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Messages - Brad

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1591
Hardware & Technology / Re: I remember when barcodes were new
« on: July 06, 2018, 06:22:55 PM »
>> No padding. No belts

Ditto.  Had one just like it.  In a panic stop, my mom's arm would swing out to try and hold me in place.  Dash board was solid steel.

No radial tires either.  You bought tires all the time because they didn't last long.

1592
Hardware & Technology / Re: I remember when barcodes were new
« on: July 05, 2018, 10:39:39 PM »
Oh yeah?  I remember when cans and food items had the price stamped directly on them with that purple ink price cathunker. 

1593
Marketing / Re: Businesses now have to let you cancel your subscription online
« on: July 04, 2018, 09:13:38 PM »
Quote from: ukgimp on July 04, 2018, 07:40:21 PM
A friend used to do direct mailing. They used to get all sorts of horrible stuff sent to them.

Best one though was a massive drum of water with the prepaid envelope. They had to pay for it ;-)

They got swiftly removed.

Brilliant!

Pre internet, Conde Nast used to be bad. 

1594
Hardware & Technology / Re: $17,000 Apple Watch supported for less than 3 years
« on: July 04, 2018, 05:16:49 PM »
I'm having trouble working up any sympathy.  My first CP/M computer cost a fortune in 1980's dollars and it was soon obsolete.  The old rule on computers (now also obsolete) used to be, "The computer you really want always costs over $5000."

That's technology.  That's the cost of being an early adopter.  Caveat emptor.

1595
Marketing / Re: Businesses now have to let you cancel your subscription online
« on: July 04, 2018, 01:59:15 AM »
That was my experience with the NYTimes.  Had to call to cancel.  I said to heck with that, my credit card was due to expire at the end of the month so I just let it go dead.  Will never subscribe to NYT again.

But that experience has kept me from subscribing to any other online paper. Not playing that game.

1596
Hardware & Technology / Re: Disney Imagineering has created autonomous robotic stunt doubles...
« on: July 02, 2018, 06:40:35 PM »
Right.  RC wants a robot puppy and a robot lawn mower.  I want a robot that shovels snow, including steps.

1597
Water Cooler / Re: blah
« on: July 02, 2018, 01:34:58 PM »
Congrats!

"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."  - Red Green

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Green_Show

1598
Hardware & Technology / Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« on: July 01, 2018, 09:17:36 PM »
I've often thought basic Home Ec should be required in either Middle School or High School: basic cooking, cleaning, laundry, how to sew a button on a shirt.

I remember taking a HS class called General Business.  We had to learn how to balance a checkbook, budget, how the stock market worked, types of life insurance, stuff like that.  It was not required but it should have been.  Stuff I learned in that class came in handy ever since.

1599
Hardware & Technology / Re: mastodon.social a decentralized, open source twitter alternative
« on: July 01, 2018, 12:04:06 PM »
Mastodon is gaining popularity in countries that are blocking Twitter and other social networks and/or where speech is controlled by the Government.

Ironically, the reverse is true.  A lot of people fleeing Twitter want some limits on speech.  Many Mastodon instances use "speech that is legal in Germany and France" as the guide in the TOS.

Littleman's right, the big thing is that nobody really controls Mastodon.  I'm a member of mastodon.social but I can follow and communicate with people on other instances and they can follow me.  But it extends further, you cna follow people on completely different but federated platforms.

There are other social networks growing:

Friendi.ca - is Open Source set up more like Facebook.  A lot of instances hosted in Germany.  Smaller adoption than Mastodon.  The script is more complex.  The instance I joined, the support was all in German.  It made it hard to ask for help in English, but somehow they fixed the problem. 

Micro.blog - this is a paid social network. No adverts. You  own your content.  Hard to describe: Superficially it resembles Twitter, but it is also 1. a bridge between blogs, 2. a photo blogging platform, 3. a micro podcast blogging platform.  It uses Indieweb markup to act as a bridge with blogs that are Indiweb compliant. 

Ads:  I'm not sure if Mastodon or Friendica scripts are set up to show ads out of the box.  It would be up to the owner of each individual installation and if they can code it.  Most seem to be asking for donations to defer costs.

There are other social network scripts out there, that are intended for smaller communities like forum replacements (ie. soccer clubs, local discussions, technical boards.)  Some of these say they are ready for ad network integration.


1600
Hardware & Technology / Re: mastodon.social a decentralized, open source twitter alternative
« on: June 30, 2018, 10:55:30 AM »
A lot of Mastodon instances are founded on a shared interest or topic: (ie. writers, IT, Linux, pagan, furry, goth, etc.) but many are just general topics like Twitter is. 

Each instance has a different set of community rules.  Mastodon was created to be an improved Twitter without the Nazis and the corporate silos, they are serious about that.  It reminds me of the early days of Twitter.

The script is Open Source so anybody can run an instance.  Dedicated hosts have sprung up where you can have Mastodon pre-installed.  So it looks like the whole ecosystem is being created.  This social network might have legs.


1601
Traffic / Re: Rising stars OS-wise in your web-hits?
« on: June 28, 2018, 10:37:31 AM »
Trend: Mobile OS's rising. This could be bad for desktop Linux.  We need a (not Android) Linux for tablet and Phone.

1602
Water Cooler / Re: Where's my damn robot mower?
« on: June 27, 2018, 11:58:51 AM »
>Brad

Nah, I don't know much at all.  I think there are a number of old threads about various types of household robots here which caused me to look into these a bit.  Plus I've got a bad hip which gives me an interest in not pushing a mower.  What I really want is a snow shoveling robot and a rabbit chasing robot to scare off the varmints.

I think in the earliest discussions here, the robot mower companies were all small and the mowers crude.  Some of those companies have survived but some bigger names have moved in too, all of which is good.

Rupert, your info is fascinating.  I got the impression from Youtube vids that the UK was way ahead of US in adopting these robot mowers, I didn't realize the Continent was also onboard, but it makes perfect sense.  And thinking of these mowers as a service rather than a one time sale opens up lots of business opportunities for someone.

1603
Traffic / Re: Rising stars OS-wise in your web-hits?
« on: June 27, 2018, 12:37:31 AM »
Very small sample on a new blog: lots of iOS.

1604
Water Cooler / Re: Where's my damn robot mower?
« on: June 26, 2018, 08:21:34 PM »
RC, narrow it down to a couple of likely models, then check Youtube for each model.  There are some handy tips in those videos.

One concern is about max mowing height.  One Husqvarna owner said he wished it mowed higher, because in the full heat of summer the low grass let sunlight hit the soil drying it out faster.  He had to run irrigation system more often.

For myself, I'd stick to name brands so you can get parts in the future.  The Husqvarna looks nice.

1605
Monetization / Re: Microsoft builds adblocking directly into Edge on mobile
« on: June 26, 2018, 11:04:41 AM »
It's a nice option.

I was trying to think of who would download Edge on iOS or Android, but it does make sense for people who do a lot of web browsing on a Win 10 desktop with Edge and want the same browser on mobile.  Also it's another choice so points to them.

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