Maltstick

Wow. That's pretty weird. Kind of reminded me of a time when my friend's father threw a sparkler into a field and the grass caught fire...

Well, you can install Mac OS X on any Intel computer. You just need to make sure that you have mac compatible RAM, graphics cards, and other hardware. You might want to check out 'hackintosh' building instructions, they will teach you how to install Mac OS X on your Intel computer.

I am developing an Air Hockey game for use on the iPad, and this is my question:Traditional Air Hockey games on touchscreen phone and in real life get boring after some time. Hence, is there anything that can be done to improve the game to make it more exciting and more addictive? For example, we can add distractions to the game while the user is playing on the phone. It's irritating, but also makes the game more challenging.Another idea is to add obstructions in the playing field to prevent the player(s) from scoring, making the game much more challenging. Changing the looks of the game can also help, such as Tron-inspired pucks and mallets, and even glowing trails that follow the puck around. So, what are your suggestions? I would definitely like to hear them. Thanks in advance!

In my experience, I would disagree. A PC's hardware is just as stable as a Mac's - generally stability problems are caused by software. The big difference to me is in upgrading the PC down the line. For example, when the CPU in my current PC gets a bit slow for the latest software, I can simply pop it out and stick a new one in. With a Mac, that isn't really an option. The same goes for new standards such as SATA 6GB/s and USB 3.0. With my PC, these can be added with PCI or PCIe cards - all made to a standard and just slot in. In a Mac that can't happen, so if you want USB 3.0 or SATA 6GB/s you have to replace the entire machine. That's just a massive waste, pain and expense.
The same goes for repairs. Parts will eventually fail, whether through bad luck or simply wear and tear. It'll happen in both a PC and a Mac, and it happens at roughly the same rate. Let's say a hard drive fails. In my PC, I can go to any one of a large number of physical and online shops, buy a new HDD and have it fitted within the hour. With a Mac, it's a huge hassle to the point you actually have to send the thing off to have it repaired, at huge expense and inconvenience of not having your machine for weeks.

True... true... But sometimes stability problems can be caused by incompatible hardware. So, well, since Apple assumes that normal users would not know how to (or even need to) upgrade their hardware, it happens like what you say above; they offer a new mac machine instead of offering them parts. In a way, that minimizes errors made by the customer, and preserving their warranties at the same time if they are bringing their machine to the store for a repair.
Upgrading the machine down the line by ourselves is mostly for advanced users (and we are definitely not the kind of customers that Apple builds their machines for) and we want more to what the standard machine has to offer. We want more from our machine, so we upgrade it with what we can. Though it is more convenient, we may sometimes make mistakes... like for example, the Western Digital HDD I installed in my Macbook Pro failed weeks after simply because the machine was not suited to handle a 7200rpm harddrive (cooling issues, the harddisk overheated and warped, somehow...). It efficiently voided my warranty for the drive. So in the end I reverted back to my old Apple drive which continues to work till today.

The GUI is entirely personal preference, but it isn't really all that important. You can make Windows look like a Mac, make a Mac look like Windows, and make KDE look like anything you feel like. User-friendliness depends on your situation. For example, I find Apple mice baffling - why can't you right click? But the same could be applied to someone used to Apple mice using a normal one for the first time - "Why on earth do you have this second button?". Windows tries to get stuff done quickly, but sometimes becomes over complicated. Apple tried to get stuff done simply, but often goes too far, making everything more difficult. Linux tries to give you complete control, but can therefore sometimes feel initially overwhelming.

Again, true. Nice insight, but just to note: there is right click on the Apple mouse. It's just that the left and right mouse buttons are fused together, to prevent users from clicking both at the same time and confusing the system.
An example for the Windows comment is when i try to connect my bluetooth mouse to Windows 7... having to wait for drivers to be recognized and downloaded, having to manually find the mouse in bluetooth settings, and worse, finding bluetooth settings. An example for the Mac comment is when I was using iMovie... It took me long enough to realise how to add a video to the project. It was previously drag-and-drop, but they changed it to 'import' in the UI for 'easy access'. An example for the Linux comment is when i tried to install some packages on Ubuntu... I did not understand the instructions... at all. Then I downloaded an installer which finally did it (why did they not offer me the installer when I clicked download...)

No, i think it's not my computer. I've tried win7 since rc periodically, and now i use win7 ultimate. After those 'smooth days' like 3-5 days, my win7 start to randomly freezes. I said it 'freeze', not 'crash'.Those who tried 7 must know that white transparent screen when your programs not responding. It is like that, but worse. i can't click anything, can't alt-tab, can't open tasK manager. simply everything in my screen is not responding >.>
At first i thought it was because those tune up thingy, so i re-installed. But sadly it doesn't solve anything though.
First it just fire fox, then open office, then internet download manager, then yahoo messenger, then almost everything have 'not responding' issue.

I have 4gb of ram, intel 2 duo @2.20g, ati radeon x600 card
Any suggestion?

Steps to solve:
1. Check for available driver updates for your computer model from the company, and install the driver updates.
2. Delete - Really - Delete Yahoo Messenger. It has been known to cause crashes in Vista, so it may do so too in 7.
3. Disable transparency in your 'customize' section for the window colors in Control Panel.

It should work.

Ah, yet another old discussion brought back to life.... In the five years since this thread was started, MS-Word and the entire Office package has undergone a major renovation and although I hate to admit it, the package certainly has improved from the previous versions. It still can't beat the number of features and stability offered by OpenOffice, but comparing it with older versions, the present versions are a little better. I wouldn't recommend MS-Office over OpenOffice, but for someone insistent on using MS, it's better to pick the later versions.

Agreed. MS Office for Mac 2011 (beta) is so much better than the 2008 version. Better, as in, faster.

But for uses like typing proposals, making posters (when I was lazy to fire up photoshop), or writing a letter, I would rather use Pages from the iWork suite in Mac. Much more organized and better looking than the templates offered by MS Word, and it's smarter in the way that it helps to arrange your text according to how you arranged it before.

But for just typing and random document-making, I would rather use Google Docs. Sure, the features are mediocre, but its security and sharing functions are extremely great. It auto-saves every time you finish as sentence, while you type. It was even used in a group discussion board - we would type out notes together, and put questions on the document while we get answers in real-time. Then we could send it through email , without worrying about being unable to attach the document or convert it.

So all in all:
MS Word: Heavy users of Word processors
Google Docs - People who just need the basics, as well as a good way to connect with people
Pages (Mac OS X only) - People who need good-looking documents and a processor that works like MS Word.
OpenOffice: Free - people who just need to type.

That's just my view.

I find the whole thing a bit childish - sorry but there it is.

Why would you bother to invest a powerful emotion like hate in a consumer product? Are you forced to use one?

As it happens, Macs were revolutionary - they had a windows GUI when I was still struggling with a 512K IMB PC mark 1 with a 5.25 floppy and crappy PC-DOS on the command line.

Macs are more expensive because they have a different business model. IBM quickly decided that they didn't want to make the hardware so they franchised it out and now anyone can make PC stuff. Apple didn't. Both approaches have merits. The merit for apple is that by keeping control you make sure (or try to) than no incompatible stuff gets made that will crash your machine. The disadvantage is that it will inevitably be more expensive because there is no market driving the cost down.

 

Many professionals use Macs - anyone in professional graphics/art, most recording studios, most writers etc. It is a bit of a generalisation but Macs tend to be used by creative types who are not interested in how a computer works - they are a tool.

 

I am a PC person but that is mostly because I am in IT and know quite a bit about it. Therefore I can make my PC stable and useful. Many people cannot.

 

I totally agree with you.

By any means you could classify me as a Mac person, I've been using Macs since the original iMac came out (I was in preschool, i guess, I'm 15 this year). I've worked with Macs ever since, but I use Windows for some tasks that require Windows-only software. For example, I use Sony Vegas for fast video editing on Windows when iMovie '08 did not cut it right for me. Using sharepoint to manage one of my school's websites was also only possible on Windows, as Sharepoint websites do not have FTP (amazing, right?). But for sound editing, Website-creating, and basic uses, I use my Mac OS X instead, using Garageband, iWeb, and other apps. Thus, I know much about both operating systems, the pros and the cons.

 

Macs, or Apple, have a different business model. That is true. They strive to equip their machines with the best combination of hardware. That includes, but not limited to RAM, Graphics cards, Harddisks or SSDs, and processors. The best combination of these would give the best performance - even if the parts are not the best in the industry. Let's take the Macbook Air 11 inch (Late 2010) for example. It runs on 1.6Ghz, 4GB DDR3 RAM, and a 246MB Nvidia Graphics Card. Versus the Macbook Pro 13 inch, 2.26Ghz, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 322MB Nvidia Graphics Card (it's older). The results were remarkable - the Macbook Air beat the supposedly better Macbook Pro 13 inch in 3 out of the 4 tests while running in boot camp, Windows 7. Hit the source link for more info. Source.

 

Apple also makes its devices hard to 'edit' or customize. They want to maintain the stability of their devices, I assume. But their devices can still be easily taken apart and customized! The mac mini can be split into parts and re-assembled into a PC case, which a friend of mine actually did (it ran beautifully). Then the case can be used as a box for personal belongings; they're just too beautiful to send to the dump. Though customizing the mac is pretty tedious, it is definitely worth the effort. What's more, the difficult part would actually be only getting the cover off the Mac (any Mac), the rest can be extracted with just screws. And very little wiring (I just needed to unattach 5 wires to split the entire assembly - either that or I'm just lucky).

 

But the important thing is: Why boycott a software just because you have to learn to use it, or if you are just refusing to use it? It's like, boycotting Math because you do not want to learn it.

 

Even though I'm a Mac person, I do not go bias on issues like this. Windows or Mac OS X, does it matter if you just love to use it? I love Mac OS X for its GUI and user-friendliness, but I also love Windows 7 (only) for its features and the improvements in security and stability. In fact, I tried to port Mac Apps into Windows, and Windows apps to Mac (which partially worked for a few standalone .exe games)

 

So that's my view on this situation. Just treat each and every OS or piece of hardware equally, as each has its pros and cons.

 

A little piece of funny news: I upgraded my hard disk to a 'better' WD Caviar Black 500 GB SATA Hard Drive. It overheated and failed in just a month and I had to switch to a cheaper spare Hitachi 500GB hard drive which has been with me till today. Talk about better.

Hmm, that's strange. I heard that windows 7 having a lower requirement than windows XP. Machines that run windows XP smoothly will have no issues with 7 is what i have heard of. About XP mode in windows 7 i have very little idea about it so can't comment on it.
Most likely those who are using windows 7 here now can help us by commenting here.

You're in luck, my friend had the same problem.

Well, it seems like the coders for SXE injected are not doing anything about it, so i would suggest you use a full version of XP instead of running XP on Windows 7 Virtual Machine. Virtual Machines - any kind, even in Mac OS X and Ubuntu Linux - all run pretty badly, and turns into total crap when playing games (Starcraft lagged on me while on XP virtual machine mode in Mac). It also applies to the Windows 7 XP mode, which I have no idea why.

The only solution to this is to run a fresh copy of the other OS, which is XP in this case, on another partition.

So, my conclusion:
Xp: for Gamers
Vista: Don't even think about using it
7: for non-gamers, and gamers who manage to tweak windows 7 to their needs
(extra)
Mac OS X: For people who just love it, and who are patient enough to wait for their games to come on Steam or Transgaming
Linux: Mostly hackers, and some people who just love it.

This is a little outdated, but I guess I'll just spill my thoughts.The homepage is extremely good - better than most of the flash websites I've seen across the web. The effects are good, the sounds are good, the music is good. But what really shocked me was the combination of color scheme - yellow, red and brown - with the other elements. The effects and sounds suggest a calm and composed atmosphere, but the colour scheme of the site seems to suggest, a sad, wistful, and maybe intense kind of atmosphere. I would suggest, instead of brown, maybe a dash of blue - a little lighter and more vibrant than Facebook blue, or #2389E0. That would make the page feel more tranquil, and the words at the bottom easier to read. Good job on the rest of the aspects though, the Xisto forum is one of the most well-designed forums I've seen. It really puts my school's club forum pages to shame...

IE9 BETA seems to have a problem with reloading. After trying out the acid3 tests, I have got baffling results. The first run was alright - 95/100. The second run was the same. After clicking the 'reload' button 6 times however, performance seemed to drop and the scores from the tests went lower. It even reached a miserable 13/100 on the 15th reload. Memory dump issues? I have no idea. Microsoft needs to catch up with Google, Apple, and Opera in terms of their browsers. And maybe even Firefox (with Firefox 4 coming our way). If it never adopts the webkit engine or the engine developed by Mozilla and Opera, wait for the 3rd release of the browser. That would be the safest way to ensure your usage of Microsoft's IE browser is fast and secure. Let us wait for IE11. If it ever comes our way.

Dear me, you really have to look at this microsoft 'wall of text' article on changing Linux to Windows XP on your notebook.

Click here.

Yes, that is the most trustable source that you can get. From Microsoft themselves.

Unfortunately, it seems that Mac machines just can't boot from Flashdrives, I've tried it and it does not work. There is a program called rEFIt, but it does not work most of the time. So your best bet would still be booting from DVD.

What is more unfortunate is that, Windows Vista is very unstable on USB drives and DVDs, so you're better off using Windows 7. Windows 7, if downloaded from Microsoft, contains an installer that can install to a USB or DVD. However, you need Windows to do this (again).

Refer to the detailed guide here: Boot in Win7 USB

Tip: Use a DVD-RW if disc media is preferred; it saves you the time and money from buying many DVD-Rs.

Good luck!

Hi,I want to tether a cell phone to a notebook computer in my van and use it for GPS and hands free calling while in the van. I have a tmobile touch pro II that I carry with me all day. I haven't decided which phone to tether to my laptop. Do you have any suggestions. I'm thinking about switching to ATT in order to surf the net and receive calls at the same time. I use my phone for business and technical support. It would be nice if I could surf the net while talking to a customer when they need information. That's where your expertise comes into play. I want to clone the sim cards in order to use the phone and laptop in the car and while I'm at a customer site. I currently have to use internet sharing to tether to a laptop but I still have to use the cell phone for talking and I can't surf and talk at the same time because I use T-mobile. My idea of the perfect setup would be a high gane cellphone antenna mounted to the roof of my van and connected to a cellphone which is always thethered to my laptop/notebook computer. It would be nice to have software running on the laptop that allows me send/receive calls from the laptop. It would be even better if the laptop could display the incomming caller information. I have a touch pro II, which uses Windows Mobile. This is probably the most compatable OS for what I want to do. Any advise would be appreciated.

Well cloning Sim cards may just be illegal in your country/state... You can always check with your local service provider (do it in a kind tone).
However if you really have to clone your sim card, here's what you need:

1. IMSI number: (International Mobile Subscriber Identifier) that really long string of numbers printed on your card. It is around 15 digits long, and looks like this: IMSI:923012215567690
2. Sim card duplicator (search for super sim on google, or go to vavolo)

Get your IMSI number first, then, you can view the detailed instructions here: cloning sim cards

Great to help!

can you think of a nice name of construction consultancy firm.its theme is urban town planning,construction,architects,civil works.please come up with some innovative names..thanks

How about 'Urbanaise'? Its a nameplay of two words, Urban and Nice. It means a goal of Urbanisation, to Urbanize. That's what Urban construction consultancy firms help to do. Help Urbanize, and be nice at the same time.

Hence, Urban + Nice (or naise, nameplay) = Urbanaise

What's more, the name isn't taken yet! Check it out: Ud.com/search/urbanaise

It just feels great to help.