Our local librarians are amazing. They help manage/operate the 3D printers including helping you fix/convert your files. They trouble shoot the PCs themselves, help connect people's random devices to the WiFi and manage the network. They know more about the books than I can ever comprehend (oh you're after a book on Japanese wood joinery? Sure 3 aisles down, about halfway down the aisle on the left, 2nd shelf from the bottom!). They're experts on information storage and searching, crafting complex queries in seconds for the various digital databases the terminals offer there. They do kids story times, and manage out of control families and troublesome patrons. All while being the friendliest staff of any Government amenity I've been to.
My kids iPad has been doing the same. It keeps saying we're locked out, and not accepting the (correct) password, and we have to reset the password constantly. No idea why it's happening. I've tried setting simpler passwords (I use KeePass and generate 32char complex passwords by default), but it doesn't help. I never thought of the fact that it could be someone brute forcing it and locking us out, I just shrugged it off as being "typical new-Apple". We're almost completely off Apple devices now because we have so so many problems with them in the last couple years, after being a happy Apple family since the Macintosh SE.
Yeah I installed it, saw you need an account, and uninstalled it.
I quite like desktop programs still, but I expect everything to be stored locally and not to need an account. I had hoped for a KeePass style db file that I could sync on Dropbox or something, but the last thing I need is more accounts and my data on some randoms server that could be taken down when they get bored, or run out of money/motivation.
Does anyone know one for hacking on cars? Everything from stereos to Rpi touschscreens to Speeduinos etc? Just after a place for all sorts of modding car electronics. I've been going it alone for a while now but would be keen to bounce things off like-minded people. I'm on a few big car forums but they're generally based around performance and mechanical modding, with electronics being a tiny subforum or afterthought.
My first-release Subaru XV wouldn't re-start lots during the stop-start feature... in traffic. You'd have to put it in park, completely turn the car off, take key out, put key back in, and restart the car. Turning off the stop-start was the "solution" offered online, which reset every time you got back in the car (so it was easy to forget).
Also the entire entertainment unit would "crash" every couple days, and not work until another full "reboot" of the car like above. The screen would just lock up, music would stop, nothing at all on the centre screen would respond.
I also had a VW Passat TSI that went back to the dealership 6 times in the first year for electrical issues. Everything from the gearbox sensors failing causing the car to go into limp mode, to the centre screen locking up like the XV (in this case it would just fail to boot when you turned the car on), to the electric seats moving themselves (bad ground). They ended up buying back that car after the entire motor AND gearbox needed replacing at 11mths in.
I've owned a fair few new cars, and very few haven't had issues. Most were so insignificant I just waited until next service schedule, but many needed to go back under warranty.
VW and Subaru don't rank near the top of anyone's reliability rankings. You don't seem bothered by the problems, but if you were you could always buy something like a Toyota/Lexus.
and yeah, Subaru doesn't rank too badly (sixth) on that list. I always thought of Subarus as being good, long-term powertrain reliability notwithstanding. The gas mileage they're getting while running normally-aspirated, full-time AWD powertrains is pretty impressive. I can't imagine why the parent's car was so utterly screwed up, but I wouldn't be happy about a problem that required me to turn the car off and take the key out.
I think the advice on getting a Toyota or a Lexus if you want to maximize your odds of not having problems like the parent described still stands. The conventional wisdom is that their reliability comes from making continuous small changes to their models instead of waiting to make major changes, although next year's Corolla hatchback looks like a pretty major one. It will be interesting to see what the first-year reliability of that model is.
You can't set classic themes on Win 10 with latest updates. So annoying. The few attempts out there for themes that used a cracked themer just aren't the same and are standard Win 10 with colours/menu colours changed.
I'd love a FULL faithful Win 98 theme for current Win 10. I'm 100% aware it's mostly my own personal nostalgia rather than it being "better", but it's absolutely ridiculous that you can no longer fully theme Windows and they actively block themeing from working properly now.
I'm pretty close to leaving Windows for good (having used it since the start, faithfully through thick and thin) and switching to Mint or some such, just so I can set stuff up how I want to. Windows 10 is the most dumbed down, ugly, and confusing OS Microsoft has ever put out (recently overtaking Vista for me for annoyances).
> it's mostly my own personal nostalgia rather than it being "better"
I believe from a UX standpoint the win95 UI was better. Microsoft did a lot of actual usability research in evolving the UI of Windows 3.1 into that of 95. Moving forward I believe they compromised on usability in favour of a more "sexy" minimalist aesthetic.
A particularly good example is the 3D of the old UI contrasted to modern flat UIs provides far more obvious hierarchy and hinting of what can be interacted with and in what way.
Yeah, it gets weird. First thing I do on every new Mac is disable Spotlight for everything except applications and system preferences, though, and that helps a lot.
Regarding the second point: I really don't get what's up with the start menu search. I don't use Win 10 all that often (secondary OS) and always assumed it's somehow broken for me. I almost never find anything I'm looking for and it feels absolutely ridiculous.
I don't think it's just nostalgia. I personally prefer for an interface to be as invisible as possible, which to me means flat gray or dark gray.
Anything else like color, reflections, transparency, animations, etc. draw my attention away from what I'm doing (contained within the window frames) out into the window frames and taskbar, which I want to look at as little as necessary.
How would this possibly increase the already-complete surveillance of everything you do? They already know who you are, where you live, every cent you spend and where, every site you visit, every email/call/sms you do, and it's all tied back to you.
I'm genuinely curious how Americans think a national ID number would practically increase any surveillance?
To me it sounds like a win for consumers. You no longer give your home address out to every single website that requires an address, or every time you buy something online. You can update your address in 1 place when you move, and don't have to fuss around with redirects and missed mail/packages.
I'm very open to being shown what I'm missing though, as it's a hot debate lately and I just don't get it.
>How would this possibly increase the already-complete surveillance of everything you do? They already know who you are, where you live, every cent you spend and where, every site you visit, every email/call/sms you do, and it's all tied back to you.
This is simply false. I choose not to carry a smartphone, I pay with cash for virtually everything, no "social media", I often use a VPN. There are many people who voluntarily give away all of their personal data to corporations - and there are many (though far fewer) of us who don't.
Surely they could do an overlay like what channels already put in with their logo, with a couple-pixel discrepancy (an 8x8 pixel shape with only 10% opacity or something) that translates to a user ID. Forums have been doing similar for close to a decade to figure out which user leaks info (we do it on some EVE Online forums).
You can generally get replacement centre console surrounds that add DIN or Double DIN holes to cars that didn't come with it. I've done it to a few cars for friends. Search eBay for your car make/model + "double din". It's not available for every car, but it's available for a lot.
You can also 3D print your own. There's free downloadable models of the DIN slots that you can add to a 3D scan of your cars centre console. Then depending on your car's interior trim, fibreglass it, or trim it in leather/whatever you want. Or you can just buy the DIN/Double DIN housing, dremel out where your stock headunit is embedded, and mould it in. Plenty of people on car forums do this and there's lots of guides online.
Considering the absolutely insane premium prices for sub-par entertainment systems in modern cars, I've personally found the above effort completely worth it.
I'm currently adding a RasPi and 7" touch screen with GPS for Google Maps, 1TB SSD of media, Spotify (via Wifi tether to my phone), USB ports in glovebox for USB sticks of media or charging phones, and more, to a 2012 car that came with an embedded CD/MP3 player with no nav, no screen, and no DIN slot.
Such an underrated role in the community.