The Spam Thread!

[huckleberrypie]

Seems like this has been a recurring problem with EasyCap users, and the moniker actually refers to a myriad of similar devices sold by various manufacturers, similar to the S1 MP3 player and a few other generic industrial design examples. I chanced upon this page containing links to drivers which may work for your device, in case you're interested:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://visser.io/2015/06/easycap-drivers-for-windows-8-1/">https://visser.io/2015/06/easycap-drive ... ndows-8-1/</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Easycap">https://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Easycap</a><!-- m -->

[huckleberrypie]

Sigh... Seems like things are getting overly stale here.

[huckleberrypie]

Tfw you were commissioned by the local government to do a police livery set for them and you used GTA as a tool to make it:






http://imgur.com/a/RfGZg

[cpd2009]

Sigh... Seems like things are getting overly stale here.

I think things will stay this way since David will likely never return here, and it also seems Angel and Prue are busy with other things as well. In any case, may as well do some catching up here starting with my first item.

Kissyfur. My latest retro cartoon find. Over the summer, I found an old VHS tape at a yard sale during vacation. There was some old NBC Saturday Morning cartoons on it complete with commercials, recorded in 1989. First show on the tape was Kissyfur, a cartoon about a young bear cub and his loving father who flee the circus and settle down in a remote swampland with other kinds of Funny Animals. Despite it's sappy sounding name, it's one of the best cartoons I have seen, IMO. The animation varies from decent to crude, but the stories and humor are rather well written. Lots of cartoony action as well. The show ran from 1985 to 1986, was cancelled, and then uncancelled in 1988, apparently following outcry from the shows' fans. It was cancelled for good the very next year. :/

The main companies behind the show were NBC and DiC, and the original 1985 - 1986 season clearly shows that. The animation was done in Japan, as usual with mid-80s DiC shows. This can sometimes lead to some characters taking on AnimeEsque designs or other off-model moments. The 1988 season, of which I have just one episode, was animated in Taiwan and is a bit more crude. The writing is more or less the same.

Too bad Kissyfur has been largely forgotten. It hasn't been released on DVD and you can only find it through old out-of-print VHS tapes or the even more rare home VHS recording. There was a decent amount of merchandise that is far easier to find, ranging from McDonald's toys to storybooks, plushies, and a single issue DC comic book.

In relation to video game related news, I tried my hand at Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle. It could have been a good platformer, but Sega had to overdo it with the "Janken" (rock paper scissors) matches. You go through these to buy items and to beat the bosses. It boils down to luck really, and drags the game down a bit for me. As of now, I'm trying Contra Hard Corps. It lives up to the name, but I am getting further into the game and learning how the bosses work.

[huckleberrypie]

Which reminds me... The 80s animated series The Centurions was also animated in Japan by the same production outfit behind Gundam and Cowboy Bebop.

[cpd2009]

Bored, I decided to take a look at that cheapo USB charger that came with that Black Friday "BrightTab" from last fall. It's sealed with a single small Philips screw, and upon opening, I discovered that it was assembled in such a way that the wires from the metal plug to the circuit board were somehow pressed against the screw hole, leading to a damaged wire sheath. It also gets very hot to the touch when charging Oscar, the unlocked phone (Kphone). The label claims it's 5v 2000mA which is the same as Oscar's micro charger block, but given how hot it gets, it's likely overloading that particular charger.

I am tempted to send this in to the CPSC. The tablet itself seems fine other than the potentially preinstalled malware that was never resolved. Thinking about using it solely for videos since Oscar's storage space is a bit limited for preloaded video media. Then again I have Pumpkin as well....

In PC News, I have come across a rather upsetting issue with some Steam games and Patsy. Whenever I exit Pinball Arcade, the screen completely goes black. Windows is still responsive as Ctrl-Alt-Delete still works, sort of. I can't see the menu, so I had to memorize the number of keystrokes to navigate to the Shutdown option. However, Zen Pinball 2 exhibits no such issue and the desktop shows up after I exit that game.

Ruby on the other hand exits Pinball Arcade properly. The only difference with her setup is her monitor is connected via DVI, while Patsy uses HDMI. I may try to find another DVI cable and see if this resolves Patsy's blank screen issue. If not, then it's something else.

[huckleberrypie]

Bored, I decided to take a look at that cheapo USB charger that came with that Black Friday "BrightTab" from last fall. It's sealed with a single small Philips screw, and upon opening, I discovered that it was assembled in such a way that the wires from the metal plug to the circuit board were somehow pressed against the screw hole, leading to a damaged wire sheath. It also gets very hot to the touch when charging Oscar, the unlocked phone (Kphone). The label claims it's 5v 2000mA which is the same as Oscar's micro charger block, but given how hot it gets, it's likely overloading that particular charger.

I am tempted to send this in to the CPSC. The tablet itself seems fine other than the potentially preinstalled malware that was never resolved. Thinking about using it solely for videos since Oscar's storage space is a bit limited for preloaded video media. Then again I have Pumpkin as well....

Knowing the Payless light-up shoe issue amongst other things, I'd be surprised if they overlook this cheapo charger issue as a number of those have entered the US market through Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday sales.

[cpd2009]

I was wanting to give Stardock's WindowBlinds a free trial run, but it seems to hate the Win10 Anniversary Update. I tried to install it on both of my PCs and the installer keeps saying a previous WindowBlinds installation was found, even though I have never installed WindowBlinds before.

I am thinking of contacting their support forums about this to see what the deal is.

[huckleberrypie]

I was wanting to give Stardock's WindowBlinds a free trial run, but it seems to hate the Win10 Anniversary Update. I tried to install it on both of my PCs and the installer keeps saying a previous WindowBlinds installation was found, even though I have never installed WindowBlinds before.

I am thinking of contacting their support forums about this to see what the deal is.

Cracking WindowBlinds is already a chore from what I can attest nearly a decade ago, but to run it legitimately and end up not being able to authenticate it even for a trial is rather disappointing. :/

[cpd2009]

Turns out the 1TB hard drive inside Ruby may be showing very early signs of failure. As a result, I have decided to start copying my data off that drive. It helps that I was planning on eliminating my 2 PC setup and just have Patsy. It was fun having the two PCs setup, but in the end, it makes sense to use the PC I use every day for my occasional multimedia tasks. It will also free up my existing Windows 8.1 license as well, though who knows when I will use that again. Win10 is rather nice.

I got the important stuff off and I'm now in the process of deactivating and uninstalling the media programs. The next step is to remove the sketchy 1TB drive and put it inside an enclosure. From there, I can find more time to get the data I need off. As for Ruby, she will essentially go into the storage closet so my other PSU and GeForce 750Ti can remain safe should I ever need those parts.