But? There's always a but. When this is over, can we have a big 'but' moratorium?

Fred ,'Smile Time'


Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."

Got a question about technology? Ask it here. Discussion of hardware, software, TiVos, multi-region DVDs, Windows, Macs, LINUX, hand-helds, iPods, anything tech related. Better than any helpdesk!


tommyrot - May 03, 2012 7:41:51 am PDT #19973 of 25501
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

a textbox is FOR ENTERING TEXT, not selecting from a pre-set list, dangit!!

Yeah. 'Cept we have some dropdown boxes with thousands of items in them, so the scroll wheel on the iPhone doesn't work as well without some sort of type-ahead functionality.


amych - May 03, 2012 7:43:29 am PDT #19974 of 25501
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

Seriously. This sounds more and more like Chosen, and it's bee-you-tee-ful, and handles multiselects (and deleting some of your multiselects! It's a brave new world!!) much more nicely than any system's native controls.


tommyrot - May 03, 2012 8:53:57 am PDT #19975 of 25501
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

I just checked the Chosen site on iPhone, and it looks a hell of a lot better than the native controls. You might just want to show him that and see what he thinks.

Yep, my boss was impressed, so I'm going to try some Chosen dropdown boxes.

We're just doing a demo for a client. My boss says this is a learning experience, and it's OK if I want to throw away the last week's work and start over with new tools.

Anyway, I'm having fun learning this stuff.


tommyrot - May 03, 2012 1:18:52 pm PDT #19976 of 25501
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

This is cool.

Samsung Galaxy S III Tracks Your Eyes, Knows When You’re Ready to Call

As Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S III in London Thursday, it focused less on spec details and more on the concept that the phone can actually predict your next move — a talent you won’t find in rival phones like the HTC One X and Apple’s iPhone 4S.

One new feature, Smart Stay, uses eye-tracking technology to put the phone to sleep (and wake it up again) as needed. Specifically, the S III’s front-facing camera registers when you’re looking at the device. If the phone recognizes your mug, its screen will turn on and remain active as long as you’re using it.

The upshot: No more screen dimming in the middle of reading a long email. Just as nifty, when you look away, the phone will go to sleep, Samsung says.

Another feature, Direct Call, automatically places a phone call based on whom you’re text messaging. Specifically, if you’re in the middle of writing a text and lift the phone to your ear, the phone’s proximity and motion sensors will alert the S III to place a call for you.

The S III also features a Siri-like program, S Voice, that uses voice recognition to check the weather, place a phone call, search the web, and add appointments to the phone’s calendar app. S Voice can also launch the camera app, something Siri can’t do on the iPhone.

The Samsung Galaxy S III features an 8MP rear camera.

And there’s more still: Facial recognition technology built into the S III identifies people in photos, and links to your friends’ pages on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, making it easy to email or text a photo to the identified people.

I think we are living in the future.


omnis_audis - May 03, 2012 1:59:07 pm PDT #19977 of 25501
omnis, pursue. That's an order from a shy woman who can use M-16. - Shir

There is something a bit creepy about that. Should we name it HAL? Think of the paranoia level when you start flipping out because "my phone is watching me!!!". Or, if there is a backdoor hack to monitor that always on camera. Hmm, makes you wonder if your iPhone can be hacked to remotely view the camera without your knowledge?


Gris - May 03, 2012 4:24:31 pm PDT #19978 of 25501
Hey. New board.

That sounds like the awesomest thing ever. I HATE it when my phone dims when I'm trying to use it.


tommyrot - May 03, 2012 4:40:39 pm PDT #19979 of 25501
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

I HATE it when my phone dims when I'm trying to use it.

Me too.

As technology improves, our devices get better and better at accommodating to the way we humans work, so we have to do less conforming to the way they work.


meara - May 04, 2012 9:18:03 am PDT #19980 of 25501

Anyone know why the mail app on my iphone is suddenly being weird? It will show me mail with preview, but when I go into the actual message, nothing shows up. If I hit forward, or reply, then the message shows up below the available typing space like it should. SO clearly it's THERE, somewhere. Why won't it show up?!?


tommyrot - May 04, 2012 9:20:20 am PDT #19981 of 25501
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

I don't know, meara. Maybe reboot your phone?

I don't use the Mail app on my iPhone at all since I got a gMail app. If you use gMail I suggest giving it a try.

eta: The built-in mail app only checks mail when you open it, right? The gMail app checks mail even when it's not open.


Jessica - May 04, 2012 9:21:31 am PDT #19982 of 25501
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Is the Gmail app an actual app, or just a link to the mobile site the way the Google calendar "app" is?