In for Krater, hopefully it's as fun as it looked on the GiantBomb quick look...

Your school might have DreamSpark Premium, which includes Office 2007, for free. You really should look and see if your email address will let you access it. I know you're in the College of Pharmacy, but you might not have a college restriction...

A part of me would love to get her an iPad. Whenever she fiddles with mine, all the phobias and sometimes confusion she has with her PC go away. I still feel like I'd need to get her a basic PC w/ WiFi router to make that work (I think she'd blanche at 3G monthly fees). Alas, she has pretty long fingernails, and honestly, I'm not sure she'd be comfortable with touch screens because of that.

This. Just get her an iPad. Seriously, if all she is doing is emails and web browsing, there's not really a need for a full on PC.  As an added bonus, you won't have to worry about malware nearly as much.

If you really, really feel the need to get a PC of some kind, get her an older Mac. If she already feels at home (in a sense) with iOS, she'll likely feel at home with OSX.

To maximize our savings, my wife pointed out that if we were to go with the HP Envy Sleekbook from Staples with the 15.6" screen and 500GB hard drive, we'd save a great deal and still be able to apply the $150 gift card at WalMart to the new TV I also plan to pick up for my graduate housing.  The HP Folio Ultrabook would be a good price with our WalMart gift card, but we'd wind up squandering the savings we could enjoy from Staples ($699 price minus $50 mail-in rebate, $100 prepaid Visa card for students, and a $70 gift card).  And I'd still "need" a TV.  Unfortunately Staples only offers a limited selection of SSD laptops, all being outside of our price range.

Unless anyone thinks the Sleekbook is a big mistake, it looks like that's what we plan to go with and then use the $150 gift card at WalMart for a 40-ish inch TV for my grad apartment.  That way we enjoy $200+ in laptop savings (considering the prepaid Visa card in that figure) at Staples and $150 in TV savings at WalMart, getting both a decent HDTV and a quality laptop together for under $900 (around $1000 with Office software).

Bad idea or frugal shopping sense? 

Tech.Woot (a new area of Woot) has Corsair SSDs on the cheap right now. And by "on the cheap" I mean $69 for a 120gb.

http://tech.woot.com/plus/corsair

I'll second Dell Outlet.

I'll also strongly suggest that you skip the Inspiron lines and get a Latitude instead. All metal chassis and significantly higher build quality. My wife uses an E6510 with a Core i5 and I use an E6400 with a Core 2 Duo. Hers was $560 from the Dell Business Outlet. Mine was $260 from Dell Financial Services. Right now you can get several E6400s (14" screen) for about $300.

As for Office, you should be able to get a reduced price copy from your school. You should look for your schools ELMS and see if you can get Office 2007 for free via DreamSpark.

Yep, already sent. If they don't refund me I will just dispute the charge with the credit card.

Keep in mind if you do this, your Steam account will be suspended and you'll lose access to all your games. You'll have to get a CS rep from Steam to fix this and remove the disputed game. I don't know if this is worth $14 of your time, but that's your call...

Relevant link from Steam: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5406-WFZC-5519

My haul so far:

Saints Row The 3rd
Trine 2
Binding of Issac: Wrath of the Lamb
From Dust
Alan Wake's American Nightmare

It looks like $3.74 is my weakness...

[Spoiler]

HAPPY

Spoiler for Hiden:

maybe, possibly

STEAM SALE DAY!!!!

The prices are starting to adjust so it's really starting.

2. 4 streams max. Period. Can be 4 HD, 4 SD, this doesn't matter, just a max of 4 channels going at the same time. Anything recording counts toward this, watching recorded TV does not. You can pause live TV on any box. You can be limited to less if your wire distance to the VRAD is too long and you can't train at the highest profile.

I just called ATT to cancel my installation and they put the tech manager on the phone who insist its 8 stream total.
With my 5 tv streaming I can only record 3 shows while viewing TV but a max of 4 can be recorded.
This will work.
I would just hate for the tech to install then have to pull it out because its not so.

That tech manager was very mistaken.

I should clarify. The max number of unique live TV channels is 4 channels. It doesn't matter, assuming you're on the highest profile, HD vs SD. On lower profiles, you get less HD channels, but you're still limited to 4 "live TV" channels.

For example, say you want to watch/record NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX at the same time.

1. You can watch NBC on one TV, ABC on one TV, CBS on one TV and FOX on one TV. On the 5th TV, you would have to watch recorded TV or the same channel as one of the other TVs.

2. You are recording NBC and ABC on the DVR. You can watch CBS on one TV and FOX on one TV. On the other 3 TVs, you would have to watch recorded TV or the same channel as one of the other TVs.

3. You are recording NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX on the DVR. On all 5 TVs, you have to watch recorded TV or the same channel as is being recorded.

For all of these, if someone wanted to watch Cartoon Network, they wouldn't be able to without someone changing from NBC, ABC, CBS or FOX to Cartoon Network.

Here is AT&T's official explaination:
http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB401042&title=Understanding+U-verse+TV+streams#fbid=mdidjeQRxJX

How many TV can be viewed with U-verse at the same time. I have 5 TV 2 of which are HD. Last time I tried U-verse when the HDTV were on the standard tv could not be viewed. With in a month U-verse was gone.
So here I am faced with changing service again and me being with ATT wireless for 14 years, I want to give them a chance plus I like the every room DVR.
Can I get some user input. 
HD quality compared to DTV?
Number of simultaneous live TVs that can be viewed?
Do the channel change when I hit the button? (people with DTV know what Iam talking about)
Is the hardware reliable?
Do the channel go out when it rains? kidding.

1. HD quality is great. I don't see any macroblocking, but I have FTTP (new construction, yay 20ms pings!). I had FTTN at an apartment before this and didn't have any problems then either. Granted, I was about 1500 ft to the VRAD wire distance, so I trained at max.

2. 4 streams max. Period. Can be 4 HD, 4 SD, this doesn't matter, just a max of 4 channels going at the same time. Anything recording counts toward this, watching recorded TV does not. You can pause live TV on any box. You can be limited to less if your wire distance to the VRAD is too long and you can't train at the highest profile.

3. Yes, it's pretty much instant. No lag.

4. Yes. Never had problems with the boxes. I've had problems with the 2wire gateway (it's been replaced twice over 3 years), but they don't use the model I have anymore. (3800B)

Translation: Securities analyst gets quoted "predicting" the current company line.

I really like the third quote. It's basically "Their current strategy is to try and subsidize the box using Gold Subs to get the box price as low as possible. They also let you use the 360 as a STB on U-Verse and have partnered with Verizon and Comcast. I bet they'll subsidize the next box with a cable operator instead of their retail partners!" Can I has millions of dollars for my insight?

From what I can find on Google (I haven't had this problem before myself) you also need to run

bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

after running bootrec /fixmbr and /fixboot

Then you need to run Startup Repair or do a System Restore from a known good point.

Kronovan,

are you suggesting that the posts on the front-side get a thread created in here? EG:

Title: GT [News/Review/Screenshots/Video, etc] Title of Article

First two paragraphs of article
Link to full article
Link to FB page

It would mean that we'd have more posts in here, and that there would a lot of "system generated" ones. I don't know if it's even feasible / easily implemented.

That's what I was saying. 

I think adding those would be a good idea because it was add places for discussion of the front page.

Perhaps if you tied the main site's articles to the forums by posting a new message in an 'Articles' board with the first paragraph of the article and a link back to the article, that would help drive traffic both ways? It doesn't look like anyone is really using the built-in comments system you have now.

The Escapist works this way pretty well. The don't use a comments system on their articles, it is really just threads on their forums.  Granted, they also have Facebook threads, so there's that.

I think this might be what Isgrimnur is suggesting, as well...

Grabbed Shogun 2: Fall of the Samural and the double-fine deal as I haven't played any of the 3 in that

Fall of the Samurai is almost 22 gigs?  jeebus.

If you already have Shogun 2 installed, it's a much smaller download. I think it was a 4-5GB install with Shogun 2 installed. Steam will just download the extra files needed for the DLC. From a fresh start, though, Steam said it was 29.8GB for Shogun 2, Rise and Fall of the Samurai.

I read on another site that the date will be July 12.  not sure what that's based on, though.

There was an indie dev that posted that date on the Steam forums explaining that his game was released early to avoid being released during the sale when it started on the 12th. Can't remember the game, though...

You should be able to use MSCONFIG to prevent it from starting at boot time.

On the first tab select 'diagnostic startup' then reboot like normal (don't need to choose Safe Mode, but you should be able to run MSCONFIG in safe mode). You should be able to run the uninstaller then.

That's mirrored at the official thread on CheapAssGamer, so it's accurate. I thought the Steam sale might start today because the weekend deal ended at 10am instead of 4pm...

I think I'm in for the R* classics. Never played Vice City...

Well, on a more positive note, Amazon starts a big sale on downloadable games on July 1st....

5: Diablo 3 doesn't display framerate atm. Getting a zero. Expect it will be quite high.

Hitting Ctrl-R doesn't work? The FPS should display in the upper left.

An EA VP was caught whining about it about 3 weeks ago, so I'm guessing it's going to happen to spite them.

Funny, since he's basically Origin.

Even funnier was the 87% off sale on Origin a week later.

If you don't find anything else, Geeks.com has a Dell D630 for $235 with free shipping.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=D630-C2D200-MAR-25R&cat=NBB

Based on my experience, you lose major battery life using Windows on a MBP.  The MBP has two "video cards" in it: the high-wattage third-party card (Nvidia or ATI, depending on your model) and the low-wattage Intel built into the CPU.  OSX will intelligently use the Intel video for all your usual desktop 2D needs and only kick in the third-party card when needed for games and such, saving you a lot of battery life.  However, either through the fault of Windows itself or the Bootcamp drivers created by Apple, the Windows side only uses the third-party card and will drain your battery much faster than OSX.

Apple intentionally hides the integrated Intel card if you use Windows. The "PC" version is called Optimus and Hybrid Graphics.

You can not upgrade anything after you buy it. The RAM is soldiered in place and the SSD is proprietary. The batteries are not replaceable.

http://ifixit.org/2763/the-new-macbook-pro-unfixable-unhackable-untenable/

That said, you can just use bootcamp to install Windows 7. Then you can shrink the MacOSX partition to it's smallest size and boot into Windows 7 at all times. I'm fairly certain once you get Windows 7 installed you can actually remove OSX entirely.

There's nothing that says because you have Mac hardware you must use MacOSX...

Man Datatranfer is expensive for you guys?

I pay 21 dollars for 5 GB data a month, and 5 hours of talking , including free texting and MMS.

I've noticed this when you guys talk about regular data traffic as well, on computers - You have limits on those as well, right?

For cell phones, you don't have subsidized phones. Virgin Mobile in the US operates a lot more like a European carrier. $35/month for 5 hours talk, free text/MMS and unlimited* data. *After 2.5GB of data in a month, they throttle the connection. The difference in size of landmass coverage is the difference in price.

Data limits on a regular household line depends on your ISP. I think Comcast is really the only one that has both implemented and enforces caps. The only other nationwide ISP that announced caps was AT&T. I believe they implemented them on their DSL connections, but not on their U-Verse connections. Just changing from DSL to U-Verse, if it's available to you, eliminates the cap.

How's your coverage on Virgin? I ask because my wife is set on verizon due to (a) really good connectivity and (b) inertia.

I only even have a phone because my business needs a telephone number. I try to remember to check for messages once a week.

Virgin is Sprint's pre-paid label (along with Boost Mobile). You'll get exactly the same coverage you'd get with a Sprint phone. On a positive note, if Sprint had WiMax in the area, you can now get that WiMax on Virgin for a lot less than Sprint a month. The EVO V 4G is actually a slightly redesigned EVO 3D.

If you're looking for cheap and the Sprint network isn't your thing, T-Mobile is probably the best option. Heck, right now I've got an EVO 4G LTE and I use a pre-paid T-Mobile hotspot for the data just to get 4G ($25/month for 1GB, so... 1/2 the cost of Verizon).

Why does a smartphone cost more to connect than a regular phone?  Bandwidth is not unlimited.  Spectrum is not unlimited.  Nor is it free.

Voice calls are easy to route.  They don't take up that much space, and we're used to lossy compression.  Ever hear a phone call that was crystal clear?  Data does not suffer such things to deliver the level of service people expect. 

A voice call over VOIP is about 11 kbps.  HSPA+ speeds start at 21 Mbps.  So streaming that funny cat video?  It takes as much network footprint as 1,900 voice calls. 

Wait, no. While bandwidth and spectrum are limited, you're realistically much more limited by the number of people per cell. Shrink the size of the cell, you get more "bandwidth" per person. All the arguments over spectrum lately have been more about having desirable (and usable) frequencies as opposed to more frequencies. The lower frequencies penetrate structures better which improves network quality.

Voice is data, same as any other data going over the carrier's network. It's no easier or more difficult to route than any other data going over their network. It's been data for a very long time, even on the land line end of things.

Finally, your math is way, way off. The minimum usable 3GPP audio is 16 kb/sec, though many networks are running on the 24kb/sec standard. A 720p YouTube video is ~ 2mbit (they use very lossy compression as well), though it's more likely you're streaming it at 480p instead which is about half that. So you're looking at about 83 or 42 voice calls to a YouTube video, not 1,900. Again, this is all mitigated by building more towers, which is expensive (but subsidized).

Long story short, I got the Razr Maxx just over one month ago, and I'm ready to throw it against the wall.  I had put it up for trade here, and since took it down as I would not feel good giving this phone to anyone.  It keeps rebooting, everything on it from the keyboard to sliding to another home page is stuttering and going slowly.  For example, I type something, the phone doesn't respond, I think my typing did not register, so I type again only to have the words suddenly appear fast and now jumbled.  This happens all the time.  I'm not impatient enough that I'm typing too fast or that I'm expecting instant, light-speed responses...

So any ideas on how to tackle this situation?  Any experience dealing with Verizon in this capacity?  I will call them later, but I'd rather get informed first.  Thanks for reading this!

Your phone is overheating. It has a built in 'failsafe' that reboots the phone if it overheats. It's definitely defective and taking it back should get it resolved. I had the same problem on an Evo 4G (same hw as the Thunderbolt), ended up going through 3 over 2 years before I got one that didn't have this problem. Granted, I had a second one that lasted 2 years before the micro-usb port died (luckily one week before I got my new phone).

I'd go back to the store (a corporate store, assuming Verizon has them) and tell them that you just got this phone and it's rebooting like it is it's job. While your waiting find the most processor intensive thing you can to make sure it starts rebooting on it's own in the store. (I suggest running Navigation at the same time you run a game, that should generate enough heat to start the reboot loop). They should swap it out, even if it's for a refurb it's will be free. Repeat until you get a stable phone.

Second, don't root your phone. It won't fix the problem unless you're going to underclock the processor. Even then, it's going to make getting them to honor the warranty a pain.

I just don't understand the data usage.  What in the hell are you doing on your phones to chew up so much?  I check my email when I am not at work, and otherwise the thing sits like a brick on my desk.  250 MB has been my highest usage...I have many months with only 10-25 mb used.

My usage is high because I stream Spotify. I used ~ 512MB in one month primarily from streaming. I could set them as offline (and my starred playlist is), but I'm on Sprint so I don't really worry.

This is pretty awesome. It also hit the front page of Slashdot, so hopefully that helps out with the fundraising.

But, with this new plan, I can throw both kids a smartphone for just a little more $ then what  am paying now, and way less then if I was doing $30 data plans for each.

And Grandma is going to be getting a iphone, because I think she will "get it" and like it once she gets used to it.

So I think its going to cost me about $30 more a month, but I am gaining 3 smartphones and unlimited minutes.   But, like i said, I am going to split the 1 gig for all of us.   Maybe bump it up to 2 gig if kids use it more then I think.  (they may use more data then me, because they don't drive while they are in a car)

Unless you're teaching your kids the importance of using WiFi whenever possible, the 1 GB over 4 phones won't work. Hell, on Sprint I use 1.2 GB with 4 phones and that's with two people barely using data (we're all use Android, they use ~ 42MB each a month).

I'd argue you are watching your data usage. You're just making sure you use WiFi instead of counting megabytes. Changing to a usage based plan means more people are going to be like you and not use the mobile data. I'd bet large sums of (someone else's) money that this will drop revenues long term instead of increasing them and they'll abandon the idea.

I agree with leo8877, it might not suck now, but at some point in the future, this will cost you more. Phones are using increasing amount of data, all this will do is discourage data use on their devices. With usage based billing, people become way more conscious of their data use and use less. Granted, this is causing Sprint to pick up droves of new users... (And the Nextel network shutdown is causing the to lose customers)

While I'd like to go back to the days of Quantum Link and Prodigy, I don't think that's a good move in the scheme of things. Let's be honest, one of the things that AOL figured out in 1996 was realizing that if you offered more hours than any one person could reasonably consume, you could sell more. Way, way more. Well, that and blanketing the world with free CDs is the BEST IDEA EVER.

I'm already in. Considering bumping up if it comes down to the wire. I'm loving all the old adventure games coming out of the woodworks. Now i need Kings Quest...

Telltale has that covered for you! (Eventually).

Starting to look like it's going to make it, though...

Is there such a thing as a cable that has rca on one end and then twisted pair wires on the other?

One of my speakers is dead so I'd like to run an rca line out of my subwoofer to a pair of polk surround sound speakers. Does such a thing exist?

Yes, you could use the line out of your subwoofer, but you'd need an amplifier (just like a home theater). The power on a line out jack is WAY too low to power a speaker. Just to add, RCA cables are a single wire plus a ground shield, if it's shielded.

If you're looking for something cheap, hit up Walmart, Target or the like and pickup a cheap set of speakers. They've usually got a decent pair of Logitech ones for $20-$30.

So I decided to try out Google Chrome.  I actually kind of like it except it seems to be screwing with my Google searches.  At some unspecified point (perhaps after I've already searched for a term) it decides to no longer show the same results.  At all.  For example, if I google James Berardinelli, a favorite movie reviewer of mine the results are completely different in Chrome and Firefox.  The Firefox ones are useful and relevant (the usual google stuff).  The Chrome results are a bunch of blog entries and stupid crap.  Any ideas?

You've probably got personalized search on and it's messing with your results. In the upper right hand corner of the results, you'll see a person and a globe. Click the globe.

Cluck Y'egger -  Astro Cock imploring everyone to support the kickstarter.

Now, is it just me, or is the voice Patrick Warburton?

I think it's an impersonation based on the comments. Though, they did say that if they could get the money, which is looks like they can't, they had connections to get Patrick Warburton.

As much as I want these guys to succeed, my god do they need to cut back on the amount of updates they send out.  Three or four a day?! Consolidate these things, guys, and stop using it as a platform to advertise other kickstarters.   

This. You aren't the only person complaining about it.

That said, they're on Reddit today...

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/upxvi/iam_we_are_guys_from_andromeda_scott_murphy_and/

Has that always been the case?  I thought PCs used to be able to only output video through HDMI, like a glorified DVI cable.  And didn't ATB say in another thread that his computer is some 7 years old or something?

Pretty sure they've always been able to output the audio.

ATB, can you give us more info on what video card you're using?

HDMI should carry the sound. You just need to change the default sound device from your sound card to the HDMI output.

Assuming you're on Windows 7, you just need to right click on the volume control. Click on playback devices, then click on the icon that looks like a HDTV (should say something like NVIDIA High Definition Audio). Finally, click 'Set Default'. Ta-da, should have sound out the HDMI.

Don't have any advice about the foam thing.  I wound up getting (I think) a Serta that I like.

What I will say is that I was shocked to find out how much negotiation on price you can do with mattresses. It was basically like buying a used car with mine, right down to "Hmm...I'm gonna have to check with my manager."  It's really weird, but there it is.  I got mine down from a sticker price of $999 plus delivery to $650 delivered with a free cover.  I think there's less wiggle room for Tempurpedic just because it's the big name, but it's worth a try.

If you live in an area with an Original Matress Factory, I'd go there. The price you see is the price you pay. No negotiating, period. It's much cheaper than a Serta on sale and way higher quality too.