General Chat Thread

[Phuncz]

And after all people have converted to using elevated busses, the regular cars will rule the world once more ! Or they'll build another level of elevated bus that goes over this one. Or how we are fighting the symptom (cars not moving) and not the cause (humans).

 

[EdZ]

so, this just became a thing

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/08/china-has-built-a-crazy-elevated-bus-that-straddles-traffic/

It's crazy to see one of the many "that'll never get built" outlandish pipe-dream transportation systems to solve one very specific problem in a needlessly dramatic manner, that regularly get trotted out as CG renders (or earlier, scale models), actually get built.

And after all people have converted to using elevated busses, the regular cars will rule the world once more ! Or they'll build another level of elevated bus that goes over this one.

It's busses all the way up!

 

[BirdofPrey]

Man this sucks. I had a pair of work boots I liked, but only got because the ones I wanted were out of stock, so when it came time to replace them, I got what I had originally wanted, and after half a year can't stand them any more. I went to buy new shoes again, and the ones I liked, they don't make in my size any more.

I hate my feet, can't ever find anything good in a 12 wide size.
Ironically, my mother can't ever find shoes that fit her either. . .
because nobody makes shoes small enough

 

[EdZ]

I hate my feet, can't ever find anything good in a 12 wide size.

Likewise. Size 7.5 in length, but to get 'standard' wide shoes that fit I have to hit size 11 or 12 before they stop being too narrow.

 

[Soul_Est]

Man this sucks. I had a pair of work boots I liked, but only got because the ones I wanted were out of stock, so when it came time to replace them, I got what I had originally wanted, and after half a year can't stand them any more. I went to buy new shoes again, and the ones I liked, they don't make in my size any more.

I hate my feet, can't ever find anything good in a 12 wide size.
Ironically, my mother can't ever find shoes that fit her either. . .
because nobody makes shoes small enough

Likewise. Size 7.5 in length, but to get 'standard' wide shoes that fit I have to hit size 11 or 12 before they stop being too narrow.

In the same boat and I know that struggle. Same for clothes. I'm slimmer than 'average'.

 

[BirdofPrey]

I don't get why more companies don't make more styles available in wide. Big/wide feet aren't THAT uncommon.
I wish cobblers were still a thing, at least for clothes, you can still find a tailor to make custom items.

As for clothes, though. I'm fairly average in that regard, but most dress shirts are huge balloons of clothes if they don't specifically say slim fit like they assume everyone who buys shirts weighs 300 pounds.

 

[EdZ]

If you're in the UK/Europe, I've had good luck with DB Shoes for wide-fitting 'normal' shoes. Haven't had much luck with off-the-shelf motorcycle boots though.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

Very interesting.

The interesting part will be the dash cam videos of all the accidents caused by this. Imagine being 40 years old and having just got your license and first car, now imagine this thing going over the top of your car.

This might work in a country where people care about traffic lanes and actually pay attention to other vehicles on the road, but I have a bad feeling this is going to cause a ton of problems and accidents.

I could go on a longer rant about drivers here but.....suffice to say this bus is not the best idea I've seen come out of China.

 

[Soul_Est]

The interesting part will be the dash cam videos of all the accidents caused by this. Imagine being 40 years old and having just got your license and first car, now imagine this thing going over the top of your car.

This might work in a country where people care about traffic lanes and actually pay attention to other vehicles on the road, but I have a bad feeling this is going to cause a ton of problems and accidents.

I could go on a longer rant about drivers here but.....suffice to say this bus is not the best idea I've seen come out of China.

Same in many parts of the world. North America, South America, and the Caribbean are pretty bad also.

 

[BirdofPrey]

Light rail, trams, streetcars, etc probably still work better, though I guess if there isn't enough right of way on the ground an elevated rail might be too expensive.

 

[jeshikat]

https://www.techpowerup.com/225453/acer-announces-worlds-first-curved-screen-notebook

'Cuz why not!

5 fans inside this thing!

 

[BirdofPrey]

I'm sorry I can't hear you over the crisis game I'm playing on my jet engine.
Anyway how bulky does the screen make the laptop?


In other news a lot of spam this morning.

 

[jeshikat]

It's pretty chunky looking: http://www.theverge.com/circuitbrea...ptop-predator-21x-price-release-date-ifa-2016

And only 8kg (17lb)

In other news a lot of spam this morning.

Yes, unfortunately. I'm trying to avoid being too onerous with the registration form but that means more spammers get through than I'd like. At least Xenforo's mod tools makes purging them easy.

 

[Phuncz]

One of their previous "desktop replacements" was about the same size, and weighed about 12kg, so this is an improvement. Think twice about using the word "portable" in a sentence when this thing is discussed, that 8kg is probably without the power adapter which might break another record on its own.

I was never a fan of convoluted gaming laptops like these, way too heavy and immobile (because battery life is non-existant) to be used as a laptop, so you're basically lugging around an all-in-one desktop with a foldable keyboard, which doesn't fit any laptop bag on sale (for the size and weight), still needs a mouse, desk, closeby power outlet and when something breaks, it's going to be immensely expensive to repair.

 

[Kmpkt]

Isn't the whole point of a curved screen that it is large enough to move into your peripheral vision and give you a more immersive/complete feeling while viewing? How does this even apply to a notebook monitor?

 

[BirdofPrey]

Yeah, I never liked the concept of gaming/desktop replacement laptops. They tend to be very expensive,, but, more importantly, heavy, bulky and power hungry, all of which hampers the portability which is the whole point or a laptop in the first place. A cheap, mobile laptop and a decent desktop rig makes more sense. With Thunderbolt 3 out now and a bunch of stuff coming on market for that, I am wholly onboard with a Thunderbolt 3 docking station with a GPU (and even, potentially storage) inside hooked up to all the peripherals.

Does SFFN accept Op eds (and some stuff not that closely tied to SFF systems)? I had an idea to write about how Thunderbolt 3 finally convinced me of the usefulness of Thunderbolt, and there's some potential I am finally starting to see.

Isn't the whole point of a curved screen that it is large enough to move into your peripheral vision and give you a more immersive/complete feeling while viewing? How does this even apply to a notebook monitor?

I was wondering the same thing. Curved especially comes into play with very wide monitors, and this is not only sub 30", it is also 16:9 aspect ratio.

 

[EdZ]

Isn't the whole point of a curved screen that it is large enough to move into your peripheral vision and give you a more immersive/complete feeling while viewing? How does this even apply to a notebook monitor?

Regardless of size, curved screens come very close to eliminating glare as an issue. At worst, you'll have a vertical (or horizontal, depending on orientation) line or band of glare rather than the whole panel washed out. Only exceptions would be if your eye was exactly at the focus (for most screens, at a distance of 3m-4m) with a window right behind you, or if you hung a light source at the focus at eye-level.

 

[Phuncz]

My screen with a slight curve does very little to reduce glare in my experience. I have a window about 4 meters away from my screen, off-center, with no direct sunlight hitting my screen. But still most of the screen is washed out from the indirect sunlight from time to time, regardless of the Anti-Glare coating. But curtains or blinds solve that problem too

 

[QinX]

Here's a question for all you guys. On a scale of 1 to 10, how annoyed do you get when a website doesn't allow a proper "back" action?
I'd say I'm about a 9 mostly lately because some sites I visit regularly have this problem.

What I'm talking about is when for example you are googling, go to a result and want to go back, but the site doesn't let you. You have to right-click the back button in the top left and go at least 2 results back. Man is that getting on my nerves lately

 

[Phuncz]

I'm usually surprised when it does work without totally blowing up your input or melting the screen. The dual-click back button is indeed one of those dreaded issues.

For a genuine frustrating web experience, you should try to navigate HP's website for a driver for anything else than a printer. It's borderline torture. I've had dental work done that I hated less.