akoster

Archived on Archive.today [1]

[1] https://archive.fo/dAj0T

I discovered Telegram video calling on iOS has a convenient screen sharing function (accessible when toggling a switch between front and back cameras). Gone are the days of asking grandpa to try to show me his iPhone screen over Skype (And trying very hard to read blurry and moving text).

It was neat to play with in a VM using the (quasi-legal) copy from WinWorld [1] as well as its derivatives Breadbox Ensemble [2] and New Deal Office [3].

[1] https://winworldpc.com/product/geos/2x

[2] https://winworldpc.com/product/breadbox-ensemble/4

[3] https://winworldpc.com/product/new-deal-office/2000

Export Tabs URLs

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/export-tabs-u...

Used to dump tab URLs into a text file for later use. Has the option of selecting and editing the text of the file before saving, filtering the file contents, only selecting tabs from the current window in Firefox, and adding the title of each tab above its URL.

I concur except conveniently the Office 2007 compatibility pack is fully compatible with Office 2000. Microsoft took their page down but here is a mirror at download.com [1] and from this Stack Exchangw thread [2]

[1] https://download.cnet.com/Microsoft-Office-Compatibility-Pac...

[2] https://superuser.com/questions/404902/microsoft-office-comp...

When I sign into a Google apps account I have associated with a school about half the time I am forced to go through option (3) whereby I’m asked for a number they can send a SMS to. I am never presented with option 1 or 2. Per the tenant settings which I do not control, 2FA is disabled and users cannot enable it, nor provide a backup email last I checked. Extremely frustrating- especially not being able to use a VoIP number, landline to dial, or set up a more robust TOTP generator or the like. Perhaps the school should codify the requirement for students have cellular service just to enroll, since it’s the de facto case already. sigh

Very fun to read and reminds me so much of my grandparents, three of whom grew up in the 1940s in the Bronx. Especially how their accents and mannerisms sound so foreign and out of place out west (in Arizona and Los Angeles) yet likely to them, all children of Eastern European immigrants, they aspired to learn and speak their unique variant of American English unique in time and place, as well as live and survive in what must have been not the easiest place to grow up. And for my grandfather, his aversion to Jewish rituals and observances despite being brought up in an observant household, and not learning even one of the multiple languages his parents spoke, I have always thought was yet another way to prove he was a fully assimilated American, yet in so many ways was shaped by the culture, tradition and outlook of his andestors. It’s a shame the accents of New York City and throughout our country are loosing their defining features and sharp edges.

Just like how my relatives ask if I prefer “soder” or “waderr”. Those strong final R’s are the dead giveaway of a Bronx accent for me.

Reminds me of the work of Studs Terkel [1] who focused on interviewing everyday Americans. Some of his recordings from the 1970s [2] can be found with commentary as a part of this NPR podcast episode [3] which I have enjoyed coming back to recently.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studs_Terkel

[2] https://www.npr.org/2016/09/30/494742224/meet-some-of-the-vo...

[3] https://www.npr.org/2019/09/13/760632634/episode-939-the-wor...

This reminds me of hearing about a surge of tech patent cases being litigated in the Eastern District of Texas, though according to this paper, there were perhaps reasons other than selecting a jurisdiction based on purported lack of the locals’ familiarity with technology: https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1146&con...

More about this Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Intel, and Microsoft-backed initiative to foster American the semiconductor fabrication industry. https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-semiconductors-idUSL1N2M...

IIRC doesn’t Intel have an (older) Ireland-based fab in Lexlip? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leixlip

Poolside FM steaming service: http://poolside.fm

Sunscreen available at http://vacation.inc complete with a “high pressure sales pamphlet”, corporate video, and business card generator

Reminds me of Opera Mini [1] utilizing Opera’s compression servers (which really helped with capped mobile data plans a few years back) or Google Web Light [2] which I have heard might be similar

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Mini

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Web_Light

I might just have to switch now that Fry’s ISP is no more https://web.archive.org/web/20210224065426/https://www.frys....

You make a point but what I think the author is alluding to the fact that the US and allies have countered Chinese military actions (building bases in international territory) with words. If that track record holds, we may also use words to counter a missile strike on a TSMC fab.

9.9.9.9 (and 149.112.112.112) are working great if you need an alternative public DNS server (https://quad9.net)

I'm just glad Mac OS X 10.13 High Sierra and above are still fully supported since I have a computer which is stuck on that release (incompatible with 10.14).

I completely agree with your point about brick and mortar stores. Having a showroom with multiple sizes and brands of product on display, and able to purchase on the spot is a great convenience over waiting for an item to ship. Yes, its a slight inconvenience to commute to and from the store, but it often beats waiting multiple days for something, and having no idea of its quality (or worse if you accidentally purchased a counterfeit product). After doing that a few times on Amazon, and having an issue with a return once, I have stuck to supporting B&M retailers, especially those like Micro Center who provide online stock numbers, indicate where a product is located in their showroom, and match prices (though I have mostly found Micro Center's prices to be the cheapest).

I completely agree with you about Micro Center frequently changing. I remember when visiting their SoCal store, the books section was moved to what appeared to be a clearance area and found a large drone display in its place. The Fry's in my area seemed like it had 2-3x the square footage, but maybe the same amount of inventory (or less) than Micro Center did.

The Micro Center also used to have this awesome display of old logos (such as the rainbow Apple logo, Compaq, Packard-Bell, old Microsoft logo, etc) from various hardware and software companies that wrapped around the front and sides of the building in all its 90s glory. Sadly, I found it missing as of earlier this year. I wish I took a picture of it while it was still up. Did the Cambridge store have a similar "logo ribbon"?

Great comment! I recall all those quirks in my fond old memories of Fry's! The multiple trees killed by quote sheets; the lack of seeing anyone patron the Cafe, and the classical music (which I actually enjoyed but clashed with my store's theme). It's funny you mention their antique POS system (Novell NetWare based IIRC? overhearing from a sales associate once) since it seems like Micro Center and Costco both use similar text-based POS systems to this day.

On a visit back to my native Southern California last Winter, I ended trying to rekindle old memories by taking a trip with my dad and neighbor to our local Fry's. Sadly, we all had a collective shock experiencing the lack of cars in the parking lot, sales associates on the floor, and the large empty spaces on once full shelves. The place seemed like a shell of its former self. After not being able to find whatever I was looking for at the time, I later made the trek down to Micro Center, which I recall not only had my item in stock, had shelves full of product, a store full of employees, and a parking lot full of cars. It definitely fit my bill of being able to drive to a brick and mortar store, to quickly pickup a part and getting straight to using it, especially when one cannot afford to wait days for shipped product.

I imagine the purpose of the turbo button on some PCs was to mitigate this effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_button

(At least for public repos) Isn’t this almost a compliment? (Having another person host your code and use it?) xD

Old work team of 7-8 people used telegram and worked great! We didn't use any bots though - just a group.

I have a Dell Inspiron 15 5000 series and its running flawlessly (tried with Fedora, Debian, openSUSE, and Arch)

Back up for me on the East Coast of the USA.

Having problems getting FB messenger, Facebook.com and Whatsapp to load/connect/deliver messages from the east coast of the US using both my mobile data plan and home internet connection

Strange, I didn’t realize they had a medium.com version. I originally read it here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-sex...

Great links! Reminds of this [0] instance in the wild of using chip art to send a message to those attempting to decap and reverse engineer a design.

[0] https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/42255/was-there...