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December 11

Desktop link not showing up after I mount Truecrypt volume

In the case of a specific Truecrypt volume (others work as expected) I do not get a desktop link (in Ubuntu) after I mount it. The problem is certainly not THAT important, but I'm curious. Where can this be set? 88.9.210.149 (talk) 00:00, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Apache on AWS/ what am I doing wrong?

Hi. Just recently discovered Amazon Web Services.

Here's my situation:

I have a Fedora Core AMI running in a Micro Instance. It has Apache running in it, and there is an elastic IP address attached to it. The security group that the instance is in, is open on SSH and HTTP. I can SSH in no problem with the elastic ip, and inside the instance when I type http://localhost or http://localhost/test.php the contents of my /etc/var/www shows up just fine. Back here on my local machine, when I enter the elastic ip address in firefox it immediately tells me that it can't find the server at xx.xx.xx.xx (if the instance is running) or it times out (when the instance is not running).

What might I be doing wrong/missing?

Thanks in advance

Duomillia (talk) 03:59, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Something is wrong either with the security group or with its association to the instance. I think you need to stop an instance to meaningfully change it security group settings; maybe you did that for ssh, but not for http? 84.93.151.83 (talk) 11:33, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No, I'm afraid that's not it. The security group was changed while the instance was stopped. Duomillia (talk) 14:17, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Tablet PCs Christmas sales

Hello. I'd like to buy a tablet PC, Im thinking MotorolaXoom, and was wondering if that is the sort of product that will go down massively in the Xmas sales, ie. between Xmas and early January? Or do such technologies not tend to be discounted? Thanks. --anon

Since sales practices vary between countries, you're likely to have to tell people where you live before you can get anything close to a meaningful answer. Nil Einne (talk) 14:15, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Im in Birmingham, UK. --anon

I would expect them to go on sale if they have surpluses left over, just like any other product. This is even more true with technology, since they can't just let them sit in a warehouse until they sell, as the technology rapidly becomes obsolete and they decrease in value. StuRat (talk) 15:39, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Those kinds of reductions are often timed to the release of new models though, not the holidays. Tablets are not a seasonal item, they sell year around, so often there's no incentive to clear out the stock until right before the replacement for that model is on the market. APL (talk) 05:47, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Given the reported shortage of disk drives due to the floods in Thailand, manufacturers might struggle to meet demand for the next few months, so I wouldn't count on major price drops in that time frame. Looie496 (talk) 05:59, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Previewing Large Libraries

So I have several large collections of music and I have been looking for a utility/media player which will let me preview all of it automatically. I want something where I can just load all the songs and it'll play only the first 30 seconds or something and then move on to the next file and so on so that I don't have to keep clicking next. I imagine everybody has huge libraries nowadays but its amazingly hard to find something like this anywhere. Any good suggestions? Does VLC have that functionality (I couldn't find it anywhere)? Thanks! - Looking for Wisdom and Insight! (talk) 20:29, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You've not said which platform you're running on; if it's Linux, you can do this find /home/kaiser/music -type f -iname "*.mp3" -exec play {} trim 0 30 \; (where /home/kaiser/music is where your music library is, change as appropriate). If you don't have a play executable, install the sox package. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:42, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Working on Windows...is there any hope? - Looking for Wisdom and Insight! (talk) 22:35, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, transfer all data files to an external hard drive, then overwrite windows with Linux.--Aspro (talk) 22:56, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

??? -- BenRG (talk) 23:10, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sure there's hope. You could try the gen_intro plugin for WinAmp. Or you could install Cygwin and then run Finlay McWalter's command. Or you could install Python and I'll write you a short Python program to do the same thing (which could be a lot more versatile with respect to song ordering, etc.). -- BenRG (talk) 23:10, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A Python program (which uses Pygame and thus Simple DirectMedia Layer) follows; I've not tested it on Windows, but it should work:

#!/usr/bin/python
import pygame,time,os

pygame.mixer.init()
for root,dirs,files in os.walk('.'):  # change '.' to the folder that contains the root of your music
    for f in files:
        if os.path.splitext(f)[1].lower()=='.mp3':
            print os.path.join(root,f)
            pygame.mixer.music.load(os.path.join(root,f))
            pygame.mixer.music.play()
            time.sleep(30)
            pygame.mixer.music.stop()

-- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:38, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wow guys. Thanks! The winamp plug-in was exactly what I was looking for. - Looking for Wisdom and Insight! (talk) 00:01, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

December 12

Perl pie

Why would someone use perl -p -i -e over sed? Would it only be when they're writing a Perl script and want to remain in Perl or are there other reasons? Dismas|^(talk) 09:52, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Some people simply haven't used sed and, therefore, don't use it. If they hear about it, but see no examples, they don't know how to use it. If they are already a perl programmer, why not use what works? -- kainaw ™ 15:16, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Perl is also, generally speaking, more powerful than sed. If you suddenly realize that the problem is a little more complicated than you thought, Perl is more likely to provide you with an easy way to solve it. Paul (Stansifer) 15:58, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Also, although GNU sed has a -i option now, that is a recent addition (relative to the total history of unix which has had a sed command for over 30 years), and it was inspired by perl. It only exists in the GNU and FreeBSD versions of sed. So if you intend to write a portable script, you have do the tempfile handling yourself, and you'll have to run sed once per input file so you'll have to write a for loop. A random unix box is more likely to have perl installed than GNU sed, so use of perl could be seen as a compromise, more portable than "sed -i" but less verbose (therefore harder to screw up) than the fully portable sed equivalent.

And even if portability isn't a concern, there are a lot of people who formed their habits between the late-1980's release of perl and the early-2000's invention of "sed -i".

If you're relatively new to unix and your intro was a GNUish system, "sed -i" might look like a natural part of the landscape. For those who used unix in the last millennium, it's conspicuously non-standard.

The same goes for anything that uses "perl-compatible regular expressions" and isn't perl. We actually had to live with just the 2 varieties of POSIX regular expressions for a long time and we liked it! 68.60.252.82 (talk) 21:40, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'm one of these people too who started using perl -p -e over sed as soon as I found out about it. My info may be out of date, but I don't think sed (or the version I learned on) supported nongreedy expressions, some types of negative lookaheads, and some of the character classes that I find convenient in perl. Also, and this is probably the biggest thing, I don't have to escape out some very useful meta characters with perl but I do with sed. For instance, if I want to do a group I have to escape () in sed, but not in perl. Same with + or ?. But not with []. Trying to keep all of that straight is a pain, so I settled on the one I'm going to be using anyway.

The flipside, however, is that sed is presumably much faster than perl (at least according to this article I read once). Shadowjams (talk) 00:20, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'll admit that -i is superhandy, but by the old Unix philosophy tenet of "each tool should do one job and do it well", it's a feature that arguably should not be provided by perl and sed. Should every filter laboriously provide its own reimplementation of -i? But if not, is every user compelled to "write a for loop"? Of course not. Like almost any task, this one can be encapsulated. For example, see here for a shell script I wrote that lets me easily run any filter on any set of files, in place:

filter sort *.txt

filter 'tr a-z n-za-m' *

filter 'sed "s/foo/bar/g"' *.c

—Steve Summit (talk) 14:16, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

PRoblem with System Restore

I am using Windows XP, and I am attempting to use System Restore after a long series of glitches, lags, and freezes. But it seems that even the system restore process is affected by this as well; it would commonly freeze during its "Copying Files" phase of the recovery. Is it just because that my computer is too old and is already damaged beyond repair, or is it possible to fix such a problem? When it runs normally, before I tried the System Restore, it would freeze then jump back to the startup logo on occassion, but soon opens up normally given a few minutes. Afterwards, it would start to lag and later freeze up if I use it for too long. It would be sad to see my computer go though, I've had it since elementary school. 72.235.221.120 (talk) 14:56, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Graph theory

What is the difference between Path and walk? What is the difference between graph and network?--Intr199 (talk) 15:05, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A network can be represented by a graph, but not every graph is a network. Think about path as a possibility, and walk as actually performing a search in a graph or network. 80.39.16.11 (talk) 17:33, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This doesn't fully explain what the difference between a graph and a network is. I know what a graph is, and your answer sounds like a network is a subconcept of a graph, but it doesn't include a definition of what kind of subconcept. JIP | Talk 21:55, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Network is another name for a graph, at least in all of the contexts I've come across it. If you are seeing the two side by side in the same work, then network may be being used in a special sense defined by the author; maybe to refer to the physical network the graph abstracts. If you look up walk in wikipedia, it should give you all the information you need. Phoenixia1177 (talk) 05:27, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Glossary of graph theory attempts to explain the difference between a "path" and a "walk"; it says that a path is a walk whose terminal vertices are distinct, as opposed to a cycle, which is a walk that starts and ends at the same vertex. I would guess that the term "network" is usually used to decribe a graph with additional properties or structure e.g. capacities or lengths assigned to its edges. As other editors have said, the precise usage of the terms probably depends on context. Gandalf61 (talk) 10:21, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

December 13

reboot?

if a computer supposedly turns itself off when you tell it to reboot, but turns itself back on, does that mean that some part of the computer stays active and reboots the rest, making it not a total reboot, just a reboot of the main stuff? 99.43.78.36 (talk) 04:00, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Called a Soft_reboot. In most cases everything significant is cycled, but you're right, the power remains on to at least some components. The software doesn't actually stay in control of the machine the whole time, the hardware is designed so that once the operating system is done unloading, it can trigger a reboot, and the hardware will handle the actual reboot process. APL (talk) 05:08, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

ssh problem

Hi. I am trying to log in to my work computer from my linux box at home and make X work properly. I have two machines, say, A and B at work. I want to log in to machine B, but cannot log in directly from outside; I can only log in to machine A. When I am at home I can log in to machine A with "ssh -X " fine, and then "xeyes", for example, shows up on my screen at home. But if I then log into machine B, again with "ssh -X", I expected that "xeyes" will work and show up on my screen at home, but it doesn't. I get a "can't open display: " error. How can I make ssh -X follow through? Robinh (talk) 08:02, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know what's going wrong, but a possible workaround is to ssh into machine A with a port from your home machine forwarded to B:22, and then ssh -X through the forwarded port. Before trying this you should check to make sure port forwarding is permitted, though I don't see any reason why they would forbid it.

You could also try tunneling VNC or NX instead of X, since they work over a single TCP link -- but again you'd better check that they're permitted. -- BenRG (talk) 03:19, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

By default in many Linux distributions, X forwarding is disabled in SSH. In your sshd config file (/etc/ssh/sshd_config on my machine), you will find the X11Forwarding option. If it is set to "no", you cannot forward X from the machine even if -X is requested. It must be set to "yes" and then the sshd server must be restarted. -- kainaw ™ 03:36, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

(OP) thanks for these, guys. I am afraid that my technical knowledge is not up to much. I don't really understand how ports work. Could you give me a quick 'hello world' example of forwarding to port B22? Kainaw, VNC seems to be a good suggestion, but would I need to install it on all three machines? cheers, Robinh (talk) 07:43, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You shouldn't need to set up ports or VNC. I regularly ssh -Y (similar to -X) into one machine, then ssh -Y into another machine and the display on the furthest machine appears on my local machine. But, I had to allow X11Forwarding on the machines that I ssh'd into. Going about it another way is just adding a headache to the problem. They should allow simple X11 forwarding. If they don't, you haven't fixed the problem and trying to work around it will likely hit the same problem again from another angle. -- kainaw ™ 14:15, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Great. I've checked the ssh_config file and there is a line that says "ForwardX11Trusted yes", which tells me that either my home machine or machine B isn't trusted. Thanks again, Robinh (talk) 19:49, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It is better to use trusted forwarding. Instead of using "ssh -X" (untrusted), use "ssh -Y" (trusted). -- kainaw ™ 20:15, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

MCA or MCS

I am a BSc(Computer Science) final year student.i am not very good in coding.i am confused about doing masters in Computer Application(MCA) or MCS.I want to know which degree is suitable for getting into testing field after masters, MCA or MCS i.e MSc in Computer Science.i am really confused as some people say MCA is good if you want to go into testing and some say the reverse.please help me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Srichabagchi (talk • contribs) 09:25, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It will depend on the syllabuses of the degrees and what precise field you want to work in. Don't worry as much about the title of the degree as what they actually teach. Decide what area you want to work in (desktop apps, server/web apps, games, low-level, embedded, smartphone, etc), and see which degree has a syllabus that most closely matches your needs; also if the degree requires a project think what you might do and see if that fits with the course and the interests of the teachers; and see if they offer work experience or placements in industry. A general Computer Science masters should be good for many areas of work, but for the best career possibilities you need to seek relevant experience through placements, the topics you study, and the tools (operating systems, development tools, applications like databases, etc) you use. --Colapeninsula (talk) 11:30, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A masters for testing? Testing is often the starting position for software developers, I'm not sure why a masters degree is suitable for someone pursuing a test position. If I were you I would try to get a testing position at at a company and use your current skills to get paid to learn as you go. TheGrimme (talk) 16:25, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

MediaWiki extension for drop-down search suggestions

How does Wikipedia implement the search suggestions that drop down when one begins typing in the search bar? Is it through an extension to MediaWiki? If so, what is the name of the extension? If not, is it something that can be easily ported to other wikis? Cheers, 182.239.212.112 (talk) 11:41, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

open source prohibited in app stores?

This article says that the new Windows 8 store will "allow open source apps", and that this is a distinguishing feature with respect to the Mac and other app stores. The clear implication is that the others somehow disallow open source apps. Is that true? And if so, on what basis? (That is, what sort of app store suitability clause disallows open source apps?) —Steve Summit (talk) 12:21, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Various sources like [1] [2] [3] and Mac App Store mention the GPL conflicts with the TOS Apple imposes on their app stores (both the Mac one and the iTunes one, I guess both are relevant when it comes to Windows 8). Of course, other open source licences like the BSD one may not have this problem. Also this doesn't seem to be the same for Google's Android Market. E.g. [4] where someone who's part of the FSF suggests the TOS are unfair to consumers but aren't fundamentally incompatible with it. I know a number of apps which AFAIK are released under the GPL and some of them are in the Market. (To be fair, I don't know if they are re-using code or accepted contribs from others, obviously the copyright holder can additional release it under whatever licence they want.) I don't know about other Android, or other platform (including Chrome), app stores, like the Amazon one. Nil Einne (talk) 12:48, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Aha. So the headline I quoted is doubly misleading. It's not open source apps that are at issue here, but rather GPLed ones. And it's not that the app store's terms of service explicitly prohibit the GPL (or open source), it's that there's a lurking incompatibility in the TOS that conflicts with the GPL. If anything, it's the GPL that prohibits distribution through the app store(s) in question, not the store's TOS. Makes sense. Thanks. —Steve Summit (talk) 14:27, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, I think the implication is that Microsoft having anything to do with open source is newsworthy. --LarryMac | Talk 12:56, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo all prohibit copyleft licensed software to be part of any console game on their systems. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:50, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, I guess they would, due to the razor and blades business model that underlies those consoles and the games that run on them. —Steve Summit (talk) 18:08, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Do they disallow all copyleft, or only products that are fully copyleft? Because content and engine are usually licensed separately. APL (talk) 03:15, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

MATLAB Question

Anyone out there know how to select a particular digit from an at least two digit number in MATLAB? Specifically, I want to convert a number m from decimal to binary and then recover m as the sum of powers of two, which I will know from the binary expansion. Thanks. 92.19.253.37 (talk) 21:02, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

In general, you can use something like rem(fix(x/b^n),b) to get the nth digit of x, base b. Since you're working in binary, bitand is potentially a better way to go.

  x = 42;
  bit = 1;
  list = [];
  while x >= bit
     if bitand(x,bit) ~= 0
        list(end+1) = bit;
     end
     bit = bit + bit;
  end

Bobmath (talk) 14:19, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Or you can turn the number into a string and work with it that way.

>> s = dec2bin(42)

s = 101010

>> s(1)

ans = 1

>> s(2)

ans = 0

130.76.64.120 (talk) 18:23, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you want to express a number as a sum of powers of two, that's essentially the same problem as converting it to base two. But you don't have to "convert it from base ten to base two" first, because it's not really meaningful to say that a number stored in a computer is in base ten, or in base two -- it's a number. (Internally, probably, it's stored in base two anyway, but you can't really see that.)

If you want to express a number as a sum of powers of two, first find out if it's even or odd. You can do that using a modulo operator. If it's odd, add 1×2⁰ to your sum.

Then, divide it by two, discarding any remainder. Then, determine again if this new number is even or odd -- if it's odd, add 1×2¹ to your sum.

Continue this process until dividing by two results in 0.

I don't know MATLAB, but here's a quick implementation in C, which illustrates the algorithm I'm talking about, and shouldn't be too hard to express in MATLAB, either. The number to be decomposed is n, and it should be declared as an integer, or whatever it takes to ensure that when you divide it by 2, the remainder is discarded.

int i = 0;

while(n > 0)

{

if(n % 2 == 1) printf("1 x 2^%d\n", i);

n /= 2;

i++;

}

—Steve Summit (talk) 03:52, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks all, that's been very helpful. 92.19.250.34 (talk) 20:32, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

December 14

Need some ideas

I am helping a relative with a small business logo. How could I create a logo that involves an original picture on the internet, for free, but still w/good quality? 65.31.168.213 (talk) 00:06, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What exactly are you needing help with? Do you already have a picture you want to incorporate into a logo? If you want free picture editing software Gimp (software) is the usual recommendation. If you want to create your own logo not based on an existing photo, you can also use free vector drawing software like Alchemy (software) that lets you create a logo that can be scaled up and down. Are you wanting help in finding a photo? If you're looking for general logo-designing advice I can't help, but I'm sure there are websites/other people. --Colapeninsula (talk) 10:09, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you tell us what the business is, perhaps we can suggest a logo. Note that logos need to be simple, so 3D computer graphics are probably out anyway (although you could have a 3D version and a simplified 2D version, too). StuRat (talk) 06:08, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I guess logo was a bad choice of word to describe this. The business is a sole-proprietor bait and lure company operating out of a town in the northern Midwest. The picture will be needed for the front of the bait bag. 65.31.168.213 (talk) 01:14, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Well, you could have a happy worm smiling from a hook as a huge smiling fish breaches the water surface and gulps at it. StuRat (talk) 03:55, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Deleting previously-visited sites from search bar in Firefox

It should be so easy to do; I think I can't work it out because I don't know the correct terms to put into Help; whenever I start typing in the url bar, I get a menu of suggestions from previously visited sites, which is sometimes helpful, sometimes, frankly, embarrassing. How do I delete them, or stop Firefox from doing this? I'm on a Mac.

Ta Adambrowne666 (talk) 09:09, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There's some advice on how to disable or configure it here. However instructions vary for different versions, so if it doesn't work tell us what version of Firefox you're using (from Help -> About Mozilla Firefox). There are other ideas about how to disable it for earlier versions of Firefox 3 here and here.

You can delete individual items in the suggestions by highlighting them and pressing delete on your keyboard (either use the up/down cursor keys to navigate the list when it appears, or put the mouse over an entry to select it). --Colapeninsula (talk) 10:03, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you are planning on doing some "embarrassing" browsing, you can start a private browsing session. --LarryMac | Talk 12:47, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Worked a treat - thanks all for the informative answers. Adambrowne666 (talk) 18:59, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Dumb memory

What is Dumb memory?--Intr199 (talk) 13:18, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It would depend on the context, but it could refer to memory chips (or RAM within a semiconductor) lacking any memory controller, DRAM controller, refresh logic, or other interface logic. This sense of the word "dumb" (and the opposite "smart") is common in computing, as in dumb terminal, dumb printer. --Colapeninsula (talk) 14:49, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Report bug in Windows 7

Where can I report a bug in Windows 7 to? --178.208.197.76 (talk) 19:10, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That will depend on several factors. Did you experience a program crash? If so, you should have seen a Windows Error Reporting dialog box, and you can use that interface to report the crash.

If you want to provide feedback in a more general way, you should go to http://connect.microsoft.com to provide feedback or bug reports.

Developers of new software usually head straight to the support forums at http://msdn.microsoft.com - but in general, developers know more specifically where the appropriate report should be filed. Nimur (talk) 19:17, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Open a variable URL with HTML without Javascript

Hi,

I want to read the content of a field of a HTML form and then open a URL containing the text I read from the field. Is this possible in plain HTML, without using a scripting (client- or server-side) language?

Thanks. Apokrif (talk) 20:56, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You must use scripting of some kind. HTML is a markup language, not a scripting language. -- kainaw ™ 21:01, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And note that it would be really quite trivial to do it in Javascript. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:41, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

December 15

Kernel headers

What are they exactly? The article that should be about them redirects to Linux kernel, which does not explain what they are. Is there any Windows equivalent? Are there other elements which are equally important for compiling in Linux? 88.8.78.13 (talk) 02:12, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I see that the redirect was created on 6 May 2008 by user:Mac, who then added a section titled "Kernel Headers" which is missing from the article in its current state. Here is the old version of the article. Card Zero (talk) 08:15, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Kernel headers are header files that describe the C language interface exposed by the kernel. They serve the same purpose as the headers accompanying any library.

The headers are needed to compile software running on top of the kernel. In Linux distributions, they are normally distributed as part of the development package for the standard C library, which programs use instead of calling the kernel directly.

Every kernel written in C/C++ has headers. However, depending on the degree to which the C library encapsulates kernel functionality, they might not be made available to application developers, but they exist. Bomazi (talk) 09:17, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Where are the cheapest electronics?

Which country has the cheapest desktops, notebooks, etc. (not considering the salary of its inhabitants). I suppose if a country did no levy sales taxes on them, does have own factories, PCs could be very cheap. I was thinking at something about Japan, Singapore or Hong Kong. 88.8.78.13 (talk) 02:14, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'd think China proper would be the cheapest, since they have the lowest wages. StuRat (talk) 06:04, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And what about the cheapest by country/brand? Can I be sure that Toshibas are cheaper in Japan, ASUS in China non-proper, Samsung in Korea? 88.8.78.13 (talk) 14:49, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

In general a product is cheaper in the nation that creates it, yes, but not always. Some nations engage in "dumping", meaning they sell items at a loss to other nations. Why do this ? They might want to drive the target nation's own producers out of business, with the hope of increasing profits later, or the export companies might get subsidies from their government. This is not allowed under most trade agreements, but it happens anyway. Differential supply-and-demand and exchange rates might also cause unexpected prices. StuRat (talk) 03:49, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Speeding up Windows XP

Is there a genuine product that will speed up Windows XP.

Hamish 84. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hamish84 (talk • contribs) 04:00, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

To speed up any version of Windows, or any other O/S for that matter, you generally want to remove things, not add them. However, there are programs which will remove some of the crap that accumulates over time, such as adware. Is this what you mean ? Also, have as little as possible running at once and reboot often. StuRat (talk) 06:00, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, your Windows XP installation disks. In my experience, all Windows installations seem to slow down with age. Back up your personal data (documents, photos, music, emails, etc), make a list of the programs you actually use and locate their install disks or download URLs, take note of the passwords you might have forgotten, and put all this on an external drive or optical disk(s). You are then in a position to reinstall Windows. It might also be a good time to look into adding more memory and getting a larger capacity hard drive. After reinstalling Windows you will be amazed at how much faster your PC seems to be. You will then need to reinstall your programs and put your personal data back. If that doesn't satisfy you, maybe it is time to get a new PC. Astronaut (talk) 11:51, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Astronaut — unfortunately, Windows systems do seem to slow down with age, at least for me, which I have always assumed was because I install a lot of software on my systems. Erasing the whole hard disk and reinstalling everything from scratch usually helps. Of course it's terribly inconvenient. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:55, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have a computer running Windows XP which was installed in 2009, it has been on 24/7 since then and its last restart was 160 days ago according to net stats srv. I have not noticed it slowing down over time. This seems to support the theory that installing a load of junk onto a computer is the cause of these slowdowns, and not a design fault with Windows itself. 82.43.90.142 (talk) 01:23, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps, but you could also argue that a design that slows to a crawl if it runs anything beyond the operating system is faulty, just like a car that only runs well with no cargo or passengers. StuRat (talk) 03:44, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Logged out of facebook on my PC ,GRAND SON LOGGED IN

I 'moved' this question from the help desk [5] Chzz ► 10:24, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

My grand son used my PC and is loged into my facebook. How do I remove him off my PC and re-log into my face book ON MY PC HAVE ALSO FORGOTTEN MY PASSWORD -this Granny needs help- Mrs Christine Erasmus Many thanks ,much appreciated — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.177.50.118 (talk) 10:21, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Go to the Facebook page. At the top there is a blue bar, and to the right of the bar you will see (from left to right) your grandson's picture, then his name, then the word 'Home', then a downwards-pointing arrow. Click the arrow, then choose 'log out' from the menu that appears. Now you will arrive at the Facebook 'login' screen. At the top right of this page there are two boxes, labelled 'Email' and 'Password'. If you remember both of these things, you can enter them and log in. If not, you will need to click 'Forgotten your password', which is just under the password box. This will take you to another page where you can enter various pieces of information to recover your password. I hope these instructions explain things ok, but if you have any trouble along the way, feel free to post here again so we can guide you through. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 12:15, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Do "find your phone" services work?

Family member has left Iphone in a cab. It's being reported to lost property, police and we can use the Orange number to immobilise it and block calls. It has GPS in it, so can we use that to find out where it is? Is there any point in using something like mobilelocate.co.uk? Itsmejudith (talk) 12:25, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

These services may be useful, but don't guarantee you'll get your phone back. You can read a bit about mobilelocate on their website; they use GSM network-based tracking which tells you the area to a few hundred metres; other systems use GPS which is more accurate (at least outdoors) but require an app on the phone. Mobile phone tracking has a bit of info on the different methods, or read this. All services require the phone to be turned on (they may record the last position it was used if it was switched off) which is a limitation. Many of these services, like mobilelocate, are intended for tracking legitimate phone users (children or employees) rather than stolen phones. Most services allow legitimate users to stop the service (so someone who steals it may be able to disable the service if the phone isn't passworded), and it may be possible to circumvent it if you can jailbreak the phone, re-flash it, change the sim card, etc, so a determined thief who's planning to sell the phone on could probably get around it. But if you leave it in a bar it could tell you which bar, etc. --Colapeninsula (talk) 12:47, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I read the links, thanks very much, but am not sure what I can do next. We are waiting to hear from lost property whether it has been handed in, and if it hasn't then will contact the police. If not prompted, they are unlikely to do anything to track it, but if we could say "it's at this location" then they might follow that up. Itsmejudith (talk) 13:09, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There are many phone tracking services (many free ones too, like Latitude). The problem that most people have is that they decide they want to install it on their phone AFTER they lose the phone. Obviously, you can't do that. So, it is good idea to install it ahead of time. My wife and I have Latitude running on our phones. She lost her phone. I used it and went straight to the store where it was. She left it on the counter, and a worker put it behind the counter. I found it because I tracked it and, once nearby, called it and heard it ring. If we had waiting until her phone was lost to worry about installing a tracking service, we'd most likely never have found it again. -- kainaw ™ 13:57, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Kainaw. If only... Does anyone know if there is any possibility that an iPhone contracted to Orange would have had such software installed as standard? I don't think the owner installed anything. Itsmejudith (talk) 15:42, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

How new is the iPhone. The newest ones are supposed to come with "Find My iPhone" installed. That is a subscription service from Apple. You have to sign up with MobileMe to use it. I do not know if you can subscribe to MobileMe after losing the phone and get the phone to be tracked by it (big security issue there - what if you sign up and have it track your ex-girlfriend's phone). So, if it isn't already set up on MobileMe, it probable cannot be tracked. The main issue is that if you don't have the phone in your possession, setting up software to track it is hard. It is intentionally hard because nobody wants you to be able to set up a service to track someone else's phone without their knowledge. -- kainaw ™ 15:51, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

With Android phones, it's possible to install locating software AFTER you lose the phone. See Plan B. I just tried it out with my phone and it works pretty well. It located my phone (which was sitting next to me) within a minute. - Akamad (talk) 22:47, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried the obvious ? That is, have you called the number to see if anybody answers ? If so, perhaps they would then return it to you for a small reward. StuRat (talk) 03:41, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Huffington Post and sign on with Google

You can sign on anywhere from anywhere these days it seems. So I tried to use Google for Huffington Post....

Huffingtonpost.com is asking for some information from your Google Account XXX@gmail.com

Email address: Richard Farmbrough (XXX@gmail.com)
Language: English
Google Contacts

Er.. does that really mean they are asking for my contacts? Is this Phone hacking scandal all over again? Or am I just out of touch with the technology?

Rich Farmbrough, 21:47, 15 December 2011 (UTC).[reply]

You're of course not obligated to help Google share your private information with any other website. I would decline any such request, but I would also know that it is technically possible that Google might choose to share any of your private information it already has, even without your consent.

I'm curious which website you were viewing when you saw that request: Google or Huffington Post?

I wouldn't call yourself "out of touch with technology," simply because you're reluctant to collude with major advertisers seeking to surveillance your online activities. The less consent you give, the more recourse you will have, should anything illicit ever be shared by a web company. Nimur (talk) 22:19, 15 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes I was planning on commenting on a Huffington Post column. They will be denied my sagacity.

I did decline the request, while I doubt it is sinister, it does look at least misleading and at worst a blunder. Incidentally I recommend Ghostery as an anti-major-advertiser-surveillance tool. Some sites have half a dozen or more tracking bugs on each web page. Rich Farmbrough, 23:07, 15 December 2011 (UTC).[reply]

December 16

Quicktime media soundfile

Hello, I need help in determining if a quicktime media soundfile can be broken down to find information about when the file was recorded and/or information on the recording device such as cell phone or other. The file in question is a text mms sent through a smart phone. Any help will be greatly appreciated. :)

Thank you,

AJ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.79.110.134 (talk) 00:24, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe. The Quicktime container format does have support for metadata. Apple's documentation for that says there are optional metadata types for location (see the "location" secton) and creation date (see the "QuickTime Metadata Keys" section). A program called Metadata Hootenanny (which I haven't used, so can't speak for its safety or quality) claims to be able to read this metadata. None if this means that the given quicktime file you have will actually have that metadata, or that it will be accurate. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 00:35, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Can the government find who is behind my username?

Hi, suppose I live in a nice place that has been taken over by an Unpleasantocracy. Can the government find who I am from my edits on Wikipedia if I never edit under an IP? Let us assume they have complete control over the infrastructure within the country, but nothing outside, ie. no spies among the Wikipedia bureaucrats. On the other hand, if I do edit under an IP, I assume it would be easy for them. Am I right here? Thanks in advance. IBE (talk) 02:59, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you edit under the IP, then they can find out which ISP or Telco (or whoever) supplied the IP to you, and if they can access the company's records (and if the company keeps sufficient records) then they can tell which subscriber line used the IP at any time. The Unpleasantocracy probably have a law requiring ISP within their borders to store & divulge such info. Under your user name with wikipedia as a black box: they would not be able to identify you from historic edits. But, if they could do some sort of deep packet inspection on all internet packets going across their border, they could presumably catch you in action (e.g. by user name) and get the IP from the packet(s). That would be a monumental effort. --Tagishsimon (talk) 03:12, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

So as I understand it, if they check everything, the moment they find a post under my username, when it's in transmission, they have the IP pretty much in front of them. Can they monitor all posts for certain keywords (eg. bomb, attack, "I hate the government") and then catch them? The article deep packet inspection you linked seems to suggest this, but I just want to check. Is that how they catch bloggers etc.? IBE (talk) 03:42, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Not in direct answer to your question, but you may find our article on Echelon interesting. Vespine (talk) 04:30, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Because of how packet-based transmissions work, it is very difficult to monitor all the Internet traffic and just put it back together to monitor usage. How bloggers (and idiots who call themselves "hacktivists") get caught is by sharing their information to the public on the Internet. They do things like go on Twitter and post their home town, make comments about where they go to school, make comments about where they work, and then make comments about how cool their latest blog entry or hack attempt was. Add to that the photos and it is far too easy for the government to track them down. -- kainaw ™ 04:43, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I think I get this now. The critical factor in packet-based transmission seems to be the maximum transmission unit, which on the Internet appears to be very small. It would seem that if they had billions of dollars at their disposal just for surveillance of Internet traffic, they might have a chance, but I doubt anyone does. If anyone knows how Echelon gets around this, I would be very curious. IBE (talk) 05:27, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Question about upgrading from XP 32 bit OEM to Windows 7 64 bit in entirely new system

Hey guys and gals,

So my sister's HP desktop bought the farm the other day. I suspect motherboard failure. Since I had spare parts lying around from a recent upgrade, I decided that I would build her a system from scratch, new case, new parts, new everything; but transfer her data to the new PC. My plan is to clone her HDD from the HP computer (with an OEM version of Windows XP Home Edition 32 bit) to the new SDD, put that SDD in the new build, and then upgrade to Windows 7 64 bit) by booting from an upgrade disk to do a clean install. Will this work? The only issue I anticipate is that Windows might have an issue with the new components, but does that even matter? I'm not very tech savvy, so I'm not sure, but if I booted from the CD I should avoid any potential "activation" problems, correct?

Thank you in advance! Mtzen (talk) 05:41, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]