Posts by B Gracey

Singapore forum 'scammer' faces caning and prison

You mean grammar?

Honestly, if you're going to criticize someone about spelling and/or grammar, learn how to spell it yourself!

Windows XP bests OS X in RIA test on Intel

Anybody who's been there...

Knows instinctively that Mac OS X APIs are bloated...

I use Winbloze and Mac OS X and have for the past 7 years been working routinely on both platforms. I won't touch Vista and I won't touch Leopard. Neither are yet ready for prime time.

Now, when I can be rendering a file (say an h.264 version of a movie just edited in iMovie or Final Cut Pro) and have the render time increase by many minutes simply by daring to just open Safari (without actually rendering a web page, mind) there's a problem!

But similarly, when I can transfer multi-gigabyte files over a gigabit network from an iMac to a PowerMac at 70MB/s transfer rates, and yet with comparable hardware on ANY version of Winbloze I can only muster just over 30MB/s, there's a problem, there too!

If anything, these tests, however flawed, can only help point out weak areas of our beloved OS (whichever it may be) and if it helps make one aspect better, that's serving a purpose in my books.

OpenOffice update released

Agreed: OOo is great

I second DrXym's comments. Doesn't anyone remember when backwards compatibility didn't hold them back from progress like it does today?

The transition from WordPerfect to Word was not at all that seamless, much like the transition from WordPerfect to OpenOffice.org (in my case) or from Word to OOo in some others' cases.

Get over your ideals of 100% compatibility! Judge the package on its merits as a separate product with some ability to be cross-compatible with the industry norm, as any product should be judged.

If it does not work for you because it does not contain the features you use and need to use on a regular basis, that's fine. For what it can do as well as its overall completeness as an open source project for the masses, I think it really is quite attractive.

US gives thumbs up to OOXML for ISO standard

When is ISO not ISO?

When it's incorrectly called 'International Standards Organization' is when. Admittedly, it really does not make sense that ISO actually stands for International Organization for Standardization, given the order of the letters, but it's true! Go to their website and find out for yourself... and then, please get it right when publishing!

Inventor promises bottle-o-wind car in a year. Again

Heating things up

Heat may be an issue... but recharging is simple. Fitness clubs and other spots where spinning classes are taking place may hold the answer to that problem. Hamsters in wheels powering the world, but on a larger, more productive scale!

Drive-by download menace spreading fast

Browser doesn't matter if...

You're not smart enough to protect yourself.

Saying that the problem lies with web servers and that the solution starts there is like saying there's a problem with theft in high density urban areas and the police should do more to protect the people at large.

Just like you ought to lock your vehicle up to help protect yourself, you also ought to learn about how to block iFrames, VBScript, ActiveX and JavaScript - only allowing those things on a per-page or per-site basis as needed to get through your task.

If you're just surfing, why would you want your browser wide open to all those attack vectors?

Israel electric car project aims to wipe out oil

So...

Get on with it already! It's time for action. I'll not suggest the arguments on both sides are not worthwhile - they are indeed - but sometimes when you need to study something so indepth and complicated as switching to electric cars for an entire population of people, you just have to go ahead and do it, then study as it happens.

There will always be something wrong with it - but by doing it, you can discover first-hand what those things are and work toward solutions, improvements or compromises as necessary.

2009 is immediate enough - unlike anything ever bantered about by anyone in North America - and that makes it worthwhile to look into from all angles simply because they may actually go through with it in short order.

Validus backers banking on swing to DC

I can see benefit

If they're distributing +/-12V, +/- 5V and perhaps 3.3V it might be worthwhile. Running on 48V like telcos do is not a requirement, and never has been. The fact that telcos have a large market for 48V power products helps, for sure, but maybe these folks are making 12, 5 and 3 V products of the same nautre?

Either way, now you've got one power source for all your stuff... could be efficient, but what if the rectifiers blow up? Battery power won't keep the data centre running long enough to replace those (likely specialty) parts.

Gibson plugs in self-tuning roboguitar

You may be forgetting something...

One benefit of this technology is the ability to recall preset tunings and perfect them in a couple of seconds.

During live gigs, performers often switch out their guitars so they can play the next song in short order... the tuning is different for those songs, so they need to switch to keep things flowing.

So, grinding one axe for all songs may speed things along and give your fans more bang for their buck.

WolfKing howls about wacky gaming keyboard

USB 1.1?

Give me a break... when are manufacturers finally going to wake up and get with the fact that USB 1.1 is becoming increasingly useless for file transfers?

Why should I even contemplate a new keyboard with a USB hub in it if I have to plug my 4GB USB memory device into my computer tower anyway?

If the design wasn't reason enough to boycott this thing, the lack of foresight and keeping up with standards certainly is, in my humble opinion.

Canada wins the great co-ed cluster challenge

Voltage

Erm, no... in Canada the voltage can be anything, just as it can in any other part of the world. Just because the standard AC outlet hovers around 120V, does not mean they didn't have two (or more) phases available. 208V or 240V are just as likely to be available as 120V in North America, depending upon the venue.

And if I am not mistaken, SC07 took place in Reno, NV... nowhere near Canada.

brainwrong is right... 26A means nothing out of context. Maybe it's 26A on the 5V rail - i.e. one standard power supply. We may never know.

Yahoo! assists! searches!

Sick of Web 2.0

Saying something is Web 2.0 is like saying you're sick.

You could be sick of work, sick from inluenza, sick from cancer, or somehow mentally afflicted, but unless the sickness is named, it means nothing at all.

I'm sick of everything being called Web 2.0. Can we dispense with the vague sickness and get to specifics without having to dig for them?

ODF calls time on da Vinci coding

Bummer, sorta

I've been using OpenOffice.org for years - since before it was known as such, in fact - and will not touch MS Office, ever. I used WordPerfect before OOo.

I agree completely re: MS Office users who don't pay for it learning it then using it in their jobs (where it is paid for,) and it is a sad state of affairs indeed.

It would have been nice for MS Office to be able to produce ODF documents as an option - it would make the world a better place for web development etcetera, where there could be one standard easily accessible and useful to all. So MS Office won't play with standards, and that is not news. I am happy to use something that will.

If familiarity is the only reason that a product is a household name, then there are just too few of us with rational thought operating computers today. Where's natural selection when you need it most?

Real Media attacks real people via RealPlayer

Real Dumb?

Okay, Real Networks, Real Media and RealPlayer aside, who actually wants to look at ads all day as they surf the web anyway?

Seeing just a few people actually admit to it begs my next question: why are people not blocking it - all of it?

Ask your friend who knows a little about computers if you do not - and get into a real browser with plugins to block JavaScript, ads, iframes, and pop-up windows... if your favourite website uses those things, at least you can get to the meat and potatoes more quickly, and (so it seems) have fewer intrusions into your already cluttered computing life. Play safe.

DRM on steroids controls backfires on Blu-ray

Let it come

Let the DRM come in full force on Blu-Ray; let the consumers rise up in arms and stop buying the garbage; let us put Sony in their rightful place for trying to force their shabby schemes upon us.

Computer glitch nixes death row appeal in Texas

maybe, again

And again, maybe it wasn't wise of the defendant to murder someone, let alone in a state where capital punishment exists.

But more importantly, if you're smart enough to pass the bar exam and make a (presumably) six-figure income, why are you not smart enough to use a computer, or hire someone who can?

Yahoo to start optimising for mobile

Anyone heard of CSS?

'Nuff said.

Apple's Safari 3: a crashing experience for non-US users

Saddle up!

It's time to get over yourselves as IE6/IE7/FF/Opera/whatever web coders, and stick with the standards as defined by the W3C et al wherever possible. When the browser fails to live up to its basic tasks (ALL of them do to some extent) then we are no further ahead.

I enjoy using Safari on a Mac and I welcome its arrival on the Windows platform. I must use both in my daily life and I adore Safari's CSS support. Have you ever seen CSS drop shadows work on Windows? No, I thought not... with Safari they do.

Cheers, Apple. Iron out the wrinkles and let the competition heat up. It's time for standards support instead of just more gimmicks!