I know that SVoice wasn't designed for the GN, but after trying it out, it really does suck (For now).

nyteryder79 · 1 day

How many megabytes are in a gigabyte?

1000 MB (Note that this is the wrong answer and should have responded with 1024 MB.)

Both are correct, unfortunately, in current context. It converted using SI megabytes.

yonlyindreams · 1 day

I'll agree that most android users are using gmail, and thus automatically have mail/contacts/calendar sync out of the box. But for those that are not using gmail, or those that use gmail with outlook, there may still be a need for the outlook sync utility.

Also, I'm not assuming all outlook using exchange. If they were, that is built-in out of the box too, and there is no need for another utility.

The following scenarios would result in local outlook-only contacts:

Folks using a third-party email provider that doesn't offer contact sync (ex: their ISP, which is depressingly common). They'd have stand-alone outlook contacts.
Folks using another provider that does provide contact sync (ex: Windows Live). They might not have a way to sync the other remote provider directly with their phone, thus benefiting from this utility to sync via outlook.
Folks who use gmail primarily through outlook. Following Google's outlook instructions will give you email access via IMAP, but no contact sync. (see note at bottom). So again, stand-alone outlook contacts.

Granted, I'll admit that the cross-section of Outlook users without exchange who also don't use gmail, or do use gmail but didn't set up a third-party google<->outlook contact sync is likely pretty small. Which is probably why this is $40, and not $5. Small market, but important functionality. And true, most of us have that functionality already. But that doesn't mean everybody does.

Note from point 3, above: I believe gmail has an "exchange-ish" compatible interface they use for mobile sync which would sync contacts and calendar. However, I believe this is the Active Sync protocol, and not actually MAPI. For that reason, I don't think Outlook could even use it (though I could be wrong. I'm not too familiar with the details of Microsoft's email client's protocol support). Though if it is supported, it isn't touched in Google's documentation. Google says to use IMAP with outlook, which would not sync your contacts.

edit: Clarified bullet points 1 & 2.

yonlyindreams · 1 day

As a Canadian, I can't even get the Google Music app from the Play Market to allow for local-only playback of media. Forget about any of the cloud tie-ins.

yonlyindreams · 1 day

Everybody should use Google Voice! After all, it is now available in 1 of 196 countries!

yonlyindreams · 1 day

I don't think it does. Not everybody who uses outlook pair it with an exchange server.

exo48 · 1 day

True, but the Enyo framework is available under the Apache License, Version 2. So at least they could use it if they wanted.

exo48 · 1 day

I used a pre for about two years, and got a pre2 after that. WebOS really shined on the Pre2, which was quick enough to provide a nice user experience. I'd imagine the Pre3 experience was similarly pleasant. Unfortunately, the original Pre was woefully underpowered, and probably contributed to the dismissal of the platform.

exo48 · 1 day

I had the original palm pre, and then got a pre 2. The pre2 suffered a bit from lagging behind in terms of hardware capability (like the original pre), but was more than a capable platform for WebOS (unlike the original pre). Had it been the WebOS launch phone I don't think it would have been dismissed so quickly. It was a completely improved device that solved all of my gripes with the original Pre (very slow, the crappy plastic screen, wonky slider, voice dialing, etc).

Except the platform was already circling the drain when I got it. I ended up getting a touchpad, but WebOS was effectively dead by that point (though they toughed out a few point releases).

esolyt · 1 day

Thanks for correcting me. Specifically, the part about "no requirement to disable". On by default is still required.

Wikipedia says (emphasis mine):

Microsoft will also require that manufacturers offer the ability to turn off the secure boot feature on x86 hardware, but they must not offer such an option on ARM hardware. No mandate is made regarding the installation of 3rd party certificates that would enable running alternate software.

Following reference 72 says:

On page 116 of this document, there are some details about the circumstances under which Secure Boot can be disabled:

MANDATORY: Enable/Disable Secure Boot. On non-ARM systems, it is required to implement the ability to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup. A physically present user must be allowed to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup without possession of Pkpriv. Programmatic disabling of Secure Boot either during Boot Services or after exiting EFI Boot Services MUST NOT be possible. Disabling Secure MUST NOT be possible on ARM systems.

I grabbed the Windows 8 hardware certification requirements from Microsoft's site. Specifically, I'm using the marked-up "Comparison of the May 9, 2012 version with the December 16, 2011 version." PDF, which is the second download (I wanted to see what changes may have occurred). That block appears on page 145 of the marked-up document.

Right above that is extremely interesting, though:

MANDATORY:. On non-ARM systems, the platform MUST implement the ability for a physically present user to select between two Secure Boot modes in firmware setup: "Custom" and "Standard". Custom Mode allows for more flexibility as specified in the following:

a) It shall be possible for a physically present user to use the Custom Mode firmware setup option to modify the contents of the Secure Boot signature databases and the PK. This may be implemented by simply providing the option to clear all Secure Boot databases (PK, KEK, db, dbx) which will put the system into setup mode.

b) If the user ends up deleting the PK then, upon exiting the Custom Mode firmware setup, the system will be operating in Setup Mode with Secure BootSecureBoot turned off.

c) The firmware setup shall indicate if Secure Boot is turned on, and if it is operated in Standard or Custom Mode. The firmware setup must provide an option to return from Custom to Standard Mode which restores the factory defaults

Now, this is Microsoft's Win8 logo requirements, so I'm assuming this terminology is defined in UEFI standards, and other relevant docs. Unfortunately, I don't have time to find or flip through more docs right now. But some brief searching about setup mode seems like it is a mechanism that should allow a user to install their own KEK and PK, hopefully such language means that self-trusted secure boot is a requirement. Which is something I'm very interested in.

Thanks, MaxGene.

esolyt · 2 days

The problem is crappy UEFI implementations. For the windows logo certification on ARM, secure boot can not be disabled, and you're right that that requirement doesn't exist on intel PCs. But all the requirements specify for intel PCs is that it must support secure boot by default. There is no requirement saying it must be possible to disable, leading to non-required "undefined" behaviour.

Now, I'm completely convinced that there will still be machines and parts that allow disabling secure boot, even if only for windows 7 compatibility. This isn't an end-of-the-world scenario. Furthermore, SecureBoot isn't required for Windows 8 to work, just for that "Designed for Windows 8" sticker to be present, so there will probably be at least some hardware out there that doesn't even implement secure boot (probably more in the components market rather than pre-assembled PCs).

However, the issue is budget machines (i.e. HP/dell budget laptops, etc). They'll ship with Windows 8, and "Secure Boot must be enabled by default". Hopefully the guys stripping features out of the UEFI configuration interfaces decide to leave the relevant disabling options in there. But I've personally seen:

Machines that had processor features disabled in the BIOS for no good reason (ex: ~~vt-d~~vt-x), with no way to enable.
Machines that have buggy DSDT that completely messes up all sorts of things in any non-windows OS (because, of course, the machine was only tested and supported with the windows version it ships with). An example of this is on /r/linux page one right now
It is extremely common to have BIOSes that only allow you to set the time and boot devices, because attempting to offer more only causes trouble for the phone support folks.
Just this week there was a story of an Asus laptop that swapped thermal limits when entering battery state, causing it to immediately initiate an emergency poweroff (It was allowed to run hotter on mains than on battery, so when switching to battery may set a thermal limit lower than the current temperature, immediately cutting power). This one even affected Windows, and was still never caught before release.

Now, those shortfalls are not necessarily malicious (particularly not the last one), and neither would leaving out options for SB. The guys doing that work simply don't have the time to mess around with things that are not specified as requirements. A major manufacturer can't even ensure the machine keeps working when you switch to battery. In light of that, it won't be long before some walmart special ships with no interface to disable secure boot. Then you start looking at machine-specific cracks (much like the current smartphone market) or breaking/leaking of a signing key.

Now, I'm not one of those "this will end Linux" guys, because frankly that is stupid. But I don't think system BIOS & UEFI teams are suddenly going to start doing a better job. There will very probably be machines that will be restricted to only booting windows. This will be from laziness, not necessarily malicious intent.

edit I meant vt-x, not vt-d. Minor point, but still...

giveer · 2 days

I actually flash the zip in recovery, right after my ROM, Kernel, and gapps.

edit so yes, /system. Just not moving itself.

giveer · 3 days

Cerebrus also has a nice feature that you can actually bake it into your ROM with Rom Manager (or however the kids are doing it these days).

SheepNutz · 3 days

In the spirit of /r/skeptic, I'm going to have to ask for a reliable source that Nazis used fluoride for that purpose.

My search turns this up. I'm not from Tampa, so I'm not sure how credible the paper itself is.

[...] putting historian Patricia Heberer on the phone. Her expertise is the German medical community, including Holocaust experimentation.

Most Nazi medical experiments, she said, had two themes: new drugs and treatments for common battlefield ailments, from war wounds to typhus, or the more infamous effort to underpin Nazi racial ideas, such as Josef Mengele's twin studies. None of the experimentation that she knows of involved fluoride — for mind control or for healthy teeth.

But she had heard a similar Cold War-era theory. It wasn't about the Nazis fluoridating water. It was the Communists.

Patricia Heberer's bio is pretty credible:

Patricia Heberer has served as an historian with the Centre for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., since 1994. There she is the Museum’s in-house specialist on medical crimes and eugenics policies in Nazi Germany.

I'm more likely to believe her.

I'm not debating whether fluoride is good or bad, or policies involved with its use. I'm simply pointing out that there is no evidence regarding it being used by Nazi's to pacify anybody. If there were, I'd think the Holocaust Memorial Museum would at least be aware.

SheepNutz · 3 days

I already posted this in this thread, but it is relevant here. That argument was used in my city's council meeting on fluoridation. By a city councillor.

SheepNutz · 3 days

A city councillor in my area distributed flyers before the council meeting indicating Nazis used flourodated water to sterilize the Jews in concentration camps. Granted, the guy is known for doing and saying absolutely crazy things (No idea how anybody in his ward is proud of his behaviour).

Sometimes I wonder if other cities are as crazy as mine are politically. Having gone to a few council meetings, I've been absolutely disappointed in the behaviour (and professionalism) of not only the councillors, but those that come to view the meetings without observing the rules of conduct (yelling at the council in session, etc).

danger_mcboom · 4 days

Many motorcycles have horns. Typically they make a Hyundai Pony horn sound masculine, but that's not the point.

The real issue isn't that the loud pipes make up for a lack of a horn, but for the lack of visibility.

MachoMuffin · 4 days

Dear future me: In a Multiverse, there exist a near-infinite number of universes, or realities, that are each created to reflect a different outcome to a decision. Between "Now" (me) and "Then" (you), more decisions have happened, causing you to be just one me in a vast swarm of possible mes.

TL;DR: I'm more authentic than you.

Significantly yours, Me

mattygraham · 4 days

I went on a bus trip with some folks from work (it was not a work thing, so my SO was with me). They put Marley & Me on the TV, and I say "Oh, I have not seen this".

Why. In front of work friends. From a factory. Why?

mattygraham · 4 days

I'm 29. Tried to watch Plague Dogs a few weeks ago. Couldn't.

mattygraham · 4 days

Hell, I didn't even want to have a ceremony. My fiancée wanted a small one. Our families were the problem.

Originally, our plan was to self-fund the entire event, but our families would not hear of it. Hell, I got in a huge argument for paying the bill at the meeting we were discussing this at (Pizza Hut, so the bill was not outrageous. I really just didn't want the dads fighting over it).

We'll be looking at probably $11000. But because the families are helping, I technically have to pay less than I would have otherwise, so it is hard to complain. But sometimes I just look at the bills and say "Do you know what this could do to our mortgage?"

No backpacking, but our honeymoon is simply driving up to the family cottage for a week, which is perfect (we can bring my dog).

edit coincidently, got the final bill in the mail. We're looking at about $8500-9000 for everything at the wedding and reception. So when you add on the dress and other costs (wedding part gifts, etc), It is probably between $10000-11000.

chilehead · 6 days

So, any update? I've been in my basement with my family and a stockpile of foodstuffs.

uriman · 8 days

I live in Southern Ontario, Canada, where we usually get a lot of snow for a few months, and generally crummy wet weather for a few months on either side of that (well.. except this year).

I usually park back in the lot and walk, generally for the same reasons: I can pull in, park, and walk to the front in the same amount of time as somebody crawling through the lot looking for a closer spot. Or waiting for somebody to leave.

rbmichael · 9 days

Fairly often, yes. I've got some aging tape drives that fail backups more often than I'd like. The backup software we use is most easily accessed via the X11 interface.

sadz79 · 9 days

Finally found some shit.

drea_houston · 10 days

Any arguments about whether religions and private organizations are within their rights to discriminate are completely beside the point. The Catholic school board is publicly funded.

sequentious

TROPHY CASE

sequentious

TROPHY CASE

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