10 Ways to Get the Most Out of Technology

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by Platapus

I discovered a technological limitation with my Ipad yesterday.

I decided to take out subscriptions to several of the local news papers. It was supposed to be easy and convenient.

I found out that having puppies poop on your Ipad when it is displaying the newspaper is not a good strategic move.

Sometimes the "older" technology is still the bestest.

Above all in many cases, the technology has a different stamina, a bit like a woman actually,

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Why the inordinate love for "free". I have just the opposite viewpoint. There is nothing free when it comes to software.

When some company "gives" me "free" software, they have to get their money from somewhere/someone. Now why would someone pay a software company to give me free software? Out of the kindness of their hearts?

As I get older, I find that frequently I can't afford free any more. It is too expensive.

Should that also be true of game mods? The modders have to get their money from somewhere.

Most free software is created by programmers who do work for somebody, but also hate the "extras" that come with a lot of commercial programs, so they create a better version on their own time. After fighting with Adobe for the longest time I'm glad to find a PDF reader that doesn't infect my computer with all kinds of extra junk. The only problem I'm having now is that Adobe Reader won't let itself be uninstalled, and I can't figure out how to make it go away.

[antikristuseke]

Originally Posted by Platapus

I discovered a technological limitation with my Ipad yesterday.

I decided to take out subscriptions to several of the local news papers. It was supposed to be easy and convenient.

I found out that having puppies poop on your Ipad when it is displaying the newspaper is not a good strategic move.

Sometimes the "older" technology is still the bestest.

This brightened my day, thanks for that

[krashkart]

Originally Posted by the_tyrant

Of course, i'm a huge opensource supporter and occasional contributer too
(I work on ubuntu translation)

but still, opensource is still not enough to replace "every piece of commercial software"

Oh, now I see what you're saying. My "thinking" brain shut down last night.

Definitely not enough to replace all commercial software. At best only a small portion of it can be replaced. It's a pretty good dream but next to impossible to ever accomplish. I mean, I've tried running straight Linux systems to "unchain" myself from the ebil Micro$oft and never could stick to it. Games are an important staple group in my computing environment, and the *NIXes just do not support enough of them to make it worthwhile. I don't even go through the trouble of setting up WINE anymore... for all the time they've spent working on it, it still doesn't run enough Windows programs. There are commercial emulators that do a bettter job.

And of course, as you mentioned before, there is the issue of drivers. That's always been a thorn in my side. I must admit though that some hardware companies are much better with providing Linux modules than they were ten years ago.

[the_tyrant]

Originally Posted by krashkart

Oh, now I see what you're saying. My "thinking" brain shut down last night.

Definitely not enough to replace all commercial software. At best only a small portion of it can be replaced. It's a pretty good dream but next to impossible to ever accomplish. I mean, I've tried running straight Linux systems to "unchain" myself from the ebil Micro$oft and never could stick to it. Games are an important staple group in my computing environment, and the *NIXes just do not support enough of them to make it worthwhile. I don't even go through the trouble of setting up WINE anymore... for all the time they've spent working on it, it still doesn't run enough Windows programs. There are commercial emulators that do a bettter job.

And of course, as you mentioned before, there is the issue of drivers. That's always been a thorn in my side. I must admit though that some hardware companies are much better with providing Linux modules than they were ten years ago.

I wasn't thinking straight yesterday either

anyways, i think React os (http://www.reactos.org/)
is the only non windows os that can actually threaten windows.

I mean, that os is a rewrite of windows, it supports everything windows supports. I think its a great idea, and the idea can really take off if it got the same attention as the bigger opensource projects

[Castout]

I'm downgrading my internet subscription because the ISP increased the bill from 30 to 40 bucks for a mere 2 Mbps service.

It's day 2 of 2011 I haven't seen the downgrade yet I already called them yesterday saying hey it was still 2Mbps connection. They said they were working on it and I willl only be charged for a 1Mbps service this month(22 bucks).

[antikristuseke]

What the... A 120mbit line here cots 26 euros a month. Jeez your are paying outrageously much.

[the_tyrant]

Originally Posted by antikristuseke

What the... A 120mbit line here cots 26 euros a month. Jeez your are paying outrageously much.

Are you joking?
120megabytes/second for 26 euros

you sure its not 120 megabytes per minute?

[antikristuseke]

120 Mbit/s via the isp Starman here in Estonia. Elion, their main competitor has a similar offering. No data transfer limits involved with either isp.

[DarkFish]

Originally Posted by the_tyrant

Are you joking?
120megabytes/second for 26 euros

you sure its not 120 megabytes per minute?

Very cheap indeed
Here in the Netherlands it's about €1 per MB.

[the_tyrant]

wow
and i though 7mb line for around $100 with a 120 gb cap was cheap

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Platapus

On a related note, I received an Ipad for Christmas. Very cool. But I find myself in a technological quandary: I have in my hands, a technological solution, but I don't have a problem this technology can solve. Kinda embarrassing. I find myself in a position of trying to find something this Ipad can do for me.... Which is not exactly how technology is supposed to work.

I was considering buying one for myself when I came to the same conclusion. What it can do is, for the most part, already accomplished in superior fashion by my phone, iPod, Kindle and internet. The TV and newspaper reader is cool, and if I commuted by train I would have a good reason for it. However, I can't use it and drive and I can't use it when I ride my bike to work, so the only times that I would be using it are when I am in proximity to one of the devices that already do what the iPad can do.

[antikristuseke]

Originally Posted by the_tyrant

wow
and i though 7mb line for around $100 with a 120 gb cap was cheap

Caped connections have never existed here, unless all ISP's went there at the same time, its not going to happen either.

[DarkFish]

Originally Posted by the_tyrant

wow
and i though 7mb line for around $100 with a 120 gb cap was cheap

Just doublechecked and it's around €1 per Mbit, not per Mbyte. Which makes it around €8 per MB (I hate MB and Mb, I just can't seem to remember which is which). Still twice as cheap as your ISP, and with a fair use policy, so essentially without cap.

But I guess Estonia must be much cheaper yeah.

[antikristuseke]

Small country with a highly developed communications infrastructure. It has its perks. Then again, the internet is used a lot here, I even file my tax return on the internet and it takes me about 5 minutes to do it.