There's always Vonage. I've been using Vonage for more than a year without problem. They have some great features and a reasonable pricing plan ($25 includes free national calls and international calls that are cheap compared to most calling cards, especially when so many cards apply 'hidden fees'). There are a few features still missing - for years, people have been requesting some sort of call block, and a 'soft phone' (a software phone that allows you to connect your computer to the Vonage network through the Internet as opposed to using the modem - great for wireless networks) costs an extra $10 a month.
Looks the same. Looking at the source of the php output, I worked out what's happening. You're relying on an innerHtml or other HTML injector to render the HTML you're providing. While Firefox and IE are correctly rendering that as part of the current document, Safari is having trouble rendering it.
To be blunt, Safari has such a small audience, I'm not sure the fix is worth the trouble, especially when you're new to JavaScript. If you do want to fix it, you could research DOM methods to inject new elements into the document instead of re-rendering the message portion each time the messages are gathered. Although you could include a timestamp when requesting new messages and possibly save bandwidth, it may take longer to render (in my experience, adding elements through JavaScript DOM controls is always slower than HTML rendering).
Nice concept, but you could do a few things to improve end user experience:
1.) New messages don't appear on new lines in Safari. Someone on there (not sure if it was you) told me it works fine in other browsers, though.
2.) Change the 'add' hyperlink to an input type submit and add its onclick event to the onsubmit handler for the form and change the form action to an anchor reference on the current page. That way, when the user hits enter, the current message will submit to the handler without having to click 'add'.
3.) Flag messages as 'belonging' to IP addresses so it's easier to follow conversations.
It supports more than 5 tuner cards... you make it pretty obvious that you haven't a clue what you're talking about.
Contrary to your provocative comment, Yahoo says:
To use the DVR features in Yahoo! Go for TV, you will need one of the supported TV tuner cards ...
Use our Shopping List to make sure you get the right card. We currently support these tuner cards:
1.) ATI TV Wonder Elite
2.) ATI HDTV Wonder
3.) AverMedia UltraTV 1500 MCE
4.) Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-USB2
5.) NVIDIA DualTV MCE
One pretty huge difference that you don't mention is, Yahoo's software isn't even capable of recording without the $120 hardware upgrade. And then if you want to make it really useful, you'll also want a USB remote control. Everything else the "for TV" software does can be done anyway. Back in my old apartment, I hooked up my TV to my computer (I have a TV out connector on the video card) and watched trailers, vodcasts, music videos on my TV. What's really impressive is I managed to do it all without Yahoo! Go. How on earth did I accomplish such a feat? My computer was right by the TV - I had mouse and keyboard at hand.
Again, this software does nothing special. With its requirement listings, it fails as a bridge. As separate software components, none of this impresses me any more than FrontRow.
And another thing! Why oh why do soldiers suddenly feel that they have such a big part in fighting wars? They're completely replaceable cogs in a much bigger wheel, but every veterans day, there they are, reaping all the credit for wars they didn't even start! I didn't see them disengaging any diplomatic negotiations or refusing to cooperate with any ambassadorial deliberations. Their government took nearly all the risk in hiring them, paying for their training, providing them with equipment, all they did was stand up and belt out a few bullets. Yet people seem to feel that soldiers play a big part in the outcome of war. Yeah, as if!
You have no idea what you are talking about...it is not aimed at people that don't have an HTPC, but the people who do and want a "better" interface.
Really? The website seems to go to some lengths explain that the user will need to install a $120 TV tuner card to access the DVR functionality you're saying they already have. What's more, further proving my point, it only supports 5 different cards. Of course, if it's only aimed at people who already have one of those 5 cards...
New! Free! This software turns your PC into a DVR! (Requires PC with DVR-like capability.)
Ranks right down there with:
Build your own TV from scratch with our new Build-a-TV maual! And then record television by building your own VCR! All you need is a TV, a VCR, and a few cables!
The website lists the DVR features as though they were things the website user can't already do, which suggests to me that it's assumed the website user doesn't already have the hardware (especially since it provides links to hardware manufacturers). If someone isn't willing to spend money, they may balk at a $120 hardware upgrade (plus shop fitting costs, plus cables). It's not free by the time you've started.
I began using Yahoo! Widget Engine pretty soon after the company bought it from Konfabulator and until I switched to Mac and OS X Tiger, which comes with a nicer copycat tool called Dashboard. It's not the Widget portion of the desktop suite I find cluttering, it's the browser tools and Yahoo! Desktop. Admittedly, I haven't tried the browser tools (but have had to work around and sometimes 'fix' computers that have them installed) but I have in the past tried out Yahoo! Desktop. God knows why. I found it to be a distraction at best. Mostly, it was just clutter.
Looks like I stand corrected on the DVR functionality. Of course, it requires a TV tuner for your PC (a $120 piece of hardware) and I hope most TV tuners come bundled with software to handle what they do, though probably not to the extent of Go's TiVo-like capabilities. Any software bundle that requires the user perform a hardware upgrade is probably doomed.
It's a real shame Apple didn't give the space/time/cents to pack something like this in with Mac Mini's FrontRow, Out Of Box DVR would have been a real TiVo killer.
If it did all those things, it would be everything. It doesn't, though.
"it seems that this is a piece of software that will turn you computer into a dvr" I don't see this on their website, rather, I see instructions on how to connect your computer to your TV so that you can view media on your TV. Anyone with the right video card, TV, and a cable long enough to reach both can do this anyway without installing Yahoo! Go.
"and act as a google desktop search sidebar" The most important feature in Google Desktop is its Spotlight-like indexing. Again, I don't see this listed as a feature of Yahoo! Go. All Yahoo! Desktop really does is bring various Yahoo! online services (contacts, messenger, mail, music) together on one screen. Save the space and your desktop and just use those services online.
"allow your mobile phone to access media files at yahoo" Firstly, this will only work if you have a Nokia 6 series phone (Yahoo supports no other make/model). You can use "Go Mobile" to access your Yahoo! Contacts, Yahoo! Photos, Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Mail. Anyone who's used WAP on their cellphone will recognize all these as services Yahoo! already offers all cellphone users as online tools.
IF you happen to have a Nokia 6 series phone, IF your TV is close enough to your PC that they can be connected, IF you happen to have a video card that uses a connector that matches your TV, IF you don't mind your Windows XP (only) desktop being cluttered with Yahoo's tool...
This isn't a bridge, it's a landfill! If I had all these wonderful pieces of technology, I'd already be able to use them together without needing Yahoo! Go.
The terrifying, alien thought processes of an IEEE 754 compliant Robot Master:
Mathematician: But I'm telling you, division by zero is impossible! Robot Master: Does not compute. Division by zero equals infinity. Mathematician: Then what about multiplying zero by infinity? Is that also infinity? No, it isn't, it's z-e-r-o! Robot Master: Does not compute. Multiplication by infinity equals infinity. Mathematician: Exactly! So division by zero is impossible! Robot Master: Does not compute. Division by zero equals infinity. Multiplication of zero by infinity equals infinity. Mathematician: How?! How is multiplication of zero by infinity infinity?! Robot Master: Provide number of times you would need to carry out multiplication of any number by infinity to predict result. Mathematician: Well... infinite times! Robot Master: Therefore, zero multiplied by infinity equals infinity......etc. Surely this is the stuff nightmares are made of.
Why is this scaremonger "survey" being being slashdotted? It is an advertisement for a product. One of the "answers" requires requires being able to see an invisible exploit that only products such as the one being advertised in the survey could detect - if forced to choose. The correct answer to all the questions is "none of the above - they are all potential spyware candidates", yet the "survey" forces us to choose one or the other: "X free trial screensavers or Y free trial screensavers? Oh, you didn't know you were supposed to click Y? That's why you need to use our product."
You sure? My wife has a copy of Under My Skin; we were able to rip it with no problems. She rarely plays it on anything but her MP3 player (thank goodness - saved our marriage... kidding!)
Could you explain exactly how staring at a computer screen could lead to posterior vitreous detachment, let alone retinal detachment? I don't see how this is possible.
You are correct in saying cellphones use electricity. You are incorrect in saying this does not solve the I was too lazy to charge it last night problem. It does. It does not, however, solve the I was too lazy to charge it last week problem. Still, I'm sure you agree, it's a step forward. Eventually, we'll design cell phones powered by thought. I have one interesting device that has enabled me to communicate up to hundreds of feet using no electricity. Just gives me a bit of a sore throat is all.
Also in the news: $10 Madonna lunchboxes are the fault of P2P file sharing. 'Before the advent of illegal downloads, artists had an incentive to underprice their merchandise, because top-of-mind advertising translated into higher record sales,' Professor Krueger argues. But now, he says, the link between the two products has been severed, meaning that artists and their managers need to make more money from lunchboxes and feel less constrained in setting lunchbox prices.'
Chinese lunchbox manufacturer Shanadogon agrees: 'Surely, P2P file sharing is the greatest threat ever to hit the plastic lunchbox industry.'
Coming up next: how P2P file sharing caused the 1929 Wall Street Crash.
But seriously...
Excel.
I've thrown the rest of the Office suite out the window: I try to work in plain text, so Word isn't for me. I use SQL for databases, Access doesn't suit my purposes. Publisher is to DTP as Paint is to photo manipulation, I don't even bother installing it any more. I use Flash to compose presentations, I only use Powerpoint when forced to. Apple's iLife beats the stuffing out of Outlook, so the same applies there (I've been in offices that have an enforced Outlook policy).
Gnumeric, KSpread, OpenOffice Calc... they're all based on Excel because it's a good application.
Can't think of anything else, though!
A valid concern with Microsoft's LiveDrive, but at least with the GDrive we wouldn't have to assume Google would hand such information over. Disturbing to think of Abdul's private family vacation snapshots being bored over in the hunt for Terrorist Activities (TM), but if history's anything to go by, the US government would have to do some work to prove that Weapons of Mass Destruction (R) were being stored in digital form. Maybe now that Google has set the path, other companies (even Microsoft) will think twice before handing over data lest they should end up with publicity like this.
Slashdot Mirror
There's always Vonage. I've been using Vonage for more than a year without problem. They have some great features and a reasonable pricing plan ($25 includes free national calls and international calls that are cheap compared to most calling cards, especially when so many cards apply 'hidden fees'). There are a few features still missing - for years, people have been requesting some sort of call block, and a 'soft phone' (a software phone that allows you to connect your computer to the Vonage network through the Internet as opposed to using the modem - great for wireless networks) costs an extra $10 a month.
Ooh, well spotted, I missed that one. Yep, it looks fine in Safari! Woot! Much better! And now I can see those IP IDs!
Looks the same. Looking at the source of the php output, I worked out what's happening. You're relying on an innerHtml or other HTML injector to render the HTML you're providing. While Firefox and IE are correctly rendering that as part of the current document, Safari is having trouble rendering it.
To be blunt, Safari has such a small audience, I'm not sure the fix is worth the trouble, especially when you're new to JavaScript. If you do want to fix it, you could research DOM methods to inject new elements into the document instead of re-rendering the message portion each time the messages are gathered. Although you could include a timestamp when requesting new messages and possibly save bandwidth, it may take longer to render (in my experience, adding elements through JavaScript DOM controls is always slower than HTML rendering).
Nice concept, but you could do a few things to improve end user experience:
1.) New messages don't appear on new lines in Safari. Someone on there (not sure if it was you) told me it works fine in other browsers, though.
2.) Change the 'add' hyperlink to an input type submit and add its onclick event to the onsubmit handler for the form and change the form action to an anchor reference on the current page. That way, when the user hits enter, the current message will submit to the handler without having to click 'add'.
3.) Flag messages as 'belonging' to IP addresses so it's easier to follow conversations.
Nice and light, though.
You say:
Contrary to your provocative comment, Yahoo says:
One pretty huge difference that you don't mention is, Yahoo's software isn't even capable of recording without the $120 hardware upgrade. And then if you want to make it really useful, you'll also want a USB remote control. Everything else the "for TV" software does can be done anyway. Back in my old apartment, I hooked up my TV to my computer (I have a TV out connector on the video card) and watched trailers, vodcasts, music videos on my TV. What's really impressive is I managed to do it all without Yahoo! Go. How on earth did I accomplish such a feat? My computer was right by the TV - I had mouse and keyboard at hand.
Again, this software does nothing special. With its requirement listings, it fails as a bridge. As separate software components, none of this impresses me any more than FrontRow.
And another thing! Why oh why do soldiers suddenly feel that they have such a big part in fighting wars? They're completely replaceable cogs in a much bigger wheel, but every veterans day, there they are, reaping all the credit for wars they didn't even start! I didn't see them disengaging any diplomatic negotiations or refusing to cooperate with any ambassadorial deliberations. Their government took nearly all the risk in hiring them, paying for their training, providing them with equipment, all they did was stand up and belt out a few bullets. Yet people seem to feel that soldiers play a big part in the outcome of war. Yeah, as if!
Really? The website seems to go to some lengths explain that the user will need to install a $120 TV tuner card to access the DVR functionality you're saying they already have. What's more, further proving my point, it only supports 5 different cards. Of course, if it's only aimed at people who already have one of those 5 cards...
New! Free! This software turns your PC into a DVR! (Requires PC with DVR-like capability.)
Ranks right down there with:
Build your own TV from scratch with our new Build-a-TV maual! And then record television by building your own VCR! All you need is a TV, a VCR, and a few cables!
The website lists the DVR features as though they were things the website user can't already do, which suggests to me that it's assumed the website user doesn't already have the hardware (especially since it provides links to hardware manufacturers). If someone isn't willing to spend money, they may balk at a $120 hardware upgrade (plus shop fitting costs, plus cables). It's not free by the time you've started.
I began using Yahoo! Widget Engine pretty soon after the company bought it from Konfabulator and until I switched to Mac and OS X Tiger, which comes with a nicer copycat tool called Dashboard. It's not the Widget portion of the desktop suite I find cluttering, it's the browser tools and Yahoo! Desktop. Admittedly, I haven't tried the browser tools (but have had to work around and sometimes 'fix' computers that have them installed) but I have in the past tried out Yahoo! Desktop. God knows why. I found it to be a distraction at best. Mostly, it was just clutter.
Looks like I stand corrected on the DVR functionality. Of course, it requires a TV tuner for your PC (a $120 piece of hardware) and I hope most TV tuners come bundled with software to handle what they do, though probably not to the extent of Go's TiVo-like capabilities. Any software bundle that requires the user perform a hardware upgrade is probably doomed.
It's a real shame Apple didn't give the space/time/cents to pack something like this in with Mac Mini's FrontRow, Out Of Box DVR would have been a real TiVo killer.
What I want to know is, what does the we_are_effed() function do? Doesn't sound very verbish to me.
If it did all those things, it would be everything. It doesn't, though.
"it seems that this is a piece of software that will turn you computer into a dvr"
I don't see this on their website, rather, I see instructions on how to connect your computer to your TV so that you can view media on your TV. Anyone with the right video card, TV, and a cable long enough to reach both can do this anyway without installing Yahoo! Go.
"and act as a google desktop search sidebar"
The most important feature in Google Desktop is its Spotlight-like indexing. Again, I don't see this listed as a feature of Yahoo! Go. All Yahoo! Desktop really does is bring various Yahoo! online services (contacts, messenger, mail, music) together on one screen. Save the space and your desktop and just use those services online.
"allow your mobile phone to access media files at yahoo"
Firstly, this will only work if you have a Nokia 6 series phone (Yahoo supports no other make/model). You can use "Go Mobile" to access your Yahoo! Contacts, Yahoo! Photos, Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Mail. Anyone who's used WAP on their cellphone will recognize all these as services Yahoo! already offers all cellphone users as online tools.
IF you happen to have a Nokia 6 series phone, IF your TV is close enough to your PC that they can be connected, IF you happen to have a video card that uses a connector that matches your TV, IF you don't mind your Windows XP (only) desktop being cluttered with Yahoo's tool...
This isn't a bridge, it's a landfill! If I had all these wonderful pieces of technology, I'd already be able to use them together without needing Yahoo! Go.
I loathe the 'Web 2.0' buzzword, but there is NOTHING 'Web 2.0' about MySpace. Even its journal lacks RSS support.
The terrifying, alien thought processes of an IEEE 754 compliant Robot Master:
...etc. Surely this is the stuff nightmares are made of.
Mathematician: But I'm telling you, division by zero is impossible!
Robot Master: Does not compute. Division by zero equals infinity.
Mathematician: Then what about multiplying zero by infinity? Is that also infinity? No, it isn't, it's z-e-r-o!
Robot Master: Does not compute. Multiplication by infinity equals infinity.
Mathematician: Exactly! So division by zero is impossible!
Robot Master: Does not compute. Division by zero equals infinity. Multiplication of zero by infinity equals infinity.
Mathematician: How?! How is multiplication of zero by infinity infinity?!
Robot Master: Provide number of times you would need to carry out multiplication of any number by infinity to predict result.
Mathematician: Well... infinite times!
Robot Master: Therefore, zero multiplied by infinity equals infinity...
Why is this scaremonger "survey" being being slashdotted? It is an advertisement for a product. One of the "answers" requires requires being able to see an invisible exploit that only products such as the one being advertised in the survey could detect - if forced to choose. The correct answer to all the questions is "none of the above - they are all potential spyware candidates", yet the "survey" forces us to choose one or the other: "X free trial screensavers or Y free trial screensavers? Oh, you didn't know you were supposed to click Y? That's why you need to use our product."
Please do not slashdot advertisements.
You sure? My wife has a copy of Under My Skin; we were able to rip it with no problems. She rarely plays it on anything but her MP3 player (thank goodness - saved our marriage... kidding!)
Could you explain exactly how staring at a computer screen could lead to posterior vitreous detachment, let alone retinal detachment? I don't see how this is possible.
Hey, I'd like to stick that wind turbine charger on my car roof!
You are correct in saying cellphones use electricity. You are incorrect in saying this does not solve the I was too lazy to charge it last night problem. It does. It does not, however, solve the I was too lazy to charge it last week problem. Still, I'm sure you agree, it's a step forward. Eventually, we'll design cell phones powered by thought. I have one interesting device that has enabled me to communicate up to hundreds of feet using no electricity. Just gives me a bit of a sore throat is all.
Oh no, not again.
JavaScript isn't OO enough for you?
Four buzzwords and a float if you count "Web 2.0" Five if you count "revolution". Let's not count "revolution".
However, now that AJAX is "Ajax" losing its acronym status, that's still five buzzwords.
Then there's XML, which is really "eXtensible Markup Language", totalling 8 buzzwords.
Then there's JavaScript, which is just one implementation of ECMAScript, the other most common one being JScript (10 buzzwords.)
In conclusion, if the Web 2.0 revolution has any buzzwords, these are them:
- Web
- 2.0
- Ajax
- Asynchronous
- JavaScript
- And
- XML
- eXtensible
- Markup
- Language
- World
- Wide
- Consortium
- Standards
- Driven
- Rich
- Internet
- Application
- XHTML
- CSS
- Content
- Scrambling... no wait... I mean...
- Cascading
- Style
- Sheet
- RSS
- Really
- Simple
- Syndication
- SVG
- Scalable
- Vector
- Graphics
- XUL
- User
- Interface
- Language
- Google
- Maps
Also in the news: $10 Madonna lunchboxes are the fault of P2P file sharing. 'Before the advent of illegal downloads, artists had an incentive to underprice their merchandise, because top-of-mind advertising translated into higher record sales,' Professor Krueger argues. But now, he says, the link between the two products has been severed, meaning that artists and their managers need to make more money from lunchboxes and feel less constrained in setting lunchbox prices.'
Chinese lunchbox manufacturer Shanadogon agrees: 'Surely, P2P file sharing is the greatest threat ever to hit the plastic lunchbox industry.'
Coming up next: how P2P file sharing caused the 1929 Wall Street Crash.
But seriously... Excel. I've thrown the rest of the Office suite out the window: I try to work in plain text, so Word isn't for me. I use SQL for databases, Access doesn't suit my purposes. Publisher is to DTP as Paint is to photo manipulation, I don't even bother installing it any more. I use Flash to compose presentations, I only use Powerpoint when forced to. Apple's iLife beats the stuffing out of Outlook, so the same applies there (I've been in offices that have an enforced Outlook policy). Gnumeric, KSpread, OpenOffice Calc... they're all based on Excel because it's a good application. Can't think of anything else, though!
A valid concern with Microsoft's LiveDrive, but at least with the GDrive we wouldn't have to assume Google would hand such information over. Disturbing to think of Abdul's private family vacation snapshots being bored over in the hunt for Terrorist Activities (TM), but if history's anything to go by, the US government would have to do some work to prove that Weapons of Mass Destruction (R) were being stored in digital form. Maybe now that Google has set the path, other companies (even Microsoft) will think twice before handing over data lest they should end up with publicity like this.