1992casey

The Fan Sites / Resources link near the top of most board pages lists other teams' boards. If you see that a link is defunct or if there's a board that should be added, the topic is open for posting and an adjustment to the lead can be made.

iCloud isn't designed to back up everything. It's mostly good at what it does, but you need something else for a full hard drive backup.

In locksmith's terms, "changing" a lock means to re-key the existing lock. By hiring a locksmith, you'd have paid for labor, but not paying for new hardware would have offset some or all of the labor charge. And of course, you'd have saved yourself some effort.

I'm surprised that MLB.TV would be excluding a Samsung product. thebruce44, I think the Surface is completely on topic. I haven't handled one, so all I can do is speculate based on the reviews. Not having Surfaces available to handle has been a problem until recently. The devices were initially offered only in Microsoft Stores and on Microsoft's web site. That doesn't put it into a lot of people's hands. Microsoft has recently changed that policy. There's a lot we could talk about that might better go into a Windows 8 thread. Hardware-wise, I have to wonder if this thing is a little large. I think a 10" iPad borders on being too heavy under some circumstances, and the Surface is a bit larger. I kind of like the built-in stand. However, it only locks into one position (like the majority of attachable tablet stands). One position limits its use. The optional keyboard covers are a nice touch. I doubt that they'll help one to get a lot of typing done, though. The more basic model has "keys" that don't travel, and both models are small. If one needs a keyboard, they'd probably be a good intermediate solution, though, when a standard keyboard isn't available. At this point, I'd be concerned about the ecosystem. I'd want to be sure there's an adequate supply of good apps available. That will probably happen with time. Buying into the Microsoft ecosystem will probably be a much better bet down the road. As a weird aside, Angry Birds went on sale for 99 cents per app recently on every platform except Microsoft, where it remained at $4.99 per app. I believe that the $4.99 is higher than the regular price on the other platforms; the apps are generally $2.99 in Apple's app store. Back to the less on topic stuff, I think that all iPhone 5s sold by Verizon are unlocked. Of course, you're still bound to their contract. However, being unlocked would save you from begging the provider to unlock the phone if you want to travel and use a different SIM. As far as rooting (AKA jailbreaking) goes, I don't think I'd want to risk voiding my warranty.

Thanks, obwc. Those links work well for me. I've placed them in the weather folder on my iPad. The annoyances I've encountered with some of the satellite analysis pages are twofold. One is that the color shades are too "close" together, making it hard to discern one depth range from the next. Another is that the text in a lot of the legends is too small. I found today that a simple Google search for "snow cover" or "snow depth" (without quotes) plus a location leads me to maps on weatherstreet.com. The snow depth maps on that site are similar to the ones you posted… actual numbers placed on a map. Actually, Siri showed me this. I now know that a really quick way to get a snow depth is simply to ask her. A secondary issue is that on many weather sites, there's so much information that the answer to the question you're looking for gets buried. Navigation through the sites isn't always the easiest, and searches don't always work for what you're trying to find. It appears that weather sites are among the many that could improve on "text-only" alternatives. While the maps are good for me, they're all worthless to blind internet surfers.

I believe Sammy was only busted once for the corked bat. He said a batting practice bat accidentally got into the game.

Is there a site that lets you find the snow depth by location in text vs. having to discern it from a map?

I don't think you can have too much power to lead off, provided that the power spots in the lineup are taken by good power hitters.

Form factor and battery life I guess are key as well, though I tend to be able to plug my tablet in a lot more than my phone. I had intended to include battery life, but you can't go by the company's claims. I'd look at a decent sampling of independent reviews. That said, iPads have a good reputation for battery life. Yep, there are only a few uninstallable Google things on mine… Of course, what's put there by Google isn't what's going to cause trouble. The trouble stems from the stuff that's gobbed on by the manufacturers and carriers. In the case of some devices, poor hardware design could factor in. Apple doesn't allow carriers to sully their devices. When necessary, carrier-specific settings are built into the OS by Apple. An example would be the ability to check your data usage. Otherwise, carriers need to put their apps into the App Store and build them to App Store specifications.

I don't own one, and I don't think one would appeal to me. The way I understand it, a Chomebook would require an Internet connection to work. Also, it's designed to work with Google's services. It bothers me that Google doesn't care much about privacy. I use Gmail, but I've shied away from everything else. I especially refuse to use their contacts list.

That being said, I still can't recommend anyone go outside their current ecosystem, but you get a lot more for your money with the Nexus tablets than Apple's products. I might recommend moving from Blackberry. A lot of manufacturers like to offer a checklist of items, and often, it seems like most of the items on these lists are things we don't need to care about. I don't really give a rip about RAM, for instance, as long as the thing works. As for the processor, I'd give it minor consideration when comparing two products from the same line, e.g. two 10" iPads. Comparing an iPad processor to a Nexus processor would seem to be moot, though. Hardware specs that might be worth comparing across product lines would be storage and screen resolution. I definitely think that Apple should offer more storage in the iPad, although almost all reviewers say that the vast majority gets along fine with 16MB (I have 32). Some might want an SSD option. I'd rather not fiddle with that. I also don't care about a plethora of ports. A tablet with a pile of wires protruding from it doesn't sound appealing to me.

I split this off from the iPad topic to give it more visibility. I was going to bring up Windows 8 in that thread, but I decided that it would deserve its own topic too.

We actually looked at moving from a tradition laptop to a tablet for my wife but she does enough typing that she just didnt like the small keyboard/docking station of a tablet. She liked the full keyboard. She went with Asus' new touchscreen laptop. It is still small but the extra inches on the keyboard spaces stuff out more to her liking. It was actually cheaper than tablets but is extremely light. I can't see the keyboards that attach to tablets providing a comfortable experience. As you say, they're small. Plus, there'd be ergonomic issues. Either the screen would be too low or the keyboard would be too high. These small attachable keyboards would seem to be an in-between solution that's usable some of the time, but I'd hardly want to use one for a lot of typing. My nephew puts his iPad on an eye-level stand and types on a standard keyboard. That would be the ideal setup… or as ideal as you'd get with a tablet screen and OS. My personal preference would be to do the heavy lifting on a traditional computer, then either store the document in the cloud or sideload it to the iPad. I thought they measured virtually the same, due to the mini's thinness and it's lack of bezel edge. That could easily be the case. I was making an assumption that I possibly shouldn't have made. FWIW, an iPad Mini measures out at 7.87 inches x 5.3 inches x 0.28 inches. A Nexus 7 measures 7.81 inches x 4.72 inches x 0.41 inches.

Does the funeral home have someone who can direct you to potential sources of assistance? The funeral home who handled my mom's arrangements has a full time person who deals with survivors' issues and points them in the right direction to get their questions answered.

I just scored a Nexus 7 for Chrimbus. For $199, the thing is awesome. I really like its portability compared to my wife's iPad. It's big enough to work as a tablet, and small enough to be an E-reader and fit in a coat pocket. A 7" tablet would be slightly more pocket-friendly than the iPad Mini. However, unlike a phone, it still won't fit into every pocket. I have a couple of lightweight fleece jackets whose pockets hold the Mini. They're good options as they're wearable indoors without making you look like you haven't bothered to remove your coat, and they're also wearable under a winter coat. I hear that the 7" form factor is especially popular with women, probably because they fit into a lot of purses. The Nexus 7 is super awesome. If I understand things correctly, products labeled "Nexus" offer a "pure" Android experience that should hopefully eliminate bloatware. "Pure" Android should also deliver software updates more quickly as they wouldn't be held up by manufacturers and carriers. if you already have an iPhone it probably doesn't make sense to go outside of your current ecosystem unless you are interested in a switch across the board. Yeah, once you buy an app, it's good for installation on all of your devices, provided that the device supports it. Universal apps are designed for both iPhone and iPad and give you an optimal experience on both devices. iPad-only apps are designed especially to take advantage of the iPad's screen, and won't run on iPhones. iPhone apps can run on iPads, but the experience suffers a bit. They default to the size of the phone screen but can be doubled in size to use most of the iPad's screen. I have a handful of iPhone apps on my iPad because their developers don't offer a specific iPad alternative. They're all free; I don't think I'd pay for one of these. However, if you already purchased the app for your phone, the money isn't a factor. I had an Ipad to run my smarthouse when they came out. Never really used it as a tablet except for household controls. I bet you could have spent less and purchased the cheapest available iPod Touch to do that. A lot of my friends who have 10 inch tablets use them for the exact same things I use the 7 inch tablet for. You'd have a significantly more comfortable visual experience on the larger device. The smaller device is easier to hold and carry, along with offering a cost advantage. There's no right or wrong here; it's totally individual preference. I just don't know anyone who uses a tablet as as a primary. I am sure there are a lot people who do but when I use them they seem like a very useful toy but not a primary device. I don't know anyone who's eschewed a traditional computer for a tablet, but I'm sure that there are people out there who could get away with it. There's certainly the potential to significantly reduce traditional computer usage, though. A couple might find it feasible to share one PC/Mac, for instance, rather than each person having one.

There's a fireworks display somewhere nearby.

Once you get an iPad, I think you'll find yourself "needing" it in pretty short order. It gives you a lot more screen than a phone and it's sooooo much easier to carry around than a notebook. I recently purchased an iPad Mini. The size is great, and I can have it with me pretty much whenever I want it. Now that I've had this thing for about a month, I can easily see myself supplementing it with a larger iPad, with both getting plenty of use. As far as iPad advice, the main thing to decide is which size best suits you. Because the Mini has as much screen real estate as the larger iPad, text can be small. Of course, the Mini is easier to hold and carry around than the full size iPad. If you choose a Mini and decide that text is small at times, for apps that don't offer custom text sizing or zoom, you can turn on three-finger zoom in the accessibility controls (Settings > General > Accessibility > Zoom). This would also be available in your iPhone if you'd like to get a taste of how it works. If you opt for the larger iPad, you have the choice of buying an iPad 2 for a hundred bucks less. The iPad 2 lacks a retina display and Siri. I've found Siri to be quite useful on my Mini, and I've been surprised at how much I use it.

Three on the tree was pretty common in vehicles of that era. I think it all but disappeared by the early 1970s when manufacturers started making automatic transmission standard on a lot of vehicles. A really strange vehicle to drive was the Volkswagen Beetle with an "automatic stick shift." Three on the floor with no clutch. Driving a vehicle that requires double clutching is different, too. I did that for a day once. Actually, the ten speeds and double clutching didn't bother me half as much as chasing back and forth across the metro area and backing up into tight spots. ----- Continued here: viewtopic.php?f=67&t=30507

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear this, Adam. I've known people who've lost both parents at your age (even a bit younger), but I wasn't close enough to them to really share what they might have gone through. I can't really offer any advice, but it appears that others have that well covered. Best wishes to you. Keep in mind that Brewerfan is here 24/7.

I pretty much ignore New Years Eve other than to make it a good excuse to do nothing.

I'd whine to the company about the DSL. The attachment shows what I get on Verizon 3G at my house (Ping: 96ms, Download: 1.26MB; Upload: .39MB). That's not nearly as cool as [a=p824693]4G[/a], but it's great for a rural area. It's really a temptation to use the 4G instead of some WiFi connections when 4G is available. You can't do that at $10 per gigabyte, though.

Assuming you're using WiFi, check to see if there's a significant difference between a WiFi result and a hard wired result. One of my friends recently tested at 25MB wired and about 1MB wireless. At that point, she could safely blame the router, and a replacement router took care of the issue. Of course, if your speedtest result is close to your provider's "promised" speed, your DSL truly does suck.

Isn't there supposed to be a wind portion of this storm that's likely to mess with the snow that's already fallen?

Driving an automatic transmission car with the shift lever on the floor. I almost never do that. I was driving one tonight, and every time I backed up and subsequently wanted to start going forward, I'd try to move the gearshift up and over. Of course, the only place it would go was up, and that would put me in park.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2375314993.png On my Mac using my iPad as a hotspot.