Instead of cluttering the front page with fake product announcements, let's just post them in here instead. One thread where each top-level comment is just a title and a link.
Wow, the app is really well done. SPOILERS: Can cd into a programs folder, and launch programs like sms.exe, where I get a blue DOS-style window asking for input. Can use "phone <nr>" to call someone, send e-mails. If i launch "internet" it plays an old modem sound before launching the stock OS browser.
CDing into C:\GAMES\RPS and launching RPS.exe first gives you a question about using "PC Speaker" or "Sound Blaster", and then how many colors you would like. Then the game crashes with "Error! Not enough memory, RPS needs 641KB conventional memory (...)" and then a quote "---Cortana: That's odd, 640 K ought to be enough for anyone", haha. After that, it guides you through using mem and loadhigh to get the game to run. And of course, RPS is Rock-Paper-Scissors in 8-bit glory.
The camera is an ASCII-camera, using letters with only a few colors, or CGA mode. Here are two selfies I took http://imgur.com/a/deajM
The command help gives all useable command: CD, CLS, COLOR, DATE, DIR, ECHO, EDIT (edit autoxec.bat for instance), EXIT, FORMAT, HELP, LOADHIGH, MEM, PATH, TIME, TYPE, VER.
Oh man, my fondest early memories with computers was modifying the autoexec.bat and config.sys files so I could play DOS games. I can only describe the feeling of finally figuring it out and getting a certain game to work as pure joy.
Conversely, the feeling when I changed something incorrectly (without backups of the original file, of course) and the system error'd out during boot - sheer panic.
did you load himem.sys? how about emm386.exe?
does your sound card have an OPL3 or the OPL4 MIDI chip?
Does your trident VESA card on the ISA slot have 1MB VRAM?
stacker, drivespace or doublespace? choices!
I just bought me a Seagate medalist 1-Gigabyte hard drive. Should I make it a master or a slave on the ATA bus?
Make sure the Turbo button is pressed, if Doom is slow to load!
Had so much with my friends while in high-school trying to figure out what kind of weird graphics mode this cool game called "Scorched Earth" used... It wasn't 320x200 :)
Mode X and related: programming VGA registers to do what int 10h mode 13h didn't offer. Bonus points for flipping video pages or cycling the palette as to not cause tearing.
Oh man, those IRQ nightmares! Please don't mention those extended memory settings or I will go into my basement to look for my MEMMAKER notes on how to (maybe) get a game going...
Just boot one in your browser! https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games Yes these are real copies of MS-DOS games running in MS-DOS in a JS emulator in your browser. Some of them have crack screens, but some of them are running from magnetic maps of the disk, with original copy protection schemes intact.
The image of the newspaper front page in this article is completely unreadable (specifically the BMW coupon): is a legible version available somewhere?
It was literally titled the April Fools Day Special and on a day where the pranks vary from annoying programs that mess with my keyboard input to annoying news articles that mess with my sanity. I wouldn't have driven down to that dealership it they were giving away junkers or Bugatti Veyrons not to mention a BMW.
"...Kenobi's seminal paper "May the Force be with EU" – a strong argument that his experiment should be built in Europe – persuaded the CERN Council to finance..."
For or against gTLDs Google should not be able to squat .dev is too generic to give to one company. Infact any one company squatting any gtld that isn't their registered trademark leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
It's just a game of "we have money therefor shut up." combined with "The world revolves around the USA"
It's not about shared hosts (at least if I'm understanding the topic correctly) but about /etc/hosts entries on your local machine for your local machine. As in:
Buying an actual registered domain for that sounds like it would be even more confusing than using an unregistered TLD because it makes it hard to tell which hostnames are expected to work across machines and which are strictly "works on my machine".
Except he's not right. ARPANET was one aspect of what would become the Internet. The public Internet as we know it is an amalgamation of technologies which were developed by the U.S., Great Britain, and France. You really can't claim that the U.S. invented the Internet.
That actually reminded me of a bug I submitted a while ago. It appears to be fixed now, but I was pretty surprised at the answer they provided at the time. When instant search first came out, anything that auto-completed to "do a barrel roll" would initiate the animation. It's such a popular term that simply typing "Do a" was enough to trigger it as it was the first result.
"At the auction for Nortel Networks' wireless patents this week, Google's bids were mystifying, such as $1,902,160,540 and $2,614,972,128.
Math whizzes might recognize these numbers as Brun's constant and Meissel-Mertens constant, but it puzzled many of the people involved in the auction, according to three people with direct knowledge of the situation on Friday.
...
'It became clear that they were bidding with the distance between the earth and the sun. One was the sum of a famous mathematical constant, and then when it got to $3 billion, they bid pi,' the source said, adding the bid was $3.14159 billion.
'Either they were supremely confident or they were bored.'"
You wouldn't take Google seriously? I'm sure they didn't fork out just for today, they will be using it for their products at some point.
In a few years, it will probably the standard domain for big corps. iphone.apple, macbook.apple, etc. It looks weird now (or an intranet address at best), but once people get used to it, it will be recognisable as a domain just as any.com is now.
Not to mention, an explosion of TLDs for reselling (.futbol .enterprise etc) means people will just equate . on billboards etc with a domain.
The fact that a company needs their own gTLD is silly. Sites like google have a perfectly good domain. Why use iphone.apple if apple can already do iphone.apple.com or apple.com/iphone? At the end of the day the consumer will not start guessing what domain he/she has to use to get what they want. The average consumer uses a search engine and types in "apple iphone". They don't care about iphone.apple they just want to go to the product page.
Well, it's not about need. It's about a story that goes like this:
ICANN: Hey, has anyone noticed that our wallets aren't
very heavy?
Google: We have a bucketload of money just laying around
that will fill your wallets, and wouldn't mind
our own gTLD. It'd be cute.
ICANN: You had us at 'bucketload of money'
We needed more gTLDs anyway. So what if a few mega-companies get their own versions?
> Google isn't going to abandon their perfectly good domains.
Good thing icann just increased the available domain-space from "limited" to "unlimited" then. That sounds good for almost everyone, or at least icann.
The TLD system is arguably broken, because it never turned out as hierarchical as it was supposed to. All the new TLDs do is force people to shell out more money to squat on pointless domains to avoid them being used for fraud (or, worse, by the competition).
Not happening in my experience. As long as everyone in the industry is earning their share from this madness they'll happily "suggest optimizations to the domain portfolio" of their vict^Wcustomers.
This battle was lost the second people started using .net and .org for things that wheren't related network technologies and non-profit orgranizations respectively. The nail was driven into the coffin when people started using country tld's for sites that had nothing to do with that country.
If anything this might be step back in the right direction. Whereas I cannot tell anything about the nature or origin of a site based on the fact that it has a .net or .ly tld, I will be able to tell something about nature and origin of a site if it has a .google or .apple tld.
More generally, as part of ICANN's gTLD approval process, if the gTLD being applied for is a trademark, then it can't go to anyone else besides the trademark holder. So there's actually a lot more assurances that you are dealing with who you expect to be dealing with with gTLDs versus random domain names on .com.
Honest question, trademarked according to who? The Internet is a global thing now, so who wins if there's two entities that happen to both have valid claims to a trademark?
> NSA announcing they were dropping all illegal activities
I was thinking of something more along the lines of "NSA brings suit against NSA after it learns that tailored operations group was secretly spying on other divisions of the NSA".
Water isn't allowed on board planes? I usually bring an empty nalgene through security and then fill it in one of the many water fountains in the terminals. Works well!
Water is allowed on planes. Obviously, since water (and many other refreshments) are served on planes. Liquids are not allowed going through security, but as you say, it's easy to refill your water bottle once you get through security.
:) You have to be alert with the my butt extension installed though. Only a few days ago I answered a stack overflow question where I added a link with the word cloud in it. Unfortunately the extension changed the URL when I edited the raw text. Luckily I realised quickly when I double checked if the link worked and it 404ed...
I answered a question with the word cloud in it, and when I posted I saw 'butt' and thought I had accidentally copy/pasted wrong, so I Went back to edit, BUT THEN I SAW IT AGAIN and edited 3 more times before realizing that it just 'wasnt saving' because it was saving, I just had the extension on.
And the gopher mirror, too! I don't have a good reason, but I really like the gopher protocol. Cool to see someone go to the (minimal) effort it takes to make a gopher mirror.
I am just now writing a static site generator that generates a directory based website from a folder hierarchy. It is heavily inspired by gopher. No bling, no js (well, unintrusive js to make the directory listing sortable) and a focus on getting shit online. The pages are either plain text or generated through some templates using markdown.
I am in dire need to clean the code up, but I will put it on github sooner or later. It grew top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top without meeting in the middle :(
"The second phase of the project to get Gentoo Linux to a wider user base will involve the creation of floppy disk sets containing a compact version of the operating system and a selection of software essentials. It is estimated that sets could be created using less than 700 disks each and sponsorship is currently being sought."
Having very recently had the, uhm, pleasure of installing MS DOS 6.22 on an old PC using floppy disks (3.5" disks, actually, which aren't all that floppy), and thus having a clear memory of how hard it was to find just three freaking disks at our company, I recoil in horror at the thought of having to juggle hundreds of disks. Or finding a recent computer with a floppy drive.
<!--
Thanks for being one of the people that read the source.
This is a very basic stunt, I thought of it on a train back
from an event last week.
I saved my GitHub page using a browser and then made a few
modifications to make it look more realistic as a Microsoft
project. I then hijacked the A href clicks and used them
to show the wonderfully awesome clippyjs by smore.
https://www.smore.com/clippy-js
I then uploaded the result to the gh-pages branch of a Git Repo
as I felt this would trick the average user into thinking that
the code was a genuine GitHub Project.
Happy April the 1st :)
-->
The "Clone in desktop" button gave it away as fake - I'm assuming it's a windows plugin for browsers or something, but I'd never seen that on github before.
More than 1.5 million Britons signed an online petition calling for Clarkson to be reinstated and for a relaxation of the laws against assault in cases that could be demonstrated to involve banter.
The article is a fairly amusing April Fool's joke. Real quote from LP (on his blog from months ago) mixed in with quotes from a fictional developer. Googling the fictional developer's family name comes up with mysteriously few results...
The german newspaper FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) claims that there is an inititiative to block cat images from the web due to excessive bandwidth consumption (article in german):
"We’ve thought long and hard about this, but we finally feel happy to announce that we are now changing the general direction of the game Minecraft. Starting from the next update we will be focusing on the things that make life worth living, promoting healthy relationships with the environment and its inhabitants."
Today eeryone's comments are being auto-edited to include conspiracy theory claptrap (added to end of whatever they wrote), and they've got an illuminati theme
The CSS working group has published a draft of proposed extensions to the CSS specification, which include dedicated units for denoting lengths on astronomical scales (lightseconds, attoparsecs, etc.) as well as extending the CSS gradient syntax to grant first-class support to the generation of double rainbows.
This is embarrassing: if they are too afraid to actually re-style it for a day (with all potential losses), then they shouldn't bother with a static image. Sometimes you get too big to be cool.
I completely disagree. They run a system that is arguably very complex. I would not want to restyle my entire app (for a day) (so people like you would approve of it). They took something that was low risk, made it happen across the board, reliably. Site still works. It drums up chatter around offices. Makes people visit. Enjoy your misery.
"Russian-speaking users can choose between the standard Russian version and two extras: a Soviet version and a Pre-Revolutionary version. Other than language tweaks (e.g. telegrams for messages and comrades for friends) these versions contain other easter eggs. For example, all private messages in the Soviet version have a stamp saying 'passed server censorship'. The pre-revolutionary version uses old-style Russian orthography. Both extra versions are also ad-free."
Amazon is naturally much bigger, but VK is not a small fry either.
Hey, I actually thought it was an April Fools joke as well, but then realized that we've gotten to the point where it is crucial to have 1 day delivery for toilet paper...Honestly, it's cool, but from a sense of self-pride...no. This is how civilizations collapse...let's be honest.
> This is how civilizations collapse...let's be honest.
You're right, it's a little known fact that the cause for downfall of the Roman empire was the ability to order personal hygiene products using a button placed in people's home!
> Note: You may need to increase your iPhone volume, since Dash Button uses ultrasonic tones to sync with your iPhone during setup. If prompted, drag the volume slider to the recommended level, at or above where it says Best.
I actually wrote a library that does this, FSK to WAV and back is just a few lines of code, and fairly reliable. There are even Javascript libraries that can do it.
I think it probably is real, it just shouldn't be. :-/
No reason it shouldn't be. Brilliant idea: put a "reorder consumable product" right where you will be the moment you realize you need to reorder a particular consumable product. Running low on laundry detergent? TP? fabric softener? trash bags? push button. You walk away from that location, you'll immediately forget you needed to order (which means drive to store or fiddle with browser). Devices can be built dirt cheap now: button, minimal wifi, ease setup via (yes) nigh-unto-free microphone. App gathers requests, confirms them (my first thought was "great, kids sit there pushing button and order 137 bottles of Tide"), done, product arrives in 24/48 hours.
The be vendors that offer the buttons for their products are probably financing the whole thing. They'll also be the ones paying for the buttons, as opposed to customers. Imagine how great it would be for a paper towel company to make buying its towels a single button press (with high coolness factor) whereas any other brand would require a trip to the store, or at least 2 minutes to order on amazon.
They could just automatically include the device in some shipments.
Possibly overrating the green field Amazon has left. I can't imagine any less than a savage disregard for Amazon's half-assed retro April fool's joke around my office. YMMV.
> If the above command fails with an ImportError, you're probably using a Mac. That's an unfortunate choice as you can't really expect a toy machine like that to be used for serious tasks.
Amazon announces the Fire HD Seven, Fire HD-7, Fire HD Sven, Fire HD VII and Fire HD 7' as successors to the Fire HD 7 and Fire HD 7". Each launches with it's own range of mutualy incompatible accessories.
Some time ago, in the ReactOS Foundation, it was decided to exercise their right to protect their means of individualization, namely the registered trademark, trademark and logo (the wording depends on the jurisdiction of law enforcement). We were inspired by the successful experience of the project Gnome, which is to protect their brand from the encroachments of Groupon.
Recently, the lawyers hired by the Fund, sent to Facebook Ireland Limited warning about trademark infringement ReactOS. The fact that Facebook is developing a project ReactJS, whose logo resembles the logo ReactOS confusingly. Since over the long term has not followed any response letter, nor any appropriate action on the part of Facebook, lawyers fund full steam preparing a lawsuit against the social network. Suddenly came very late response to the complaint letter ... and what!
Facebook ReactOS Foundation offered to give up claims to ReactJS out of court in exchange for investments in the project of our operating system.
The volume and the specific conditions of the investment currently being discussed in the negotiations, but it is already clear that it is a sum equivalent to several million euros. For their part, representatives of Facebook made demands on what exactly should go money.
Is expected to develop client and server distributions based on ReactOS, a graphical shell which will be based on React.JS, then while all calculations and data processing will be carried out thanks to Node.js. It is obvious that Facebook is preparing to attack Google and Microsoft in the operating system market for tablets and handheld gadgets. It is worth noting that the social giant has long been known for its contribution to the opensource-motion: Apache Cassandra, Apache Hive, Apache Thrift, FQL, Hack, HipHop for PHP, Scribe, Open Compute Project.
Stay tuned for details of this epochal event will follow soon!
I liked that in their graph on the 3rd from last page their drone had the tallest bar which at first sight looks like it would indicate it is the best, when actually it just has the highest portability, with terrible agility and control.
Gee, thanks for that. Next time I'm scooping cooked rice out for dinner I would hope that the other occupants of the house have not used it as a spank paddle.
Sacha Greif's "Discover Meteor" announces a print edition with "Component-Oriented Architecture", "three-way binding" and integrated package management system to "remove" and "add" new pages: https://www.discovermeteor.com/blog/discover-meteor-print-ed...
Youtube has a new 'Add Music' button to the player (left to the 'Watch Later' button) which spices the experience I suppose! :) Oh and it's action based of course, some kind of a storm inducing experience.
Slashdot has a few stories that will blow your mind, like the tatooine youth suspected in a terrorist attack, or the discovery of alien life by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. http://slashdot.org/
Unfortunately, the comments section is still not an April Fools joke.
Container Solutions is proud to release today its own container technology, Rocker. Rocker is an amalgamation of ideas and sources from both the Docker and Rocket projects.
We’re looking for a Senior Developer to bring their talents to our brand new team. This opportunity is simply unmissable! Join the innovators in app conversion, and take your career to new heights.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior Developer to join our expanding team.
MyAppConverter is seeking a talented Senior Developer to sit back, relax and have all of their work done for them. A lazy mindset is essential, and someone with a passion for the latest revolution in app conversion is a must.
Developer skill / responsibilities:
- No previous experience necessary.
- Excellent Java skills (drinking coffee from a mug/cup/thermos).
- Thumb twiddling expertise.
- A passion for the latest revolution in app conversion.
Not sure if UberLIONS is an April's fools joke or not, but it probably belongs here. Use promo code LIONCUBS and lion cubs (and a trainer) will come right to you ready to play. They'll also donate $1 toward the Big Cats Initiative.
Popular DIY blog "The Crafted Life" is acquired by Kraft Cheese, rebrands to The Krafted Life, focuses solely on DIY tutorials that utilize Kraft cheese products: http://thecraftedlife.com
This is awesome. I've been thinking about a meta-youtube-channel, where you can watch people watch youtube (if anyone has the time, please pull it off!).
After a minute or two (after tapping Start), it will jump-scare you with your friend's photo. You can then jump-scare your friends with your own photo.
It uses Facebook, but doesn't post anything (other than Game Request, which is user-initiated).
The game itself is still largely unfinished, but playable. Feedbacks welcome!
Checkout our newest product - an online medical reference. The main feature would be our new creative UI that would let users navigate the site easily and comfortably with a nostalgic feeling. http://www.explainmedicine.com/
Austrian paragliding manufacturers NOVA plan to convert a reservoir into an indoor paragliding centre
During a press conference in Terfens, Tyrol, local paragliding manufacturer NOVA has announced their intention to open an indoor flying centre. They plan to convert a reservoir into a so-called Para-Hall, in order to offer pilots from all over the world the opportunity to fly regardless of the weather conditions. At present they are in intense negotiations with hydroelectric companies and the state governments of the Tyrol and Salzburg. The project focuses on sustainability and will contribute to the long-term future of the Austrian tourism industry.
“Climate change cannot be ignored” says NOVA CEO Wolfgang Lechner, “glaciers in the Alps will melt sooner or later. Therefore, it is inevitable that some reservoirs and their hydroelectric plants will no longer be profitable. Our Para-Hall is a ground-breaking alternative.“
NOVA intends to empty, dredge, clean and cover a reservoir. Lechner explains that from a technical point of view, a reservoir with a hydroelectric plant is ideal for converting into a flying centre: “the turbines can be reversed and used to blow air into the Para-Hall. Add a few filaments and indoor thermals are possible. Our test pilots have already tried this in the indoor ski centre in Dubai. It worked fine!”
A highlight of the NOVA Para-Hall will be the Open Air Access, which is a huge retractable roof. With strong indoor thermals, it will be possible to take off inside and go through the roof. Alternatively, it can launch outside, for example in the Outdoor Hike & Fly Area in the mountains above the centre, and then land inside.
The Spectator Area will be situated at the front of the Para-Hall – with glazed viewing areas facing into the centre and down to the valley. Several levels will offer visitors the chance to have a variety of gastro-experiences: Tyrolean Stubn (inns) will offer locally produced local organic produce, an Ayurveda restaurant staffed by genuine Indian chefs, Schnitzel-World (a self-service restaurant with good cost-benefit ratio), on level three it is possible to fast, while next to the landing zone, pilots can avail themselves of the obligatory landing field beer. “The absolute highlight", according to Wolfi Lechner, "is the Silent Zone. This is situated in the Fresh Air Zone and offers complete relaxation. Here everyone can discover their inner apricot.”
NOVA plans to convert the current engine room into an Outdoor Experience Centre. Lechner explains: “We hope to install eco hotels with straw beds and Tyrolean pinewood interiors, a climbing wall, wellness centre, a spacious spa area with attached salt cave, an ice climbing wall, yoga retreat and a children's crèche with a mountain pasture experience - featuring real cows. Part of the drainage channel will be converted to a night club. Finally, there will be conferencing facilities. We’re thinking big and are focussing on the family - and all very sustainable!“
In co-operation with the ZAMG (Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Innsbruck)
NOVA has commissioned research, which will pinpoint the optimal moment to start the building work. The project should commence no later than the 1st April 2020, probably earlier.
“At first glance, the concept may sound a bit crazy”, explains Lechner, “but the planning is in the advanced stages.” Currently the reservoir at the Moserboden in the Tauern area is favourite. The site offers the advantage of two dams. On one side the topography will enable soaring flights, the other will be developed as a thermalling paradise.
Lechner is convinced that the power generation companies will be enthusiastic about the concept and he is anticipating investment from ski resort operators. “Sooner or later they will no longer have a viable business. With our long-term sustainable concept we will be able to save the day. The Para-Hall we will mean we are all ready for the future. It will allow tourists to experience all facets of nature – without having to step outside!”
Announcement: http://lumiaconversations.microsoft.com/2015/04/01/microsoft...
Product page: http://www.microsoft.com/en/mobile/ms-dos/
Edit: Even an app http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/ms-dos-mobile/85...
Wow, the app is really well done. SPOILERS: Can cd into a programs folder, and launch programs like sms.exe, where I get a blue DOS-style window asking for input. Can use "phone <nr>" to call someone, send e-mails. If i launch "internet" it plays an old modem sound before launching the stock OS browser.
CDing into C:\GAMES\RPS and launching RPS.exe first gives you a question about using "PC Speaker" or "Sound Blaster", and then how many colors you would like. Then the game crashes with "Error! Not enough memory, RPS needs 641KB conventional memory (...)" and then a quote "---Cortana: That's odd, 640 K ought to be enough for anyone", haha. After that, it guides you through using mem and loadhigh to get the game to run. And of course, RPS is Rock-Paper-Scissors in 8-bit glory.
The camera is an ASCII-camera, using letters with only a few colors, or CGA mode. Here are two selfies I took http://imgur.com/a/deajM
The command help gives all useable command: CD, CLS, COLOR, DATE, DIR, ECHO, EDIT (edit autoxec.bat for instance), EXIT, FORMAT, HELP, LOADHIGH, MEM, PATH, TIME, TYPE, VER.