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  • Python OSError not reporting errors

    - by breathe
    Ive got this snippet that Im using to convert image files to tiff. I want to be informed when a file fails to convert. Imagemagick exits 0 when successfully run, so I figured the following snippet would report the issue. However no errors are being reported at all. def image(filePath,dirPath,fileUUID,shortFile): try: os.system("convert " + filePath + " +compress " + dirPath + "/" + shortFile + ".tif") except OSError, e: print sys.stderr, "image conversion failed: %s" % (e.errno, e.strerror) sys.exit(-1)

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  • A UnicodeDecodeError that occurs with json in python on Windows, but not Mac.

    - by ventolin
    On windows, I have the following problem: >>> string = "Don´t Forget To Breathe" >>> import json,os,codecs >>> f = codecs.open("C:\\temp.txt","w","UTF-8") >>> json.dump(string,f) Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> File "C:\Python26\lib\json\__init__.py", line 180, in dump for chunk in iterable: File "C:\Python26\lib\json\encoder.py", line 294, in _iterencode yield encoder(o) UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode bytes in position 3-5: invalid data (Notice the non-ascii apostrophe in the string.) However, my friend, on his mac (also using python2.6), can run through this like a breeze: > string = "Don´t Forget To Breathe" > import json,os,codecs > f = codecs.open("/tmp/temp.txt","w","UTF-8") > json.dump(string,f) > f.close(); open('/tmp/temp.txt').read() '"Don\\u00b4t Forget To Breathe"' Why is this? I've also tried using UTF-16 and UTF-32 with json and codecs, but to no avail.

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  • O&rsquo;Reilly Deal of the Day 10/June/2014 - AngularJS Directives

    - by TATWORTH
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/TATWORTH/archive/2014/06/10/orsquoreilly-deal-of-the-day-10june2014---angularjs-directives.aspxToday’s half-price E-Book offer from O’Reilly at http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781783280339.do is AngularJS Directives. “AngularJS, propelled by Google, is quickly becoming one of the most popular JavaScript MVC frameworks available, working to invert the development paradigm and bring data-driven modularity to the web frontend. Directives serve as the core building blocks in AngularJS and enable you to create reusable models that mold around your data structures and breathe new life into the intersection of HTML and JavaScript.”

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  • Dig Deeper in Windows Defrag via Command Prompt

    - by Matthew Guay
    Windows users have learned over the years that they need to keep their computers defragmented to keep running at top speed.  While Windows Vista and 7 automatically defrag your disks, here’s some ways you can dig deeper into Windows Defragmenter Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Our Favorite Tech: What We’re Thankful For at How-To Geek Snowy Christmas House Personas Theme for Firefox The Mystic Underground Tunnel Wallpaper Ubunchu! – The Ubuntu Manga Available in Multiple Languages Breathe New Life into Your PlayStation 2 Peripherals by Hooking Them Up to Your Computer Move the Window Control Buttons to the Left Side in Windows Fun and Colorful Firefox Theme for Windows 7

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  • What are the performance implications of wildcard mapping all requests through IIS 6.0?

    - by slolife
    I am interested in using UrlRewriter.NET and noticed in the config page for IIS 6.0 on Win2k3, that they say to map all requests through the ASP.NET ISAPI. That's fine, but I am wondering if anyone has good or bad things to say about this performance wise? Is my web server going to be dragged down to its knees by doing this or will it be more of a small step up in server load? My server currently has room to breathe now, so some performance hit is expected and acceptable.

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  • How do you engineers keep your place clean?

    - by 280Z28
    I have a major problem keeping not only my desk, but my entire place clean. I end up spending all of my time behind the keyboard and slowly but surely it all turns to crap everywhere but between my monitors and I. It's causing some major problems IRL and I need to fix it. Question: I'm an engineer, and I eat, sleep, and breathe think like an engineer. Do you have any ideas for engineering a clean place? Note to the messy users out there: Not really interested. I've been messy for ages so I've got that covered. I'm looking for real suggestions from people who actually keep clean, preferably from some who've been in my shoes before.

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  • HP Officejet 7410 AIO: Scanning/copying output is a solid black field

    - by William
    I recently tried to breathe some life back into an old Officejet 7410 for my parents. The printing is fine, but the scanning and the copying respectively produce images and copies that are mostly solid black, except for the first inch or so from the top of the original page. At first I thought this was a bulb problem, so I replaced it. Unfortunately, the problematic behavior is still there. I've tried resetting to factory defaults. Still no improvement. I don't think this is related to my OS or drivers, since the copying is also affected even when the connected computer is powered off. So... my question(s): What is the cause of this bad behavior? Given that, can my Officejet be repaired? If so, how? Thanks in advance.

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  • The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better

    - by The Geek
    We’re big fans of hacking the Windows Registry around here, and we’ve got one of the biggest collections of registry hacks you’ll find. Don’t believe us? Here’s a list of the top 50 registry hacks that we’ve covered. It’s important to note that you should never hack the registry if you don’t know what you’re doing, because your computer will light on fire and some squirrels may be injured. Also, you should create a System Restore point before doing so. Otherwise, keep reading Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Our Favorite Tech: What We’re Thankful For at How-To Geek Snowy Christmas House Personas Theme for Firefox The Mystic Underground Tunnel Wallpaper Ubunchu! – The Ubuntu Manga Available in Multiple Languages Breathe New Life into Your PlayStation 2 Peripherals by Hooking Them Up to Your Computer Move the Window Control Buttons to the Left Side in Windows Fun and Colorful Firefox Theme for Windows 7

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  • Google Chrome Adds Two Ways to Hide Extension Icons

    - by The Geek
    If you’re using Google Chrome’s Dev channel, you can finally get rid of some of those extension icons, and there’s two different options for how to do it. Here’s how both of them work. If you’re wondering how to use the extensions when they are hidden, keep in mind that many extensions these days integrate into the context menu and can be used that way. Also, you’ll need to be using the Dev Channel release in order to get the first feature today Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Our Favorite Tech: What We’re Thankful For at How-To Geek Snowy Christmas House Personas Theme for Firefox The Mystic Underground Tunnel Wallpaper Ubunchu! – The Ubuntu Manga Available in Multiple Languages Breathe New Life into Your PlayStation 2 Peripherals by Hooking Them Up to Your Computer Move the Window Control Buttons to the Left Side in Windows Fun and Colorful Firefox Theme for Windows 7

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  • Set Up Anti-Brick Protection to Safeguard and Supercharge Your Wii

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    We’ve shown you how to hack your Wii for homebrew software, emulators, and DVD playback, now it’s time to safeguard your Wii against bricking and fix some annoyances—like that stupid “Press A” health screen. The thing about console modding and jailbreaking—save for the rare company like Amazon that doesn’t seem to care—is companies will play a game of cat and mouse to try and knock modded console out of commission, undo your awesome mods, or even brick your device. Although extreme moves like bricktacular-updates are rare once you modify your device you have to be vigilante in protecting it against updates that could hurt your sweet setup. Today we’re going to walk you through hardening your Wii and giving it the best brick protection available Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Our Favorite Tech: What We’re Thankful For at How-To Geek Snowy Christmas House Personas Theme for Firefox The Mystic Underground Tunnel Wallpaper Ubunchu! – The Ubuntu Manga Available in Multiple Languages Breathe New Life into Your PlayStation 2 Peripherals by Hooking Them Up to Your Computer Move the Window Control Buttons to the Left Side in Windows Fun and Colorful Firefox Theme for Windows 7

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  • Programming and Ubiquitous Language (DDD) in a non-English domain

    - by Sandor Drieënhuizen
    I know there are some questions already here that are closely related to this subject but none of them take Ubquitous Language as the starting point so I think that justifies this question. For those who don't know: Ubiquitous Language is the concept of defining a (both spoken and written) language that is equally used across developers and domain experts to avoid inconsistencies and miscommunication due to translation problems and misunderstanding. You will see the same terminology show up in code, conversations between any team member, functional specs and whatnot. So, what I was wondering about is how to deal with Ubiquitous Language in non-English domains. Personally, I strongly favor writing programming code in English completely, including comments but ofcourse excluding constants and resources. However, in a non-English domain, I'm forced to make a decision either to: Write code reflecting the Ubiquitous Language in the natural language of the domain. Translate the Ubiquitous Language to English and stop communicating in the natural language of the domain. Define a table that defines how the Ubiquitous Language translates to English. Here are some of my thoughts based on these options: 1) I have a strong aversion against mixed-language code, that is coding using type/member/variable names etc. that are non-English. Most programming languages 'breathe' English to a large extent and most of the technical literature, design pattern names etc. are in English as well. Therefore, in most cases there's just no way of writing code entirely in a non-English language so you end up with a mixed languages. 2) This will force the domain experts to start thinking and talking in the English equivalent of the UL, something that will probably not come naturally to them and therefore hinders communication significantly. 3) In this case, the developers communicate with the domain experts in their native language while the developers communicate with each other in English and most importantly, they write code using the English translation of the UL. I'm sure I don't want to go for the first option and I think option 3 is much better than option 2. What do you think? Am I missing other options?

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  • Learn to Take a Punch, Learn to Counter, Keep Moving Forward

    - by D'Arcy Lussier
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/dlussier/archive/2013/10/28/154483.aspxDuring a boxing workout a few months ago our trainer had us do something called “breadbaskets”. That’s where you hold your arms up and a partner punches you in your midsection – your breadbasket. I put my arms up, and braced for impact. The trainer came over, saw I was a bit nervous, and coached me through. I can see the fear in your eyes. Don’t be afraid to take the punch. Tighten your core, breathe through the hit. Don’t panic. Over the summer we’d do counter drills as well. This is where a partner throws a punch, you defend but also throw one back – a counter punch. You never just sit back and take a beating, you deflect the blow and come back with one more powerful. These lessons on fighting can apply to all aspects of our lives and any attempts at success that we have. I saw this image recently and agree with it 100%: Success is never a straight forward line. It’s messy, its wrought with failures, its learning over time and applying those life lessons. It’s learning how to take punches and lose your fear, its seeing a punch coming and countering it, but most of all its not giving up and continually moving forward. We do stairs at boxing, which is running up and down three flights of stairs. I’m not anywhere near incredible shape and after doing multiple stairs in a single workout you can feel gassed, tired, even discouraged after hitting the second floor and seeing everyone else running by you. I read a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that I cling to throughout my day: You want to be successful? Take the punches, but learn how to take them. Counter them. and no matter what, always move forward.

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  • Moving while doing loop animation in RPGMaker

    - by AzDesign
    I made a custom class to display character portrait in RPGMaker XP Here is the class : class Poser attr_accessor :images def initialize @images = Sprite.new @images.bitmap = RPG::Cache.picture('Character.png') #100x300 @images.x = 540 #place it on the bottom right corner of the screen @images.y = 180 end end Create an event on the map to create an instance as global variable, tada! image popped out. Ok nice. But Im not satisfied, Now I want it to have bobbing-head animation-like (just like when we breathe, sometimes bob our head up and down) so I added another method : def move(x,y) @images.x += x @images.y += y end def animate(x,y,step,delay) forward = true 2.times { step.times { wait(delay) if forward move(x/step,y/step) else move(-x/step,-y/step) end } wait(delay*3) forward = false } end def wait(time) while time > 0 time -= 1 Graphics.update end end I called the method to run the animation and it works, so far so good, but the problem is, WHILE the portrait goes up and down, I cannot move my character until the animation is finished. So that's it, I'm stuck in the loop block, what I want is to watch the portrait moving up and down while I walk around village, talk to npc, etc. Anyone can solve my problem ? Or better solution ? Thanks in advance

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  • Ubuntu black screen after Installation of 12.10 Live USB

    - by Lime0fHint
    My computer was made in 2004, but I'm sure it doesn't matter since it's a durable machine. So recently, I decided to breathe new life to it with Linux. I tried Lubuntu 12.10, Nope. Black screen after install. So I tried Ubuntu 12.10 when I gave up, and same exact thing. Except, this time I'm fighting for it, since Ubuntu is the best OS I've ever seen. So back on-topic, when I start the installation, it says that something is already mounted (Sda or something of the sorts) So I just figure that it's the Live USB I'm using. So I let it ignore it, and move on. The rest of the installation goes smooth, all looks fine. Then I get to the screen with the introductory to Ubuntu. Meanwhile, it's still installing, but finishing up. I'm not sure if the install actually finishes, but I do know that after a bit, the screen goes back to the desktop. The install closes and I'm back at the desktop, and the cursor is showing the "loading" symbol, as if it were still working. Then the screen goes black, with the same cursor. After that, nothing. I left it over night like that thinking it was doing something, in the morning it was still black with the cursor circling or whatever. So what could be causing this? One concern I have is that I have a Nvidia graphics card (7300 GT). I heard that Nvidia isn't compatible with Linux? I did notice that it was marked as unreconigsed by Ubuntu, so is that the problem perhaps?

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  • Distributing WPF apps to a legacy user base: How seamless is it?

    - by Christian Nunciato
    I'm considering developing a WPF application, to be hosted by a legacy Windows app (C++), and I'm trying to get a better sense of how feasible it'll be to do so, given the broad user base I'm targeting. Knowing WPF targets .NET 3.5, I'm looking for some insight as to what the field looks like right now -- who's already got the runtime, whether it's distributed by Windows Update, if so, how (e.g., as an optional or required download, to which operating systems, etc.), whether XP pre-XP2 supports it (and how), and so on. The current version's got many thousands of users, using all manner of Windows operating systems, and while I'd very much like to leverage WPF to breathe some life into their user experience, I want to make sure I'm not shutting anyone out by doing so, or burdening them with a download they might have to do manually. I realize most, or all, of this information's out there already, in various places, but I figured I'd ask here first, since I'm sure some of you've probably already gone down this road and have valuable experiences to share. Thanks in advance!

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  • Is there anyone out there that codes like I do?

    - by Jacob Relkin
    Hi, Some people have told me that my coding style is a lot different than theirs. I think I am somewhat neurotic when it comes to spacing and indenting though. Here's a snippet to show you what I mean: - ( void ) applicationDidFinishLaunching: ( UIApplication *) application { SomeObject *object = [ [ SomeObject alloc ] init ]; int x = 100 / 5; object.someInstanceVariable = ( ( 4 * x ) + rand() ); [ object someMethod ]; } Notice how I space out all of my brackets/parentheses, start curly braces on the same line, "my code has room to breathe", so to speak. So my questions are a) is this normal and b) What's your coding style?

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  • Is there anyone out there that codes like me?

    - by Jacob Relkin
    Hi, Some people have told me that my coding style is a lot different than theirs. I think I am somewhat neurotic when it comes to spacing and indenting though. Here's a snippet to show you what I mean: - ( void ) applicationDidFinishLaunching: ( UIApplication *) application { SomeObject *object = [ [ SomeObject alloc ] init ]; int x = 100 / 5; object.someInstanceVariable = ( ( 4 * x ) + rand() ); [ object someMethod ]; } Notice how I space out all of my brackets/parentheses, start curly braces on the same line, "my code has room to breathe", so to speak. So my questions are a) is this normal and b) What's your coding style?

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  • What Am I doing for my 5 months 1 week old baby for his first cold?

    - by Rekha
    With my limited friends circle with babies, I heard that babies in their fifth month usually gets affected by cold all of a sudden. This is unavoidable and I feel it is good for the babies as they start developing their immune system right on. We usually take our son for a small walk so that he is able to explore the world out there. We have been taking him for a stroll almost everyday since we was 3 months old. But only now he is getting his first cold. So things happen only now I think. Till that day I had somehow brought some routine for him for his feed and naps during day time. Night time is still sleepless ones anyway. So when he first got his cold, that night it went on as usual getting up every few hours. From the next day on, he stopped feeding at the usual time. In the night he goes for 8-10 hours between feeds but still wakes up every two hours and cries for about 10 minutes and when we lift him for sometime, he goes back to sleep. Now to the point what all to expect: * Babies starts feeding frequently * Babies spit up increases * They dislike the food they liked before (we have just started solid foods as per our pediatricians advice) * Since they cannot breathe properly, they cannot sleep for a long time *Pees and poops less frequently. What all we did for our baby to make him comfortable during this time: * Feed the baby less quantity and more frequently whenever they expect to feed (Do not follow the schedule) * When the quantity is less, spit ups is also less * If the baby does not like the food (vegetable or fruit), avoid them till they get back to normal * Try to elevate their head while sleeping ( we used the cradle – sitting position, bouncer, car seat and finally all four sides we placed firm pillows so that he does not roll and kept a pillow for his head till his hip – this one is recommended usually but we have an eye on him always) * No need for any medicines – it will take a week for them to get back to normal whether or not we gives medicines * We applied home made Cold Reliever (heat 2 teaspoons of coconut oil with a small camphor piece till the camphor disappears – then cool the mixture) on his chest, back, neck and feet and covered the feet with socks in the nights * Bathe him everyday – hot (that your baby can withstand) *  Whenever possible give him a steam bath (open the hot showers for sometime in the bathroom and close the doors. When the steam is bearable, close the shower and take the baby inside the bathroom for sometime) * Also use a bulb syringe provided in the hospital to clear the nose (use some saline water drops for ease) * Cuddle him when he cries But please do take him to his doctor if he has fever and other symptoms other than cold or the cold persists for more than 5 – 7 days. Image Credit : MiriamBJDolls

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  • Programming and Ubiquitous Language (DDD) in a non-English domain

    - by Sandor Drieënhuizen
    I know there are some questions already here that are closely related to this subject but none of them take Ubiquitous Language as the starting point so I think that justifies this question. For those who don't know: Ubiquitous Language is the concept of defining a (both spoken and written) language that is equally used across developers and domain experts to avoid inconsistencies and miscommunication due to translation problems and misunderstanding. You will see the same terminology show up in code, conversations between any team member, functional specs and whatnot. So, what I was wondering about is how to deal with Ubiquitous Language in non-English domains. Personally, I strongly favor writing programming code in English completely, including comments but ofcourse excluding constants and resources. However, in a non-English domain, I'm forced to make a decision either to: Write code reflecting the Ubiquitous Language in the natural language of the domain. Translate the Ubiquitous Language to English and stop communicating in the natural language of the domain. Define a table that defines how the Ubiquitous Language translates to English. Here are some of my thoughts based on these options: 1) I have a strong aversion against mixed-language code, that is coding using type/member/variable names etc. that are non-English. Most programming languages 'breathe' English to a large extent and most of the technical literature, design pattern names etc. are in English as well. Therefore, in most cases there's just no way of writing code entirely in a non-English language so you end up with mixed languages anyway. 2) This will force the domain experts to start thinking and talking in the English equivalent of the UL, something that will probably not come naturally to them and therefore hinders communication significantly. 3) In this case, the developers communicate with the domain experts in their native language while the developers communicate with each other in English and most importantly, they write code using the English translation of the UL. I'm sure I don't want to go for the first option and I think option 3 is much better than option 2. What do you think? Am I missing other options? UPDATE Today, about year later, having dealt with this issue on a daily basis, I have to say that option 3 has worked out pretty well for me. It wasn't as tedious as I initially feared and translating in real time while talking to the client wasn't a problem either. I also found the following advantages to be true, based on my experience. Translating the UL makes you pay more attention to defining the UL and even the domain itself, especially when you don't know how to translate a term and you have to start looking through dictionaries etc. This has even caused me to reconsider domain modeling decisions a few times. It helps you make your knowledge of the English language more profound. Obviously, your code is much more pleasant to look at instead of being a mind boggling obscenity.

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  • Live Mesh starts exactly once on fresh Win7 Ultimate installation

    - by Reb.Cabin
    I did a fresh install of Windows 7 Ulimate 64-bit on a formatted drive on a refurbed Lenovo PC, applied all 102 (!) windows updates, windows seems to be working fine. No quirks installing, no apps, no junkware, just straight, legal, Win7 Ultimate right from an unopened 2009 Microsoft box. Ok, breathe sigh -- Install Live Mesh (no messenger, no mail, no writer, no photo, none of the rest of the Windows Live freeware). Set up my shares, let it run overnight. watch MOE.exe in the Task-Manager perf pane to make sure it's all settled down. reboot. Ok, check that MOE is running and files are getting updated properly from other machines in the mesh. Great. HOWEVER -- when I try to launch Windows Live Mesh app from the Start jewel, I get a brief hourglass, then nothing. Reboot. Same story. result -- the shares I already posted seem to be synching properly, but I can't run the app, so I can't add and delete shares. The background process MOE seems to run, but I can't get the app going. btw, the reason I did this fresh install is I had exactly the same experience running Vista, so I wiped the machine hoping it would solve this nasty problem. Imagine my surprise! Will be grateful for clues, advice, etc, please & thanks!

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  • Windows 8 keeps signing out

    - by bill weaver
    Ran into a strange problem with Windows 8 Pro. Last night i installed Windows 8 Pro as an upgrade on a Sony Vaio laptop that had Windows 7 Pro on it. The install seemed to go okay. Then once installed, live tiles seem to work, native/Metro apps will start okay, but pretty soon after going into an app or settings, the screen flashes a few times and we're back to the lock screen. Signing in appears to do a full login. I've tried this with a local account and with a live.com account. This is someone else's laptop, so we decided to let it breathe, in case the install was still settling in. Well, they say today it's doing the same thing. Open the music app, and within a minute it's back to signon/lock screen. However, they can go to the actual Desktop and run Zune to play music, and it seems happy. In the past, i've installed retail Windows 8 Pro clean on a homebrew system, as an upgrade on a Dell laptop with a zillion apps and drivers, neither with any problems. Also, i've had the consumer preview and release candidate installed as well, no problems. Any ideas on what's going on here?

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  • Replacing the LCD panel in a netbook (Asus Eee PC 1005)

    - by neilfein
    Yesterday, I was cleaning up and dropped my Asus Eee 1005PE. The screen is cracked inside (i.e., cracks are visible only when on), and no longer works properly. I booted up with another monitor attached, and the computer itself is fine, but needs a new screen. Best Buy wants at least $250 to repair it (that includes their $150 fee to breathe in the same room as the unit), and Asus was of no help at all. (They're incredibly cagey and won't provide any money numbers at all, not even the cost of the part.) If replacing the LCD is no more trouble than replacing memory or a hard drive, I can do that. It's within my means to buy the part (18G241010402, a TFT LCD), but I'd like to know more about the procedure involved. My question: How does one replace the screen in this unit? Do I simply open the case and swap out the unit, or do I need to disassemble anything else to get to the screen? I don't want to order the part and then end up in a situation like this. Is the case screwed shut, or is it like an iPod where they glue things closed? I know enough about my abilities with a soldering gun to not attempt to solder tiny wires, would any of that be involved?

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  • Developer Training – Importance and Significance – Part 1

    - by pinaldave
    Developer Training - Importance and Significance - Part 1 Developer Training – Employee Morals and Ethics – Part 2 Developer Training – Difficult Questions and Alternative Perspective - Part 3 Developer Training – Various Options for Developer Training – Part 4 Developer Training – A Conclusive Summary- Part 5 Can anyone remember their final day of schooling?  This is probably a silly question because – of course you can!  Many people mark this as the most exciting, happiest day of their life.  It marks the end of testing, the end of following rules set by teachers, and the beginning of finally being able to earn money and work in your chosen field. Beginning in Real World However, many former-students will be disappointed to find out that once they become employees, learning is not over.  Many companies are discovering the importance and benefits to training their employees.  You can breathe a sigh of relief, though, because much for this kind of training there are not usually tests! We often think that we go to school for our younger years so that we do all our learning all at once, and then for the rest of our lives we use that knowledge.  But in so many cases, but especially for developers, the opposite is true.  It takes many years of schools to learn the basics of a field, and then our careers are spent learning to become experts. For this, and so many other reasons, training is very important.  Example one: developer training leads to better employees.  A company is only as good as the people it employs, and one way to ensure that you have employed the right candidate is through training.  Training can take a regular “stone” and polish it into a “diamond.”  Employees who have been well-trained will be better at their jobs and produce a better product. Most Expensive Resource Did you know that one of the most expensive operating costs for any company is not buying goods, or advertising, but its employees – especially having to hire new employees.  Bringing in new people, getting them up to speed, and providing them with perks to attract them to a company is a huge cost for companies.  So employee retention – keep the employees you already have, and keeping them happy – is incredibly important from a business aspect.  And research shows that a well-trained employee is a happy employee.  They feel more confident in their job, happier with their position, and more cared-about – and therefore less likely to leave in search of a better job.  Employee training leads to better retention. Good Moral On the subject of keeping employees happy in order to keep them at a company, the complement to that research shows that happier employees are more efficient and overall better at their jobs.  You don’t have to be a scientist to figure out why this is true.  An employee who feel that his company cares about him and his educational future will work harder for the company.  He or she will put in that extra hour during the busy season that makes all the difference in the end.  Good morale is good for the company. If good morale is better for the company, you know that it goes hand-in-hand with something even better – better efficiency.  An employee who is well trained obviously knows more about their job and all the technical aspects.  That means when a problem crops up – and they inevitably do – this employee will be well-equipped to deal with that problem with fewer problems, and no need to go searching for help from higher up.  When employees are well trained, companies run more smoothly. A Better Product Of course, all of these “pros” for employee training are leading up to the one thing that companies truly care about – a better product.  We have shown that employees who have been trained to be competitive in the market are happier at the company, they are more efficient, and their morale is better.  The overall result is that the company’s product – whether it is a database, piece of equipment, or even a physical good – is better.  And a better product will always be more competitive on the market. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Developer Training, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • Is Agile the new micromanagement?

    - by Smith James
    Hi, This question has been cooking in my head for a while so I wanted to ask those who are following agile/scrum practices in their development environments. My company has finally ventured into incorporating agile practices and has started out with a team of 4 developers in an agile group on a trial basis. It has been 4 months with 3 iterations and they continue to do it without going fully agile for the rest of us. This is due to the fact that management's trust to meet business requirements with a quite a bit of ad hoc type request from high above. Recently, I talked to the developers who are part of this initiative; they tell me that it's not fun. They are not allowed to talk to other developers by their Scrum master and are not allowed to take any phone calls in the work area (which maybe fine to an extent). For example, if I want to talk to my friend for kicks who is in the agile team, I am not allowed without the approval of the Scrum master; who is sitting right next to the agile team. The idea of all this or the agile is to provide a complete vacuum for agile developers from any interruptions and to have them put in good 6+ productive hours. Well, guys, I am no agile guru but what I have read Yahoo agile rollout document and similar for other organizations, it gives me a feeling that agile is not cheap. It require resources and budget to instill agile into the teams and correct issue as they arrive to put them back on track. For starters, it requires training for developers and coaching for managers and etc, etc... The current Scrum master was a manager who took a couple days agile training class paid by the management is now leading this agile team. I have also heard in the meeting that agile manifesto doesn't dictate that agile is not set in stones and is customized differently for each company. Well, it all sounds good and reason. In conclusion, I always thought the agile was supposed to bring harmony in the development teams which results in happy developers. However, I am getting a very opposite feeling when talking to the developers in the agile team. They are unhappy that they cannot talk anything but work, sitting quietly all day just working, and they feel it's just another way for management to make them work more. Tell me please, if this is one of the examples of good practices used for the purpose of selfish advantage for more dollars? Or maybe, it's just us the developers like me and this agile team feels that they don't like to work in an environment where they only breathe work because they are at work. Thanks. Edit: It's a company in healthcare domain that has offices across US, but we're in Texas. It definitely feels like a cowboy style agile which makes me really not wanting to go for agile at all, esp at my current company. All of it has to do with the management being completely cheap. Cutting out expensive coffee for cheaper version, emphasis on savings and being productive while staying as lean as possible. My feeling is that someone in the management behind the door threw out this idea, that agile makes you produce more so we can show our bosses we're producing more with the same headcount. Or, maybe, it will allow us to reduce headcount if that's the case. EDITED: They are having their 5 min daily meeting. But not allowed to chat or talk with someone outside of their team. All focus is on work.

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  • Is Agile the new micromanagement?

    - by Smith James
    This question has been cooking in my head for a while so I wanted to ask those who are following agile/scrum practices in their development environments. My company has finally ventured into incorporating agile practices and has started out with a team of 4 developers in an agile group on a trial basis. It has been 4 months with 3 iterations and they continue to do it without going fully agile for the rest of us. This is due to the fact that management's trust to meet business requirements with a quite a bit of ad hoc type request from high above. Recently, I talked to the developers who are part of this initiative; they tell me that it's not fun. They are not allowed to talk to other developers by their Scrum master and are not allowed to take any phone calls in the work area (which maybe fine to an extent). For example, if I want to talk to my friend for kicks who is in the agile team, I am not allowed without the approval of the Scrum master; who is sitting right next to the agile team. The idea of all this or the agile is to provide a complete vacuum for agile developers from any interruptions and to have them put in good 6+ productive hours. Well, guys, I am no agile guru but what I have read Yahoo agile rollout document and similar for other organizations, it gives me a feeling that agile is not cheap. It require resources and budget to instill agile into the teams and correct issue as they arrive to put them back on track. For starters, it requires training for developers and coaching for managers and etc, etc... The current Scrum master was a manager who took a couple days agile training class paid by the management is now leading this agile team. I have also heard in the meeting that agile manifesto doesn't dictate that agile is not set in stones and is customized differently for each company. Well, it all sounds good and reason. In conclusion, I always thought the agile was supposed to bring harmony in the development teams which results in happy developers. However, I am getting a very opposite feeling when talking to the developers in the agile team. They are unhappy that they cannot talk anything but work, sitting quietly all day just working, and they feel it's just another way for management to make them work more. Tell me please, if this is one of the examples of good practices used for the purpose of selfish advantage for more dollars? Or maybe, it's just us the developers like me and this agile team feels that they don't like to work in an environment where they only breathe work because they are at work. Thanks. Edit: It's a company in healthcare domain that has offices across US. It definitely feels like a cowboy style agile which makes me really not wanting to go for agile at all, esp at my current company. All of it has to do with the management being completely cheap. Cutting out expensive coffee for cheaper version, emphasis on savings and being productive while staying as lean as possible. My feeling is that someone in the management behind the door threw out this idea, that agile makes you produce more so we can show our bosses we're producing more with the same headcount. Or, maybe, it will allow us to reduce headcount if that's the case. EDITED: They are having their 5 min daily meeting. But not allowed to chat or talk with someone outside of their team. All focus is on work.

    Read the article

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