just Sun though.

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    Retail Retreat

  11. lol on Demonstration Against Software Patents in Europe · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ths Gimp in a walking demonstration. The visuals are killing me...

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    Retail Retreat

  12. Cool on Scotts Testing Genetically Modified Grass · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm all for getting a grass strain that will also work in my yard. I'd perfer a short grass that didn't need much mowing and also have weed prevention. That seems like it would be a hot seller, but then again Scotts also sells seed, fertilizers, weed products, etc. I have a feeling that they wouldn't want it to be availiable to the common man. If they did, they'd probably charge an arm and a leg for it.

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    Retail Retreat

  13. Re:Ok on Auto-Censoring DVD Player · · Score: 1

    I agree, like most products, if you don't want it, don't buy it. There are uses for this type of technology, luckily there are some alternatives.

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    Retail Retreat

  14. Re:IEEE802.11?? on Nintendo DS Full Specs Allegedly Leaked · · Score: 3, Informative

    I bet it's just in ad-hoc mode (peer-to-peer) and not infrastructure mode.

  15. 10% off online coupon for Target on Gifts Ideas For 'Non-Geek' Types? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Need a 10% off online coupon for Target? You can get it from the front page on my website Retail Retreat. Loads of other coupons and deals too. Enjoy.

  16. Re:Um, too obvious? on Setting up a System w/ Wake-on-LAN and VNC? · · Score: 1

    Using printf or echo adds overhead and slows the page down. Check out this comment:

    In short, when writing themes, HTML should be written as HTML and PHP should be written as PHP. One of the great strengths of PHP is that it allows the coder to break out of PHP and code HTML on a dime with no performance setback by simply specifying closing and opening PHP tags where you want to start PHP code again. In fact, it is faster for your server to process a PHP/HTML mix this way.

    Instead of coding HTML where it should be, most theme creators resort to using 'echo' statements to tell PHP to output everything in quotes, and worse yet, include the output in double-quotes, necessitating "escaped" double quotes for any quotes used in the HTML code.

    This is not necessary and is in fact, a sloppy way to define a theme whose output is *mostly* HTML. If you look at the modified Extralite theme example at the bottom of this post, you will not see one 'echo' statement in the code. Whenever I need to start coding HTML for the theme, I simply pop-out of PHP with a closing '?>' tag; when I need to insert some PHP code (even if it's in the middle of an HTML block), I go back to PHP with an opening php tag.


    Source: http://forums.postnuke.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2 &file=viewtopic&t=18177

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    For great deals on elctronics and computer equipment, check out Retail Retreat

  17. Re:Publishing your Code Will Attract Many Skilled. on Myths About Open Source Development · · Score: 1

    Now after publishing his email address, he will get lot's of SPAM. I'm sure he'll aprecciate the email though....

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    For great deals on electronics and computer equipment visit Retail Retreat

  18. Re:A few thoughts on Christmas Gifts for Geeks · · Score: 1

    For anyone looking for good prices on tech gear, I keep my website Retail Retreat updated daily. I try to find discounts and rebate items on computers and elctronics items. Please check it out if you get a chance. Thanks, Grant

  19. Amstel Adams? on Would Ansel Adams Have Gone Digital? · · Score: 0

    Am I the only one who mis-read this title after answering the beer poll? lol. Even though I know it's Samuel Adams, that's the first thing that popped into my head. Beer on the brain for Friday I guess....

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    For great deals on electronics and computer equipment visit Retail Retreat

  20. I agree: too many commercials on New Battlestar Galactica - Worth a Series? · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I thought that there were too many commercials as well. I was watching it while I recorded it on my ReplayTV so I was subject to the commercial pain.

    However, when I re-watched it later, I am constently reminded of how vauluable the ReplayTV commercial skip feature is. Well worth the price of a DVR just for the commercial skip feature.

    For great deals on electronics and computer eqiupment visit Retail Retreat. Shop online for Christmas easily and efficently.

  21. Re:Semi-offtopic: Signal range on Warflying 2013 Access Points in Los Angeles · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can boost the signal strength of the Linksys WRT54G with this "undocumented feature". Basically it's a back door will let you up the transmission strength to the maximum output. Find details at this thread: WRT54G Increased transmission strength. People's comments there indicate pretty good results.

    Check out great deal on electronics and computer at Retail Retreat. Do your Christmas shopping online!

  22. Re:That was quick on 2003 Videogame Holiday Gift Guide · · Score: 1

    For an even balanced website full of good deals on gifts for Christmas (i.e. not only video games) check out Retail Retreat. Bargains are hand picked daily and posted.

  23. Re:56K limit... on Where Are The Founders Of The Dial-Up Revolution? · · Score: 1

    It is usually meaningless (or inaccurate). The least significant bit has a 50-50 chance of being wrong due to line noise. ie, it's hard to tell if the signal is above or below the threshold of the codec to determine if the lsb should be a 0 or a 1.

  24. Re:56K limit... on Where Are The Founders Of The Dial-Up Revolution? · · Score: 1

    Exactly... Drop 1 bit to the A/D and D/A converters, so you get 56K max. (8khz sampling rate, 7 valid data bits). Going through multiple A/Ds and D/As will get you an even worse rate. I've seen 16 bit linear codecs that can keep the 56K rate going though multiple A/D and D/A converters...

  25. Re:What am I missing? on Google Blocks 'Optimized' Pages · · Score: 0

    Froogle is pretty good, but how about sites that point out sales and rebate items like Retail Retreat? Froogle can't always pick out those items. Oh the shame....