"Blazingly fast and image-free." written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

Category: i-tech

01/27/12 07:25 - ID#55991

Blazingly fast and image-free.

I am having a terrible time with netspeeds today. So I have temporarily switched off all images and switched to a very barebones browser called Midori.

I can't tell you how awesome the web feels sans intrusive loud high-resolutions images, slow loading videos, ginormous bandwidth-hogging media and other crappy whatnots.

I am back to the text-only ages but it's awesomely fast. I think I am sticking to Midori and this image-free mode for a while just because it makes me feel like I am on some crazy-awesome broadband. Gmail loads as if it were local. Gdocs throws some nasty error on Midori that causes it to load over and over again. :/ Oh well. You can only win sometimes.

If you have a mediocre net connection like I do (and are not on Gdocs 105% of the time), take a break and go the image-free route. You will see what you have been missing!

---
PS: I notice that the edit button and the comment button on estrip have no alternative text behind them. All the other buttons on the top and in the editor have alternate text. I edited this post using the mobile mode.

Permalink: Blazingly_fast_and_image_free_.html
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Last Modified: 01/27/12 07:36

Category: i-tech

01/27/12 11:44 - ID#55990

Buffalo businesses get free online boost?

The City of Buffalo has teamed with Google to bring more online presence for the businesses in the city and make it easier for small businesses and start-ups to set up amazing websites with little or no expertise. They have this little blurb:

From

City of Buffalo
Buffalo is the second largest city in the State of New York, and the hub of the Buffalo-Niagara region. The Cityâ€™s attractive quality of life, low-cost of living, and diverse economic base make it a wonderful place to live, work, and do business.
Located along the shores of Lake Erie, Buffalo has a prime spot along the Canadian-American border, less than 100 miles from Toronto.
The City of Buffalo remains fiscally strong. Since 2006, its residential property tax rate has been reduced by 15.2%, and commercial by 16.2%.
Buffalo is rich with history and museums, professional sports, vibrant neighborhoods, top notch restaurants, theater, and more. And thanks to a strong base of well-educated and skilled employees, Buffalo remains a strong stable business region.

Interesting. Wonder if all that is true...

I read this whole 25 hour work donation campaign at this

by marketing firm, Crowley Webb for a Buffalo startup called, "You and Who" and thought, what about those who can't afford such marketing support and will not get it for free. I wonder if the answer is the "New York Get Online" initiative. On the surface, it looks pretty awesome, I hope it infuses some life into struggling businesses here. My first introduction to any shop or store or restaurant is always online. I am sure tons of others find businesses the same way.

Permalink: Buffalo_businesses_get_free_online_boost_.html
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Last Modified: 01/27/12 11:46

Category: i-tech

01/26/12 11:04 - ID#55982

Toshiba motherboard fried

My grand Toshiba died just before Martin Luther's weekend. It wouldn't start. It was exactly 6 months old and well within it's 1 year warranty. So I shipped it off to the Toshiba depot, I always had a high opinion of Toshiba. My last 3 laptops have been Toshiba. I recommend Toshiba to everyone I know. But this whole fiasco shakes my faith in Toshiba rather substantially.

They sent an email back saying that they would like to charge me for these

MOTHERBOARD - $150.01
KEYBOARD - $19.34
And labor costs $60. (TOTAL OF $229.35)
..
California Customer will incur California sales tax on parts charge

What on earth does the warranty actually cover then??? I suspect, NOTHING.

Toshiba machines are, for the most part, reliable and well- performing. I hate that my machine died. However, this is the first time I have actually done heavy continuous processing on my laptop and experimented extensively with linux non-stop since I got it. Maybe the laptop wasn't up to the rigors I put it though. Maybe my high opinion of Toshiba came from my years of light everyday processing needs and not day-in-and-day-out of number crunching applications.

This is such a massive disappointment! I don't know whether to pay the $229.35 or just let it be shipped back un-repaired to take a stance against scalping.

Permalink: Toshiba_motherboard_fried.html
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Last Modified: 01/26/12 11:13

Category: i-tech

01/23/12 02:19 - ID#55969

Monthly estimated data usage

I am exploring options and wondering whether to switch to mobile broadband completely. I looked at these plans:

I don't have a data plan for my smartphones yet because I use them as fancy alarm clocks and never really carry them around. I don't like having a "phone" on me. I guess it's because I don't like talking over phone AT ALL - which is a funny excuse considering only a handful of people actually have my phone number and I don't talk to them using the phone at all.

I exclusively voice/video conference through Google's services or very rarely through Skype. I am subscribed to pre-paid international talktime via Google which enable me to call family using any internet access anywhere. {I think it doesn't work without internet access - in which case, I have emergency international call minutes from Reliance.}

According to this tool:

I occasionally stream videos - almost all from youtube.
I seldom stream music. If I do, it's from pandora.
I never use apps or play online games.
I send and receive photos, files and documents all the time (with more documents than any other kind of files - but they obviously don't factor this in).
I surf the web all the time. Eh? Who doesn't. Everything is online. I wonder what their definition of "surfing the web" actually is.
I check email all the time. I am always connected.

My monthly estimated data usage is 8.27 GB/month. Does that make me an average or above-average user? I wonder...

I still don't know if I really need mobile broadband internet access. If I do get a mobile internet plan, I am not sure it makes sense to have the wired plan as well. I am thinking about this because mum wrote to me today about how she has finally ditched traditional wired access for a 3g/4G enabled USB mobile broadband access - as the primary home internet connection. She wondered if I could do this in US at reasonable costs.

Do any of you use 3G/4G networks for internet access at home through your laptops? Do you find these mobile broadbands completely replacing the need for your wired DSL/cable-modem access? What are your data estimates like? Which mobile and traditional internet providers are you with?

Permalink: Monthly_estimated_data_usage.html
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Last Modified: 01/23/12 02:44

Category: i-tech

01/14/12 11:46 - ID#55916

I will eat your brains, ipad.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

Permalink: I_will_eat_your_brains_ipad_.html
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Last Modified: 01/14/12 11:46

Category: i-tech

01/14/12 10:10 - ID#55912

The Nexus

Incredibly droolworthy.

Permalink: The_Nexus.html
Words: 6
Last Modified: 01/14/12 10:10

Category: i-tech

12/15/11 12:15 - ID#55745

Longpress Longpress

All the features I keep looking for in Android are usually found by a...

longpress.

I need to remember this when I go hunting all over the web looking for a solution to some commonplace difficulty on Android.

Longpress Longpress Longpress. Guess that "intuition" that people keep talking about doesn't come that easily to me or maybe I am just not hardwired for a mobile device.

Permalink: Longpress_Longpress.html
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Last Modified: 12/15/11 12:16

Category: i-tech

12/11/11 06:53 - ID#55722

Firefox, the slow monster.

It takes 2 minutes or forever in internet-time-units for e-strip and gmail to load in Firefox. I have to stare at this appalling animation all the time.

Granted, I don't have a fast connection but 2 whole minutes?? 2 Freaking MINUTES!??? I have never seen this incomplete phase of the (e:strip) homepage in the past couple years.

The last time I remember seeing it was in... Firefox. before I ditched it. There was a reason I hated you so much. This is it. You are a slow monster.

I booted up chrome at the same time and gmail and estrip loaded instantly, even though I emptied the cache before. (i.e. nothing was pre-loaded in the cache).

tinypliny writes at 08:08:20 12/13/11 - Comment #66726: What is a wends? I just posted a screencast for you. I was giving you wrong directions. Sorry! You don't drop it when there is a + symbol. You drop is when there isn't any! Can you post back and see if that works?

metalpeter writes at 07:56:57 12/13/11 - Comment #66725: it will be a Wends.. Thing for me now...

tinypliny writes at 07:54:55 12/13/11 - Comment #66724: I will try and do a screencast... Hold on.

metalpeter writes at 07:29:32 12/13/11 - Comment #66723: It takes me back to the site I was on... Maybe I need small thumb nail sized pix?

metalpeter writes at 07:26:56 12/13/11 - Comment #66722: When I did it It changed from the little box with lines to the plus and I thought I let it go on the plus but maybe I didn't... I'll try again....

tinypliny writes at 07:24:28 12/13/11 - Comment #66721: ^keep it clicked and then unclick when you are over the orange bar AFTER you see the box with the + symbol.

tinypliny writes at 07:23:20 12/13/11 - Comment #66720: When you drag and drop things you have to
a) click on the image you want to drag and drop
b) keeping it clicking you *hover* over the large orange area that says: "DRAG MEDIA HERE TO ADD TO ENTRY".
c) You will see the mouse pointer changing to a small box with a + on it. Do you see this? If you don't see this, dragging an image will simply load it in a new page. If you see the small box with the + on it, only then can you drag and drop successfully. This is true in both chrome and firefox.

Can you post back about whether you see the mouse cursor changing to a box with a + symbol (just over the big orange bar)?

metalpeter writes at 05:17:11 12/13/11 - Comment #66718: Yeah No Luck either way.... Firefox won't let you even slide anything so... No big deal oh well.....

metalpeter writes at 04:56:25 12/13/11 - Comment #66717: Yeah Got the newest Version of flash but not a big deal that it doesn't seem to work in Chrome ........ You can drop and drag it to (e:strip) but it will only show up as it own page.... I'll see what happens with fire fox.....

metalpeter writes at 07:56:09 12/12/11 - Comment #66708: Hoping to try on Tuesday and see what happens.....

tinypliny writes at 07:41:44 12/12/11 - Comment #66706: You can find out here: :::link:::

What version does it say you have? Visit the page in Chrome as well as Firefox on every computer you have and post results. It could be a flash-related issue. Those buttons are flash based.

metalpeter writes at 07:31:51 12/12/11 - Comment #66704: Not sure....

tinypliny writes at 07:15:08 12/12/11 - Comment #66703: Yes, it definitely works in chrome. I would have been the first one to whine if it hadn't! :) Do you have the latest version of flash?

metalpeter writes at 06:29:20 12/12/11 - Comment #66702: Oh it works on Chrome as Well? I tried it on the chrome the other day and drop and drag didn't do anything.... Thought it was only of firefox.... Also didn't know chat lost that? That being said though I also may not have had the window sizes set up right.... Maybe when I have time to play around a bit I'll try again.....

tinypliny writes at 06:06:25 12/12/11 - Comment #66699: LOL, yes. Getting a cup of tea is an old-fashioned option. :) Back in the day, when I was on dialup that is exactly what I would do. Slightly greater speeds on DSL has spoilt me.

I am not sure I understand the second bit about firefox completely. What were you trying to do? Adding an image works in 2 ways on (e:strip). One is through the file upload button (that needs flash to be working). The second is through the drag and drop way. It works the same on both Firefox and Chrome. Chat lost the whole display images functionality a long time back...

metalpeter writes at 04:39:00 12/12/11 - Comment #66698: Couple of things since you know it takes a few minutes to load try opening those pages first then go onto something else and then it will be ready.... Also I thought there where some things that I don't remember how to do that you can only do on firefox like that you can drop pictures from internet by dragging them into chat and it makes a link and then if you do it to the blog it shows up in the blog?

uncutsaniflush writes at 10:22:46 12/11/11 - Comment #66692: Without a millisecond stopwatch both firefox and chrome seem to load gmail and estrip at around the same speed on my Fedora 16 box using roadrunner cable internet.

I'm with (e:paul), as I wrote elsewhere, try chrome without extensions.

paul writes at 10:13:07 12/11/11 - Comment #66690: I use firefox 80% of the time and both gmail and estrip load instantly. Maybe chrome is somehow better optimized for choppy or slow connections?

Maybe this is why people are still using desktop apps for writing and programming.

I wonder if its a chrome extension. Have you tried the browser in safe mode or without extensions?

uncutsaniflush writes at 09:51:06 12/11/11 - Comment #66688: not a bug but a feature too

uncutsaniflush writes at 09:50:35 12/11/11 - Comment #66687: Well, look on the bright side. If Firefox is slower than Chrome, you will have a longer mean time between crashes. You know that during those two grusomely long minutes, your fedora system won't crash. It's not a but, it's a feature. (sad but evil grin)

Permalink: Firefox_the_slow_monster_.html
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Last Modified: 12/11/11 07:03

Category: i-tech

12/05/11 09:35 - ID#55654

Google Lists is going away

In a miscalculated move I put all my zillion bookmarks in Google Lists (e:tinypliny,55528) mainly because it integrated so well with the context menu of Google Chrome - my favourite browser.

I recently migrated to delicious and found that I couldn't export any of my bookmarks that were under lists (in my case, all of them) to delicious.

Thankfully, with the imminent shutting down of Google lists, this problem will be solved.

From the "Goodbye, Lists: FAQ at this

What happens to my Lists once the feature is discontinued?

Lists that you own: All items will be saved as bookmarks with the label "MyBookmarkList". Comments will be saved along with each bookmark.
All other lists (including those shared with you): Youâ€™ll no longer be able to access these lists. If you want to save items from these lists, you should bookmark them before December 19th, 2011.

Whew. Finally a way to export those pesky isolated list bookmarks. I don't have to lose my zillion R, Perl and linux references.

Permalink: Google_Lists_is_going_away.html
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Last Modified: 12/05/11 09:36

Category: i-tech

11/24/11 09:19 - ID#55587

Arrgh. Slow is the Camera

I have the Nexus One. Which is nice. But its camera speed is from the paleolithic ages. Well, I think things might actually have been faster back then since they always had to outrun some wild beast or other; forget standing there and trying to shoot a honey badger with a Nexus one.

It takes such an E.T.E.R.N.I.T.Y for the camera to fuss through and get ready to finally take shot. Fast moving targets are a complete impossibility.

For instance, I just saw the creepiest life-size nativity scene right in the middle of nowhere somewhere in the middle of NY state, intentionally placed (I am sure) to appeal to the Godless heathen who take the train.

Well, this Godless heathen was unable to take a shot and share the creepinessl! No thanks to slow slow slow camera technology from Nexus One.

Arrrrgh.