Comments

Re: Story selection (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Why I Love Pipedot on 2015-09-12 10:37 (#JV7N)

Some things you can do under stories you can't do under direct comment links (like moderation)
Fixed. You should now be able to moderate (both inline with JavaScript enabled or form based with JavaScript disabled) on a comment page.
There's no nice user-summary page that shows your comments, moderation, reply counts, and submissions.
I started making the profile page more summary-like. Example: http://bryan.pipedot.org/summary

Re: Story selection (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Why I Love Pipedot on 2015-09-12 10:35 (#M7JT)

Replies are still sent as a link in a bare-bones e-mail.
Fixed. New notification system informs you when someone replies or moderates one of your comments

Re: needs to be better than me at what I want (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Google’s driverless cars run into problems with human drivers on 2015-09-12 07:46 (#M78Z)

Spotify (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Netflix claims you don’t really want offline video support on 2015-09-10 16:13 (#M1QH)

Spotify allows you to store your favorite music to play when you are offline. The interface to allow offline access is very simplistic and just a simple button in the App - hardly complicated at all.

Slashdot (Score: 2, Interesting)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Google selling targeted Gmail ads that look like emails on 2015-09-09 22:49 (#KZ4V)

Slashdot is doing this as well with a new type of ad that is located in the same location as traditional stories.

Better Plan Naming (Score: 2, Insightful)

by bryan@pipedot.org in T-Mobile cracks down on unauthorized tethering on "unlimited" data plans on 2015-09-02 23:00 (#K8Q8)

They should just stop calling their plans "Unlimited" and most of the confusion would disappear. If a dairy farmer sold you a "gallon" jug of milk but only put 3 quarts of milk in it, the FDA would rightly complain against the incorrect labeling. Likewise, if an ISP sells you an "unlimited" connection but then artificially limits your speed after certain defined caps, the FCC is justified by complaining about the incorrect labeling.

Re: How to future proof? (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in More than half of Australians training for soon-extinct careers on 2015-08-29 01:50 (#JSJJ)

Perfect answer. You sir, get a cookie. :)

Dedicated buttons (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Review of the Happy Hacker II keyboard on 2015-08-29 01:46 (#JSJ0)

Small keyboards look cute, but I still prefer having dedicated buttons for all the functions. Laptops need a "Function" button because they are small, but desktop keyboards shouldn't have any size limits if you aren't traveling with them.

Re: Not because polls are in polls... (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Monday Poll: why I love Pipedot on 2015-08-24 22:35 (#JBG3)

Links for this poll:

Re: When they're all the same . . . (Score: 3, Interesting)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Firefox aims to simplify cross-browser Extension development on 2015-08-24 18:02 (#JAS3)

I couldn't live with a browser that didn't have NoScript. The uMatrix extension for Chrome looks promising, but it is quite a bit harder to use than the simple Firefox+NoScript combination.

Re: Additional sensors for dynamic HVAC (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in I'd like to see some innovation in: on 2015-08-17 17:52 (#HN7V)

Michael, from Phoronix, had an interesting rant today about his Nest system malfunctioning. Apparently he has 10 of the wifi-connected temperature/fire sensors and one of them started to misbehave, leading all of them to propagate the faulty alarm code and blaze their alarms.

I liked his sledgehammer approach to deal with the malfunctioning unit. :)

Re: Additional sensors for dynamic HVAC (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in I'd like to see some innovation in: on 2015-08-17 17:39 (#HN6N)

Maybe I misunderstand your idea, but it sounds like you want an ultra-high-tech system that can be more easily solved by an inexpensive low-tech one.
Indeed. Instead of investing in an expensive and complex set of electronics, upgrade the underlying physical system instead. When upgrading my own house, my first instinct was to "make it smart" with fancy thermostats, multiple zones, and plenty of monitoring. However, after weighing my options, I realized far greater gains can be made by simply buying a correctly sized efficient HVAC system. My new system is twice as efficient (26 seer vs 13 seer) and performs much better than any amount of electronic trickery could have acomplished.

One more step... (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Natural gas surpasses coal as top source of electricity in US on 2015-07-24 20:45 (#FBVJ)

Now we just need to convert excess solar energy produced during daylight hours to methane (Sabatier reaction) to power these natural gas generators.

Methane (natural gas) is much easier to store than the raw hydrogen produced from electrolysis.

Re: Pipedot email (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Large Hadron Collider discovers new pentaquark particle on 2015-07-16 15:49 (#EH36)

Although the external email system is still undergoing testing, the internal messaging system (messaging other users from within the site) is working. The main concern for enabling SMTP is that I don't want to require users to wade through mountains of spam messages on a daily basis. Therefore, I've left the mail server off until I'm satisfied with all of the SpamAssassin/SPF/DNSBL/etc functions.

Re: Land size vs water availability (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Half of the world's biggest aquifers are being depleted on 2015-06-29 07:11 (#CQZH)

We are getting a water desalination plant in San Antonio, where I live. Even though we are pretty dang far from the coast, the bottom half of our aquifer is brackish and too salty to drink. The desalination plant will clean up the (slightly) too salty water so that we can suck the rest of the aquifer dry that we otherwise had to ignore. :)

Direct Link (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes after launch on 2015-06-29 07:03 (#CQYZ)

Wow, everything looked fine until it didn't. Announcer even said "vehicle on course, on track" a second before it went poof and disappeared.

Direct YouTube link.

Re: want more (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Going deeper into neural networks on 2015-06-24 23:28 (#CBJ1)

Plus, the processed images look neater than the original artwork.

Re: they are smart (Score: 2, Funny)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Washington breaks ground on its first animal overpass on 2015-06-21 00:29 (#BYD8)

Better solution than those problematic deer crossing signs! :)

Texas (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Forty US states expect water shortages in the next decade on 2015-06-20 08:57 (#BWQS)

The other 64% of Texas is getting record rainfall this year. Seriously, it seems like it has rained nearly every day this year (makes for crappy solar production on my rooftop panels!) I live in San Antonio, and we've gotten 3 inches in the last day alone. One of the lakes here has risen 70 feet in the last month or two.

Re: Terminator (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Behind the scenes at the DARPA Robotics Challenge on 2015-06-19 20:22 (#BVEX)

Or what will happen eventually. Remember: Judgement day is inevitable. You can only postpone it.

Safari on iOS (Score: 2, Interesting)

by bryan@pipedot.org in The Case for VP9 on 2015-06-12 19:48 (#B3WP)

The main holdout for VP9 is now the Safari browser on iPhone/iPad devices. All the other browsers can play VP9 either natively or by cheating a little by installing a plugin (IE and Safari on OSX.)

Re: just uninstall/disable flash (Score: 2, Informative)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Security updates for Adobe Flash Player flaws that could lead to info theft, malware attacks on 2015-06-11 03:54 (#AXEE)

Running with NoScript will keep the plugin mostly disabled. NoScript shows a static placeholder in its place so that, if you decide that you want it, you can easily activate the one specific element by clicking it.

Re: It's just like Cable TV (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Netflix is running ads, which it insists aren’t ads on 2015-06-04 17:40 (#AEAW)

I'm still using the original Netflix delivery method: Physical discs mailed to me once a week.

Sure, there are previews and other types of bonus material on DVD/Bluray discs, but they can be easily skipped with the method I use to watch them.

Re: There are computer generated articles.... (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in State of the Art-Novel InFlow Tech-Featured Project Development; 1-Gearturbine RotaryTurbo 2-Implotu on 2015-06-03 16:01 (#ABR4)

My editorial style mostly comes from what I saw was horribly wrong with summaries over there... Far too many were superficial, inaccurate, one-side pablum, which resulted in the vast majority of comments being readers trying (much like Sisyphus) to correct the misinformation or slant of the summary on each story.
I've been considering a slight tweak to the pipe submissions and story edits to combine them and give them more of a "wiki" style. This would mean that pretty much everybody would get an "Edit" button and would be able to make changes to a story. Obviously, like a wiki, abusive edits would need to be easy to identify and revert but it could potentially alleviate some of the easy editing problems. Far too often, I see an editor get blasted in comments about a simple spelling error or a similarly trivial problem. Editors, like evilviper and zaffiro17, spend a lot of time and effort to create wonderful summaries and it's discouraging to see the first 10 comments quibbling about a spelling error! But what if users could easily fix it themselves? Would empowering users with editing abilities be more of a help or a hindrance?

Look at the recent Sourceforge Gimp article on Slashdot. The editor is attacked by the users for:
  1. Being late at accepting the submission
  2. Not editing the two merged submissions enough
  3. Being part of a some type of cover-up or conspiracy
  4. Slanting the story to favor the corporate overlord
Perhaps normal users wouldn't see themselves and editors as such distinct classes if everyone where more equal. Almost like promoting someone to their level of incompetence.

Re: A bit embarrassing... software developer for years.... (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in June Will Be 1 Second Longer on 2015-06-02 21:32 (#A9XW)

Sorry, my fault. Language translation temporarilly dissabled again.

Re: Genetic similarities (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Early humans left Africa through Egypt, not Ethiopia, study says on 2015-06-02 21:27 (#A9X4)

Seems I borked the automatic language translation system again. I've disabled it for now and will hide these inadvertent double posts.

Re: There are computer generated articles.... (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in State of the Art-Novel InFlow Tech-Featured Project Development; 1-Gearturbine RotaryTurbo 2-Implotu on 2015-06-02 21:23 (#A9X3)

From time to time I drop the |. url on /.. Should I not doing this?
By all means, keep it up! Pipedot is pretty small with no current method to gain new eyeballs other than through word-of-mouth.

Sorry for the double-posts. Testing the (seemingly broken) language translation.

Re: New heights in hyperbole (Score: 3, Funny)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Computrace backdoor exposes millions of PCs on 2015-05-28 07:27 (#9XH9)

Re: New heights in hyperbole (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Computrace backdoor exposes millions of PCs on 2015-05-27 20:23 (#9WKF)

Err, interesting, I was kinda expecting that link to get mangled as well since it contained a fragment. Seems it's only happens when the word boundary is preceded by slash, or similar character.

Re: New heights in hyperbole (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Computrace backdoor exposes millions of PCs on 2015-05-27 20:11 (#9WJT)

Sounds easy to install (Score: 2, Interesting)

by bryan@pipedot.org in LG unveils paper-thin 55-inch OLED TV that sticks to the wall with magnets on 2015-05-25 01:33 (#9PC2)

After installing a number of HDTVs to the wall with complex (and expensive) mounting brackets, a simple magnet mounting mechanism sounds like a dramatic improvement. Just mount an iron plate (or a few smaller plates) to the wall and then the TV just sticks in place.

Although the panel in the picture is certainly flexible, it doesn't look flexible enough to roll up into a tube. Imagine how much cheaper shipping would be if your new "giant" TV came in a slender tube instead of a large rectangular box that needed 2 people to pick up.

Re: In SciFi predictions (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Driverless cars may reduce U.S. auto sales 40% by 2040 on 2015-05-21 17:33 (#9G3B)

But in recent years; Toyoda, Volkswagon, and Hyundai all make more cars than any of those American manufacturers.

See Also (Score: 2, Informative)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Security researcher controlled passenger jet via inflight entertainment system on 2015-05-17 21:31 (#97MJ)

Previously #7NYM

Re: This looks awesome (Score: 2, Informative)

by bryan@pipedot.org in GNU Mailman 3.0 is out ! on 2015-04-29 16:03 (#828W)

LWN had a brief review of Mailman/HyperKitty a few weeks ago here: #5XX6

Re: Not very enticing... (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Project Fi - Google's take on mobile phone service on 2015-04-27 04:09 (#7WX8)

And where the hell did the Moderate button disappear to?
Because changing the drop down option will immediately change the moderation when you have JavaScript enabled, the "button" is not needed. However, if you turn off JavaScript in your profile settings, the moderate button will be visible and must be pressed to submit the form.

Re: This is huge (Score: 2, Interesting)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Norway to shut down all analog FM radio on 2015-04-21 22:00 (#7HQE)

The few FM music stations we have in my area seem to have the equivalent music selection of a single disc CD player. Seriously. They play the same few songs over and over again, ad nauseam. Also, there are far more ads than songs played in any given hour.

What I find promising is the independently selected streaming services, like Spotify, that just use your wifi Internet connection (or eat some of you LTE data plan) to send you only the music that you actually want to hear.
  • all songs are on demand and selectable by the user
  • the playback is perfect (no static or crosstalk with other stations like FM)
  • subscriber based with no ads (I would rather pay a few bucks a month instead of listening to hours and hours of ads)
  • can make use of prefetching (queue up some data while on the strong wifi connection) and even storing your favorite songs (for when you have no data connection)
  • you can see the cover art and other meta information about the song
  • Spotify uses the Vorbis audio codec and has hinted on (eventually) switching to the Opus audio codec
P.S. Everyone knows that DRM stands for Direct Rendering Manager.

Re: Oh well (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Pipedot adopting Esperanto on 2015-04-02 01:12 (#68MY)

Heh. He certainly likes to paste the same wall of text over and over again. Switching the default language of the site to a constructed language for a few hours was evil enough for one day.

Re: this is a test (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Pipedot adopting Esperanto on 2015-04-01 16:12 (#67JZ)

And the test reply, for good measure.

this is a test (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Pipedot adopting Esperanto on 2015-04-01 16:11 (#67JY)

This is a test posted after disabling translations.

Re: God this is fantastic (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Pipedot adopting Esperanto on 2015-04-01 15:54 (#67HZ)

Doh! Hit the daily translation limit of the Google Translate service. Flipped the default back to English for now.

Re: Inline reply (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Similar news and inline comment replies on 2015-04-01 06:18 (#66HK)

The story appears immediately, the comments take about 10 seconds.
10 seconds? Using firebug, my worst case (even on stories with more than a hundred comments) is around 40ms to load the comments. The JavaScript version of comments is just a rather small JSON request and shouldn't take nearly that long.

However, if you are using an older computer with a weak CPU or network connection, I would highly recommend disabling the WYSIWYG editor. I've tried several other editor libraries but have currently settled on the rather bulky CKEditor. With 2 megabytes of JavaScript spread over 200 files, CKEditor is kind of a pig. I may switch to an different editor if the library gets any more bloated or if I find a lighter weight alternative.

Nice, all natural, organic, plant list! (Score: 4, Informative)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Consumer product containers with non-stick coating coming out this year on 2015-03-28 01:17 (#5Y1Y)

Zoom (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Large Text Support on 2015-03-23 10:00 (#5H2N)

Modern browsers, including nearly every mobile browser in Android and iOS, no longer support scaling the text separately and rely on the "Zoom" feature exclusively.

Re: Google Yanks Another One (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Google Code Shutting Down on 2015-03-16 06:45 (#50PV)

But Google could shut down it down tomorrow because: GMail is not making money (search), is not a strategic investment (Android) and is not breaking new ground (self-driving cars).

Re: Legacy (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Apple's New MacBook on 2015-03-13 07:43 (#4VJ2)

For me, it wasn't the electrical pins that broke, but the small rectangular "key" pin (the thing in the middle made of plastic) that would shear off and stay stuck in the motherboard's connector. This had the unfortunate effect of screwing up the motherboard port (expensive) instead of the mouse or keyboard port (cheap).

Afterwards, the "hack" to use the screwy motherboard with a different mouse was to break off the perfectly good plastic pin of the new mouse so that you could insert the connector all the way.

Re: Explicable (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Google Code Shutting Down on 2015-03-12 23:08 (#4TZ7)

Wow, I had never heard of the "Our Incredible Journey" tumblr page until now. Reading some of those entries makes me sad. I've personally used some of those sites and was surprised to see some of the recent ones (like the Zite app) in the list.

Re: Legacy (Score: 2, Informative)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Apple's New MacBook on 2015-03-10 07:29 (#4M8Z)

Better yet, anyone remember early notebook docking ports? Nearly always expensive and vendor-specific. Many required you to turn off the computer before connecting or disconnecting the dock. Current notebooks, instead of a dock, you just plug in the power cord + a monitor cord + a USB keyboard/mouse cord + maybe a network cord. I can see the allure of using just one cable to do it all.

What is more worrying is that USB is so powerful, that it can do potentially damaging things to you unknowingly. Is that free thumb drive really just a thumb drive? Or does it have some nefarious keyboard controller on it as well, ready to spawn an xterm and wget a binary from the net as soon as you plug it in.

Ok... (Score: 2, Funny)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Apple's New MacBook on 2015-03-10 03:20 (#4M0G)

So that giant hinge connecting the top display with the bottom base is a technically a "moving part" as is the limited travel of the individual keyboard keys, but at least there is no tiny spinning fan that sounds like a hairdryer under load and gets clogged with pet hair the moment you place it on your carpet floor.

Audi Commercial (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Live Long and Prosper, Leonard Nimoy on 2015-03-03 17:28 (#478G)

Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto, the two Spocks, where in an amusing car commercial for Audi recently.

Re: Hmmm (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org in Apple entering the car business on 2015-02-28 08:28 (#3ZWJ)

Both the iMac and the Dell 5k monitor use the same LG AH-IPS panel. Because LG is a well known Apple supplier and the 5120x2880 resolution of the panel is exactly doubling the X and Y resolution of the previous iMac's 2560x1440 resolution, leads one to believe that this panel size was very likely specified by Apple. They seem to love to do that perfect "2X pixel ratio" thing even when it leads to an odd resolution like 5120x2880 for the iMac or 2048x1536 for the iPad.

Plus, how many of those Dell monitors do you think they sold at $2500 vs. how many iMac Retina's that Apple managed to sell (also at $2500) to fanboys.
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