Technology catch-all thread

[Y2HH]

Moved over one of our lines (my wife's) to Verizon. Will move mine in September when my contract with Sprint is up. What are the chances they get the Sony Honami/i1? .0001% or less?

 

I moved to Verizon last year and though it's expensive I don't regret it at all.

 

Verizon usually gets most phone models so long as they're brought to the US.

[BigSqwert]

I moved to Verizon last year and though it's expensive I don't regret it at all.

 

Verizon usually gets most phone models so long as they're brought to the US.

 

Walking through their salesfloor is like stepping back to November of last year.

[chw42]

Walking through their salesfloor is like stepping back to November of last year.

 

Yeah, they're either late with new phones (S4) or they don't carry them at all (HTC One). They must think their coverage is so good that they don't need to try.

[Jake]

Yeah, they're either late with new phones (S4) or they don't carry them at all (HTC One). They must think their coverage is so good that they don't need to try.

 

One is coming in late July

[chw42]

One is coming in late July

 

3 months too late.

[Jake]

3 months too late.

 

On the forum I go to, they love their phones and carriers so much they would say something like, "this is great, they just took the time to work out all the bugs!"

 

 

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

The Windows 8.1 preview is officially available for download. Installing right now.

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows...review-download

 

If I am reading this right, you can download this Windows 8.1 Preview for free, even if you don't own Windows 8? And why is it called Preview? Does this imply once the finalized version comes out the "Preview" version will no longer function? I am just wondering if I should stick w/ Windows 7, or give 8.1 a shot.

 

[Jake]

Dual-booting Ubuntu alongside Windows 7. Had to do some funny business just to get a single partition available, but it will have to do. My HP laptop came with four partitions already: C:, boot, recovery, and HP Tools. Got rid of HP Tools to make a 50 GB partition for Ubuntu. Might have to drop that recovery partition someday to have a swap partition, not sure.

 

I'm a total newbie to Ubuntu/Linux OS's, so I'm having some fun and some frustration getting acquainted with it.

[chw42]

On the forum I go to, they love their phones and carriers so much they would say something like, "this is great, they just took the time to work out all the bugs!"

 

What forum is this?

[chw42]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows...review-download

 

If I am reading this right, you can download this Windows 8.1 Preview for free, even if you don't own Windows 8? And why is it called Preview? Does this imply once the finalized version comes out the "Preview" version will no longer function? I am just wondering if I should stick w/ Windows 7, or give 8.1 a shot.

 

I don't know about Win 7, but you can definitely get it for free if you have Windows 8 (a legit copy).

[chw42]

Dual-booting Ubuntu alongside Windows 7. Had to do some funny business just to get a single partition available, but it will have to do. My HP laptop came with four partitions already: C:, boot, recovery, and HP Tools. Got rid of HP Tools to make a 50 GB partition for Ubuntu. Might have to drop that recovery partition someday to have a swap partition, not sure.

 

I'm a total newbie to Ubuntu/Linux OS's, so I'm having some fun and some frustration getting acquainted with it.

 

Swap partition is for virtual memory. It should be about the size of how much RAM you have.

 

If your computer is fast enough, you should just run a VM. I do a lot of my development on Linux VMs. It's too much of a hassle to dual boot. Unless you're compiling Android ROMs or something, you probably shouldn't go through all the trouble of partitioning, installing, etc.

[TaylorStSox]

I was messing around with my old laptop and discovered that the CPU isn't soldered to the motherboard and is removable. After taking a look around, its an Intel Mobile HM57 chipset. It has an i3 380m processor. The socket can support an i7 2630qm. Would the i7 work with that chipset since it's the same socket?

[chw42]

I was messing around with my old laptop and discovered that the CPU isn't soldered to the motherboard and is removable. After taking a look around, its an Intel Mobile HM57 chipset. It has an i3 380m processor. The socket can support an i7 2630qm. Would the i7 work with that chipset since it's the same socket?

 

If it's the same socket, it should work. Don't take my word for it though. I've never messed with mobile CPUs.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

I don't know about Win 7, but you can definitely get it for free if you have Windows 8 (a legit copy).

 

"If you're using Windows 7, the easiest way to convert an ISO file to a DVD is to use Windows Disc Image Burner. On a PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista, a third-party program is required to convert an ISO file into installable media—and DVD burning software often includes this capability."

 

It sounds like it's available for free for everyone, but I am just wondering if the "preview" name means it will only work for a certain length of time, like a trail basically.

[Steve9347]

"If you're using Windows 7, the easiest way to convert an ISO file to a DVD is to use Windows Disc Image Burner. On a PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista, a third-party program is required to convert an ISO file into installable media—and DVD burning software often includes this capability."

 

It sounds like it's available for free for everyone, but I am just wondering if the "preview" name means it will only work for a certain length of time, like a trail basically.

It depends on the trail. The Prairie Path has been around for years through rain and snow.

[qwerty]

It depends on the trail. The Prairie Path has been around for years through rain and snow.

 

I bet sleet is the real pain in the ass.

[Y2HH]

Ah, thanks for reminding me why HTC shouldn't be trusted, HTC.

 

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/htc...ontent=My+Yahoo

[Jake]

Ah, thanks for reminding me why HTC shouldn't be trusted, HTC.

 

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/htc...ontent=My+Yahoo

 

I had heard a good response to this, which is that it almost has to be the carrier (T-Mobile has it exclusively) that forced this to happen. HTC is doing the update for the One X, which is incredibly similar and came out at the same time. HTC has pretty much done all of the work to make the update work on the One S, but it's likely that T-Mobile doesn't have enough of them out in the wild for it to be worth finishing the update on their end.

 

Also, these articles keep billing it as a flagship when it was definitely not a flagship device. It was on one carrier and released along with the One X, the actual flagship.

 

It's a concern, but HTC has been better than everybody but Samsung at updates (even though this article argues differently). And Samsung has TouchWiz, which sucks (subjectively speaking)

 

Nexus/Google Edition devices still prevail. HTC One Google Edition is definitely the best phone out there at this point, if I had the upfront $ I would have gotten it. Couldn't bite on Nexus 4, not at all impressed by its hardware. Nexus 5 will release too long after my contract expires, unfortunately.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Jake

[Y2HH]

I had heard a good response to this, which is that it almost has to be the carrier (T-Mobile has it exclusively) that forced this to happen. HTC is doing the update for the One X, which is incredibly similar and came out at the same time. HTC has pretty much done all of the work to make the update work on the One S, but it's likely that T-Mobile doesn't have enough of them out in the wild for it to be worth finishing the update on their end.

 

Also, these articles keep billing it as a flagship when it was definitely not a flagship device. It was on one carrier and released along with the One X, the actual flagship.

 

It's a concern, but HTC has been better than everybody but Samsung at updates (even though this article argues differently). And Samsung has TouchWiz, which sucks (subjectively speaking)

 

Nexus/Google Edition devices still prevail. HTC One Google Edition is definitely the best phone out there at this point, if I had the upfront $ I would have gotten it. Couldn't bite on Nexus 4, not at all impressed by its hardware. Nexus 5 will release too long after my contract expires, unfortunately.

 

Those Google edition phones won't get updated as fast as the Nexus devices, Google has said.

[Jake]

Those Google edition phones won't get updated as fast as the Nexus devices, Google has said.

 

Probably a net win anyway, unless the next Nexus device comes out with more competitive hardware.

 

I'm willing to be patient for updates, but there is some chance I end up rooting my One to move up in OS one day. For incremental updates like 4.1 to 4.2 or what 4.2 to 4.3 is likely to be, I don't really care. If KLP turns into a major update, though, I won't wait a year to get it. Google has been doing most of its substantial updates through the individual apps rather than the OS lately though, which is brilliant.

[Y2HH]

Probably a net win anyway, unless the next Nexus device comes out with more competitive hardware.

 

I'm willing to be patient for updates, but there is some chance I end up rooting my One to move up in OS one day. For incremental updates like 4.1 to 4.2 or what 4.2 to 4.3 is likely to be, I don't really care. If KLP turns into a major update, though, I won't wait a year to get it. Google has been doing most of its substantial updates through the individual apps rather than the OS lately though, which is brilliant.

 

Google is odd with their version numbers across their software, because Android 4.0 to 4.1 was a MAJOR update. It wasn't a mere point release. Meanwhile, they're on Chrome 27 or something insane already, where major version numbers usually mean minor updates.

 

I don't like the idea of having to wait for legit updates, which is why I'd require a Nexus if/when I move to Android. At least Google makes updates available, you could always have Windows Mobile 8 and get one update a decade.

[Jake]

Google is odd with their version numbers across their software, because Android 4.0 to 4.1 was a MAJOR update. It wasn't a mere point release. Meanwhile, they're on Chrome 27 or something insane already, where major version numbers usually mean minor updates.

 

I don't like the idea of having to wait for legit updates, which is why I'd require a Nexus if/when I move to Android. At least Google makes updates available, you could always have Windows Mobile 8 and get one update a decade.

 

Agreed. 4.0 to 4.1 was a really big deal while 4.1 to 4.2 was not. They did at least change the name, though

 

 

[chw42]

Google finally decided to release the new Maps app for Android.

 

http://db.tt/qoJ3cveT

 

As someone who just moved and uses Maps a ton, this is great. I can really put the new traffic features to work.

Edited July 10, 2013 by chw42

[Steve9347]

Google finally decided to release the new Maps app for Android.

 

http://db.tt/qoJ3cveT

 

As someone who just moved and uses Maps a ton, this is great. I can really put the new traffic features to work.

That file does not work.

[HuskyCaucasian]

As T-Mobile brags on stage right now about their massive LTE roll out (supposedly 157 million customers), my wife struggles to get 2G while in Virginia. Heck, she barely has a signal.

 

Sometimes, coverage > speed.