
Let me explain the ownership of .org
...have ya seen those Russian Matryoshka Dolls? Yeah, like that but with slime oozing out every time you peel back a layer.
37 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Jun 2013
Dropping phones is rarely the issue it's the insistence on not keeping the phone in a decent case is where the idiocy lies.
The manufacturers are partly to blame by creating products that look fantastic: all glass and shiny and sleek lines and stuff! And who doesn't want to display their awesome naked beauty :)
Thing is, even a 5 eurodollarpound case obviates a trip to the repair shop if people weren't so vain and lazy.
"This time the deadline was imposed by Indiegogo, which told RCL to deliver a production-ready Vega+ console to its US HQ by yesterday. The crowdfunding website handed RCL that deadline at the start of June, as we reported."
Did Indiegogo pay their £100 pledge like everyone else or are they expecting to get free stuff?!
Haha! Almost exactly my set up :)
I limit general surfing to a Linux running inside VirtualBox, games playing to the Windows host and all my "work" on a Windows VM running on a separate Hyper-V server. Maybe it's slightly annoying switching between the three but speed-wise it's barely any different than running it all through one Windows PC.
I take your point on OTT firewall settings though. On my next rebuild I'll take your tip and drop the "work" VM completely off the Internet and make it LAN-access only. I'll probably also dump my Windows Server in favour of something like FreeNAS. The only attack vector I'll probably leave open (purely for convenience) is sharing the clipboard between machines.
If you think of it like this: what do you need Windows or OSX for (the former being the most dangerous) I can only make a case for games and Visual Studio.
Oh and a shout for GlassWire, not particularly efficient but very beautiful firewall monitor :)
Thanks for flagging that up. I'd looked at Hyper-V's GFX options for a project a while back, I may have a tinker with the Linux options for my main server.
I was aiming to refine my idea to help out the sort of client who's paranoid about security but not capable enough to handle qemu and the like:
- Download VirtualBox
- Import Linux VM with Chromium or Firefox pre-installed
- Don't surf from host machine
- Profit!
I'm looking at a minimalist Debian install and Chromixium, the latter also being an excellent choice for recycling old laptops.
I keep a copy of Visual Studio running on a virtual machine. It's a fairly hefty program to load up and, if my main PC went down (hardware fault, hackers, etc.) at least I could still work even if that meant using a landfill tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard! VS runs fine like this as long as the VM and RDP can keep up with my typing.
So, keep my work safe... from what? What is the most dangerous thing on my PC? I must have loads of programs that access the Interwebs, e.g. on-line gaming, but the web browser is now the number one attack vector by a very large margin.
I've been isolating the wrong application.
From what I've seen of VM Ware, Virtual Box and Hyper-V recently, performance has gone up dramatically certainly enough to play YouTube vids - with audio - even over a LAN RDP connection. Hell, Hyper-V has some Direct X support to run games. Web browser, no problem.
Okay, so I relegate the browser to a VM and as a side effect I could run my main machine through a much tighter firewall (as it'll barely need 'net access) mitigating some of the privacy issues in Windows 10 et al.
Any thoughts on choice of VM, operating system and browser for "a rich web experience" ?
Hydrogen - annoying to make, store or use
Natural Gas - already has distribution system, can be stored compressed, liquefied or adsorbed
LPG - slightly easier to store than natural gas but not widely distributed
Petrol/Diesel - very easy to store, existing distribution
All these can go into a conventional engine with some modification. Not a particular "clean" way of utilising the energy though and losing half your boot space for another/different tank would be a shame.
However, there has been some research into fuel cells that run on Natural Gas. Apparently they can be up to 60% efficient with the "waste" being heat (which could be piped into the cab for dear old Blighty summers!)
They do need some "warm up time" so you'd have a similar set up as this: small bank of Lithium Ion batteries for rolling away until the fuel cell is running. Basically replacing the conventional engine of existing hybrids.
Sounds like the way to go: still hooked on fossil fuels but killing the planet at a much slower pace, win win!
...why not use LTSB?
From wikipedia (so it must be true!)
"Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB (Long Term Servicing Branch) is the same edition as Windows 10 Enterprise but will not receive any feature updates and gives companies more control over the update process."
Weight... Doh! You got me there. I suspect the metal on all those extra ports add up :)
As for "Apples vs Oranges" this might be the easiest hackintosh given the identical chipset. Don't fancy the keyboard differences and the lack of touch screen support in OSX though.
Still, given the Yoga's £550 to £600 price tag it really shows you're paying for style.
...buy the Lenovo Yoga 3 Vanilla (i.e. not the Pro) it's the same chipset, same size, similar spec.
Differences:
- Screen, only 1920x1080 but reasonable for the screen size
- Only 128GB flash drive but you do get a SD card slot
- Plastic so not as durable but a lot lighter
- Micro HDMI port
- Full size USB 3.0 port, full size USB 2.0 port
- Oh, and a socket that looks a lot like USB... actually a custom charge port that doubles as USB 2.0!!! Did I mention the Lenovo charger can also double as a standard 5V/2A phone charger?
For an engineer on the go all over the City you can only cry over a missing Ethernet port. As you have soooo many USB ports (for such a titchy laptop) a USB to Ether adaptor is bearable :)
...that there are two people in this world.
When I was a child, it was Good vs Evil.
When I was an adolescent - and cognisant of politics - it was Left vs Right,
When I was a young man (and heavily into AD&D!) I thought maybe it was about Order vs Chaos...
Now as a man, a father and a grandfather I realise what it's about, what it's always been about:
* Regressives vs Progressives *
You know that line "it was always better back in the old days" one?
It's a lie: it was better then because ignorance and superstition meant *They* were in charge but now we have knowledge "We" have taken power. The frustration of power slipping through the fingers of the so-called "righteous" will see a lot more of this sort of thing.
We, the people, seek knowledge. With that knowledge we might attain freedom. This must be stopped at all costs, say the righteous who fight freedom at every turn.
And so it is with a telescope... not a shopping mall, not an industrial park but a scientific development made by people so "right on" as to relocate 35 rare frogs from the building site if they have to!
There are fights to pick but this one? Way to look like regressive chumps :(
...I welcome this: more choice = good.
Besides, it makes my life easier. ATM I have to swap between .NET (main line systems) C (small scale Arduino prototypes) and Linux/Python (complex Raspberry Pi prototypes.)
Just using one toolset and jettisoning Arduino (£10 vs £30? forgetaboutit) happy days!
The E-cig charger moniker on this story is new but otherwise this is just the already known "subverted USB device" attack vector.
"Oh, you went to charge this £30 landfill Android tablet and you found an Autorun virus on the flash storage? Shocking!"
En principe, PC USB ports are not for charging! Get a mains-to-USB adapter pls :)
In one 45min phone call I kept saying I couldn't get onto the logmein site due to my employers' hardware firewall. "Oh, what sort of work do you do?" "If I told you that... I'd have to kill you." and the guy just laughed and carried on with the spiel! The ignorance is staggering. I wonder if these are all just English students and their lecturer has set this as some final exam...
All gone now. I have a phone that directs all withheld, unknown, international or VOIP numbers to voice mail. It's so quiet I'm almost tempted to switch it off :)
Pah! The cumulative misery they have created... also first against the wall are those f*ckers who think click-fraud browser extensions are a decent living :(
Jeez, what's wrong with getting up in the morning (or afternoon if you're lucky) and doing some honest work?! "How was your day, honey?" "Great! Scammed a dozen old dears out of their pensions!"
Yeah, "inconsistent" that's the word I was looking for, thanx :) Other than that I took one look at the new Start Menu and thought "doh! so simple, they coulda done that any time on Windows 8" definitely makes more sense on a desktop.
However, I've been loading Win8(.1) on a few recent device just for kicks (bit perverse I know) and the tiles idea does seem to lend itself better to both big screen devices (TVs, media PCs) and touch screens (EPOS terminals) a conventional Start Menu is a bit "fiddly."
Bit odd though: you can switch back to the old Start Screen if you like but you need to log out/in to see the change. Classic Shell let you have the best of both worlds, bunch of slackers at M$ :)
Nice touch is that, when it sees a pen, the stylus is used for drawing and fingers are used for panning :)
Yes I can create and name notebooks and sections but I can't seem to rename the individual pages :(
Edit: easy to do from desktop OneNote, even converts handwritten titles! Only seems to work on Android if you type into the top line, clunky :(
Hi guys,
Was at a job the other day and the client commented on my watch: it has a slight cyberpunk-vibe about it but the thing is...
"See this? Note 3, one of the most powerful pieces of personal technology in all human history. And this? No quartz crystal, no battery, self winding... I like the irony of the contrasting designs."
Setting aside the fact that there are phones out now that are a touch more powerful with slightly better screens and cameras (but no pen, sometimes no IR blaster even) the Note 3 is, for this argument, some tasty tech.
Driving back to the office I thought "yeah, probably more powerful than all the world computing power combined at some point..."
So here's the question: if one were to add up all the mega-flops, RAM and what have you from say 1957 would the Note 3 be more powerful? What year would the Note 3 *equal* total world computing power?
Could be a nice branding exercise for Intel, AMD or ARM:
"Yes, sir, this is the new Intel World '67 processor. That's right, sir, this baby is as powerful as *all* the computers from 1967! Does sir have a 1150 socket 'board?"
Regards,
Andy
Yes, this whole thing about "mining is creating the technology not the actual digging" has reminded me of my dad's old industry before he retired: English China Clay (or Kaolin.) I say "English" only because my dad said the stuff washed out of Cornish pits was a lot better quality to start with than the crap from Brazil. But then, they *really* only need a shovel for their stuff, no high pressure monitors and vast water supplies...
Anyhoo, the amusing thing was he worked in what he called the "L.A. Plant" which hung off the coat tails of the main refinery and did all the experimental stuff. In the end the "product" they produced from the "spoils" of the main refinery ended up as being the better quality item which at the time made no sense to me (I was about 12) but it makes a lot more sense after reading this, thanx Tim :)
They also tried some clever extraction techniques to get tin and copper from the waste but it didn't turn out to be economical. Funny, I think the L.A. Plant was doing so well at one point they were considering recycling the old waste tips from a century ago as there wasn't enough waste from the main refinery!
Actually I think you'll find that civilisation has been built on drugs:
You don't actually think that growing grain for food had much impact on early, post-nomadic societies do you?! No, someone was storing grain in large ceramic jars and had a roof leak. Later, when they went to clear up the store room, they discovered something had happened... something wonderful!
BEER!
And from then on there was a real *enthusiasm* for agriculture :) E-cigs are just the same: nicotine isn't synthetic it's extracted from the same sort of tobacco leaves grown for analogue cigarettes.
This is about the transition of a device from direct burning vs use of electricity. Take a look at the history of gas light vs the electric light bulb for instance.
@Richard Plinston
A 10" Windows tablet with charging and two USB ports?! Sign me up, I really, really *need* one of those. Do tell :)
Bluetooth keyboards? Another device to charge or supply batteries? No thanks, we have enough :P
Numpties: don't let them mess with micro-USB ffs... I've know ppl break full-size USB ports forcing them in upside-down, micro doesn't stand a chance. Resilience is not the design's selling point :(
@Shane Sturrock
I feel your pain, buddy. My laptop is Windows 8.1 with that stupid Secure Boot feature and I have to boot up VirtualBox just to write a boot sector on a USB memory stick! "Soz, bootsect not safe for you buddy!" If it wasn't for 100% of my clients being on Windows I'd take Linux and even OS10.x as my main system any day.
I got a Surface - ARM, version 1 - for a work project and it has (along with the Pro series) two killer punches nothing else has:
Full sized USB port and a proper charging socket
Okay, my Asus T100 has a port on the keyboard and everyone bar Apple has micro-USB... which usually does double-duty as a charging socket. Fine, for considerate, technical people but you can't give most tablets to numpties: you can't trust 'em with micro to full USB adapter leads. You also can't charge and plug in an external device at the same time. *And* you can only shove 2 amps over micro USB... it's an embuggerance!
Why oh why, Microsoft, make a true business-class tablet for peanuts (ARM version) and then say you can't use it for business?! Store apps only :( That might float for the phone, but the ARM tablet is a failure due to a *policy decision* and jeez, no one would actually care to figs for the processor. Five minute recompile job in Visual Studio.
Microsoft, you had 2 years head-start over the competition (for Windows tablets) and you pissed it up the wall.
Tablet that sits happily on lap? Asus T100
Tablet with separate charging socket? HP Omni 10
Tablet cheap as chips with no need to go through Store? Toshiba Encore
I might not get my full-sized USB port on-tablet any time soon but hey, give it another year for Asus, HP, Tosh, Dell, Acer, et al to shamble towards some better designs 'cos it's not like Microsoft are gonna press their advantage :(
/rant:off
Reminded me of the old Not the 9 O'Clock News sketch! Couldn't find it on YouTube but readers of a certain age will recall...
Regarding the economics discussion (and there is sooo much going on here!) I think the concept everyone misses is.... BALANCE!
Reactionary politics and extremism are easy-peasy but maintaining balance is hard work and a thankless task so no one ever bothers with it :( Funny, I came to this conclusion after playing Ultima VII. In the second part of the game the plot revolved around the forces Order versus Chaos and, much like the real world, the characters representing Balance were few but vital to the game.
It's the first game I ever encountered with subtle discussions around religion, politics and philosophy being essential to play. The spiritual successor Skyrim owes a lot to Lord British :) Funny what sticks with you over the years!
...and R-Swipe, priceless!