The problem with Apple software on Windows is that if all you want is iTunes, you end up with 3-5 apps installed. iTunes, QuickTime, iCloud, Safari, Apple Software Updater. The other problem is that the software update utility tends to list iTunes as the recommended update to install and leaves the others listed only as optional. It would be better if each app was released separately and updated themselves directly rather than trying to use the software update utility. They should also have an option to automatically install the latest update the same way browsers like Chrome and Firefox do.
Keep it old skool with a VGA webcam and a desk lamp for lighting. For added effect keep your door open just enough for your cat to walk into the room and jump up on your desk to walk in front of the camera. Also, wear headphones, big ones!
Forgot to mention, I cut the cord with Comcast about 6 years ago and never looked back. Since doing so there have only been 3 TV shows that I wanted to watch that were either not available directly over the Internet or not released for digital purchase within a reasonable time frame. One exception to this has been Top Gear (UK) which would release digitally on iTunes within a few months of its original air date. I found the delay tolerable and simply purchased each season through iTunes only needing to obtain the final episode via "other means". Looking forward to seeing what their new show will be like.
The other 3 shows are: -Game of Thrones, watched each season at my brother's house and then purchased each season on Blu-ray for repeated viewings. For the most recent season I subscribed to HBO Now for the duration of the season then canceled since there was nothing else on HBO that I wanted to watch. Plan is to re-subscribe for each season.
-QI, obtained through "other means" until BBC pulls their heads out of their ass and offers a direct digital option for the US.
-Dark Matter, same sentiment towards SyFy as BBC, will be purchasing the series on Blu-ray for repeated viewings but watching through "other means" until SyFy offers a direct digital option.
File server in the dining room with 8x WD Red drives divided into 2 LVM volumes providing 28TB of storage. All movies and TV shows backed up using MakeMKV, music backed up using dBpoweramp. The server is hardwired to a router and each room has a switch also hardwired to the router.
In the living room is a HTPC running Windows 10 connected to a Sony receiver for surround sound which is connected to a Panasonic plasma TV. VLC is used for all media consumption, music and videos, and a MCE remote is used for controlling playback.
In the bedroom is a gaming system running Windows 10 connected to a 27" monitor. All media consumption using VLC as well. Games from Steam and GoG. There is also a 32" LED TV in the bedroom with and HDMI switch that an Xbox360 and PS4 are connected to for console games. An AppleTV is also hooked up to it and mostly used for the PBS and Crackle apps, as well as viewing previously purchased iTunes content (prior to having switch to backing up my own media).
The most recent upgrade to all of this was the addition of a PCIe Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy sound card to the HTPC to get 92/24 audio support for music purchased from Pono, and to provide an amp for headphone use over a long audio cable run.
All of the consoles and STBs used to be in the living room hooked up to the receiver but I found I spent more time on my main gaming system consuming content through websites like Twitch, Youtube, Vessel, and GiantBomb. So, I moved all those devices into the bedroom so I could multitask between media consumption and games.
I'm a single adult male living alone in an apartment.:):|:(
Movie reviews/ratings should be treated the same way as videogame reviews/ratings, with a grain of salt. You only need to skim the limited amount of specific details present in the reviews to form your own opinion while completely ignoring whatever score the reviewer gave. Too many reviews, positive or negative, are tilted by the author's personal history with the medium or genre and will never match your own.
Today: more people learned that Chrome has a notification center, than the number of people that actually use it. To think I've been using an extension all this time just to receive GMail notifications when there was functionality built-in to the browser that could have been doing the same without the need for the extension. Shame on Google for not advertising this feature and making it user friendly. Oh well, I guess rather than make any effort to advertise the feature it's better to just kill it off entirely. Chrome has been feeling a little slow lately, maybe this will improve performance.
Just thought I would be honest about what one can get without a degree. My weekly take home pay after taxes (Illinois, single, no kids): $742.52, or $2,970.08 a month. That's after spending 4 years doing temp work and 5 years full-time. At the end of the 4 years of temp work I was making $18/hr. How much do most people earn while going to college?
I'm sure I could make a hell of a lot more if I were motivated and full of energy, but I'm not. Being paid $24/hr to read Slashdot is quite nice.
The article fails to mention if the vegetables that were being paired with the other food items were exactly the same as the vegetables being paired with the burgers and nuggets. It also failed to take into consideration whether or not the child felt full after eating burgers/nuggets vs sliders/baked potatoes.
....2 years from now someone is going to release a game you really want that will require the 2nd generation "New AppleTV", and this will happen again every 2 years. Apple does not commit to single platforms for any serious length of time the way a console maker does. Also, the lack of a proper controller shows they don't really give a shit, they just want people to make apps that they can sell and take a cut of the profits from.
I've spent 3 Thanksgivings with co-workers, once with a building manager (senior manager), once with a manager of a different department, and once with an administrative assistant that I am still friends with. It was a small company though (around 2,000 employees) so everyone knew each other pretty well.
My current employer is a global bank, everyone here just stabs everyone in the back and is extremely defensive about separating their personal life from work.
I'm just going to stay at home this year, all alone, nothing but the heat from the file server to keep me warm. Thanksgiving dinner will be a breakfast casserole made with frozen hashbrowns, sausage, cheddar cheese, and sausage gravy cooked in a slow cooker on low for 8 hours. =D
I don't protect my privacy outside of using strong passwords and 2-factor authentication (when available). No encryption, no VPN, no proxies. I don't use anti-virus software or firewalls either (other than those built-in to an OS and the NAT firewall of the router). The simple fact is that I do not send anything via email/Twitter/Facebook/Google+ that is unlawful, incriminating, or extremely personal. There is nothing on my computer that I cannot live without either. I have the actual physical media for all movies, TV, and music. Games are all on Steam/GoG. Photos are all posted online and backed up to DVD.
Perhaps the only thing I go a little out of my way to protect is my phone number. I ported my number to Google Voice, setup a silent ringtone as the default ringtone on my iPhone, turned off vibration, and use customer ringtones for friends/family/coworker contacts. That's more a matter of personal sanity than privacy though.
I already download 15-25GB games on the WiiU, downloading 25-50GB games won't be an issue at all. In fact, my experience with the WiiU has been that games are released on the eShop before they show up in stores. As an example, I pre-ordered Lego City Undercover at Gamestop, went to the store expecting to be able to pick it up on the release day but they had not received it and did not know when it would arrive. So, I canceled the preorder and used the money to buy an eShop card. Then, went home and bought the game on the eShop, downloaded, installed, and was playing it that night. That game was 22GB according to a quick search online.
The only improvement to this type of service I would like to see is the ability to pre-download a game a day or two before release and have it unlock and install on release day. On the Wii U, at least, there is currently no option to pre-order.
Of course, this doesn't even begin to mention the massive games downloaded and installed through Steam. Just 2 nights ago I download 3 games totalling 40GB. Just right-click and install, right-click and install...
You young'ns fail to remember what happened with the Gamecube: decent launch followed by a drought of games in Jan/Feb, in fact I seem to recall the Gamecube drought lasting through April. The Wii U has had no new games, of signifigance, released since its launch. Next month brings Lego City Undercover on 3/18 and Monster Hunter the day after. It's nothing more than the usual post-launch drought for any console.
Personally, i'm enjoying the Wii U, the off-TV gameplay using the gamepad is the unexpected killer feature. I spend most nights watching Twit/Twitch/Justin/Revision3 on the TV while playing a few levels of Mario or getting a workout with Just Dance.
The keyboard on a T430 is actually really nice and has much better key "feel" than a T420. I have to use a T420 at work and more often than not have to re-hit keys to get it to register a keystroke. Particularly the top row of numbers.
My only gripe with the T430 keyboard is they remove the Pause/Break key. There's a key combination that will reproduce it, but it's a change that wasn't needed.
I agree with you completely. I upgraded my HTPC to Win8Pro the 1st day it was available and have been happily using it since then. At the end of the day it is the same OS as Win7 with a better Start interface, there is no excuse for someone that used Win7 not to be able to use Win8. I prefer the Start screen as opposed to the Start menu. It requires a little tidying up whenever a new desktop app is installed to remove unnecessary Start screen icons, but other than that it works perfectly fine. It's been faster and more stable then Win7.
The only thing I don't necessarily care for is the Charms bar, but that simply because I tend to use desktop apps full screen and often cause the charms to appear when all I wanted to do was close the open application. It's still lights year better than any Linux distro and more reliable than Mac OS X (I've tried both, many times).
I would rather keep the $1 bill and get rid of all the coins. Put an end to all the $0.99 nonsense pricing and make taxes/tips easier to calculate. I don't even mind if they make it so all sales taxes round up to the nearest dollar. I'm tired of trying to find an efficient way to store and, later, spend coins. They weigh my pants down and cause the pockets to wear out sooner.
1.) Stop by any hardware store and pick up a small toolkit that Black & Decker makes, they sell for ~$8 USD and have multiple bits for phillips head, flat head, hex, and so on. It comes in a sturdy orange plastic case that holds up extremely well. Every time I start a new contract this is the first toolkit I buy to keep at work. In addition, pick up: one heavy duty phillips head screwdriver and one heavy duty flathead screwdriver.
2.) Label printer. Preferably a hand-held one that uses regular AA or AAA batteries. Keep a spare set of batteries on hand as well as a spare tape cartridge. Label EVERYTHING at BOTH ENDS. It helps to also label each server with the network ID, model and serial number for those quarterly/bi/annual inventory audits when you're asked to verify what's actually in the server room.
3.) Small shears (heavy steel scissors) for cutting zipties off large cable bundles and opening god-damned plastic packaging.
4.) Pliers & needle-nose pliers, quite often things get bent that need un-bending.
5.) Cable tester. You'll want a reliable one that uses separate sender and receiver modules so you can leave the cable in place for testing.
6.) Smartphone. Install the best flashlight app available and keep the flashlight, camera and notepad apps on the 1st app screen.
7.) A server jack/lift if you can get the company to pay for it. Some servers can be a ***** to lift into place and sometimes it's hard to find someone to help you get something racked.
8.) Plastic bins that are stackable and have openings on the front that are easy to reach into. You'll want to keep a good supply of different length cables on hand and these will make it easier to keep them organized. Might also want to consider a large tackle box for fibre optics components and rack mount screws/retainers. If you get a large enough one, you can store all of the tools in it as well.
9.) A large flat crowbar (pry bar), you'll rarely use it, but damned if it doesn't come in handy when you need it. Might want to pair this with a large rubber mallet or sledge hammer
10.) Crimper, really not that important these days as most places use pre-made cables. In the last 7 years i've only needed to crimp 1 cable. Your situation may be different.
11.) Cordless screwdriver with a spare battery fully charged at all times. Last place I was at we kept 2 spare batteries fully charged and often went through them. These come in really handy when you need to swap out a dozen or more servers and have to undo a lot of screws or assemble/disassemble the racks themselves.
12.) Ear protection, either the big over the ear kind or just a box of disposable ear plugs.
There are countless "reviews" of processors and motherboards on NewEgg and elsewhere, which it is obvious the person damaged their system due to carelessness when building a new system. Soldering the CPU onto the motherboards will undoubtedly greatly reduce the warranty replacement costs that Intel loses money on each year. I was just thinking a few months ago that there is a real opportunity for motherboard vendors to improve upon the current ATX/BTX specs if they soldered processors and even memory onto the board to sell near-foolproff pre-assembeled components with new mounting methods to eliminate the current standoff+screws that are used. I would personally welcome this change.
In the nearly 20 years that i've been building systems, i've only ever upgraded the CPU itself on 2 systems out of 7, the other 5 were either built from scratch or upgraded with a new motherboard to go with the new CPU.
Slashdot Mirror
Wait until it adds up to an hour, then do an extra DST. Why do today what you can put off for a few decades?
The problem with Apple software on Windows is that if all you want is iTunes, you end up with 3-5 apps installed. iTunes, QuickTime, iCloud, Safari, Apple Software Updater. The other problem is that the software update utility tends to list iTunes as the recommended update to install and leaves the others listed only as optional. It would be better if each app was released separately and updated themselves directly rather than trying to use the software update utility. They should also have an option to automatically install the latest update the same way browsers like Chrome and Firefox do.
Keep it old skool with a VGA webcam and a desk lamp for lighting. For added effect keep your door open just enough for your cat to walk into the room and jump up on your desk to walk in front of the camera. Also, wear headphones, big ones!
Forgot to mention, I cut the cord with Comcast about 6 years ago and never looked back. Since doing so there have only been 3 TV shows that I wanted to watch that were either not available directly over the Internet or not released for digital purchase within a reasonable time frame. One exception to this has been Top Gear (UK) which would release digitally on iTunes within a few months of its original air date. I found the delay tolerable and simply purchased each season through iTunes only needing to obtain the final episode via "other means". Looking forward to seeing what their new show will be like.
The other 3 shows are:
-Game of Thrones, watched each season at my brother's house and then purchased each season on Blu-ray for repeated viewings. For the most recent season I subscribed to HBO Now for the duration of the season then canceled since there was nothing else on HBO that I wanted to watch. Plan is to re-subscribe for each season.
-QI, obtained through "other means" until BBC pulls their heads out of their ass and offers a direct digital option for the US.
-Dark Matter, same sentiment towards SyFy as BBC, will be purchasing the series on Blu-ray for repeated viewings but watching through "other means" until SyFy offers a direct digital option.
File server in the dining room with 8x WD Red drives divided into 2 LVM volumes providing 28TB of storage. All movies and TV shows backed up using MakeMKV, music backed up using dBpoweramp. The server is hardwired to a router and each room has a switch also hardwired to the router.
In the living room is a HTPC running Windows 10 connected to a Sony receiver for surround sound which is connected to a Panasonic plasma TV. VLC is used for all media consumption, music and videos, and a MCE remote is used for controlling playback.
In the bedroom is a gaming system running Windows 10 connected to a 27" monitor. All media consumption using VLC as well. Games from Steam and GoG. There is also a 32" LED TV in the bedroom with and HDMI switch that an Xbox360 and PS4 are connected to for console games. An AppleTV is also hooked up to it and mostly used for the PBS and Crackle apps, as well as viewing previously purchased iTunes content (prior to having switch to backing up my own media).
The most recent upgrade to all of this was the addition of a PCIe Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy sound card to the HTPC to get 92/24 audio support for music purchased from Pono, and to provide an amp for headphone use over a long audio cable run.
All of the consoles and STBs used to be in the living room hooked up to the receiver but I found I spent more time on my main gaming system consuming content through websites like Twitch, Youtube, Vessel, and GiantBomb. So, I moved all those devices into the bedroom so I could multitask between media consumption and games.
I'm a single adult male living alone in an apartment. :) :| :(
Movie reviews/ratings should be treated the same way as videogame reviews/ratings, with a grain of salt. You only need to skim the limited amount of specific details present in the reviews to form your own opinion while completely ignoring whatever score the reviewer gave. Too many reviews, positive or negative, are tilted by the author's personal history with the medium or genre and will never match your own.
Today: more people learned that Chrome has a notification center, than the number of people that actually use it. To think I've been using an extension all this time just to receive GMail notifications when there was functionality built-in to the browser that could have been doing the same without the need for the extension. Shame on Google for not advertising this feature and making it user friendly. Oh well, I guess rather than make any effort to advertise the feature it's better to just kill it off entirely. Chrome has been feeling a little slow lately, maybe this will improve performance.
use mod points to downvote titles against forces against malware FBI.
Just thought I would be honest about what one can get without a degree. My weekly take home pay after taxes (Illinois, single, no kids): $742.52, or $2,970.08 a month. That's after spending 4 years doing temp work and 5 years full-time. At the end of the 4 years of temp work I was making $18/hr. How much do most people earn while going to college?
I'm sure I could make a hell of a lot more if I were motivated and full of energy, but I'm not. Being paid $24/hr to read Slashdot is quite nice.
Only takes 3 clicks to turn off the "acceptable ads" option: AdBlock > Options > Un-check "Allow some non-intrusive advertising".
The article fails to mention if the vegetables that were being paired with the other food items were exactly the same as the vegetables being paired with the burgers and nuggets. It also failed to take into consideration whether or not the child felt full after eating burgers/nuggets vs sliders/baked potatoes.
....2 years from now someone is going to release a game you really want that will require the 2nd generation "New AppleTV", and this will happen again every 2 years. Apple does not commit to single platforms for any serious length of time the way a console maker does. Also, the lack of a proper controller shows they don't really give a shit, they just want people to make apps that they can sell and take a cut of the profits from.
I want the Windows GUI on Linux. The ability to right-click on something and run it as Administrator would make life A LOT simpler.
I've spent 3 Thanksgivings with co-workers, once with a building manager (senior manager), once with a manager of a different department, and once with an administrative assistant that I am still friends with. It was a small company though (around 2,000 employees) so everyone knew each other pretty well.
My current employer is a global bank, everyone here just stabs everyone in the back and is extremely defensive about separating their personal life from work.
I'm just going to stay at home this year, all alone, nothing but the heat from the file server to keep me warm. Thanksgiving dinner will be a breakfast casserole made with frozen hashbrowns, sausage, cheddar cheese, and sausage gravy cooked in a slow cooker on low for 8 hours. =D
I don't protect my privacy outside of using strong passwords and 2-factor authentication (when available). No encryption, no VPN, no proxies. I don't use anti-virus software or firewalls either (other than those built-in to an OS and the NAT firewall of the router). The simple fact is that I do not send anything via email/Twitter/Facebook/Google+ that is unlawful, incriminating, or extremely personal. There is nothing on my computer that I cannot live without either. I have the actual physical media for all movies, TV, and music. Games are all on Steam/GoG. Photos are all posted online and backed up to DVD.
Perhaps the only thing I go a little out of my way to protect is my phone number. I ported my number to Google Voice, setup a silent ringtone as the default ringtone on my iPhone, turned off vibration, and use customer ringtones for friends/family/coworker contacts. That's more a matter of personal sanity than privacy though.
...id software will release a game with a bug-free engine? It would be a first.
Note to self: wait for v1.666 release of Oculus VR before buying.
I already download 15-25GB games on the WiiU, downloading 25-50GB games won't be an issue at all. In fact, my experience with the WiiU has been that games are released on the eShop before they show up in stores. As an example, I pre-ordered Lego City Undercover at Gamestop, went to the store expecting to be able to pick it up on the release day but they had not received it and did not know when it would arrive. So, I canceled the preorder and used the money to buy an eShop card. Then, went home and bought the game on the eShop, downloaded, installed, and was playing it that night. That game was 22GB according to a quick search online.
The only improvement to this type of service I would like to see is the ability to pre-download a game a day or two before release and have it unlock and install on release day. On the Wii U, at least, there is currently no option to pre-order.
Of course, this doesn't even begin to mention the massive games downloaded and installed through Steam. Just 2 nights ago I download 3 games totalling 40GB. Just right-click and install, right-click and install...
You young'ns fail to remember what happened with the Gamecube: decent launch followed by a drought of games in Jan/Feb, in fact I seem to recall the Gamecube drought lasting through April. The Wii U has had no new games, of signifigance, released since its launch. Next month brings Lego City Undercover on 3/18 and Monster Hunter the day after. It's nothing more than the usual post-launch drought for any console.
Personally, i'm enjoying the Wii U, the off-TV gameplay using the gamepad is the unexpected killer feature. I spend most nights watching Twit/Twitch/Justin/Revision3 on the TV while playing a few levels of Mario or getting a workout with Just Dance.
The keyboard on a T430 is actually really nice and has much better key "feel" than a T420. I have to use a T420 at work and more often than not have to re-hit keys to get it to register a keystroke. Particularly the top row of numbers.
My only gripe with the T430 keyboard is they remove the Pause/Break key. There's a key combination that will reproduce it, but it's a change that wasn't needed.
If you have not seen the movie Frankenweenie yet, do so now, for the sake of science!
I agree with you completely. I upgraded my HTPC to Win8Pro the 1st day it was available and have been happily using it since then. At the end of the day it is the same OS as Win7 with a better Start interface, there is no excuse for someone that used Win7 not to be able to use Win8. I prefer the Start screen as opposed to the Start menu. It requires a little tidying up whenever a new desktop app is installed to remove unnecessary Start screen icons, but other than that it works perfectly fine. It's been faster and more stable then Win7.
The only thing I don't necessarily care for is the Charms bar, but that simply because I tend to use desktop apps full screen and often cause the charms to appear when all I wanted to do was close the open application. It's still lights year better than any Linux distro and more reliable than Mac OS X (I've tried both, many times).
I would rather keep the $1 bill and get rid of all the coins. Put an end to all the $0.99 nonsense pricing and make taxes/tips easier to calculate. I don't even mind if they make it so all sales taxes round up to the nearest dollar. I'm tired of trying to find an efficient way to store and, later, spend coins. They weigh my pants down and cause the pockets to wear out sooner.
I recommend the following:
1.) Stop by any hardware store and pick up a small toolkit that Black & Decker makes, they sell for ~$8 USD and have multiple bits for phillips head, flat head, hex, and so on. It comes in a sturdy orange plastic case that holds up extremely well. Every time I start a new contract this is the first toolkit I buy to keep at work. In addition, pick up: one heavy duty phillips head screwdriver and one heavy duty flathead screwdriver.
2.) Label printer. Preferably a hand-held one that uses regular AA or AAA batteries. Keep a spare set of batteries on hand as well as a spare tape cartridge. Label EVERYTHING at BOTH ENDS. It helps to also label each server with the network ID, model and serial number for those quarterly/bi/annual inventory audits when you're asked to verify what's actually in the server room.
3.) Small shears (heavy steel scissors) for cutting zipties off large cable bundles and opening god-damned plastic packaging.
4.) Pliers & needle-nose pliers, quite often things get bent that need un-bending.
5.) Cable tester. You'll want a reliable one that uses separate sender and receiver modules so you can leave the cable in place for testing.
6.) Smartphone. Install the best flashlight app available and keep the flashlight, camera and notepad apps on the 1st app screen.
7.) A server jack/lift if you can get the company to pay for it. Some servers can be a ***** to lift into place and sometimes it's hard to find someone to help you get something racked.
8.) Plastic bins that are stackable and have openings on the front that are easy to reach into. You'll want to keep a good supply of different length cables on hand and these will make it easier to keep them organized. Might also want to consider a large tackle box for fibre optics components and rack mount screws/retainers. If you get a large enough one, you can store all of the tools in it as well.
9.) A large flat crowbar (pry bar), you'll rarely use it, but damned if it doesn't come in handy when you need it. Might want to pair this with a large rubber mallet or sledge hammer
10.) Crimper, really not that important these days as most places use pre-made cables. In the last 7 years i've only needed to crimp 1 cable. Your situation may be different.
11.) Cordless screwdriver with a spare battery fully charged at all times. Last place I was at we kept 2 spare batteries fully charged and often went through them. These come in really handy when you need to swap out a dozen or more servers and have to undo a lot of screws or assemble/disassemble the racks themselves.
12.) Ear protection, either the big over the ear kind or just a box of disposable ear plugs.
There are countless "reviews" of processors and motherboards on NewEgg and elsewhere, which it is obvious the person damaged their system due to carelessness when building a new system. Soldering the CPU onto the motherboards will undoubtedly greatly reduce the warranty replacement costs that Intel loses money on each year. I was just thinking a few months ago that there is a real opportunity for motherboard vendors to improve upon the current ATX/BTX specs if they soldered processors and even memory onto the board to sell near-foolproff pre-assembeled components with new mounting methods to eliminate the current standoff+screws that are used. I would personally welcome this change.
In the nearly 20 years that i've been building systems, i've only ever upgraded the CPU itself on 2 systems out of 7, the other 5 were either built from scratch or upgraded with a new motherboard to go with the new CPU.
I need to cancel my Xbox Music trial subscription. Just like everything else on the Start screen, I never use it.