Tech industry general discussion thread

I'm considering going for it (I hope to be able to get the academic discount). Mostly interested in it as a way to backup my photos. And I'm currently without Office, which is sometimes annoying.
 
I'm still not really comfortable putting my data in the hands of a cloud provider, to be honest, particularly an American one that is part of PRISM. For something like backing up Blu-Ray films or FLAC audio that you'd ripped in a jurisdiction that allows that, the unlimited backup would be great, but for personal documents... I just can't dig it. In some ways Microsoft is moving in the right direction - Brad Smith's stance appears to be genuinely good, and their decision to be held in contempt of the court to continue fighting in Microsoft v. United States is admirable, but it's too early to trust their cloud services again IMO. If they do win the Irish extradition case, that will be a significant milestone, and then Microsoft cloud backup might make sense for non-Americans.

More generally it's cloud backup without client-side encryption that I'm not really willing to trust. I wouldn't trust some random company to store a physical copy of my hard drive, without encryption, as a backup somewhere and keep it safe for all time, so I don't think it makes sense to do the same thing with cloud backup, particularly with the various security issues uncovered in the past year and a half (across the whole gamut of the NSA, Heartbleed, and SSL3, among others).
 
Analysis: Why SteamOS probably won’t cause a PC gaming revolution

Pretty much what I've been saying, there's no compelling upside to Steam Machines.

So I've set up an HTPC box recently with Win 8 / Steam Big Picture Mode that works for gaming with a wireless 360 controller.

Random thoughts:

Steam Big Picture Mode is really good and works perfectly with a 360 controller. Although possibly partially as a result of the Steam desktop UI being kind of poor, Steam BPM is probably the app I have that does the single best job of transitioning to good TV UI.

I still don't see the point of Steam OS. Save $100 to not be able to run any desktop apps?

I don't get the point of media UIs. I tried XBMC, Plex and the Windows Store Video app (which now supports MKV). None of them are easier than just leaving open a File Explorer window open for every show I'm currently watching. When I want to watch the next episode of something, I alt+tab to the appropriate window, push the down arrow, hit enter. Process takes about 2 seconds from anywhere else.

I never use metro apps on Win8 other than NextGen Reader (which is awesome), but they're actually pretty great on a 55" screen from across the room. Metro Internet Explorer is my browser of choice on my TV.

The quality of Windows DPI scaling compared to Mac OS is really understated. I run at 125% on my TV, and it's mostly fine. There are some poorly maintained desktop apps that are blurry messes, but the same thing is applicable to Mac OS. (Essential tie, though Mac OS apps got a head start on this.) There are some poorly maintained apps that have subtly out-of-place elements, which is never the case on Mac OS. (Advantage Mac OS) Fonts/non-image UI is rendered at the exact effective resolution of the monitor at all times, compared to Mac OS, where you can only run at 200% DPI scaling for pixel-perfect scaling, otherwise the image is rendered much larger than the resolution and scaled down - this allows for the Mac OS advantage for the previous point, but results in subtle non-pixel-perfect scaling. (Advantage Windows)
 
I've been using Steam Big Picture Mode for a while now and I think it's fantastic. The only thing I can't do is find the Steam ID of the guy I just played with/against. Also typing is a PITA...
 
The only thing I can't do is find the Steam ID of the guy I just played with/against. Also typing is a PITA...

In my experience that's pretty hit-and-miss on regular desktop Steam, too. IMO, it's still best to either add someone while you're still in-game, or write it down in Notepad/on a Post-It since the "Who You've Played With" history may or may not work.

----

I used Steam Music Player for the first time recently. It came pre-populated with a bunch of tracks with cryptic names that presumably are from games I own (some of them clearly are, such as the ones that start with Age of Empires III, and the Renaissance ones from Civ4). Not bad for listening to Civ4 music in any game, but the default organization is awful. It'd be much better if it would put all the files from a certain game in one folder that you could then sub-drill into.

Haven't tried adding my own music yet since there's about a hundred mostly-random tracks in there via games, and it's not that difficult to alt-tab out to Nightengale or Spotify from most games.
 
So I've set up an HTPC box recently with Win 8 / Steam Big Picture Mode that works for gaming with a wireless 360 controller.

Random thoughts:

Steam Big Picture Mode is really good and works perfectly with a 360 controller. Although possibly partially as a result of the Steam desktop UI being kind of poor, Steam BPM is probably the app I have that does the single best job of transitioning to good TV UI.

I still don't see the point of Steam OS. Save $100 to not be able to run any desktop apps?

I don't get the point of media UIs. I tried XBMC, Plex and the Windows Store Video app (which now supports MKV). None of them are easier than just leaving open a File Explorer window open for every show I'm currently watching. When I want to watch the next episode of something, I alt+tab to the appropriate window, push the down arrow, hit enter. Process takes about 2 seconds from anywhere else.

I never use metro apps on Win8 other than NextGen Reader (which is awesome), but they're actually pretty great on a 55" screen from across the room. Metro Internet Explorer is my browser of choice on my TV.

The quality of Windows DPI scaling compared to Mac OS is really understated. I run at 125% on my TV, and it's mostly fine. There are some poorly maintained desktop apps that are blurry messes, but the same thing is applicable to Mac OS. (Essential tie, though Mac OS apps got a head start on this.) There are some poorly maintained apps that have subtly out-of-place elements, which is never the case on Mac OS. (Advantage Mac OS) Fonts/non-image UI is rendered at the exact effective resolution of the monitor at all times, compared to Mac OS, where you can only run at 200% DPI scaling for pixel-perfect scaling, otherwise the image is rendered much larger than the resolution and scaled down - this allows for the Mac OS advantage for the previous point, but results in subtle non-pixel-perfect scaling. (Advantage Windows)

I've been using a living room htpc/gaming pc setup for a while now, since around 2007. I agree that XBMC never really showed me much value. I think some people want their HTPC to present itself to users a certain way; for instance XBMC can basically turn your HTPC into something that can be used with a TV remote control. Personally I stream everything so I never really tried to dive into it too much as it's mostly a platform for people with stored content.
 
Google Glass deader than Milli Vanilli's career

Google is ending sales of its Google Glass eyewear.

The company insists it is still committed to launching the smart glasses as a consumer product, but will stop producing Glass in its present form.

Instead it will focus on "future versions of Glass" with work carried out by a different division to before.

The Explorer programme, which gave software developers the chance to buy Glass for $1,500 (£990) will close.

The programme was launched in the United States in 2013. It was then opened up to anyone and was launched in the UK last summer.

It had been expected that it would be followed reasonably quickly by a full consumer launch.

From next week, the search firm will stop taking orders for the product but it says it will continue to support companies that are using Glass.
 
I'm on board with wearables, though the price needs to come to about $250 (where it already is in some cases). I have always wanted a stopwatch that logs all my 4-mile times for me. The problem with wearables is their tendency to get lost/break.

I think the real power, though, is when you combine these wearables with a host of other internet appliances. Think of hitting an icon on your watch and it turns on all your lights in the house, adjusts the thermostat, or opens your garage door. The mere act of wearing your watch unlocks your front door for you (and unlocks it behind you). You can start your Keurig (in the kitchen) from the bathroom. Motion sensors, door-open sensors and smoke alarms from your home security system send alarms to your watch--where it can vibrate, even if you're in a movie theater and have to set your cell phone to silent. That's where it's at.
 
I've never once had a situation where I've wanted to turn on all the lights in my house.

The window of opportunity for remote control thermostats is negligible - it's basically just a statistical anomaly between dumb thermostats and thermostats that automatically adjust themselves without ever needing manual intervention.

Don't need a watch for smart door locks.

Keurigs are dumb, they generate a ton of waste for mediocre coffee and the company sucks.

Not sure how motion sensors, door-open sensors, smoke alarms or home security systems vibrating your watch are helpful... you need to take your phone out anyway for any meaningful interaction unless you're using voice commands with the watch. Not to mention home fires and break-ins probably happen about once every several decades or less per house on average.


The single best use case I can think of for watches are simple wireless music/podcast players that attach to your wrist. The current ones are all unsuitable for this because they've got worthlessly small amounts of unexpandable storage. And I've been unable to find any satisfactory wireless headphones to use during exercise.
 
The single best use case I can think of for watches are simple wireless music/podcast players that attach to your wrist.

The single best thing I can think of are timepieces. Good ol' fashioned timepieces. No tubes.
 
Zelig, the problem with thermostats is that it doesn't know the temperature I am currently experiencing at the specific spot that I'm sitting/lying in in the room. So if I'm sat next to a door that's a bit drafty, I'll feel colder than the thermostat (however smart) thinks; if I'm wearing a particularly thick shirt or sweater, I'll feel warmer; if I've just opened the freezer I'll feel colder; if I've just been for a run or a shower I'll feel warmer; if I'm sat up on a barstool I'll feel colder; if I'm lying on my soft sofa under a blanket I'll feel warmer... There are just so many different variables that determine what temperature I want the air in my room to be that a thermostat, however smart or well connected, simply can't account for. You can maybe get it right 80% or 90% of the time just using a smart thermostat (better sensors and better programming), but there will always be things that a thermostat can't capture, that only I, the human, can capture. And for those reasons, I will always need some way of controlling the room temperature from my sofa.
 
I don't believe simply leaving and forgetting about the thermostat in any of those situations will appreciably affect your level of comfort. Most of those situations will resolve by themselves faster than your heating/cooling system can adjust the temperature in your home anyway.

Do you actually adjust your thermostat that often? I only have a regular programmable one, and the only time I bother to put it off its schedule is my presence at home home changes from my regular schedule.
 
How would you "resolve" "wearing more layers" or "lying under a blanket"? Clearly, in those situations, I will not need the thermostat to be as high as if I'm wearing a t-shirt and the door is open. I'll often be wearing more layers simply because that's what I put on in the morning; I'll be under a blanket simply because I fancy being under a blanket. I won't want to change the number of layers I'm wearing, or not be snuggling under a blanket, just because my thermostat is too dumb to know that.

There are also situations where I want a warmer temperature even if I'm not actually feeling any colder myself. E.g. if I have clothes on the drier, I'll be more likely to want a higher air temperature, because (a) the clothes will dry faster, and (b) the dry heat from the radiator won't affect my skin as much since the wet clothes will keep the air moist. So I'm less likely to put on an extra layer, and more likely to want the air to be warmer instead.

I don't change my thermostat because it takes too long for the room's temperature to change. I use a small heater or an open door to regulate the temperature more closely. I'll take off or put on more layers of course, but as I said, I'd rather not have to do that. Finally, I'm assuming that, in this wonderful hypothetical future with perfectly smart thermostats, that the room's temperature can be changed in a trivially short length of time.
 
How would you "resolve" "wearing more layers" or "lying under a blanket"? Clearly, in those situations, I will not need the thermostat to be as high as if I'm wearing a t-shirt and the door is open. ...

You live alone, right? :lol:

But for the storage question - I have a microSD card the size of my thumbnail (that would readily fit inside my old calculator watch) that holds 32GB of music. That is (if my math is correct) 10000 mp3 songs. Is that really too few, and/or am I too :old: because I remember portable CD and cassette tape players that held a dozen or so songs?

I get complaints about processing power and network bandwidth, because hey, technology. But complaints about storage capacity leave me wondering, when I can store the Library of Congress on my laptop.
 
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