Search results

  1. Mercutio

    Windows 8

    I suspect that unless sales numbers are absolutely stellar, the market will declare it a failure and furthermore we'll get a whole bunch of "the age of the PC is over" nonsense out of the tech press. I don't think Windows 8 is going to be particularly well received, but this could be the start...
  2. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I have no idea. My students say the places in Hammond tend to be priced higher. Personally I think letting off Fireworks anywhere near other people should be grounds for summary execution. But whatever. There are definitely two giant warehouse stores at Burns Harbor.
  3. Mercutio

    Happy St Jean-Baptiste Day

    Practice things like this. You'll have to work on looking innocent and sincere when you say them, though. "It tripped." "No, I don't know how that dent got there." "That server made me do that to it." "Sometimes you have to hit one to keep the rest in line."
  4. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Well SD, you're pretty much driving right by my apartment and my office. There's a giant red barn-thing that's just off the US20 Burns Harbor exit on 80-94 that is by far the biggest fireworks store in our little corner of Indiana. The places by the state line are actually priced a little higher...
  5. Mercutio

    Something Random

    To be honest, computer stuff is kind of boring right now. Hardware is at this ridiculous science fiction point where even the cheap stuff is generally pretty awesome, and the high end is simultaneously vast overkill and and legitimately affordable. We're really just left to be annoyed about...
  6. Mercutio

    Something Random

    This is one of those weeks when absolutely nothing is going to happen at work. If a national holiday falls on a Wednesday, they might as well call the whole week off. I have three classes scheduled this week and at the moment only one person has told me that they are coming to each of them.
  7. Mercutio

    Happy St Jean-Baptiste Day

    No, the ones from Ireland have pots o' gold and shamrocks on them and are called Leprechauns. time doesn't have any shamrocks or pots o' gold. Iceland, on the other hand, is pretty well known for the fact that its citizens are about as likely to believe in elfs as they are in Jesus.
  8. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Where are we with this "Hairy Polite Mexican" issue?
  9. Mercutio

    iPhone syndrome

    Real mobile platforms don't require all web browsers to be reskins of Webkit.
  10. Mercutio

    Happy St Jean-Baptiste Day

    time, as a little green elf-person, is clearly a native of Iceland.
  11. Mercutio

    media players, a questioneer.

    I'm not sure why, but Google Music appears to drain batteries faster than Winamp for Android. I'm guessing it's about a 15% difference, or maybe an extra 45 minutes of battery life from a full charge. I've been experimenting with it using the Evo in my car and it definitely plays longer if I'm...
  12. Mercutio

    Something Random

    If the company keeps it, then they have to manage its retention and make it available on request for legal matters. If they say "It's our policy to delete email", then they don't have to deal with the expense and probable damage associated with discovery of pertinent information contained therein.
  13. Mercutio

    The obligatory Blackberry thread

    My thinking is that Facebook has been rumored to want its own handset for a while, and RIM has its goofy messaging network with mega-millions of users.O Other than that, HP has WebOS already, Lenovo already does Android. Dell just exited the handheld market. Microsoft owns a chunk of Nokia and...
  14. Mercutio

    The obligatory Blackberry thread

    Facebook seems to be run and owned by morons with a lot of money.
  15. Mercutio

    The obligatory Blackberry thread

    This article seems to suggest that handset manufacturing is about as useful and productive as large-scale buggy whip assembly lines; RIM's massive downturn is just the tip of the iceberg for everyone who isn't Apple or Samsung. Granted that's a media-driven narrative but I do believe there's...
  16. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I hereby announce my support for re-titling SF's "Hairy Aussies" as "Hairy Polite Mexicans."
  17. Mercutio

    Storage Upgrade/Growth - Network Storage for Mac/PC

    Doing the NAS/quasi-NAS thing kind with a zillion drives of sucks because once you have that giant pool of direct-access disk space the temptation will be to fill it. And then you'll need more drives or a second set of them to create redundancy. And it's hot and (usually) loud. And there's the...
  18. Mercutio

    SoHo Gigabit Router?

    This is basic functionality we're talking about. Maybe not on the same level as, say, not supporting DHCP, but that crap is standard for everybody else for a really, really good reason.
  19. Mercutio

    PC Gaming = World of Suck

    My definition of fun has been vindicated. Suckass WWII FPSes and console ports don't get ORA books written about them.
  20. Mercutio

    SSDs - State of the Product?

    It's an inert, solid-state device with no moving parts. Obviously the cells are going to wear out eventually, but in theory electronics like that shouldn't wear out just for being powered on or off, right? I popped an SSD in a database server for the first time last night. Going by event logs...
  21. Mercutio

    Nexus 7 tablet

    DroidSeer will send commands to HomeSeer, if you have a copy of that. HomeSeer is kind of a be-all, end-all home automation tool. As far as tablets and their uses, there's amazing utility in just having an extra screen sometimes. My desktop right now has three large screens and I'm doing crap...
  22. Mercutio

    Storage Upgrade/Growth - Network Storage for Mac/PC

    You can get an LTO drive for around $1000. Tapes hold hundreds and cost under $20. This kind of backup will scale well to your near-term growth. For around $1000 you could also get three 4TB drives and assemble some kind of RAID or NAS setup, but then you've just got another problem in two years...
  23. Mercutio

    SoHo Gigabit Router?

    For the most part, people just plug the stupid things in and assume they're working but have none of you ever had to deal with a DSL connection that required a PPP login before it would start? That's not really uncommon.
  24. Mercutio

    SoHo Gigabit Router?

    I think I really don't care why they didn't do it. At the very least it should be an option. What the hell are you supposed to do if you have a non-Apple product and no functional connection to the internet to download their client? To me this is just another clear example of Apple doing things...
  25. Mercutio

    SoHo Gigabit Router?

    Yup. And after you install it, you get prompted to install all of Apple's other software when the Apple updater gets invoked. Granted that's only a minor annoyance, but when I configure a Netgear box it doesn't try to install 500MB of crap on my PC, either.
  26. Mercutio

    SoHo Gigabit Router?

    Yes. That totally helps everything for everyone who has to configure an Airport. TOTALLY. All we need is a $600 phone or a $300 mp3 player! We won't mention the habit of Apple's software updater trying to inflict Quicktime and Safari and itunes onto otherwise decent computers.
  27. Mercutio

    SoHo Gigabit Router?

    The things I don't like about the Airport Extreme are that it needs a goofy Apple setup program to be configured and their range really isn't all that great. But, yay, you get Airplay (which is, I don't know, something that means things to icap people) and time capsule support, which is kind of...
  28. Mercutio

    SoHo Gigabit Router?

    802.11ac is coming real soon now. Which could be something like 802.11n, where the standardization process took years and years. But it's the next big thing, with 80MHz channels and support for eight antenna configurations.
  29. Mercutio

    Stupid Google Tricks

    Found this on Boing Boing. A few of these I had never seen before.
  30. Mercutio

    Android phones: Tips, tricks?

    I wind up using both Winamp for Android of better format support, and Google Music, because it supports playback control on the lock screen and for times when I don't want to disturb my Winamp playlist just to listen to some music.
  31. Mercutio

    media players, a questioneer.

    Ars Technica just posted this long piece on the history of WinAmp. It's a surprisingly good read.
  32. Mercutio

    question Which Tablets

    The specs on the next-generation Nexus tablet are interesting: A 7" 1280x800 tablet with a quad-core 1.3GHz CPU and a $199 price tag and no lameass custom UI that has to be removed. That's a very nice combination of price and form factor, but I suspect it will be crushed by the weight of the...
  33. Mercutio

    Surface with Windows 8/RT

    Come visit Chicago. I'll take you on a tour of places that smell like moist ass. I don't even care which Apple store you start with, because they're all like that.
  34. Mercutio

    Samsung Drive

    I thought HGST (the brand name) went to Toshiba.
  35. Mercutio

    I'm getting married in October.

    Does she know that yet?
  36. Mercutio

    Samsung Drive

    There's still HGST as well.
  37. Mercutio

    Something Random

    It is about 20% cooler.
  38. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I don't know what a top gear is but actual lady (including stripper) feedback indicates that my car makes them more interested my wang.
  39. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Excuses, excuses. I guess you can't all be Element drivers like me. Unfortunately for your ladies. Who don't get to be Element riders. Was that too subtle?
  40. Mercutio

    Something Random

    From an undisclosed location at a minimum safe distance.
  41. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Sometimes the Cougtek's soundtrack takes a break from the Arnold Schwarzenegger musical oeuver to do something like this instead.
  42. Mercutio

    Something Random

    The confident Element driver is that rarest of man; one who who exudes confidence and virility, yet also the gentle patience of a devoted lover.
  43. Mercutio

    Something Random

    And of course it's Friday night and we're all on here. Don't you people have women to pay attention to?
  44. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I have zealous followers who will murder at the slightest provocation for that sort of thing. :P
  45. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Yes but those people are WRONG.
  46. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Option one: Buy a cheaper car and pay down your mortgage that much faster.
  47. Mercutio

    SSDs - State of the Product?

    You're in the vanishing market segment that might legitimately benefit from a hybrid drive right now. Personally I didn't think a Momentus XL did much besides make startup and resume faster but I guess that's still better than a kick in the teeth. Do remember that some notebooks offer the...
  48. Mercutio

    Something Random

    No, no. Being the Cougtek is kind of like being Tekno Viking except the soundtrack is the theme from Conan the Barbarian and the chorus dancers are various sorts of angry mustelids. It's pretty hard to miss that kind of thing. "Cougtek, what is best in life?" "To crush your mini-towers, see...
  49. Mercutio

    Something Random

    What ARE you people doing in that thread? It's a car. There can't possibly be that much to talk about.
  50. Mercutio

    Something Random

    How the hell do you break a debit card? Did you accidentally drop it on some kind of edged weapon? Was it frozen at the time? Were you half-stepping on it when you tried to pick it up? I joined a gym this week. It's air conditioned so it's automatically more comfortable than my apartment all...
Top