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Search found 2018 results on 81 pages for 'jason rikard'.

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• Can Dungeons & Dragons Make You More Successful? [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Dungeons & Dragons gets a bit of a bad rap in popular culture, but in this video treatise from Idea Channel, they propose that Dungeons & Dragons wires players for success. There are some deeply ingrained stereotypes about Dungeons & Dragons, and those stereotypes usually begin and end with people shouting “NERD!!!” But the reality of the D&D universe is a whole lot more complex. Rather than being an escape from reality, D&D is actually a way to enhance some important real life skillz! It’s a chance to learn problem solving, visualization, interaction, organization, people management… the list could go on and on. Plus, there are some very famous non-nerds who have declared an affinity for D&D, so best stop criticizing and join in if you want to be a successful at the game of life. While we’re trying not to let our love of all things gaming cloud our judgement, we’re finding it difficult to disagree with the premise that open-ended play fosters creative and adaptive thinking. Can Dungeons & Dragons Make You A Confident & Successful Person? [via Boing Boing] HTG Explains: What is the Windows Page File and Should You Disable It? How To Get a Better Wireless Signal and Reduce Wireless Network Interference How To Troubleshoot Internet Connection Problems

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• Jumpshare Makes It Dead Simple To Drag, Drop, and Share 150+ File Formats

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  If you’re looking for a super simple way to share files with friends and coworkers Jumpshare offers drag and drop file transfer with a powerful built in file viewer. You don’t need to register, install any software, or do anything but drag the file, drop it onto the Jumpshare interface, and share the link with your friend. Share the link and your friend can watch the real-time progress of the file upload as well as download or view the completed files within the Jumpshare file viewer. Files are hosted for two weeks before deletion. Hit up the link below to take it for a test drive. Jumpshare HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using? HTG Explains: What The Windows Event Viewer Is and How You Can Use It HTG Explains: How Windows Uses The Task Scheduler for System Tasks

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• Dropbox Doubles Referral Credit; Score 500MB for Each Friend You Refer

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Dropbox is doubling the amount of free storage you get per-referral to 500MB, doubling the previous 250MB credit–better yet, the bonus is retroactive and applies to referrals you’ve already made. From the DropBox blog: How much space is that, exactly? For every friend you invite that installs Dropbox, you’ll both get 500 MB of free space. If you’ve got a free account, you can invite up to 32 people for a whopping total of 16 GB of extra space. Pro accounts now earn 1 GB per referral, for a total of 32 GB of extra space. Have you already invited a bunch of people? Don’t worry. Within a few days, you’ll get full credit for every referral that’s already been completed. Boom! Hit up the link below for the full announcement. Dropbox Referrals Now Twice As Nice [Dropbox] How to Sync Your Media Across Your Entire House with XBMC How to Own Your Own Website (Even If You Can’t Build One) Pt 2 How to Own Your Own Website (Even If You Can’t Build One) Pt 1

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• LEGO Ornaments Bring Geeky DIY Charm to Your Holiday Decorating

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Why settle for just a Death Star ornament when you can have a Death Star ornament you built yourself from LEGO? These DIY ornaments are a perfect geeky touch for your tree or gift for a LEGO loving friend. Courtesy of Chris McVeigh, we find nine DIY ornament guides that range from traditional (like teardrop ornaments and bulbs) to geeky (like Death Stars and Millennium Falcons). Hit up the link below to check out all the files and order the brick collections right through LEGO’s Pick a Brick service. LEGO Ornaments [via Geeks Are Sexy] HTG Explains: Why Screen Savers Are No Longer Necessary 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full

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• What You Said: How You Organize a Messy Music Collection

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Earlier this week we asked you to share your tips, tricks, and tools, for managing a messy music collection. Now we’re back to share so great reader tips; read on to find ways to tame your mountain of music. Several readers were, despite having tried various techniques over the years, fans of doing things largely the manual way. Aurora900 explains: I spent a weekend sorting everything myself once. Took a while, but now I have folders sorted by artist, and within the artist folders are folders for their albums. With my collection at about 260gb, it can be a daunting task, but it’s well worth it in the end. I don’t have the tagging issue as I make sure anything I have is properly tagged to begin with… If I’m ripping a CD I use Easy CD-DA Extractor, which automatically searches a database on the internet for the tags. If I’m downloading something, if its from a reputable source its going to be properly tagged already. Bilbo Baggins would love to automate, but eclectic music tastes make it hard: How to Own Your Own Website (Even If You Can’t Build One) Pt 3 How to Sync Your Media Across Your Entire House with XBMC How to Own Your Own Website (Even If You Can’t Build One) Pt 2

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• Ask the Readers: How Do You Get Stuff Done Outdoors?

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Temperatures are rising, there’s more sunshine to be had, and many office workers are getting the itch to work outside. This week we’re interested in hearing your tips and tricks for working productively and comfortably outside. As fun as it is to work outside and enjoy some sunshine, fresh air, and a change of scenery, transplanting yourself outside your office comes with it’s own set of challenges. This week we want to hear all about your tips and tricks for working outside. How do you keep your screen visible and crisp? Work away from outlets? Minimize the amount of gear you have to haul around? Sound off in the comments with your work-outdoors-advice and then check back in on Friday for the What You Said roundup. HTG Explains: What Is RSS and How Can I Benefit From Using It? HTG Explains: Why You Only Have to Wipe a Disk Once to Erase It HTG Explains: Learn How Websites Are Tracking You Online

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• Add Custom Color Changing RGB LED Lighting to Your Next Project

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  While this specific project is a really neat back-lit bookcase with customizable LED lights galore, you could easily add the exact same setup to just about anything you wanted to give some LED love. The core of the project is a set of addressable LED modules, an Arduino board, and a simple bit of code. You could use it to make a 70s style mood lighting box, add color changing accents to your media room, or any other number of fun projects just by cloning this project and extending/shortening the wires where appropriate. The control module allows for solid colors, multi-colors, and animations. Hit up the link below for more information including the source code. ExpeditInvaders [via IKEAHacker] HTG Explains: What The Windows Event Viewer Is and How You Can Use It HTG Explains: How Windows Uses The Task Scheduler for System Tasks HTG Explains: Why Do Hard Drives Show the Wrong Capacity in Windows?

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• HTG Explains: What Is RSS and How Can I Benefit From Using It?

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  If you’re trying to keep up with news and content on multiple web sites, you’re faced with the never ending task of visiting those sites to check for new content. Read on to learn about RSS and how it can deliver the content right to your digital doorstep. In many ways, content on the internet is beautifully linked together and accessible, but despite the interconnectivity of it all we still frequently find ourselves visiting this site, then that site, then another site, all in an effort to check for updates and get the content we want. That’s not particular efficient and there’s a much better way to go about it. Imagine if you will a simple hypothetical situation. You’re a fan of a web comic, a few tech sites, an infrequently updated but excellent blog about an obscure music genre you’re a fan of, and you like to keep an eye on announcements from your favorite video game vendor. If you rely on manually visiting all those sites—and, let’s be honest, our hypothetical example has a scant half-dozen sites while the average person would have many, many, more—then you’re either going to be wasting a lot of time checking the sites every day for new content or you’re going to be missing out on content as you either forget to visit the sites or find the content after it’s not as useful or relevant to you. RSS can break you free from that cycle of either over-checking or under-finding content by delivering the content to you as it is published. Let’s take a look at what RSS is how it can help. HTG Explains: What Is RSS and How Can I Benefit From Using It? HTG Explains: Why You Only Have to Wipe a Disk Once to Erase It HTG Explains: Learn How Websites Are Tracking You Online

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• Ask the Readers: How Do You Set Up a Novice-Proof Computer?

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  You’re into technology, you like tweaking and tinkering with computers, and, most importantly, you know how to keep your computer from turning into a virus-laden and fiery wreck. What about the rest of your family and friends? How do you set up a novice-proof computer to keep them secure, updated, and happy? It’s no small task protecting a computer from an inexperienced user, but for the benefit of both the novice and the innocent computer it’s an important undertaking. This week we want to hear all about your tips, tricks, and techniques for configuring the computers of your friends and relatives to save them from themselves (and keep their computer running smoothly in the process). Sound off in the comments with your tricks and check back in on Friday for the What You Said roundup to add see how your fellow readers get the job done. How Hackers Can Disguise Malicious Programs With Fake File Extensions Can Dust Actually Damage My Computer? What To Do If You Get a Virus on Your Computer

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• how to contribute the same source code to two separate open-source projects?

  - by Jason S

  Let's say there are two similar open source projects A and B, both licensed under the Apache Software License 2.0. I would like to contribute an improvement to both projects (because I don't know which one is administered better, and I would like to see my improvement show up in both). Is there a way I can contribute this improvement to both projects in a simple way? (One obvious approach is to start an open source project C licensed under Apache 2.0, but that's a headache for various reasons; I don't want to maintain a project myself)

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• Ask the Readers: How Do You Score Free Wi-Fi While Traveling?

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  The holiday season is in full swing and that means many of us will be traveling–and searching for Wi-Fi nodes in the process. Help your fellow readers out by sharing your best Wi-Fi finding tips and tricks. Internet access is a necessity for the modern traveler but finding it is a bit more difficult than simply plugging into your home Wi-Fi. This week we want to hear all about your tips, tricks, and methods for scoring free Wi-Fi service in your interstate (and even international) travels. How do you keep the bounty of the internet flowing to your laptops, netbooks, tablets, and smart phones as you traverse the world? Sound off in the comments with your best tips and then check back on Friday for the What You Said roundup. HTG Explains: Understanding Routers, Switches, and Network Hardware How to Use Offline Files in Windows to Cache Your Networked Files Offline How to See What Web Sites Your Computer is Secretly Connecting To

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• How Can I Run Legacy Versions of Internet Explorer on Windows 8?

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  You’re sporting the newest edition of Windows but you need an older edition of Internet Explorer? Read on to see how you can wrangle a vintage browser into a modern operating system. Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-drive grouping of Q&A web sites. How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows HTG Explains: Why Screen Savers Are No Longer Necessary 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7

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• The Truth About Wi-Fi Signal Strength

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Whether it’s the structural layout of your home or just ghosts in the machine, we’re all familiar with inexplicable Wi-Fi dead spots. One extra puzzling situation, unseen in the comic here, is when the addition of another wireless node actually causes issues with your Wi-Fi connectivity. There’s nothing more frustrating than having twice the Wi-Fi node power and half the actual signal at your laptop. If you’re looking to extend your Wi-Fi network coverage headache free, check out our guides to doing so with Tomato-powered routers and DD-WRT-powered routers. Your Wireless Internet Signal Strength [via FailDesk] How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot Our Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 is Now Available Everywhere How To Boot Your Android Phone or Tablet Into Safe Mode

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• Ask the Readers: Have You Cut the Cable Cord?

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  The proliferation of streaming services and diverse media content has made cutting the cable cord an appetizing option for many people. Have you cut the cord, stuck with traditional services, or mixed the two together? It’s easier than ever to ditch the cable subscription and still keep watching your favorite TV shows and movies (but still tricky to catch live events and television without a cable subscription). This week we’re interested in hearing all about your media arrangements: Do you have a traditional cable bundle? Ditched it for a Netflix-only experience? Pay for both because you just can’t get enough of live TV and streaming content? Sounds off in the comments with the state of your media setup, the more detailed the better, and then check back in on Friday for the What You Said roundup. 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

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• Top 10 Ways to Smash a Pumpkin

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  We’re fairly certain the guys at ThrashLab just put this video together for a chance to film themselves smashing things in slow motion. We’re completely OK with that. From the pedestrian to the down right reckless, the above video catalogs ten different ways to get rid of your leftover Halloween pumpkins. (We’re dying to know how they convinced the guy to volunteer for #3.) [via Neatorama] How To Play DVDs on Windows 8 6 Start Menu Replacements for Windows 8 What Is the Purpose of the “Do Not Cover This Hole” Hole on Hard Drives?

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• Team Fortress 2 Is Now Free [Gaming]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Wildly popular computer game Team Fortress 2 is now free Previously $10, Valve dropped the price for Team Fortress 2 to $0. The new model is a “freemium” one wherein the majority of the game is free but you can purchase small upgrades in-game (like expanding your backpack from 50 slots to 300 slots to hold more gear or purchasing items instead of searching them out in the game). Check out the trailer and then hit up the link below to grab a copy. Team Fortress 2 [via Mashable] What is a Histogram, and How Can I Use it to Improve My Photos?How To Easily Access Your Home Network From Anywhere With DDNSHow To Recover After Your Email Password Is Compromised

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• From the Tips Box: Quick File Renaming in Windows 7, Fast Access to Web Sites on Android, and GPS-based Todo Lists

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Once a week we round up some reader tips and share them with the greater How-To Geek audience. This week we’re looking at speedy file renaming in Windows 7, fast access to bookmarks in Android, and a neat GPS-based todo list. How to Stress Test the Hard Drives in Your PC or Server How To Customize Your Android Lock Screen with WidgetLocker The Best Free Portable Apps for Your Flash Drive Toolkit

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• How to Turn a Match into a Miniature Rocket [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  If you’re looking for a novel little stunt to impress your friends this Fourth of July, these tiny matchstick rockets are a cheap and easy trick to pull out of your sleeve. Courtesy of Grathio Labs, all you’ll need is a book of matches, a pin, a paper clip, and some aluminum foil. Watch the video to see how it all comes together: As always, play safely with the fun-but-potentially-dangerous projects we share. [via Make] How to Use an Xbox 360 Controller On Your Windows PC Download the Official How-To Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic

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• How do you accept arguments in the main.cpp file and reference another file?

  - by Jason H.

  I have a basic understanding of programming and I currently learning C++. I'm in the beginning phases of building my own CLI program for ubuntu. However, I have hit a few snags and I was wondering if I could get some clarification. The program I am working on is called "sat" and will be available via command line only. I have the main.cpp. However, my real question is more of a "best practices" for programming/organization. When my program "sat" is invoked I want it to take additional arguments. Here is an example: > sat task subtask I'm not sure if the task should be in its own task.cpp file for better organization or if it should be a function in the main.cpp? If the task should be in its own file how do you accept arguments in the main.cpp file and reference the other file? Any thoughts on which method is preferred and reference material to backup the reasoning?

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• Bust Out these 13 Spooky Games for Halloween

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Looking for a suitably spooky board game for Halloween? This roundup includes everything from the light-hearted to the dark and challenging. Over at GeekDad they’ve rounded up 13 horror/Halloween themed board games to help you fill your holiday board gaming quota. The list includes classics like the in-depth and atmospheric Arkham Horror to more recent and kid-friendly GeistesBlitz. Although we think their list is rock solid and includes some great titles, we’re disappointed to see that Witch of Salem, a great lighter-weight alternative to Arkham Horror for those nights you want some cooperative H.P. Lovecraft inspired play without the massive setup and game length, didn’t make the list. To check out the full GeekDad list hit up the link below, for more boardgame-centric reading we highly recommend the excellent board gaming site BoardgameGeek. 13 Spooky Board Games for Your Halloween Game Night [GeekDad] What Is the Purpose of the “Do Not Cover This Hole” Hole on Hard Drives? How To Log Into The Desktop, Add a Start Menu, and Disable Hot Corners in Windows 8 HTG Explains: Why You Shouldn’t Use a Task Killer On Android

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• How can I programmatically change the keyboard layout?

  - by Jason R. Coombs

  I want to run a shell command or script that will configure each of my Ubuntu Precise boxes to use the Dvorak keyboard layout as the default (and only) layout. With earlier versions, I was able to set the XKBVARIANT in /etc/default/keyboard but when I make this change in Precise (and reboot), the keyboard layout appears to be unaffected (both in console and in gnome). I tried also setting the XKBMODEL to pc105 and XKBLAYOUT to us, but that did not seem to help. I know I can set the layout for gnome using the 'keyboard layout' tool... but I want the change to affect the console, and I want to automate the process. How can I accomplish this? Edit: To clarify, I want to know how I can cause to change (using only a script or command-line) the keyboard layout to be Dvorak as the default and only keyboard layout for both Gnome and the console. I want this change to be persistent (survive reboots), just as it is when the change is made through the Keyboard Layout tool. Edit: Let me put it another way. If I had installed the operating system myself (which I did not because the OS was installed by the virtual machine infrastructure), I could have selected the desired keyboard layout at install time, and that layout would be applied persistently, system-wide. How can I change the layout to appear as if I had set it during the install process?

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• Scrollbars: A Retrospective

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  It’s easy to overlook the humble scrollbar, a much used but hardly thought about user interface element. This graphic compares scrollbars over the last thirty years. Some of the more modern Windows incarnations are missing but, on account of the Vista/Windows 7 scrollbar looking pretty much like a gray version of the XP one, we’ll forgive them. A full resolution version of the image is available at the link below. Scollbars Through History [via Geeks Are Sexy] How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows HTG Explains: Why Screen Savers Are No Longer Necessary 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7

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• Portal 2 in LEGO Stop Motion [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  If you’re a fan of the Portal video game series, this well-executed LEGO stop-motion film combines Portal characters, clever animation, jokes, and even a Black Mesa reference or two. LEGO Portal 2 [via Wired] How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot Our Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 is Now Available Everywhere How To Boot Your Android Phone or Tablet Into Safe Mode

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• How to keep background requests in sequence

  - by Jason Lewis

  I'm faced with implementing interfaces for some rather archaic systems, for handling online deposits to stored value accounts (think campus card accounts for students). Here's my dilemma: stage 1 of the process involves passing the user off to a thrid-party site for the credit card transaction, like old-school PayPal. Step two involves using a proprietary protocol for communicating with a legacy system for conducting the actual deposit. Step two requires that each transaction have a unique sequence number, and that the requests' seqnums are in order. Since we're logging each transaction in Postgres, my first thought was to take a number from a sequence in the DB, guaranteeing uniqueness. But since we're dealing with web requests that might come in near-simultaneously, and since latency with the return from the off-ste payment processor is beyond our control, there's always the chance for a race condition in the order of requests passed back to the proprietary system, and if the seqnums are out of order, the request fails silently (brilliant, right?). I thought about enqueuing the requests in Redis and using Resque workers to process them (single worker, single process, so they are processed in order), but we need to be able to give the user feedback as to whether the transaction was processed successfully, so this seems less feasible to me. I've tried to make this application handle concurrency well (as much as possible for a Ruby on Rails app), but now we're in a situation where we have to interact with a system that is designed to be single process, single threaded, and sequential. If it at least gave an "out of order" error, I could just increment (or take the next value off the sequence), but it's designed to fail silently in the event of ANY error. We are handling timeouts in a way that blocks on I/O, but since the application uses multiple workers (Unicorn), that's no guarantee. Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.

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• Moviebarcodes Showcases Entire Movies as Frame-based Barcodes

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  If you’ve ever wanted a chance to look at at an entire movie in a single glance, here’s your chance. Moviebarcodes shares mock-barcodes generated by turning each frame of a movie into a thin stripe, offering a glimpse into the color choices and shot lengths in popular movies. The barcode seen above was generated from The Matrix; you can see where the green indicates scenes that were shot inside the matrix and thus given a subtle green tint. In the barcode below, generated from the movie Pleasantville you can see the transition in the movie between the color and black and white scenes. In the case of Pleasantville, elements of the black and white world turning to color represent pivotal moments in the plot development which are now neatly mapped out below: Check out the hundreds of barcodes at the link below; you can even order prints of your favorite movies. Find a great rendering in the mix? Share a link in the comments below. Moviebarcodes [via Cool Inforgraphics] How to Create an Easy Pixel Art Avatar in Photoshop or GIMPInternet Explorer 9 Released: Here’s What You Need To KnowHTG Explains: How Does Email Work?

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