One major reason I don't dine out as much as I used to: suddenly it seems it has become socially acceptable for people to be using their phone with the sound volume on all the time, usually on MAX volume. Sometimes they're scrolling social media and I'm just hearing one annoying song or person talking after another. Sometimes it's someone having a video chat with someone else. Sometimes it's parents with an iPad set up with their kid watching a movie. NEVER do I see anyone using headphones anymore. Just a constant onslaught of tinny, horrible loud sounds from every direction.

If I'm paying a premium to dine out, I can't stand this. It's distracting and extremely rude. Yet no one seems to bat an eye anymore, except in the most fancy of restaurants.

Don't get me wrong, I also won't pay a premium for delivery services like Doordash, but... if restaurants want me back eating in person, they need to start making rules against using speakers in their establishment, and enforcing said rules.

Microsoft doesn't give two shits about Windows anymore. The only thing that matters to them is growing Azure and increasing AI (Copilot) adoption. If anything, Windows is nothing more than a Copilot delivery service now.

Windows Server 2022 is basically a hardened version of Windows 10 and includes security updates until October 2031. The license is a bit more expensive but should fill the need.

When I was in college in the early 2000s, my roommate and I (both Comp Sci students) got in an argument over something stupid and he threatened to post a link to my personal website to Slashdot if he didn't get his way. We laughed about it later.

... I am looking forward to seeing how this performs. I've been using a Surface Pro X (running an ARM CPU) for most of my mobile computing for over a year now. Most of the applications I use are now ARM native and run very well, and the few that are not have been running perfectly via the x86/x64 compatibility layer, albeit a little bit slower. Overall the experience has been very good, and the few minor performance hiccups I experience are worth it when you consider the tradeoffs -- the battery life is amazing and the device is tiny, fanless, and weighs less than just about anything else I can find. For a portable experience, this is what I care about. If I need horsepower, I'll go use a desktop, or remote into one.

I'm not expecting this to be this new M1/M2 as far as performance goes, but anything that gets us closer to the full desktop-style performance with all the advantages that ARM brings with it, I'll take it.

Spell checker!? In my day, browsers didn't have spell check, and we liked it that way! Now excuse me, I have clouds to yell at.

I'd like to take a moment to plug a competing Android app, mostly 'cuz I wrote it :-)

It's called My Media Catalog, and it is also capable of cataloging all kinds of media. The interface isn't quite as pretty as some competitors, but I took a lot of time incorporating multiple barcode lookup databases into the service, so my users tend to find barcode/ISBN scanning to be much more accurate. I also try to be very available to customers to answer questions and feature requests; there are many users that mention this in the feedback. Definitely worth a shot, especially if you have lots of rare books/media, or stuff from other countries.

My Media Catalog at Google Play

News for Turds
Stuff that Splatters

So wait... I'm confused, who do we hate again? The Galaxy Tab runs Android, and Android is open source, so they are good, right? But Android is created and managed by Google, who is hoarding our personal data and undoubtedly invading our privacy rights, so they are bad, right? But the Galaxy Tab's main competitor is Apple's iPad, and the iPad's OS is a walled garden that prevents me from doing what I want with a device I purchased outright, so competition against that is good right? But Apple's walled garden keeps bad things out and good things in, so paying a premium for it is totally worth it and justified, so Android is bad, right?

I'm so confused.

Since when is Verizon the only one with "real" 4G? Tell that to my EVO that just pulled 12.47 mbps over WiMAX.

"Gaping Holes in the UAE's Net Firewall"

I like how the title describes both the problem with the UAE's firewall as well as the content that is likely passing through due to the problem...

I'll bet they're trying to copy Apple again. They're in Step 2. 1. Get Gates to leave for a few years 2. Turn into a brand that can be described as mediocre at best, always playing a game of catch-up 3. Bring back Gates and simultaneously introduce a new "revolutionary product". Give Gates the credit for "inventing" said product 4. Paint Gates as a messiah that will pull Microsoft up out of the ruins and guide all of mankind to better computing 5. Profit!

While CDMA has it's own set of problems for sure, I've always preferred CDMA call quality over GSM. I also like that CDMA handsets don't make any speaker within a 5ft radius go crazy. It is kind of a shame that it is losing out and we will be seeing less of it in the future. From a security standpoint, I wonder if it is more or less secure...

Last I checked, Microfilm (and Microfiche) was guaranteed to last 500 years by Kodak. Unlike JPEGs, you can read Microfilm with a magnifying glass, and speaking from experience both writing and reading, the quality isn't bad. It's also not horrendously expensive once you have the writer (I believe a Kodak i9600 Series Archive Writer sells for somewhere around 35-40k, depending on the model you get).

I wouldn't fool myself into thinking Microfilm is some magic solution to our digital storage problems, but it does go to show that there are ways we can save really important data. Given current technology, we could make something similar to Microfilm that didn't require professional development...

What, you mean the gold plated HDMI cables don't make any difference in picture and sound quality? No way! Monster, Denon, and Belkin wouldn't lie to me! Why would they!? Next thing I know you'll be telling me my $500 ethernet cable was a waste of money too! Don't be ridiculous!!!