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thinkythought

Re:24-core CPU and I can’t type an email – part two on Thursday August 23, 2018 @12:41PM (#17828663)
For desktops, i would say it was the 2nd gen of the core i series(2xxx, like the 2500k). For laptops, definitely the original retina macbook pro in 2012.

I'm still using that machine, i try out new stuff every few months. I still don't see the point. I load it down pretty heavily all the time and it still kicks right through it just like it did when i took it out of the box.

If it breaks, i'll just buy another similar one. They're not much over $500 now and it's an amazing amount of computer for that price even in 2018(19?). My only regret is not maxing out the ram and storage really, but that's on me.

I've never felt this way until now, i used to wish i could justify a new machine every year or two and often would. I think i didn't keep a laptop for over a year and a half until i got this one... But now i just don't care. I don't own a single machine with a newer cpu than this one, and my desktop still does great too with a 3770 and a couple SSDs.

It's always, always been terrible on android. It's to the point i almost think it's intentional for some "influencers use iOS" sort of reason. It works just as terribly on current flagship devices, and the picture quality is still horrible even compared to an iphone 5s
Re:Why There Are So Many Thai Restaurants in America on Monday August 20, 2018 @11:19AM (#17800668)
Check out "Thai Tom", it's more the style you're thinking of and very, very good. Expect to stand in a big line though
My snarky answer is use an MVNO that will both show up as the base carrier to any searching online/number lookups, and has completely useless clueless terrible support that either couldn't or wouldn't redirect like this.

Assuming you even have to use SMS, get some weird walmart mobile service that you can't even really call for support.

It's security through obscurity but they often literally wont let you port your number out without absurd gymnastics, the support people don't know how, their crappy web based management system the CSRs use doesn't have a button, etc.

Like amazon et al, any chargeback ever results in a permanent lifetime ban with no appeal from these services
This idea fails because it would would require the driver to report the mess while driving, which is illegal use of your phone in a lot of places. They'd need to come up with a big giant button to push or something, and even then it might run afoul of the law.

I've definitely heard of drivers getting cracked down on for "misuse" of phones, legit or not

Re:Christopher Domas: Hardware Backdoors in X86 CPUs on Thursday August 09, 2018 @05:43PM (#17728799)
This is still a huge target. I used to be in point of sale engineering, and the majority of the quality terminals the big OEMs(NCR and their sub brands, posiflex, etc) were pushing were running these for a LONG time past when you'd think C3 was "dead". Similar vendors i bumped into were pushing stuff with them in it still when i got out of that industry.

There are a LOT of machines out there which will be run essentially until they break down(and a lot are fanless, and will pretty much last until they can't be kept up to date). You have to remember, a lot of big chains(and banks!) paid for extended XP support and then extended-extended XP in the form of windows POS.

This is a "every terminal in a huge fast food chain gets owned and no one finds out for years" sort of vulnerability. This is the first step to something like the target breach all over again.

Re:New York Becomes the City That Never Shuts Up on Friday August 03, 2018 @06:31PM (#17684144)
Points 4 and 8 also combine here. The new "green" garbage trucks the vendor in my city has begun using are so INCREDIBLY loud. Even just the engine noise from them. The PTO and gearbox noise is just atrocious, tons of turbo noise, tons of just weird mid frequency resonant whining. They're some of the loudest trucks i've ever heard, and are basically as loud as monster trucks or straight pipe hot rods. I'm completely not exaggerating that they're multiple harley davidson loud, and at a more annoying frequency.

I've gotten like stabbing ear pain from being near one of these accelerating hard.

Re:Fortnite on Android will bypass Google Play on Friday August 03, 2018 @03:35PM (#17682923)
This is kind of what they did, "Epic Launcher" installs it and keeps it up to date. It seems to be something like steam/origin/etc but for android
The solution here is inverter drive appliances. I had a cheapo but great thrift store inverter microwave. My cheapo junk 3000w inverter could run it off a few hundred Ah of batteries without issue, still spitting out clean power on the other outlets. A regular microwave(with a lower run wattage in theory, by about 1/3rd) would instantly blow the thing up and set off its obnoxious alarm.

With some carefully selected appliances you would probably be fine. This stuff used to be super pricey, but now even the cheaper brands are putting out inverter drive ACs for example. Not window units, but mini splits and home systems

Yup, there's a reason even POE is 48 volt in a lot of applications
Inverter drive home AC systems that are reasonably priced do exist, you can get a mini split for under $1000 now with variable drive compressor and fans. I was shocked last time i looked that up actually, as i had similar thoughts a few years ago for this application and barely anything was on the market.

There's also inverter drive microwaves, and fridges even. My friend's new condo has an inverter drive fridge

Re:Apple Reports Third Quarter Results on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @07:42PM (#17658328)
I usually direct people to the 2014 and 15 ones of these, as someone still rocking a 2012. The newer ones run so much cooler and the GPU performance bumps were nice. They aren't even that much more used generally.

I can't get myself to replace mine unless it totally dies, but damn does it run super hot a lot of the time. And it has since it was brand new. It really does feel like there was an apex in there that we've gone downhill from though, and the 2012 was definitely higher up there than we are now.

Re:Apple Reports Third Quarter Results on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @07:40PM (#17658318)
Honestly the worst one is the macbook, which is ostensibly the "macbook air with retina display" everyone was dreaming of, has ONE. We're never getting another macbook air, this is the path forward.

There's plenty of space for two, a prototype design with two ports even leaked a few years back

And yet one. It's not like the air even had a cornucopia of ports. It's not like i think it NEEDS them. But seriously, one port for everything?

I would already own one if it had two jacks, but that's just patently ridiculous. One port arguably is barely enough for a phone, much less a full on computer that's expected to be a device host for even just like, a flash drive.

Re:Apple Reports Third Quarter Results on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @07:34PM (#17658288)
it befuddles me that they didn't do this after the success of the 2012 13in macbook, which soldiered on for YEARS of the retina models. They kept the 2015 15in pro for a year or two, but i really wish they'd actually just UPDATE the old style of machines and keep one around as a basic model.

i wonder if they think, unlike the SE, that it would actually vampire off too many sales from the high ticket models. what i wouldn't give for a 2015 style 8th gen CPU machine.

Re:Amazon Dark Patterns on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @11:13AM (#17653803)
This skips/avoids another really important but bs thing they do: Reviews that mention counterfeits ALWAYS get pulled. Seemingly by some automated system, even. It's like a forbidden review topic or phrase.

Yea, that's not shady at all

Re:Amazon Dark Patterns on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @11:12AM (#17653790)
This one seems to be random. I've had them insist i ship a fucking mattress back
Does anyone believe there's another core duo type massive leap out there to even be had this time around though? AMD is going to slowly pull a bit ahead of intel, especially in bang for buck, but i don't see how they can catch back up.

As it is, last time intel jumped ahead it was by repackaging and souping up an a mobile arch that in and of itself was based on the old pentium 3 arch. They can't really mine the parts bin that way this time around either.

Re:AMD: Our crypto boom is over on Thursday July 26, 2018 @05:27PM (#17621344)
The interesting thing here is all the "big" games in the past few years have had fairly modest requirements(MOBA stuff, fortnite, etc). It's been a while since there was a huge blockbuster game everyone was buzzing about that was especially taxing. PUBG sort of sucks power but it runs like crap even with a ridiculously beefy machine, and not because it's graphically intense.
That's a bug that's been around for AGES that they still haven't patched. I hate it.

If you force kill the app and reopen it, suddenly you can choose songs(usually). Then after a while, suddenly you can't. It took me months to figure out what was going on because i'd have another phone in my house right there that could do it, then that wouldn't be able to either suddenly...

There's something to this theory, as switching airplane mode off and on usually results in a usable connection. This is still completely unacceptable behavior though, and i haven't been able to replicate it on multiple other devices i have handy(including other iphones, including ones with band 12 support)
Yup, and it's "working as normal". This poor reception is shared by friends who have the intel X
I have an X on tmobile and it's abjectly terrible. I had a 6S+ before it. In the same location, on the same network, it will drop signal or become unusable and gets lower reception almost everywhere.

This is nearly as bad as the issues reported with the essential phone, honestly. It's a night and day difference you can compare side by side if you have two devices.

With good signal it's fine, and the speeds are plenty fast. I have no complaints about battery life. It's entirely when the signal is marginal that it's garbage.

I've considered selling it and buying the verizon or unlocked qualcomm model multiple times.

I wasn't a huge fan of them growing up in Seattle either, but the new ones are so much better. They have lithium batteries, a few miles of off-wire range, and auto-detach/reattach for the poles. Basically solved all the problems.

They're also much peppier, and have AC.

Re:Uber's 'Vomit Fraud' Sounds Worse Than Surge Pricing on Monday July 23, 2018 @04:03PM (#17595513)
It does require this, they're simply using fraudulent or re-used/edited/internet sources photos
Re:Some MacBook Pro users complain about throttling issues on Thursday July 19, 2018 @03:19PM (#17569457)
you shouldn't have to use a utility to force the fans to max. if it's not running them as hard as it could, then it's badly designed. that's a choice on their part.
This may have changed, but for years the apple warranty was "as long as you don't damage anything, you're allowed to open it". I did some research and at least the manual for my machine still states this, but mine is also from 2012
Last i had heard, TDP was a manufacturer configurable item and could be set within a pretty wide range, and the limits would act accordingly
Re:Microsoft announces Surface Go on Tuesday July 10, 2018 @12:06PM (#17499329)
This has only worked surface pro 1-2, and surface pro 3-4. It also seems the original "surface"(atom) non-pro keyboard would not fit this new "go"

And regardless, if you upgrade a normal amount of time for a laptop/tablet, even in a corporate environment, you will need a new keyboard every time.

Re:Microsoft announces Surface Go on Tuesday July 10, 2018 @11:13AM (#17498781)
This, in my opinion, has ruined the value equation of these machines from the beginning. Essentially no one wants or needs one without the keyboard. Just charge an honest price and sell a full set. This isn't an iPad, and there wont be a lot of people who want to use windows without a real keyboard.

It feels like airline convenience fees jacking up your ticket $100

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