The Spam Thread!

[cpd2009]

Nah, I've been doing that several times for months. It's dead.

Very strange for MS hardware just to flat out die like that. Then again, a portion of Xbox 360 consoles were prone to failures, so perhaps the Surface will have similar failures down the line?

Your Surface might be out of warranty, but you may have to ship it back to MS if that is possible. If not, a PC repair store may be able to help. If they can't revive the Surface, they could at least get your documents off the internal drive.

As for your next computer, I would suggest a basic laptop, either a MacBook Air or a Windows PC. Though I'd vouch more for a Windows PC now since Apple is becoming more fond of planned obsolescence and yearly upgrades that aren't really necessary. Oh, and Apple Watch. Just.... Apple Watch.

I'll take my Casio G-Shock over an Apple Watch any day.

[huckleberrypie]

Nah, I've been doing that several times for months. It's dead.

Very strange for MS hardware just to flat out die like that. Then again, a portion of Xbox 360 consoles were prone to failures, so perhaps the Surface will have similar failures down the line?

Your Surface might be out of warranty, but you may have to ship it back to MS if that is possible. If not, a PC repair store may be able to help. If they can't revive the Surface, they could at least get your documents off the internal drive.

As for your next computer, I would suggest a basic laptop, either a MacBook Air or a Windows PC. Though I'd vouch more for a Windows PC now since Apple is becoming more fond of planned obsolescence and yearly upgrades that aren't really necessary. Oh, and Apple Watch. Just.... Apple Watch.

I'll take my Casio G-Shock over an Apple Watch any day.

If only that installing OS X on a laptop is easy enough and doesn't end up with having to deal with WLAN kexts and the fact that Apple hasn't implemented Optimus yet, I'd vouch for such an option.

[cpd2009]

So, Windows 10 officially drops in a few hours.

Me? I'm gonna pass. I don't see a need for Windows 10 right now even though it brings back the Start menu. If I need an OS upgrade, I would rather invest in Win7 and give that to Patsy.

If I do decide to go with Win10, I will likely have to pay for a full price upgrade, but any major release-day bugs should be fixed by then.

[cpd2009]

Looks like Solitaire has returned in Windows 10.

But... they had to go the "free-to-play" route. By default, you get ads and just basic features unless you pay $9.99.

I never play Solitaire, but my mom does. I don't think she would like the ads very much.

It's Solitaire. Why does MS feel the need to extract cash from users who just want to play BASIC solitaire? And why show ads? Solitaire up until Windows 8 (which you had to download separately) was ad-free!
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://consumerist.com/2015/07/30/want-solitaire-ad-free-on-windows-10-thatll-cost-you/">http://consumerist.com/2015/07/30/want- ... -cost-you/</a><!-- m -->

[huckleberrypie]

Looks like Solitaire has returned in Windows 10.

But... they had to go the "free-to-play" route. By default, you get ads and just basic features unless you pay $9.99.

I never play Solitaire, but my mom does. I don't think she would like the ads very much.

It's Solitaire. Why does MS feel the need to extract cash from users who just want to play BASIC solitaire? And why show ads? Solitaire up until Windows 8 (which you had to download separately) was ad-free!
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://consumerist.com/2015/07/30/want-solitaire-ad-free-on-windows-10-thatll-cost-you/">http://consumerist.com/2015/07/30/want- ... -cost-you/</a><!-- m -->

I cared little about Solitaire, except for my dad who at one time spent hours with that game, but that has to be a low-brow move on Microsoft's part.

[Blackberry Bun]

Went to watch Pixels today. It was a good fun and I had good laughs. Wonder why it seems to be regarded as bad over the internet.

[cpd2009]

Went to watch Pixels today. It was a good fun and I had good laughs. Wonder why it seems to be regarded as bad over the internet.

Well, I know a lot of people on the Internet don't like Adam Sandler or anything his company (Happy Madison) produces. Granted, Adam Sandler's humor in his previous films can be very juvenile and gross, as well as just provocative. But Pixels, based on the trailers, actually looks rather decent. I probably won't watch until it hits Netflix or DVD, but it doesn't look like any regular Happy Madison production.

[cpd2009]

Now that I have settled down with my Windows PCs, it's time to focus on a PowerPC Mac. I already have Connie and an Apple IIGS, but I may end up giving away the IIGS to someone else who could make good use of it. I hardly have any use for it as of current, and the only game I would likely get for it is Tetris. I could change my mind later on, but as of current, my IIGS isn't getting used much. I might tear it down and store it somewhere.

What kind of PowerPC Mac am I after? A G4, specifically the "mirrored drive doors" versions, which can come with 867mhz, 1ghz or 1.2ghz, in single or dual CPU configurations. The dual CPU configuration is the one I seek, preferably in the 1ghz or 1.2ghz speeds. I will have to source my MDD G4 via eBay as there aren't many used Mac shops in my rural state. There is also a trade-off to this. I will have to sell off my old Mac Mini mid-2011, aka Lilly. I know that I have been on-and-off again with selling her or keeping her. But with Apple's current business practices, who knows how long she will get OSX updates? I also have a desire to try out a PPC version of Adobe CS and comparing it to Ruby, along with running Mac games and software via Classic Environment, and Classic doesn't exist in OSX anymore.

I will have an opportunity to sell my Mac Mini. I'm going on a two week vacation soon (More details next weekend), and I will hopefully be able to get to a Mac store for such a purpose. That means I need to restore the Mac Mini to factory condition and unlink my AppStore accounts and whatnot.

An MDD G4 can still do a lot, as evidenced by a FB group I'm in called "Low End Mac".

[Stella Grapes]

All right, folks, I'm having a personal family crisis just like in the good old days.

The situation is with my little niece, who turned four years old in March.

She is very, very smart.

She is also very, very spoiled.

Back during Spring, I was actually the adult to take her to her yearly checkup. The only thing she didn't check off on the developmental milestones list was counting to ten.

I know she could count to ten if she wanted to. She regularly repeats longer statements than numbers one through ten.

The new school year began this week. She is not in preschool. She will go to kindergarten next year, as kindergarten is mandatory. The way my brother and his wife explain it, she is too smart for preschool.

Well, frankly, that is an insult to my children, her cousins. And me. And her father, although her father thinks he's doing his daughter a favor by telling her she's smarter than he is and smarter than the whole family. That is the opposite of a favor. That is making her very obnoxious, and she's too young for my sarcasm to make any difference since four year olds don't really comprehend things like that.

She is very bossy toward her cousins, especially towards those near her age. Some are more forgiving than others. I want my kids to grow up with someone like my brother, whom I do love. I don't want them growing up with the negative side to that.

Anyhow, as my niece is not in school, I decided with her parents' permission to prepare her for school.

Counting made her cry for forty minutes. I am so perplexed. I had to drive her around the neighborhood for her to relax and stop having a nervous breakdown over counting to six, although she counted to five easily. She didn't even try getting to six.

I told her all she had to do was believe in herself, to which she said, quote, "I hate believing in myself!"

I have to admit I saw my brother in her at that moment, the "I hate believing in myself!" response. I laughed a bit, hiding the giggle.

Today, I was told to not try teaching her. This followed with a bizarre argument with her mother about my teaching abilities (which she had never questioned before), and that left me in tears. Now I feel just awful.

My niece, by the way, counted to nine at random today. I honestly think she is teasing me, thinking this a fun game instead of a way to make me not believe in my own self. I don't think she cares about my feelings at all, and her parents only ever respond to that with "she's four". If she were not their child, and their only child, they most likely would not raise her this way.

The situation is what it is, and I am saddened and feel helpless.

[Stella Grapes]

Apologies for double posting.

Continuing from the above, my niece's parents tell me they are not worried about her and that she doesn't have to learn.

?????!!!!!!

It's not about that!

I want to teach her!

All I really have going for me are dancing and academic smarts (except for mathematics and technical things). I want to give people what little I can give. It breaks my useless geek heart if that is rejected.