* Posts by stephajn

141 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Mar 2010

Page:

Google: You know we said that Chrome tracker contained no personally identifiable info? Yeah, about that...

stephajn

Re: Just one question

And if they're Jehovah's Witnesses, tell them you have an aversion to accepting brainwashing cult literature from an organization that covers up child pedophilia.

(They really love it when you do that). lol

Unearthed emails could be smoking gun in epic GDPR battle: Google, adtech giants 'know they break Euro privacy law'

stephajn

Re: Death to advertisers!

Black Mirror did that in an episode called Fifteen Million merits.

If the advertisers look away, close their eyes, or try to plug their ears, the walls should turn an awful angry shade of hot pink and lime green alternating back and forth and an ear piercing squeal should be played at top volume just to prove the point.

Either that or Vogon poetry?

US lawmakers furious (again) as mobile networks caught (again) selling your emergency location data to bounty hunters (again)

stephajn

Lock him up

Seriously, either lock up this idiot in charge of the FCC for collusion, or the American people should demand their tax dollars funding this moron to be refunded. Amazing how an agency can get away with explicitly not doing its job.

Why are we disappointed with the best streaming media box on the market?

stephajn
Mushroom

Re: Which country?

"... so wihch San Fran?" [sic]

Oh man....where's a mic drop when you NEED one? Well done my friend!!!!

PC market shambling towards an unquiet grave

stephajn

Re: Android held back by Chrome

"But the nail in this things coffin is that Samsung doesn't release updates for it any more. Haven't in ages."

I have the same device you do. To think that this was supposed to be a premium device for them and a top tier product line. And yet the thing is still sitting on Android 5.0.2. This is precisely why I refuse to shell out any more money for any Samsung device no matter how flashy or great its reviews are. The fact is that Samsung releases it, gives it a few months of support for software updates and then tosses you out on your ass for their next "premium" device.

Ubuntu's Amazon 'adware' feature to be made opt in

stephajn

Re: Either that or...

Well said. Have an upvote for an argument well stated! :)

stephajn

Either that or...

They got fed up with losing people to Linux Mint and are trying desperately to get people to come back. "Look everyone, we will make the bad man go away.....honest!"

Microsoft rides to Dell's rescue, wrecks rogue root certificate

stephajn

Well holy crap...

Microsoft actually rescued its users from having their data stolen and their systems compromised by spyware? Oh the irony when Windows 10 is so laden with a bunch of that from Microsoft themselves! Irony meter just exploded.

Dot-gay bid fails again: This time because it is too gay

stephajn

Re: Does seem odd...

"But I do think they need to reconsider this procedure if this gets a 0 while .spa or .radio get enough points to pass."

Fully agreed! How did .sucks get to pass???

What's not up, Docs? Google Docs goes titsup in time for Friday beers

stephajn

Re: Did everyone sync at the same time?

"Pun unintended, sorry."

No no no.... You don't get to say that. You should be taking credit for an awesome pun!

Ex-Apple bods suing Apple for bag searches get class-action upgrade

stephajn

Ex Staples Employee

I used to work for Staples here in Canada. Bag checks anytime you wanted to leave the store. Want to go for lunch? Bag check. Want to go home? Bag check.

All too often I would be waiting for a manager on duty to come search my bag and I would be clocked out and then a customer would see me and ask for help further delaying me from leaving the store. Looking back on it...my feelings are kinda mixed about it. My managers there at that store were a really good bunch if people that would bend over backwards for a good employee so I didn't mind the extra time or waiting that much.

But I have to agree with the staff that it can really make you feel like the company as a whole doesn't trust you at all.

On the flip side it served as a protection to me as the employee. If something went missing out of the store I was above suspicion.

Bottom line...feels neither here nor there.

Microsoft: This Windows 10 build has 'NO significant known issues'

stephajn

Re: Search for Paint...

Hey....we don't mention that dirty V word around here. lol

As the US realises it's been PWNED, when will OPM heads roll?

stephajn

Such amazing security measures worth $82bn...

"Federal techies will, from now on, need to install security patches, use anti-virus software, and avoid giving everyone the admin password."

Does this mean that they weren't installing patches, using anti-virus software and WERE giving everyone the admin password?

Wow....

Doom, Mario, Pac-Man level up to video gaming's Hall of Fame

stephajn

"Explicitly America-centric list"

I thought Tetris came from Russia? And really, since Super Mario is from Nintendo, doesn't that mean it is from Japan

Android M's Now on Tap cyber-secretary is like Clippy on Class A drugs

stephajn

The ongoing fragmentation headache

I'm an Android user and can't see myself in the foreseeable future switching to iOS on either my phone or my tablet. But the fragmentation issue is really starting to annoy a lot. I hate the idea that the only way I will get the latest and greatest Android build OTA is if I have a Google branded phone. Let's face it, your average 'Droid user is probably carrying a device with the Samsung logo on it in their pocket which means that they are guaranteed to be one if not two versions of Android behind. I don't know what HTC or Sony customers have to deal with when it comes to the newest version of Android, but I do envy the Apple device crowd when a new build of iOS comes out and they can all have it at once if they so desire rather than wondering if their device will get to see the update any time soon if ever at all.

Android alt-wars: OnePlus looses Cyanogen-slaying OxygenOS firmware

stephajn

"The OPO forums are dreadful - the majority of posters appear to be 12yo 4chan rejects."

Couldn't agree more. Any time OnePlus posts appear on Facebook, it is immediately flooded with comments like "Lollipop??" "What about CM12s OTA?" "I can't breathe! I need Oxygen!" And so on.

Now that Oxygen OS is released, every post is flooded with demands for CM12s which is so stupid since OnePlus has zero control over its release. To make it even worse, people are griping about how Oxygen OS can't be delivered OTA at the moment.

I have a OnePlus One and am perfectly happy to sit back and wait for CM12 to come to me over the air. It is running smoothly and stable and I have zero issues with it. Upgrading for the sake of upgrading? No thanks!

Pass the Lollipop: Google creepily warms to body contact with Android lock function

stephajn

An even more useful feature

...would be if the phone could detect that it is in use while you are on the move and make these annoying teens walking around staring at their phones oblivious to the world around them have to look up and actually watch where they are going and who they are going to bump into.

I can just see it now... Someone walking and texting at the same time. The phone can tell it is pointed toward the ground and is moving, and suddenly it pops up a screen that says, "HEY! Shouldn't you be watching where the hell you are going? JEEZ!!!" And that screen stays on until they stop moving, or turn their phone off and stop behaving like an oblivious idiot in public.

(Getting off ranty soap box now)

Boy, 16, cuffed after posting selfie with body of kid he allegedly killed

stephajn

I wonder...

...if since he is being tried as an adult with first degree murder, if the death penalty will apply. It seems Pennsylvania does have it there.

Death penalty or not, I'm glad that they are trying him as an adult and not a minor so that he can hide behind being under 18.

I don't think you're ready for this Jelly: Google pulls support for Android WebView

stephajn

Makes me wonder...

...where these researchers for the stories get their facts from.

Quote from article:

"Jelly Bean (versions 4.0 through 4.3)"

Um yeah...Try Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean since Jelly Bean wasn't a name used until 4.1, not 4.0.

As for updates to the WebView component not being supplied anymore, I'm at a loss here because I wasn't really aware that the WebView was being updated all that much anyway for your average Joe user since those kinds of updates would have gone to the manufacturers of the phones and it would have been up to them to decide if they wanted to release an update for their installed userbase, right?

I am a fan of Android over iOS, but I do feel a bit of Apple envy when they get their updates on a regular basis and I am stuck wondering if my phone manufacturer will be so kind as to give me an update for my phone running Android. Makes me glad that I got the OnePlus One running CM 11. A CM 12 update is promised very shortly.

Yahoo! Says! Chrome, IE Users! Should! 'Upgrade'! To! FIREFOX!

stephajn
WTF?

Cheeky buggers...

In switching the default search engine for Firefox to Yahoo, they also quite rudely changed my pre-existing Firefox installation away from using Google to using Yahoo. I could condone the default being set to Yahoo for new installs, but leave my browser alone when I already have it set to Google.

Not cool Mozilla, not cool!

Soz, web devs: Google snatches its Wallet off the table

stephajn

Re: This is bad

Couldn't agree more. Spent months building up an online ordering system around the PayPal recommended REST API of theirs, assured that THIS is the way to go forward with any new development, and only upon release day (today) do I find out that in their Live environment the REST API isn't supported for doing Direct Credit Card operations in Canada???

Not cool PayPal....NOT cool

Firefox decade: Microsoft's IE humbled by a dogged upstart. Native next?

stephajn

Forgetting something Mr Chemist?

"Konqueror or wget or ftp or ........"

What would one use to download Konqueror or an ftp client or even wget?

I'm running Windows 8.1 (gag I know...) with dev tools installed on it, and yet Konqueror, wget, and ftp are not built in...still need SOMETHING to go out and get them.

Thus my favorite meme: Internet Explorer: the perfect browser for downloading __INSERT BROWSER NAME HERE__

Interstellar: An awesome sci-fi spectacle – just cut the hamminess, please

stephajn
Coat

Needlessly long in some places

The L stands for Long winded debates.

When I went to see it I walked in knowing it was a few minutes shy of 3 hours. So I settled in for the long haul. I expected it to take some time before the humans would even lift off and so on, and I even expected there to be some drawn out discussions about how "this is our only hope."

What I didn't expect were some scenes to be so painfully dragged out that I completely disengaged from the movie and started watching Star Trek 2 in my head.

That having been said, I enjoyed it for the most part and might even go again to see it on an IMAX screen. This time I'm whipping out my smartphone to tune into Star Trek 2 for real during those drawn out scenes! :)

Reaching for my smartphone now....

Space exploration is just so lame. New apps are mankind's future

stephajn

Re: Yes to a GVD Badge

Wholeheartedly agree DropBear. One month is a bit short for such a prestigious award. I'd say three to six months max.

iPhone 6 shunned by fanbois in Apple's GREAT FAIL of CHINA

stephajn
Coat

I am going to puke.....

"I'm feeling quite emotional," Mr Liu later told reporters

Really??? Over a PHONE??? I swear the brand has become like some sort of religion! Steve Jobs being the Messiah or the Prophet Zarquon or something like that. Tim Ccok, the foundation now upon which the Church of Apple is built. Being first to emerge from the store with the new iPhone the equivalent of being touched by God or something??

Frankly I liked the comment directly after that quote in the article about feeling emotional after wasting hours of your life to stand in line at a store when you could have easily done something else.

I'm just waiting for the day when Apple fandom is declared a religion and suddenly all Apple Stores are declared tax exempt like a church is now. (Oh wait....Apple is already mostly tax exempt in the US since they funnel their money out of the country right?)

Reaching for my Holy Water and Garlic to ward off the Apple faithful....

iPad AIR 2 and iPad MINI 3, 5K iMac: World feels different today – and it IS

stephajn

Re: $399 on the 16GB Wi-Fi model

Couldn't agree more with you. It is the screen in the end....that is all that it comes down to. But for someone like me....meh!

I chose to stick with the Android team and got myself a Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition. Yes, I paid $549 for it, but I got an Octacore CPU, 3 GB of RAM, and a high resolution screen along with the S Pen. This is a device that suits my needs. Yes, it is heavier than most other models, but it does precisely what I need and want it to do, and the quality is great. Runs fast, and I feel like it actually EARNED its $549 price tag.

When I paid $380 for an iPad Air on sale, even then I felt it was overpriced for what I got. (Returned it within less than 24 hours and I think I popped a tonne of brain cells in the poor girl's brain when she saw an iPad being returned due to lack of customer satisfaction)

OMG, we're gonna be invaded by NEXUS 6 replicants – no, wait. It's just a rumored phablet

stephajn

"They've never heard of the Galaxy Note, have they?"

Or the Galaxy Mega? http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_mega_6_3_i9200-5398.php

6.3" screen!

Coming to a theater near you: the TETRIS MOVIE

stephajn

Re: Duh,

And don't forget this one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE_1KlWFJyA

Microsoft WINDOWS 10: Seven ATE Nine. Or Eight did really

stephajn

Best of Windows 7?

....Then I want Aero Flip 3D back! One of the most useful keyboard shortcuts for me and even now, after having been using Windows 8.x since it was released, I still find myself pressing Windows Key + Tab and forgetting. I wonder where I could possibly ask for that back....or if they'd even listen.

Microsoft on the Threshold of a new name for Windows next week

stephajn

On the day of the big announce....

And they call it Windows 10. Wow....such a new name....so innovative....so.....ungh....

My sarcasm knows no bounds on this one.....

http://gizmodo.com/windows-10-microsoft-skips-a-digit-with-latest-operati-1640805626

EU probes Google’s Android omerta again: Talk now, or else

stephajn

Rings familiar...

Internet Explorer bundled with Windows and the antitrust case resulting from it, started by Netscape. (If memory serves?) IE started dominating the crap out of Netscape, and in an effort to save their bacon, they took MS to court over bundling the browser with the OS. We all know how that ended....

Now Google is doing the same thing.... "Take all of our services or else..." I can't remember...did Microsoft lose in the end? Seems to me that IE is STILL bundled with Windows and tied heavily to underpinnings of the operating system and in the end the company still operates as one unit.

Why should it end up any different for Google?

Apple iPhone 6: Looking good, slim. AW... your battery died

stephajn

Re: How much?

"The lengths Apple went to to keep us away from the new iPhones was amusing."

Now that is a story or private blog post I'd love to read. I know Apple doesn't exactly have a love-in for The Register, but I'd be very curious to know how much that lack of love makes them do.

For this article, I found it to be a really good review of the device. It was clear, stuck to the facts, and unlike so many other articles I have read about Samsung gear, it didn't compare the iPhone 6 to Samsung or other Android powered brands at every drop of the hat.

Just last night I was reading an article reviewing the Samsung Tab S. The title of the article? "Samsung's Galaxy Tab S - Kicking the iPad where it hurts." And then in the end it was mostly an article talking about why this tablet costs so much and then comparing it to apple's devices from a fanboi point of view every chance it got. In the end the article title was just a click-bait kind of title, and the article's author threw out all of his credibility as a journalist at the end by making the assinine comment that iOS is much easier to use and that the Apple app ecosystem is much more robust. I don't mind a statement like that being made provided it is backed up with facts, but that was where it ended.

I found this article to be quite fair and a good overview of the iPhone 6.

Man, its smartphones are SQUARE. But will BlackBerry make a comeback with them?

stephajn

Did the article author turn into yoda in the final sentence?

"Some 10,000 redundancies later, at least BlackBerry has waited _until tell it can a decent story_ before launching its comeback"

Voice of Frank Oz going off in my head....

PHABBA-DABBA-DOO! Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Edge, Gear VR – feast your eyes

stephajn

Re: Now we know...

And just like that the stage is set for the next round of Apple crybaby tactics in court.

STILL wondering about the fabled iWatch while Samsung has released how many of these things already? I swear...all of my Apple friends look at my Gear 2 watch with envy and gnashing their teeth that nothing from Apple has arrived yet.

Larger iPad could target big biz, save Apple from low-end scrum

stephajn

Larger Screen iPad means nothing to the visually impaired

It is all well and good to release a larger screen for the iPad, but what eventually happens too is that the resolution gets raised to match that larger screen, so the print stays just as tiny.

I bought an iPad Air despite being an absolute Apple product hater. I am legally blind and my Samsung 8" device wasn't cutting it for me. (End of that story is that reading glasses did the trick) So I wanted to get a larger screened tablet to compensate for screen size and thus text size. However, I have a huge gripe with Samsung devices as they come preloaded with so much garbage and TouchWiz is so bloated that it feels like I only get HALF of a tablet in storage capacity than what I was told I was buying. Research showed that Apple devices tended to be the leanest as far as an OS install base.

So, after examining as many 'Droid options as I could find available locally, I bit the bullet and started investigating the iPad. A coworker showed me his, and we even found an eReader app that would suit my purposes. So off I went and bought one. (And returned it less than 22 hours later!)

The resolution is so high that everything on the screen is microscopic to read! I went into the settings and turned on as much accessibility assistance as I could that would bold the text, increase contrast, increase TEXT size for that matter! And yet, to my utter disgust and dismay, these text increases barely applied anywhere in any app! And that even included the App Store app! Apple's attention to accessibility for the visually impaired is appalling at best. Yes, there are options like Voice Over and so on, but I don't want my tablet talking to me in a quiet room full of people to tell me what I'm looking at. I need to just be able to SEE it. And yes, there is the triple tap option to enable, but I do not want to have to do a minimum of SIX taps just to be able to see what I want to do next, nor do I want to have a device that requires me to have tunnel vision to operate.

Exchanged that tablet for a Microsoft based one, and the experience was exactly the same in the Modern UI side of things. That one only lasted about 20 hours in my possession.

Meanwhile, Android's text setting takes effect everywhere! Why? Because right from the start, Google's recommendations are to not use absolute font sizes, but to rather build out in percentages so that it scales well.

I know this may sound like such a ridiculous gripe to have about this massively successful product. But despite all of that, if I can't see what is on screen without needing a bloody microscope, then your product, for all of its features, "amazingly innovative design", and app availability blah blah blah....is an utter failure to me as your customer. Now iOS 8 is coming out, and I'm willing to bet there are no improvements there for screen readability.

Anyway....that's my rant. Still an Apple product hater.... The universe is back to normal now that my house has no iThings in it.

Visual Studio Online goes titsup as Microsoft wrestles with database

stephajn

Re: And as the march to subscription (online) services goes on...

If this is the case, then perhaps you might not want to use the power company's power either. After all, if they go titsup, then you're out of power. Same for gas...

When it works....people love it and it is great and wonderful blah blah blah. Successful businesses like Netflix use cloud to run their service. (Amazon if I am not mistaken)

But just like any other service that someone else provides, there can be problems. Power Grid fails....and the lights in your house go out. Some upstream provider that your ISP depends on goes ka-boom and your internet is down. (Happened nationwide just a couple of days ago with Shaw here in Canada. A routing problem made it impossible to access a LOT of websites) But that doesn't mean we don't use these services.

If we were to withdraw from consuming a service just because it happened to fail every once in a while, then we wouldn't be using the power grid....or cable television....or cell phones....or {insert service here]. For that matter, no one would ever have a web hosting company host their site for them....they'd all invest in a server farm to do it themselves!

For those that rant about how evil cloud services are blah blah blah blah.....then I say to you.....turn off your power and run your own generator if you think doing everything yourself is that much better.

*climbing down off soap box now*

stephajn

Re: "After about an hour of investigating the issue"

"I'm sure their army of downvoters will be onto this post even quicker than their service came back online."

I up voted you. :) And I use Azure! Along with VS Online, and so forth.

"This seems to be happening with MS cloud stuff on an almost daily basis right now"

It certainly feels that way. If it isn't Azure, then it is something else like XBox Live or a bad update that causes BSOD failures. Trustworthy computing indeed..... </sarcasm>

Microsoft throws old versions of Internet Explorer under the bus

stephajn

I only wish....

.....that they didn't wait quite so long. I'm working on a project that has as its mandate to support IE9 and later. For the most part I haven't run into TOO many problems with it. But if I had my way I'd drop support for IE9 and say you need IE10 and later. But alas.....because of the reasons stated in the article with Windows Vista, IE9 still has to stay on our radar, and thus things like <input type=number> just can't get used yet.

Anyone at Microsoft listening.....if you could hustle it up a bit and drop support for IE9....that'd be great...really....just....yeah. :)

Nintend-OH NO! Sorry, Mario – your profits are in another castle

stephajn

Bought Wii U a month ago

I got a PS3 back in March because now they are so cheap with the PS4 out. I chose the PS3 because was told it could play PS2 and PSOne games. To my dismay and disappointment, I found out that is only partially true. Still, I was (note WAS) as huge Final Fantasy fan, and I knew that is where I'd get my fix of the latest and greatest. Immediately bought FF XIII trilogy as soon as I could find it. Was horribly disappointed with my purchase of those games and wished I had taken the time to see the game reviews first. So I got some other games....again....disappointments overall. However, I grew up playing Nintendo for the most part. Final Fantasy 3/6 (depending on how you want to look at it) was my first exposure to the series and I was a fan since.

But now, a month ago I bought a Wii U. So I have the PS3 and the Wii U sitting side by side in my living room...and yet....I find myself reaching for the Wii U a bit more.

I do agree with a previous post that Nintendo needs to push some of its other franchises in a big way. We need a good Zelda adventure unique to the Wii U and not just an HD remake of Wind Waker. (Waiting for Hyrule Warriors....) We need another 3D Donkey Kong perhaps....and get your ass in gear on Metroid for crying out loud!!!! lol (Sorry...taking my pill now)

I do appreciate the HD remakes that are being done nowadays. (Kingdom Hearts on PS3 as an example)

I'm even wondering what would happen if Zelda got to be a first person game as opposed to 3rd person. Worked well for Metroid.... Or imagine first person Mario game?

Anyways....my whole point is this: I had my prejudices about the Wii U, but when I gave it a good solid try, I was quite impressed. It has its place, but when I think Nintendo, I generally don't come up with titles like Call of Duty or Wolenstein: New Order. (Or South Park: The Stick of Truth...heh heh)

AVG stung as search revenue from freebie scanners dries up

stephajn

Re: I feel a vote coming on...

Genius!

Thumbs up for the awesome TNG reference!

Apple stops caring about Samsung kit everyone else stopped caring about years ago

stephajn

Lame...

Apple: "WAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Samsung: "Those devices are not even being sold anymore anyway. We made our billions....stop your whining!!!"

Apple: "WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!....wait....what?? Oh...uhhhh...well alright then! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!!!"

Samsung: "Whatever...."

That's what I get from all of this.

NO MORE ALL CAPS and other pleasures of Visual Studio 14

stephajn

Re: D(HE)LL?

I was thinking that this feature would come in handy if you wanted to host an API in a Windows Service perhaps that exposes an HTTP endpoint. (Just one example)

Or...and this may be insanity....

Shipping an app that runs locally without the need for a web server, but is web based. The web "server" is the app process itself...or a Windows service that is installed on the machine.

Just my two cents....oh wait....I'm from Canada where there is no penny....uhhhhhmmmmm OK round it up...

Just my five cents...

Party like it's not 1999: Cry FREEDOM for a better web

stephajn

"They are set of specs that promise to le developers use their existing knowledge and skills in things like HTML and JavaScript to build widgets that can be easily re-used."

Did the author of the article suddenly switch off the grammar and spell checker for this sentence?

Web Components as a standard....seems an awful lot like giving a formal name to jQuery UI's widgets or Kendo or ExtJS and so forth.

Conformist Google: Android devices must LOOK, WORK ALIKE

stephajn

Re: Google is forcing device makers to stick to the default UI

"Google is forcing device makers to stick to the default UI _if they want to carry its new Android Silver brand_"

And therein lies the caveat for all hardware developers. No one has said that these manufacturers can't still do their own thing. It is just that they won't carry the Android Silver brand. So it'll just be business as usual for these manufacturers. Kinda like that whole "Works with Windows" sticker and the "Made for Windows" sticker and the "Vista Basic" sticker vs the "Vista Premium" sticker. It's all about slapping a sticker on a product called Android Silver.

And has been said before in comments above, for those that care, they can still do what they want with their phones and slap on whatever new launcher or themes or whatever that they want. I can't even BEGIN to tell you how many times I have seen some of my friends install a completely hideous theme on their phone turning it from something readable into this gaudy pink and purple MESS.

My read on this whole thing is that it is just a "certification" that Google is introducing here just like Microsoft having put the "Windows X Compatible" certification out there for anyone that wants to have it on their software.

BOFH: Attractive person is attractive. Um, why are your eyes bulging?

stephajn

Living with the Crazy....

.....finally getting a bit of a respite from The Crazy after 10 years almost. Wow....this BOFH couldn't have hit it on the nose any better!

Apple badmouthing of court's monitor proves it NEEDS him - judge

stephajn
Stop

LOL

...which stands for Lame Out Loud.

Seriously Apple....you make billions upon billions of dollars in profits and charge your customers through the roof for your products and have almost no profit sharing with your retailers whom you make jump through so many hoops just to have the "privilege" of selling your junk.

I think you can manage a little bit of "imposition". Grow up and shut up.

Developer unleashes bowel-shaking KILLER APP for Google Glass

stephajn

Austin Powers App

Anyone remember Austin Powers 3, when he was sitting across the sumo wrestling ring and with a touch of the side of his glasses was able to zoom in really nice and tight on Fat Bastard?

Well, being legally blind myself, I saw those glasses and immediately thought, "I WANT!!!!" I'd love to be able to zoom in on something far away to be able to see it close up without having to whip out a pair of binoculars or a monocular that just makes me look like a total prat. For that matter, if my Android Phone can have a magnifier app that just makes use of the camera, then the same principle could apply to Google Glass right?

Although....as much as I would love to have that ability, the social awkwardness of walking around with that strapped to my head and the $1500 hole it would burn in my already burnt pockets become two major roadblocks I just can't see being lifted any time real soon.

Visual Studio 2013: 50 Shades of Grey not a worry for MONSTER dev TOOL

stephajn

"Too good to be abandoned"

"And yes I still have to develop in VB6. Why? Because it's just too good to be abandoned."

Reminds me of the same attitude someone I worked for for about six months had with regards to FoxPro for DOS. To this day his product that he pushes on people is STILL FoxPro DOS based. Sucks for anyone buying a brand new computer nowadays since they are all 64 bit. But this guy is so set in the past about how easy FoxPro is to get a fully searchable grid of data with one line of code that he fails to see what people are demanding now. And he wonders why he had to close down his office and work out of his home....

Investors on Microsoft: What, Ballmer, leaving? Hand me my wallet

stephajn

Re: return the firm to the golden days

" user are much more computer-literate"

On the contrary, I find that they are getting dumber by the day. Gone are the days when you could tell someone to go to a website and they would just type it in the address bar and go. Now they google a website address and then wonder which one to click on.

The list could go on....but I almost feel that it is the computer support people who are the ones becoming jaded and the onslaught of tablets becoming the primary computing device for so many people has made the average computer user much more computer-dumb than they used to be.

I could be wrong, but that is just what I am seeing.

Microsoft fires devs into the cloud with Visual Studio Online

stephajn

First impressions

Being an MSDN subscriber via the BizSpark program, I have had access to Visual Studio 2012, and 2013 now. I have to say that the 2013 UI is much more responsive, but not worth shelling out a tonne of cash for. Some of the tooling is nicer, but again, not something that can't be done with some cleverness in 2012.

As a web developer, the biggest feature I am drooling over is BrowserLink. Best new feature in my opinion!

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