General Chat

Are we all old-farts?

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:27:44 +0000

I called t-mobile customer service today. I wanted to know how I should dial someone if I want my caller-id blocked. I found this out by myself later- the service person really did not get my question. I thought it was fairly straight forward question but then I guess I have the experience of coming from a world where there was not only no caller-id but it could always be blocked on any phone. It seemed like the customer service person didn't have this experience or it was so long forgotten that it may well have never happened. It felt like I was informing my service provider that you can actually block one's caller-id.... a notion that I guess is now antiquated, my how privacy has changed. I am now old complaining about how things once were. I just assumed I would always be interested in new things, that I'd always keep with the times, but I had not fathomed how radically notions that I always thought where universal (like privacy) would change. I'm trying now to move forward and understand the motivations of the younger generation. My partner, who is exactly my same age minus 6 days, seems to have a different opinion about privacy then I do. For instance she checks-in to foursquare whenever we go out. That's something that I would of never done had it been left up to just me. So, that's interesting- I hope to learn how she views all this and perhaps I'll grow a little out of my old stubborn opinions in the process.

What are your opinions on this? Would you also consider yourself and old-fart on the topic?

decode a router modem

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 12:36:13 +0000

I've had my broadband line with ISP (A) for sometime. I recentely changed house and therfore my phone and internet line. The new ISP (B), supplied me with a new router modem and they set my internet accordingly. However, ISP (A) let me to keep their router modem. I've just bought a new PC for upstair room, and I thought I can use the first router modem with my new PC, but I could not. ISP (B) said I have to buy a new router modem from them. Is there any way to let the older router comunicate with my new internet line? Thank you

Training for new computer user.

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:03:28 +0000

I have set up a new Acer Laptop and DSL internet for a friend of mine who is 63 years old. This is his first computer and he has never used one before. I am having little luck in finding any type of very basic training for the first time PC user. He can do email and web browsing but that is all. Can anyone recommend any (preferably free) online training for the new user? He needs to learn about hardware and the basics of Windows 7.

anyone know where to look for structured cabling jobs in NYC?

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:28:30 +0000

getting tired of the treatment that i receive from my current employer, and am looking for something better..

i know this is not a job marketplace, so i apologize to anyone who takes offense at me posting this here, but i know that many of you are programmers, and IT professionals - who usually do not like pulling cables...

if any of you have any resources or somewhere to point me into the right direction I would appreciate it...

I have 5 years experience working I&R for Verizon..
and 5+ years working as the only inside wiring tech for a CLEC for a total of over 10 years cabling experience...
I also freelance for a VoIP company pulling CAT5 cables, and sub-contract with my uncle on occasion pulling CAT6 cabling in a hospital... i also have some hands on experience with CCTV and other low voltage cable runs/termination..

A Hello

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 04:43:47 +0000

Just a quick hello to all my BinRev friends. As some of you know, I've been away at Army basic training, and then AIT. I hope all is well with everyone.

Windows Media Center Themes

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 00:55:47 +0000

I'm too ~~busy~~ lazy to use Media Center Studio to make my own theme, but really don't like the standard one, and love customization. So please, if you've made a WMC theme, post it here. (and if you're willing to make one for me, I'd really like integration of the Dark Wood wallpaper- you can find it on DeviantArt)
If I get around to making one, I'll post it here.

getting certifications

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 23:30:38 +0000

i am looking to get some certifications..
with one full time job, two contract jobs, and a part time job, there is not much time for formal schooling, so i was wondering if there are any reputable places online where i can get certifications.. (so i can end up with just a single job that actually pays me a decent wage)

i saw this http://www.ncsacademy.com site, you can get certifications for $34 that are good for 2 years.. or become a member for $99 is the membership worth it? is this a reputable place where people will acknowledge the certifications? if not, what would you recommend?

Computer Problem

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 18:33:26 +0000

I built a new computer about a month ago and it was working fine until about a week or so ago. The specs are as follows: Biostar TA890-GXB HD motherboard,AMD Phenom II x6 2.8ghz 1055T processor,2x2gb of a-data 1600mhz gaming ram, and a ocz stealth xstream 500watt power supply. It started freezing while i was typing or working on something,everything would freeze keyboard, mouse,operating system. That would normally be after 30 minutes or more,but the time gradually became less and less until now where it does it every minute or the computer doesn't boot at all. When it does boot it comes up with a message and says "DQS training failed on previous boot,reverted to slower DRAM speed". I have tried taking each ram module out and running with the other in,but with no luck. I have also reset the bios to default and changed memory settings,which didnt work either. All the cpu and case fans are working and the cpu is not overheating. I have never overclocked the system. The system freezes wether it boots long enough to go into the operating system or wether im in the bios. Does anyone know what might cause this or have had similar problems?

Starcraft 2

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:10:20 +0000

No thread about it yet? Come on, where are you guys?

Ok, I'm nowhere near a real gamer, but I did play Starcraft a lot as a kid. I was also very disappointed at Blizzard for not releasing a Starcraft 2 earlier, and screwing up with Starcraft Ghost while releasing tons of new games of the Warcraft series which I never really liked. Starcraft came out in 1998, or 12 years ago... that's a lot of time. Now I only play games occasionally and I don't even have Windows or Mac OS X on my most powerful machine. Still, I went to the store and bought it during my lunch time, and I'll play tonight.

How to make quoted text show up on BinRev

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 06:34:50 +0000

Leaving this as an FYI :

All you have to do is highlight all the text and click the "text color" button on top and make it black. This will show the text in black so everyone can read it.

Particularly helpful when you're pasting in text from another website in quotes - imagine trying to do that and the text won't show up. This way it will every time. Here's an example :

Quote

See? Otherwise all you'll get is the usual white box with no text visible in it, like this :

Quote

However, changing the skin from Midnight Glow to another one does the trick as well.

Google announces Google TV

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 06:25:38 +0000

CNET article Here's the entire article :

Quote

May 20, 2010 11:22 AM PDT
First Google TV gadgets from Sony, Dish, Logitech
by Erica Ogg

Updated 12:15 p.m. PDT with quotes from a press conference following the announcements.

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim//2010/05/20/GoogleTVslide_610x407.jpg Some of the first Google TV products will be out this fall.

As Google looks to extend its empire to the living room, it's already lined up some heavy hitters in the consumer electronics world as allies.

On Thursday at the Google I/O conference the company announced its strategy for intermingling TV and the Web in home electronics via a platform dubbed Google TV. It's a technology that will be built into TVs, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, and other devices that will allow people to do things like use Google Search to find videos from the Web and whoever your channel service provider is, as well as watch full-screen YouTube videos, find shows on Hulu, buy TV shows on Amazon on Demand, among others.

The first partners include Sony, Dish Network, and Logitech. All of them plan to have their first Google TV-based products in stores by fall. Best Buy is going to be the first retailer to sell them.

Sony will have both a TV and a set-top box with Google's Android-based technology. The Sony Internet TV and a set-top with a Blu-ray Disc drive will go on sale in the fall. No price was provided.

"This will create whole new content experiences that can only be imagined," said Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony, in a press conference after the event. Sony already offers an oddly-named service called "Qricocity" for linking Internet-delivered movies to big-screen TVs, but Stringer thinks that the Google TV software can offer a much wider range of content because of the ease of switching between traditional television and the Web.

Dish Network will be handling the integration slightly differently. The satellite provider says any Google TV device can be plugged into their Dish Network receiver over HDMI and then use the Google TV search feature to find Dish content along with Web content and then save to their Dish DVR. Dish says its software will be updated on all its HD DVR receivers sometime this fall.

However, Dish customers will need to buy new boxes in order to make this happen, said Charlie Ergen, CEO of Dish Network. That's mainly because the software requires a special Intel Atom processor with special hardware acceleration for graphics.

Logitech also revealed a device it's calling a "companion" box that will run Google TV. It's a set-top that will hook up to any HDTV and will allow a person to use Google TV with any other channel service set-top box, whether that's TiVo, Comcast, Time Warner, or others. It uses the same technology inside a Harmony remote that configures all the entertainment devices in the living room to work together. The box comes with a controller that is a small keyboard, remote control, and touch pad for navigating the service. Later, Logitech will sell a camera that will let users make video calls from the TV, and an application that will let any smartphone act like a Google TV controller. Devices of "other form factors" are planned for later as well. The set-top will be available this fall.

Beyond these products, it should be noted that this is the beginning of a new partnership between Sony and Google. Besides the TV and set-top box, the two companies plan a more broad integration of Android and other Sony devices, for home, mobile, and personal technology .

Sounds cool but I can't wait till technology can do way more than this.

Forum bugs

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:31:46 +0000

I've found a few things wrong with the forums. I'll put them here just so someone knows.

Cant seem to update my status/displays old status with midnight glow skin. Updates fine with IP.Board skin.
No longer get a email when I get a PM.
Quote text is the same colour as its background.

Just Got my Graphite Kindle DX!

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:47:39 +0000

I just received my new graphite kindle dx today, and I have to say I am amazed. Ok, the user interface is certainly not close to an Apple product, but it does its job. I bought it because I want to read books with it, nothing else. For other tasks, I have my nexus one with me. It synced with my amazon.com account and downloaded all the books I had previously bought on my nexus one. I connected it to a computer, and it appeared as a mass storage device. I copied a couple of large pdf's on it (the whole set of RDP specification documents from Microsoft, and a couple of ITU-T standards) and that was it, they appeared right on the kindle. I had heard pdf's didn't display that well on previous versions of the kindle, but they display ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL on my graphite kindle dx. Never again I will spend all my printing credits on huge documentation, especially the RDP documentation which is over 2000 pages! I bought it with the amazon cover, and it looks very nice and professional. I love e-ink, even if it means that the device is dedicated to ebook reading (you can't do much more than read books with an e-ink display, it's too specific). I'm officially done with paper books. I've waited until ebook reader technology improves enough to fit my requirements, and I really am satisfied with it. With my favorite publishers like o'reilly supporting very well mobile ebook formats, what will I miss? I love it! I love it! *gets overexcited*

Now if you think that an iPad is better than a Kindle, you're wrong. You can't compare apple and oranges. An iPad definitely isn't a dedicated ebook reader, and has a screen best suited for multimedia purposes. The screen is harder on your eyes and it also sucks in sunlight because it uses a backlight. Here's my combination of devices to do everything I want:

Nexus One: GPS, internet access, email, news, phone calls, remote desktop, development system (nice ARM system), taking notes, photos, videos, tv remote, apps, basically everything. this thing is absolutely awesome. Can also be used as a temporary replacement of the kindle, with the kindle app.
Kindle: Paper book replacement. Much more convenient to use, and also damn lighter.
Laptop: Programming and school work when I'm not at home

Problem with IP Board Mobile Plugin

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:46:10 +0000

I really like the new IP Board plugin for mobile devives, the UI is really slick. There is one problem, though: the fonts are wwaayy too small on my iphone. To top that off, the mobile site doesn't allow one to use the "pinching gesture" to modify the size of fonts and layout. I've tried using Opera for the iPhone, which allows for changing the fonts size for webpages; however, setting it to the "large" font-size just makes the text microscopic, even smaller.

How can I enlarge the font size and still use the mobile version?

P.S. I've also asked this question in the IP boards official forums, but have yet to get a response that solves the problem. I've not really been on Binrev for a while, so sorry if this question has already been asked; there were no relevant hits in a quick search of the forums.

thanx.

edit: i've got a response from I.P. Board Admin telling my to upgrade to the latest firmware versiom... I can't (well do not) want to upgrade to iOS 4.X.; I use a lot of WiFi apps that have been removed from the Apple Store by the iGestapo. Hence, they will not function on iOS V 4.X.

How long does microsoft keep email records?

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:16:44 +0000

found this file flying by wikileaks. Thought I should draw some attention to it.

microsoft-spy.pdf (1.66MB)
: 15