The "Software and Web" Geek thread.

[Nathan]

[Nathan]

HP is getting out of the PC / tablet business, spinning off its PC business and killing the touchpad (and along with it, WebOS).  That lasted about 2 months.

Price them at $99 and I might be tempted to get one.

They dropped it to $99

Sold out almost everywhere online though

[HalfSmokes]

They dropped it to $99

Sold out almost everywhere online though

Can it support Linux? Otherwise, it's got an unsupported OS that will never see an update and an app store that is closing

[Nathan]

Can it support Linux? Otherwise, it's got an unsupported OS that will never see an update and an app store that is closing

Dalingrin, the guy that supports CyanogenMod 7 for the Nook Color is already at work with porting the linux kernel over to it and there is a team that is already at work to bring the full CM7 rom over to it asap.

dalingrin Erik Hardesty
@
@fudlen we already have a linux kernel for it. Basic functionality should be easy to port. Other things may take longer

dalingrin Erik Hardesty
I have a feeling myself and at least part of the Nook Color team will also be porting Android to the Touchpad #touchdroid

[Obed_Marsh]

I have a 32GB touchpad, after Leo stumbled over his feet at the announcement, I called them up with intention of RMAing it but since they had the $149 sale (32GB) I said the hell with it; it is around $300 worth of hardware; someone will hack it at this price and during the interium WebOS is pretty slick for a lot of things even if it will die on the vine.

[JMW IV]

Bing Vs. Google Search, as of August 2011.

thoughts?

[The Chief]

I've used Bing maybe half a dozen times ever.  It seemed okay, but I'm set in my Google-searching ways.

Maybe PC would like to chime in

[Nathan]

Best search engine ever, works best with IE on Windows 7

[JMW IV]

Best search engine ever, works best with IE on Windows 7

pretty sure I will never use IE lol.

if I ever get another computer besides this Chromebook, I'll probably use Chromium regardless of the OS.

but what specifically makes Bing better than Google search?

[Nathan]

pretty sure I will never use IE lol.

if I ever get another computer besides this Chromebook, I'll probably use Chromium regardless of the OS.

but what specifically makes Bing better than Google search?

I don't know, I don't use bing.  I was parodying PC

[JMW IV]

I don't know, I don't use bing.  I was parodying PC

oh haha.

[PANatsFan]

Bing Vs. Google Search, as of August 2011.

thoughts?

travel.bing.com is better than non-existent google travel search

[PC]

best dilbert ever:

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-08-03/

(Image removed from quote.)

Pretty weak, Dilbert.  Unless your job is playing Angry Birds, you're not doing it on a cell phone or tablet.

[JMW IV]

Yahoo's new email interface looks really snazzy.

I mean, I am pretty much NEVER going to use it, but it does look pretty darn nice.

[JMW IV]

Serious Question:  What, exactly, IS AOL now? What do they do?

I know they own Techcrunch and the Huffington Post, but thats all.

do they still do email and stuff, or did that die with the free dial-up discs?

[JMW IV]

gtfoh, I didn't know that AOL owned Joystiq.

thats my favorite Video Game blog.

[Nathan]

gtfoh, I didn't know that AOL owned Joystiq.

thats my favorite Video Game blog.

AOL owns Weblogs, Inc. which includes TUAW, Engadget, and Joystiq among others.  A lot of the original Engadget editors left due to the way AOL was running things.

[JMW IV]

Yahoo's new email interface looks really snazzy.

I mean, I am pretty much NEVER going to use it, but it does look pretty darn nice.

Changing my mind on this. Its gonna replace Hotmail as my "Fun Stuff" email.

I am using GMail now, pretty much for business stuff (i.e. my GMail is on my resume), and I will use Yahoo for my Video Game and Entertainment stuff.

Yahoo's email is pretty damn sexy now.

[PC]

Vmware Workstation 8 and Player 4 (part of Workstation 8 but also as a free separate download) are out.

http://vmware.com/workstation

[JMW IV]

OK Blasphemy ensues now:

AOL Mail......really isn't all that bad. neither is Yahoo.

I know there is a stigma that users with @yahoo.com or @aol.com email addresses are useless old idiots who never used the internet before, but after taking another look at the services now, they're not that bad.  in fact, in some ways they are pretty damn good (Yahoo's interface, for one).

don't think they will ever shake that stigma,  but at least Yahoo has the @ymail.com domain.

and AOL Lifestream is AWESOME. I don't care what anyone says.

[JMW IV]

trying out Diaspora...

I see where Google+ got their layout and features from.

if anyone wants an invite to the Official Diaspora pod just to check it out, I'll invite them.

[Obed_Marsh]

Governments prepares to unleash a flurry of activity for security geeks.

http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=22994

[The Chief]

Firefox 7 final is live, official launch tomorrow, touts drastically less memory usage:

news bit/download link - http://www.neowin.net/news/firefox-70

improved memory use blog entry from mozilla - http://blog.mozilla.com/nnethercote/2011/08/09/firefox-7-is-lean-and-fast-2/

tl;dr

Firefox 7 uses less memory than Firefox 6 (and 5 and 4): often 20% to 30% less, and sometimes as much as 50% less. In particular, Firefox 7′s memory usage will stay steady if you leave it running overnight, and it will free up more memory when you close many tabs.

This means that Firefox 7 is faster (sometimes drastically so) and less likely to crash, particularly if you have many websites open at once and/or keep Firefox running for a long time between restarts.

[sportsfan882]

That big of a difference? How come it took them so long to make such a drastic change?

And why isn't the update available via the "About Firefox - Check for Updates" in Firefox? It's available on Firefox's site but not for automatic update for some reason.

[saltydad]

Now we need the wnff toolbar updated for 7.