The "Software and Web" Geek thread.

[PANatsFan]

I keep 4 tabs pinned as app tabs: gmail, google news, google reader, and wnff, so it's not many.

Mainly it's when popping over into and out of private browsing for visiting certain *ahem* entertainment websites

Dude, you better mean WoW or WNFF

[The Chief]

[Nathan]

[JMW IV]

hrm. google stealth-launched a new service tonight.

Google Hotpot.

www.google.com/hotpot

Social Rating/Recommendation feature for Google Places.

after using it, I'd have to say that to seems like Google nag-slapping Yelp.

it works pretty well and is very easy to get into and use.

I am wondering if Yelp should be concerned here.

[JMW IV]

Hotpot takes all of Google Places‘ ratings and reviews features and adds a more personal touch. Currently, Place Pages mostly aggregate review data from sources such as Yelp. With Hotpot, users will be encouraged to rate and review businesses directly from their Google-linked profile. Users’ ratings and reviews are tracked with a counter at the top of each profile, and likes and dislikes are remembered and used in Google’s recommendation engine.

Unlike the just-the-facts, business-friendly interface of Places, Hotpot has a distinctly user-friendly UI that mirrors current trends in web app design. In other words, it’s aimed directly at average consumers, not web junkies who live to search. While Hotpot works well with Places data, its presentation is entirely fresh, both visually and functionally. It presents high-impact data (star ratings and images) for each place in a grid format without introducing too many details — such as phone number or URL — that might not be needed until the user decides to dig down another level or two.

Another part of Hotpot is its social features. Users can create a profile nickname to separate their Hotpot account from their general Google profiles (the whole web can see the Places nickname, but only friends will see the linked Google profile and the user’s real name). Google uses Gmail accounts and linked Google profiles to help users find their friends. Friends’ reviews and ratings will be visible, and users will get recommendations based on what their friends like.

When you search for specific places, such as “sushi Berkeley,” in Hotpot, you can filter your search results to see businesses or other places you haven’t rated before; you can also choose to see only places that have been rated by your Hotpot friends.

http://mashable.com/2010/11/16/google-hotpot/

[Nathan]

I love having a nice place I can SSH into and tunnel my way around work's filter when needed

[The Chief]

I love having a nice place I can SSH into and tunnel my way around work's filter when needed

You're welcome for the introduction to the idea

What service did you go with?

[Nathan]

You're welcome for the introduction to the idea

What service did you go with?

SDF.  Free membership, but $36 to become a lifetime ARPA member, and tunneling access requires Meta ARPA membership, which is $36/yr.  So it's $3 a month.

To be honest, I also wanted it just to have a BSD environment to play around in without having to install anything on my on PC.  And you get web space too.

I've been playing around with shell scripting and things like that, plus I wanted to see how much javascript I remembered.  I started work on a pitching calculator for fun, but I only spent a few minutes on it while bored at work the other day.

http://bit.ly/cy7c2k

[Nathan]

Anyone know where youtube streams from?  I'm trying to set up rules for Proxy Switchy on chrome so it auto switches to my proxy for some sites.  Youtube's website loads, but the video won't actually play.  I'm assuming it's coming from a different server than *youtube.com*

[PC]

Adobe Reader X with sandboxing is out!

http://blogs.adobe.com/adobereader/2010/11/adobe-reader-x-now-available.html

[cmdterps44]

I have a question about my sound card... I am trying to record what my speakers are playing with Audacity but I do not have "stereo mix" as a recording option. I know how to get it but I do not have it as a device.

I went to Computer > Properties > Device Manager > Audio tab.

When I go there, all it says is "High Definition Audio Device" and it doesn't give me a name of the brand or anything. I try to update drivers but it says it's already updated. I can't even manual install because I don't know what driver to start with!! This is a mess!

[Nathan]

Do you have a sound card or are you using on board sound from your motherboard?

[cmdterps44]

Do you have a sound card or are you using on board sound from your motherboard?

I think I am using the on board sound from my motherboard, I just realized. I didn't buy one when I built the computer lol.

[PC]

If you're in Vista or 7, make sure all of the record devices are shown.  Right click on the speaker in the system icons (lower right of the screen) and select Recording Devices.  Then right click on the screen and make sure that Show Disabled Devices is checked.

For some reason, you might have devices that are disabled but are perfectly usable, if enabled.

[cmdterps44]

If you're in Vista or 7, make sure all of the record devices are shown.  Right click on the speaker in the system icons (lower right of the screen) and select Recording Devices.  Then right click on the screen and make sure that Show Disabled Devices is checked.

For some reason, you might have devices that are disabled but are perfectly usable, if enabled.

They are. The only thing that pops up is CD-Audio.

That makes a total of 4

Microphone
Microphone
CD-Audio
Line Out

I guess the motherboard sound card doesn't have this feature.

[PANatsFan]

They are. The only thing that pops up is CD-Audio.

That makes a total of 4

Microphone
Microphone
CD-Audio
Line Out

I guess the motherboard sound card doesn't have this feature.

They took this feature out of windows 7, I've tried recently

[The Chief]

They took this feature out of windows 7, I've tried recently

Huh?

[Nathan]

They took this feature out of windows 7, I've tried recently

Really?  I know I have a lot more than that, and I'm using the built in sound.

[PANatsFan]

You need to download old drivers to re-enable it, or run them in compatibility mode. I wasn't able to get it going on my machine.

[PatsNats28]

What's the benefit of saving in docx over doc? Just got Microsoft Office 2011, and it doesn't make any sense to me why I would do it. My school uses Office 04, so saving in doc works well there... I looked it up, and it says that docx makes it more compressed, but I just tested it and the same file is 25 KB with doc and 49 KB with docx. Any good reasons?

[PANatsFan]

What's the benefit of saving in docx over doc? Just got Microsoft Office 2011, and it doesn't make any sense to me why I would do it. My school uses Office 04, so saving in doc works well there... I looked it up, and it says that docx makes it more compressed, but I just tested it and the same file is 25 KB with doc and 49 KB with docx. Any good reasons?

Docx is xml based, like OpenOffice, it's a superior format. For compatability reasons, no reason not to use .doc.

[PatsNats28]

so why do i care that it's XML based? what about it is superior? (for the average person... i know most of the stuff i'll ever have to use on a computer, but i'm not really a computer geek)

[The Chief]

For the same reason no one should be using Windows XP anymore.  That said, if your school is hung up on '04 (I'm assuming we're talking about Mac versions of Office here) and don't have .docx compatibility installed, then it sounds like you don't have much choice.

[PatsNats28]

Yeah Mac versions... I could save in docx and then also save in doc if I'm working on something in school, but it doesn't make any sense.

Also, whenever I open a document that I made in Word 04, I get all these debugging messages and project windows and crap that are really annoying, any way to make this go away?

[The Chief]

Hmm I've never seen anything like that on the PC side - usually newer versions of Office will open old .doc files with no problem.

Paging Nathan!