Questions you want answered.

KingGorilla wrote:

Bummer is that I often need to use FF for work. Government websites often do a browser check for IE only, more enlightened ones will allow FF.

And most of them will probably work just fine in Chrome if you use this to trick them

I might have to try that. But for whatever reason, I am 50/50 getting legal databases of any kind (even with support for most/all browsers) working in Chrome. I get a lot of cropped pages on Westlaw and Lexis.

When I click a link on some websites, it opens a new tab, other ones it opens a new window, and still others simply hijack my current window/tab. Is this something I have to tolerate, or always right-click and pick the option I want, or can I set that in my browser?

Mouse wheel click will usually open the link in a new tab.

carrotpanic wrote:

Mouse wheel click will usually open the link in a new tab.

Well that helps, although I dread having to middle click everything. Maybe I can change the button settings

KingGorilla wrote:

I might have to try that. But for whatever reason, I am 50/50 getting legal databases of any kind (even with support for most/all browsers) working in Chrome. I get a lot of cropped pages on Westlaw and Lexis.

I use Chrome as my main browser but I have to keep other browsers around for certain things. At work I have to use IE for some of our stuff and at home I have to use Safari for just about anything Java based because the mac version of Chrome isn't 64-bit and Oracle doesn't provide a 32-bit version of Java for OS X and I need Firefox for a student loan site that won't render correctly in WebKit. At work I really wish I could install both IE8&9 at the same time because we have some stuff that works better in one and other stuff that works better in the other and compatibility mode does really seem to help so I just use 8 since that is what our ticketing system works best in.

Chances are the pages you are talking about are using asp or aspx which can be very hit and miss in other browsers and even in IE sometimes. Almost everything that I have to use IE for at work is aspx.

Dakuna wrote:
carrotpanic wrote:

Mouse wheel click will usually open the link in a new tab.

Well that helps, although I dread having to middle click everything. Maybe I can change the button settings :)

There's also Ctrl + left click. I don't know if that's better or worse from your perspective

Citizen86 wrote:
Dakuna wrote:
carrotpanic wrote:

Mouse wheel click will usually open the link in a new tab.

Well that helps, although I dread having to middle click everything. Maybe I can change the button settings :)

There's also Ctrl + left click. I don't know if that's better or worse from your perspective

I'm always either middle-clicking or Ctrl-clicking. Bonus tip: middle-click an open tab, and it'll close it.

Bonus bonus tip: Ctrl+Shift+T opens up the last tab you closed. Shift + whatever command usually does the command in reverse or the other direction in some way.

I use InstaClick for Firefox to make my right mouse button always open links in a new tab. If you ever need the default right-click popup menu for a link, you can CTRL-Right-Click instead.

My goodness you guys are awesome. Thanks for the amazing info! I just reopened this tab after closing it

So I am shopping around for a new laptop/tablet for work. The Lenovo Yoga and Lynx have caught my eye. My aesthetic issued with Windows 8 aside, I like the form factor, the utility, the long battery life, and the ability to easily work with my existing network and office equipment (an Ipad would require I get a new router and printer).

What I am not keen on is how underpowered these devices seem. I need to be able to web brows, word process, maybe have some music or podcasts streaming in the background, and print all while I work. At present my HP Mini(my previous work portable) is running like a dog whenever I try to do anything more intensive than turn it on. It chuggs on pandora and Hulu; it hangs if I try to check e-mail while I am typing for 20-30 seconds, multiple tabs tend to stymy it. I am concerned that the Atom (I am not impressed with the Atom in my HP mini) or Tegra processors are too wimpy even for some moderate professional use. And I am not going to spend 1,000-1500 bucks for one of the Yoga Tablets with a Core I3 or I7.

I am also looking at the Thinkpad Edge series, nothing fancy, but I can get a Core I3 or I5, plenty of RAM for about 600 bucks. But I am losing some of the tablet functionality, like being able to have clients sign documents right there without having to print them out. E-signatures are less of a problem now, but having that handwritten signature is more helpful than some people know.

Has anyone in these party picked up a Lynx or a Yoga? How has it stood up to use?

What is up with some game forums not allowing you to search for words 4 characters or less? I'm looking at you War Thunder and Mech Warrior Tactics.

It just comes down to the software that they are using to run their forums. If you elect to have your own search engine, instead of say the google or yahoo forum plug, it can be pretty taxing on your servers. If you run a search for the word "And" that will ping everything on the forum or damn near it, and run up the date bill. Data is not cheap.

KingGorilla wrote:

It just comes down to the software that they are using to run their forums. If you elect to have your own search engine, instead of say the google or yahoo forum plug, it can be pretty taxing on your servers. If you run a search for the word "And" that will ping everything on the forum or damn near it, and run up the date bill. Data is not cheap.

It's pretty common, but no less annoying when that community widely uses acronyms and short words as crucial parts of their discussions.

How would you check out an Insurance Broker?

They're licensed in our Province, so I can look there for licensure, but that isn't really the litmus test.

KingGorilla wrote:

It just comes down to the software that they are using to run their forums. If you elect to have your own search engine, instead of say the google or yahoo forum plug, it can be pretty taxing on your servers. If you run a search for the word "And" that will ping everything on the forum or damn near it, and run up the date bill. Data is not cheap.

That sounds like awful design and/or price gouging.

SixteenBlue wrote:
KingGorilla wrote:

It just comes down to the software that they are using to run their forums. If you elect to have your own search engine, instead of say the google or yahoo forum plug, it can be pretty taxing on your servers. If you run a search for the word "And" that will ping everything on the forum or damn near it, and run up the date bill. Data is not cheap.

That sounds like awful design and/or price gouging.

That is web hosting. Most of the popular plans will cap you out and charge overages based on the amount of data, or will charge you based on usage. That is the way web hosting works. This reason is also why many web forums do not allow animated avatars, avatars at all. This is why many podcasts or podcasters rely on services like libsyn to keep and distribute their video or audio content. Bandwidth is pricey stuff.

But on another note. Come on people, I need to know if the Lynx or Yoga tablet Computers are any good.

Ghostship wrote:

How would you check out an Insurance Broker?

Mirrored sunglasses, drop your pen on the ground and ask them to pick it up for you.

KingGorilla wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:
KingGorilla wrote:

It just comes down to the software that they are using to run their forums. If you elect to have your own search engine, instead of say the google or yahoo forum plug, it can be pretty taxing on your servers. If you run a search for the word "And" that will ping everything on the forum or damn near it, and run up the date bill. Data is not cheap.

That sounds like awful design and/or price gouging.

That is web hosting. Most of the popular plans will cap you out and charge overages based on the amount of data, or will charge you based on usage. That is the way web hosting works. This reason is also why many web forums do not allow animated avatars, avatars at all. This is why many podcasts or podcasters rely on services like libsyn to keep and distribute their video or audio content. Bandwidth is pricey stuff.

Sure. That's also why they came up with paginated results. Hence my point of awful design.

can someone explain to me exactly how leasing oil fields from the government works? I don't understand exactly how it happens, I would assume that the oil company pays to lease the land and pays money per barrel gallon tanker whatever thats extracted, but all I see is hyperbole from both sides on how this situation works.

How come people are selling books on Amazon for $0.01? I mean, fine, they are probably jacking up the shipping price, but it still seems like a pretty sweet deal. Anyone have some insight on this?

Dakuna wrote:

How come people are selling books on Amazon for $0.01? I mean, fine, they are probably jacking up the shipping price, but it still seems like a pretty sweet deal. Anyone have some insight on this?

Might be caused by algorithmic pricing. Try watching if the price changes over time.

Dakuna wrote:

How come people are selling books on Amazon for $0.01? I mean, fine, they are probably jacking up the shipping price, but it still seems like a pretty sweet deal. Anyone have some insight on this?

Basically, it's a way of getting your product to the top of the listing where it's more likely to sell.

It used to be that you paid less to Amazon if you had a price of one cent, but it looks like Amazon now takes their commission based on the list price plus the shipping credit rather than just the list price. (Given the unusually high commission on a couple books I listed as a test, I'd say Amazon is trying to discourage people from listing books for that little.)

The seller still gets a small return from the sale. The lowest shipping cost you can offer unless you're one of Amazon's preferred sellers is $3.99 per item. So that book'll cost you $4, of which Amazon pockets about half and the seller gets the rest. Depending on the shipping rates they get, sellers could make a dollar (or likely a little less) off the $0.01 sale.

Having sold a fair amount of stuff on Amazon before, if the list prices for a book are that low, I usually don't bother. After packing materials and shipping, you get very little for your book, often less than you'd be able to sell it to a used bookstore, with the added hassle of having to pack it up and get it sent out.

On the other hand, I'm a private seller, and a fair number of the people selling books on Amazon are, in fact, used bookstores trying to clear some inventory. The math might make a bit more sense for them if they're able to get better rates for shipping or packing materials and if it's less of an inconvenience to mail things out.

SOUNDS HINKY I WANT MY MONEY BACK! (j/k)

A question for those of you concerned about spoilers in your media: is there a statue of limitations on spoilers? Is there a point after which it's no longer the responsibility of other people to post spoiler warnings or put things in spoiler tags for shows/movies/games/books you haven't experienced yet? Like, when does the onus shift from other people to avoid posting them to you to avoid reading them?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

A question for those of you concerned about spoilers in your media: is there a statue of limitations on spoilers? Is there a point after which it's no longer the responsibility of other people to post spoiler warnings or put things in spoiler tags for shows/movies/games/books you haven't experienced yet? Like, when does the onus shift from other people to avoid posting them to you to avoid reading them?

DVD release / first steam sale / paperback release

Maq wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

A question for those of you concerned about spoilers in your media: is there a statue of limitations on spoilers? Is there a point after which it's no longer the responsibility of other people to post spoiler warnings or put things in spoiler tags for shows/movies/games/books you haven't experienced yet? Like, when does the onus shift from other people to avoid posting them to you to avoid reading them?

DVD release / first steam sale / paperback release

I say 6 months to a year depending on medium/popularity. Also you have to judge your audience. I have a friend who has only seen season 1 of Heroes. Sometimes we talk about that show and I have to watch it since he says he wants to watch it at some point.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

A question for those of you concerned about spoilers in your media: is there a statue of limitations on spoilers?

I'd like to perhaps answer your question by paraphrasing it:
The audience of my public forum post is split into two groups. At which point is it okay to be a dick to one of them? Should I wait until the group I would be a dick to is smaller than the other? How long does it take before it is actually their own fault that I'm being a dick to them?

Spoiler:

In reality it depends on the spoiler. A lot can be forgiven if it is funny or clever... within reason.

If you are on an info blackout, you can pipe up when I am talking about when I saw Brave with my wife so that I cannot reveal how depressing and bad it gets when half the principles get turned into bears so that the princess can learn to comb her hair. I did not spoil, hopefully I just saved you 20 bucks plus the cost of snacks.

Rezzy wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

A question for those of you concerned about spoilers in your media: is there a statue of limitations on spoilers?

I'd like to perhaps answer your question by paraphrasing it:
The audience of my public forum post is split into two groups. At which point is it okay to be a dick to one of them? Should I wait until the group I would be a dick to is smaller than the other? How long does it take before it is actually their own fault that I'm being a dick to them?

Spoiler:

In reality it depends on the spoiler. A lot can be forgiven if it is funny or clever... within reason.

How about a thought experiment? At what point did it become okay to post "Aeris dies in Final Fantasy VII" without spoiler tags? The game released in January of '97 in Japan, September of '97 in the US, October of '97 internationally, and November of '97 in the EU and Australia. It released in June of '98 for the PC. That seems to be a spoiler everyone is comfortable posting and reading, even if they haven't played the game, without anyone accusing anyone else of being a dick.