lol, nope. While I may occasionally have my moron moments, I'm not a total idiot. I do have protection.:)
The main fileserver (which is on 24x7) does have hot-swappable raid; if a drive dies, I just pop it out and put in a new one. I do backups of that because the rebuild takes 1-2 days, and, with my luck, (1) I'll get a power failure that lasts one minute longer than the UPS (which won't last anywhere near 1-2 days), or (2) one of the other drives will fail (two drives are from the same manufacturing batch). (For that matter, I really, should replace the UPS battery, as it's been more than a couple of years since I last replaced it....)
Because I've got a multi-terabyte array to backup, I've got to use either another NAS or some external USB/FW raid box. A plain single drive is just not big enough. While I could automate this, I do NOT want a backup process that is constantly powered (for HD wear reasons) or constantly connected to the LAN or power (to prevent power transients or lightning from possibly damaging anything).
And, yes, there is an element of laziness involved. To perform a backup, I've got to haul everything out, connect it up, and run a backup script. (And, since I'm still using a 100BT LAN, even differential backups take a while.)
As time goes by, one collects more and more "stuff". In my case, I've got 5+ TB of "stuff" (mostly tivo'd shows), and this is just going to grow with time. For me, maintenance is a hassle, because simply backing up by copying now takes on the order of 1 day. Also, I can't use the cloud because, even ignoring the storage costs, 5+TB of bandwidth is going to be slow, expensive, or both.
Start with a vanilla Win7 x64 installation. Install FF, no addons, no plugins, no nothing.
Start FF and login to gmail. Leave FF alone. That's it.
On FF6 and earlier, FF will slowly grow and grow and grow, until it finally runs out of memory and dies. I haven't measured the memory consumption rate recently but, on FF4, the memory consumption rate was approximately 1MB/minute, on average (sometimes it wouldn't grow for a while, and sometimes the usage would spike upwards, but the overall average was around 1MB/min).
Yes, something that google is doing is triggering an issue with FF. However, this memory growth doesn't appear on chrome.
I haven't used FF7 long enough to be sure, but the FF people claim that this has been fixed (bug 645633).
The commented BIOS listing did exist (I used to have a copy), although I think it was an extra cost manual (under $100, IIRC). It came in the usual cloth-covered-heavy-cardboard binder.
* These days, phone numbers are something you enter once, and forget about. Computers and phones now remember them for you.
* Phone number pads are, arguably, "more obsolete" than calculator/computer numeric pads, and so the world should move to the "789" keypad style. (Here, "more obsolete" is relative, as we'll still have telephone keypads for years to come.)
* Even if you're right, the majority of people don't really care. And, if either keypad were to change, the public outcry and complaints would likely be of biblical proportions. Bottom line: nothing's going to change.
If it really bothers you, pop off the numeric keypad keys on a PC keyboard, and remap the scan codes. With MS Windows (from XP onwards, IIRC), it's pretty easy to remap scancodes deep down in the keyboard driver, using the registry. I do this to swap the caps and ctrl keys.
Yes, exactly. This kind of "augmented reality" will turn into nothing more than "augmented advertising". Seriously, do people not understand that the only purpose for this is "advertising"? Like I really want more spam in my life....
And, yes, if I'm looking for a deal on a particular item, there are much easier, quicker, and less-in-your-face methods for finding deals.
It's already been done. As others have said, apps exist for iOS and android that'll scan a barcode and display nearby and online prices. There's also at least one app that'll do this based upon a phone camera shot (and not just a barcode), but it's a bit hit-and-miss.
Sad to say, I can't really imagine them selling more than a few kits to the geezer/nostalgia crowd these days. The younger folks don't want to *understand*. They just want to blindly buy and use.
Hehe, you need to get out more. Here's one example: http://makezine.com/ (warning: some of the things they do may make oldtimers' hair stand on end).
You know what I'd like to see? That new el-cheapo $25/$35 PC board working with some Heathkit designs for measuring house AC power consumption, maybe some water detectors, things like that. Perhaps an alarm system interface. Fun!
As much as I loved Heathkit, you don't need Heathkit, as people have already done projects like these (perhaps not as cheaply, though):
Amazons yet to be released color ereader is already going to struggle to compete with this.
If you were only comparing specs, you'd be right. However, you falling into the traditional geek trap of only comparing specs.:)
Right now, Amazon might be the only one who can compete, long-term, against Apple: Amazon has an app store, Amazon sells music, and -- most importantly -- Amazon has a well-liked, established brand: the kindle. Yes, the upcoming color ereader can't currently compete with the iPad; however, if Amazon's smart, they'll use it to dominate the low-end tablet market, and then later move upwards into the high-end tablet market (the iPad).
This is different from other Android tablets because, if Amazon pulls this off correctly, the consumer will have one-stop shopping for everything, just like the iPad. Fragmentation is a significant issue with mass-market consumers and android tablets, and Amazon has the power to eliminate it.
Amazon's upcoming ereader doesn't necessarily have to compare well, specwise, against other tablets. It does, however, need to perform well at its intended core tasks (book reading, etc., etc.). Now, this might require competitive specs, but it might not; a lot depends upon the software.
The netbook, which was on the same boat few years ago, is now, obtainable around $200 price point, which gives you at least twice the CPU power in most cases, a full keyboard, multiple expansion ports, more memory and storage space, alas, no touch screen.
Not everyone is like you, not everyone has your preferences, and not everyone thinks like you.
If all you're doing are web surfing, email/chat/IM, and basic games -- which is what the majority of consumers do -- a tablet is functionally better than a netbook (let's see how many people pay attention to that word, as I'm arguing about tablets vs netbooks, and not tablets vs tablets):
* No 2-3 second waiting for a resume. A tablet's responsiveness is generally very snappy compared to the netbook.
* For the unwashed masses, the use model (a finger) is more natural than the traditional keyboard and mouse/trackpad.
* The form-factor is more convenient. You can easily hold a tablet with one hand and control it with the other. Holding a netbook with one hand and typing with the other is just awkward (not to mention that you've got to unfold it first and maybe hit the power button if you have a model that doesn't automatically turn on when opened).
* Polishing touches such as smart covers. Seriously, to anyone who hasn't used an iPad, smart covers may seem like "total meh", but it's actually a genius-level polishing touch: stuff automatically turns on when you take it out, and stuff automatically turns off when you put it away. You don't have to hit a power button.
* Consumers (not the people on/.) generally care about what you can do with a product, and care less about specs.
You may not care about the above points, and may think that I'm crazy (and maybe rightfully so:), but, for most consumers, a tablet's "experience" (yes, I hate that word) really is better than a netbook's.
Yes, tablets don't work well for some things. They're not great at writing long documents, although wireless bluetooth keyboards help, and they downright suck at software development. However, for the majority of what consumers generally want to do, they do it well. And, the market is proving that, for better or worse, consumers are willing to pay iPad prices. Tablet manufacturers do well, netbook manufacturers not so much.
I have a netbook and a tablet, and my netbook has pretty much sat unused since I got the tablet (my old Asus eee 1005ha runs like a dog compared to the tablet). And, while I don't agree with everything, here's an opinion on the changing PC/tablet landscape.
Right now, I think only Amazon's upcoming tablet has a chance of hurting iPad sales, even though it's not really meant to be a competitor. Amazon is probably the only one with the ecosystem that can compete.
1. It happened in an area that rarely gets earthquakes. I think the last big one in the area (6.5? in NC? or GA?) was back in the mid-1880s.
2. The building codes out there generally don't have earthquake requirements. They're allowed to (or used to, at least) build out of stone and brick. Bad things happen when stone and brick houses collapse on you. Earthquakes that would only annoy people in CA could cause serious damage and death on the East Coast.
That looks interesting, but (as you say) it also appears to be a long way from being usable (e.g., accessible via the iPhone's contacts mechanism). I'm not complaining, mind you; while this certainly looks worthwhile, it's still in its infancy, and I need something *now*.:-(
Seriously, I'm peeved enough that I'm actually looking around for decent MS exchange hosting for my iPhone (for push calendars and push contacts, not just email). Apple's iCloud almost fits the bill, but they don't allow the use of other (e.g., personal) domains, so they're out.
So far, based upon a little googling (is this ironic, or what?), I'm leaning towards exchangemymail or 123together. Anyone have other suggestions, or good/bad comments? (Yeah, it's like $14/month, but I'm willing to pay that.)
I did think about hosting my own server, but I don't know if I want to do all that work (I do have a static IP that isn't in a blacklist, so that's a plus). I think Zarafa is the only game in town if you want push email/contacts/calendar and the iPhone (IIRC, Zimbra is pretty expensive initially, with the break-even point being something like 4-5 years).
Sheesh. For people for whom this matters, I think they'll do one of two things:
1. Look at RIM's offerings, and look at spotify (which isn't available for BB phones). A spotify phone is going to win out.
2. Buy a BB, without knowing about spotify. Eventually, they'll run into someone with a spotify-capable phone, at which point they'll probably feel like a ginormous "L" has been stamped on their forehead. That should help future BB sales. Not.
Great farking zarquon! I just took at look at those iPad PDF apps -- $10-$20!!!
When the main purposes are (1) saving your position/bookmarking, (2) annotating, and (3) sending pages/annotations to others, it's a bit hard to justify spending $10-$20 in a $0-$5 app world. The iPad's built-in PDF viewer works just fine, as long as you don't need position saving or annotating (the free Evernote app is decent for saving/viewing PDFs, if you don't need much in terms of features).
Huh? You do realize that YOU are the product here, right?
Your personal information is what Google is selling. Even though it may only be a "small" amount of information, the fact that you must use your real name makes it valuable. This allows the database maintainers to more accurately aggregate data from across the web, and possibly build a much more detailed profile about who you are and what you like, do, and buy. Advertisers love this stuff.
IIRC, their service area is "California and Arizona", subject to landline and DSL availability in the area. (Strangely enough, I can't find anything in their website that mentions their service area.)
Slashdot Mirror
lol, nope. While I may occasionally have my moron moments, I'm not a total idiot. I do have protection. :)
The main fileserver (which is on 24x7) does have hot-swappable raid; if a drive dies, I just pop it out and put in a new one. I do backups of that because the rebuild takes 1-2 days, and, with my luck, (1) I'll get a power failure that lasts one minute longer than the UPS (which won't last anywhere near 1-2 days), or (2) one of the other drives will fail (two drives are from the same manufacturing batch). (For that matter, I really, should replace the UPS battery, as it's been more than a couple of years since I last replaced it ....)
No, you misunderstand.
Because I've got a multi-terabyte array to backup, I've got to use either another NAS or some external USB/FW raid box. A plain single drive is just not big enough. While I could automate this, I do NOT want a backup process that is constantly powered (for HD wear reasons) or constantly connected to the LAN or power (to prevent power transients or lightning from possibly damaging anything).
And, yes, there is an element of laziness involved. To perform a backup, I've got to haul everything out, connect it up, and run a backup script. (And, since I'm still using a 100BT LAN, even differential backups take a while.)
Maintenance is still an issue.
As time goes by, one collects more and more "stuff". In my case, I've got 5+ TB of "stuff" (mostly tivo'd shows), and this is just going to grow with time. For me, maintenance is a hassle, because simply backing up by copying now takes on the order of 1 day. Also, I can't use the cloud because, even ignoring the storage costs, 5+TB of bandwidth is going to be slow, expensive, or both.
Start with a vanilla Win7 x64 installation. Install FF, no addons, no plugins, no nothing.
Start FF and login to gmail. Leave FF alone. That's it.
On FF6 and earlier, FF will slowly grow and grow and grow, until it finally runs out of memory and dies. I haven't measured the memory consumption rate recently but, on FF4, the memory consumption rate was approximately 1MB/minute, on average (sometimes it wouldn't grow for a while, and sometimes the usage would spike upwards, but the overall average was around 1MB/min).
Yes, something that google is doing is triggering an issue with FF. However, this memory growth doesn't appear on chrome.
I haven't used FF7 long enough to be sure, but the FF people claim that this has been fixed (bug 645633).
The commented BIOS listing did exist (I used to have a copy), although I think it was an extra cost manual (under $100, IIRC). It came in the usual cloth-covered-heavy-cardboard binder.
As others have said:
* These days, phone numbers are something you enter once, and forget about. Computers and phones now remember them for you.
* Phone number pads are, arguably, "more obsolete" than calculator/computer numeric pads, and so the world should move to the "789" keypad style. (Here, "more obsolete" is relative, as we'll still have telephone keypads for years to come.)
* Even if you're right, the majority of people don't really care. And, if either keypad were to change, the public outcry and complaints would likely be of biblical proportions. Bottom line: nothing's going to change.
If it really bothers you, pop off the numeric keypad keys on a PC keyboard, and remap the scan codes. With MS Windows (from XP onwards, IIRC), it's pretty easy to remap scancodes deep down in the keyboard driver, using the registry. I do this to swap the caps and ctrl keys.
Yes, exactly. This kind of "augmented reality" will turn into nothing more than "augmented advertising". Seriously, do people not understand that the only purpose for this is "advertising"? Like I really want more spam in my life ....
And, yes, if I'm looking for a deal on a particular item, there are much easier, quicker, and less-in-your-face methods for finding deals.
It's already been done. As others have said, apps exist for iOS and android that'll scan a barcode and display nearby and online prices. There's also at least one app that'll do this based upon a phone camera shot (and not just a barcode), but it's a bit hit-and-miss.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation? (No, I kid you not, and, no, don't try this at home.)
...you don't need something is usually looking to take something away or prevent you from acquiring it.
That, or another lovely person saying something like, "No one will ever need more than 640K"...
Going off on a slight tangent: I'm not a fan of John Gruber, but he's hit the nail squarely on the head with this one: http://daringfireball.net/2011/09/new_apple_advantage
Then there's Jeri Ellsworth (around 37, according to wikipedia). She fabbed microchips at home, just to show that it could be done.
Sad to say, I can't really imagine them selling more than a few kits to the geezer/nostalgia crowd these days. The younger folks don't want to *understand*. They just want to blindly buy and use.
Hehe, you need to get out more. Here's one example: http://makezine.com/ (warning: some of the things they do may make oldtimers' hair stand on end).
Then there's hackaday: http://hackaday.com/
(Just as a side note: the electronics hobbyist community has gotten used to dealing with surface-mount parts.)
Also check out:
Adafruit: https://www.adafruit.com/ (Sells arduino and other microcontrollers, as well as "heathkit-like" solder-it-yourself electronics kits).
Dangerous Prototypes: http://dangerousprototypes.com/ (Among other things, they were involved with designing a naked-board, 16-channel w/12K sample depth, 100 megasample/sec digital logic analyzer -- for US$50. Then some guy took the firmware and added as many features that he could based upon an HP 16550a timing logic analyzer.)
Seeedstudio: http://www.seeedstudio.com/ (they're a store that sells cool hardware for arduino and others -- I think they're in China, though)
Digikey for all sorts of electronic parts: http://www.digikey.com/
Jameco Electronics for parts and electronic kits: http://www.jameco.com/
You know what I'd like to see? That new el-cheapo $25/$35 PC board working with some Heathkit designs for measuring house AC power consumption, maybe some water detectors, things like that. Perhaps an alarm system interface. Fun!
As much as I loved Heathkit, you don't need Heathkit, as people have already done projects like these (perhaps not as cheaply, though):
* Whole-house power monitoring: http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/node/43
* Single-outlet monitoring: http://www.ladyada.net/make/tweetawatt/
Hacking together a remote water detector should be pretty easy, too, with an xbee (it has built-in ADC and digital inputs).
If you were only comparing specs, you'd be right. However, you falling into the traditional geek trap of only comparing specs. :)
Right now, Amazon might be the only one who can compete, long-term, against Apple: Amazon has an app store, Amazon sells music, and -- most importantly -- Amazon has a well-liked, established brand: the kindle. Yes, the upcoming color ereader can't currently compete with the iPad; however, if Amazon's smart, they'll use it to dominate the low-end tablet market, and then later move upwards into the high-end tablet market (the iPad).
This is different from other Android tablets because, if Amazon pulls this off correctly, the consumer will have one-stop shopping for everything, just like the iPad. Fragmentation is a significant issue with mass-market consumers and android tablets, and Amazon has the power to eliminate it.
Amazon's upcoming ereader doesn't necessarily have to compare well, specwise, against other tablets. It does, however, need to perform well at its intended core tasks (book reading, etc., etc.). Now, this might require competitive specs, but it might not; a lot depends upon the software.
Not everyone is like you, not everyone has your preferences, and not everyone thinks like you.
If all you're doing are web surfing, email/chat/IM, and basic games -- which is what the majority of consumers do -- a tablet is functionally better than a netbook (let's see how many people pay attention to that word, as I'm arguing about tablets vs netbooks, and not tablets vs tablets):
* No 2-3 second waiting for a resume. A tablet's responsiveness is generally very snappy compared to the netbook.
* For the unwashed masses, the use model (a finger) is more natural than the traditional keyboard and mouse/trackpad.
* The form-factor is more convenient. You can easily hold a tablet with one hand and control it with the other. Holding a netbook with one hand and typing with the other is just awkward (not to mention that you've got to unfold it first and maybe hit the power button if you have a model that doesn't automatically turn on when opened).
* Polishing touches such as smart covers. Seriously, to anyone who hasn't used an iPad, smart covers may seem like "total meh", but it's actually a genius-level polishing touch: stuff automatically turns on when you take it out, and stuff automatically turns off when you put it away. You don't have to hit a power button.
* Consumers (not the people on /.) generally care about what you can do with a product, and care less about specs.
You may not care about the above points, and may think that I'm crazy (and maybe rightfully so :), but, for most consumers, a tablet's "experience" (yes, I hate that word) really is better than a netbook's.
Yes, tablets don't work well for some things. They're not great at writing long documents, although wireless bluetooth keyboards help, and they downright suck at software development. However, for the majority of what consumers generally want to do, they do it well. And, the market is proving that, for better or worse, consumers are willing to pay iPad prices. Tablet manufacturers do well, netbook manufacturers not so much.
I have a netbook and a tablet, and my netbook has pretty much sat unused since I got the tablet (my old Asus eee 1005ha runs like a dog compared to the tablet). And, while I don't agree with everything, here's an opinion on the changing PC/tablet landscape.
Right now, I think only Amazon's upcoming tablet has a chance of hurting iPad sales, even though it's not really meant to be a competitor. Amazon is probably the only one with the ecosystem that can compete.
It's news because:
1. It happened in an area that rarely gets earthquakes. I think the last big one in the area (6.5? in NC? or GA?) was back in the mid-1880s.
2. The building codes out there generally don't have earthquake requirements. They're allowed to (or used to, at least) build out of stone and brick. Bad things happen when stone and brick houses collapse on you. Earthquakes that would only annoy people in CA could cause serious damage and death on the East Coast.
That looks interesting, but (as you say) it also appears to be a long way from being usable (e.g., accessible via the iPhone's contacts mechanism). I'm not complaining, mind you; while this certainly looks worthwhile, it's still in its infancy, and I need something *now*. :-(
+1 :-)
Seriously, I'm peeved enough that I'm actually looking around for decent MS exchange hosting for my iPhone (for push calendars and push contacts, not just email). Apple's iCloud almost fits the bill, but they don't allow the use of other (e.g., personal) domains, so they're out.
So far, based upon a little googling (is this ironic, or what?), I'm leaning towards exchangemymail or 123together. Anyone have other suggestions, or good/bad comments? (Yeah, it's like $14/month, but I'm willing to pay that.)
I did think about hosting my own server, but I don't know if I want to do all that work (I do have a static IP that isn't in a blacklist, so that's a plus). I think Zarafa is the only game in town if you want push email/contacts/calendar and the iPhone (IIRC, Zimbra is pretty expensive initially, with the break-even point being something like 4-5 years).
Sheesh. For people for whom this matters, I think they'll do one of two things:
1. Look at RIM's offerings, and look at spotify (which isn't available for BB phones). A spotify phone is going to win out.
2. Buy a BB, without knowing about spotify. Eventually, they'll run into someone with a spotify-capable phone, at which point they'll probably feel like a ginormous "L" has been stamped on their forehead. That should help future BB sales. Not.
Great farking zarquon! I just took at look at those iPad PDF apps -- $10-$20!!!
When the main purposes are (1) saving your position/bookmarking, (2) annotating, and (3) sending pages/annotations to others, it's a bit hard to justify spending $10-$20 in a $0-$5 app world. The iPad's built-in PDF viewer works just fine, as long as you don't need position saving or annotating (the free Evernote app is decent for saving/viewing PDFs, if you don't need much in terms of features).
Huh? You do realize that YOU are the product here, right?
Your personal information is what Google is selling. Even though it may only be a "small" amount of information, the fact that you must use your real name makes it valuable. This allows the database maintainers to more accurately aggregate data from across the web, and possibly build a much more detailed profile about who you are and what you like, do, and buy. Advertisers love this stuff.
Yeah, I've always been impressed that their MOTD is on their main page.
(Yow, just noticed that they have a graph showing support call wait times on their contact page. If that doesn't say something about their customer support, I don't know what does.)
IIRC, their service area is "California and Arizona", subject to landline and DSL availability in the area. (Strangely enough, I can't find anything in their website that mentions their service area.)