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Comment: Re:So autocomplete is supposed to read your mind? (Score 1) 200

by wile_e8 (#43725489) Attached to: In Germany, Offensive Autocomplete Is No Laughing Matter
The problem is preventing abuse of this implementation. How soon until companies are notifying Google that they are offended because they don't like what autocomplete is associating with their product? For example, right now when I enter "iphone" in the Google search bar, one of the autocomplete options is "jailbreak". What if Apple notifies Google that they are offended by that? I think it would get even worse when products have negative reviews or make negative news.

Comment: Expand Coverage (Score 1) 404

by wile_e8 (#43286057) Attached to: T-Mobile Ends Contracts and Subsidies

Great. Now all they need to do is expand coverage - as much as I want to switch from Verizon to T-Mobile, it won't do me much good if half the time I can't get a signal.

Question for anyone with T-Mobile currently: I've been talking with my wife about switching to the prepaid, 100 minutes/month, unlimited text/data plan, but a big hangup is that her hometown is in the "Service Partner" coverage area on the T-Mobile coverage map. What data speeds/caps do the prepaid plans in service partner areas, if they are allowed to use data at all?

Comment: Re:Netvibes (Score 2) 287

by wile_e8 (#43172927) Attached to: What's the Best RSS Reader Not Named Google Reader?

Now that I've been trying Netvibes for a few hours, a few things are bothering me:
- Do I really need to confirm every time I want to mark all items as read?
- Why can't it put all the "new" items at the top? Sure, it was posted yesterday, but you didn't find it until right now. Why display it after all those other articles I've already read? Google Reader sorted by the time it found the new articles, putting new stuff at the top above all the stuff I already marked as read.
- Why so slow to update feeds? Maybe this is just the crush of new traffic, but it is finding new articles multiple hours after they showed up in Google Reader.

It's ok, but the only thing it has going for it for me right now is that it isn't completely crushed by all the new traffic. Maybe once I can get my feeds imported to Old Reader or Newsblur those will fit my usage patterns better.

Comment: Re:I'm a geek and I don't understand the problem (Score 1) 287

by wile_e8 (#43171851) Attached to: What's the Best RSS Reader Not Named Google Reader?

Two main advantages Google Reader had over Firefox RSS bookmarks:

  • Sorting: Instead of needing to go into each bookmark to check if it has new items, just visit Google Reader and it'll have an updated list of all new items for all feeds (or just per folder if you set them up).
  • Syncing: The list of new items you haven't read is constantly in sync no matter what device you access Google Reader on or what device you last accessed it.

Firefox RSS bookmarks provide a workable RSS solution, but it was just much easier to keep up to date on a large number of feeds with Google Reader.

Comment: Re:Why does this even matter? (Score 1) 287

by wile_e8 (#43171361) Attached to: What's the Best RSS Reader Not Named Google Reader?
You have no clue. Google Reader aggregates all of those bookmarks into one web site. With your method, if you have 35 web sites you like to read, you have to open 35 bookmarks to see if they've posted anything new. With Google Reader, you only have to visit one site to see if any of those 35 sites has been updated. And even if they only post snippets in the RSS feed (most I use show full articles), it's still tons more convenient than visiting each website to see if they have new articles.

Comment: Re:Feedly looks ok (Score 1) 287

by wile_e8 (#43171017) Attached to: What's the Best RSS Reader Not Named Google Reader?
Netvibes seems ok to me for now. I'd like to try Old Reader, but it's limiting feed imports for now due to the huge influx of traffic and I haven't been able to import all my Google Reader feeds yet. I'm avoiding Feedly out of principal - it keeps asking me to download the app for Firefox in order to view it. I shouldn't have to download an "app" to view a web page, especially if I'm not on my own computer and just want to check my RSS feeds quick. Just give me the web page.

Comment: Re:You've got to get the charger with enough power (Score 1) 286

by wile_e8 (#42659959) Attached to: Three Low-Tech Hacks for Phones and Tablets
Mine does too. And even plugged into a wall, it takes well more than a few minutes of charging to last more than a half hour in the type of usage that drained the battery by the middle of the day. If I'm using my phone that much needing to charge it every half hour is a pain. Sure, if you don't need to use your phone, your method is fine, but every time I run out of battery early I'm on the go and doing lots of things with my phone.

Comment: Re:Portable phone charger is the way to go. (Score 2) 286

by wile_e8 (#42658749) Attached to: Three Low-Tech Hacks for Phones and Tablets

I used to carry the spare batteries, but the portable phone charger can charge my phone AND other devices about 3 or 4 times. My ear is not tethered to my phone, so it's not a big deal to have my phone plugged into a plastic device that's about the same size as my phone. If you can't put your phone down for a few minutes at a time, then go for the spare batteries -

I don't know about that. I have a portable charger, and while it was nice to be able to charge any device, it takes more than a few minutes to get any significant charge out of it. So if you're only charging for a few minutes at a time, you're charging for a few minutes at a time several times for the rest of the day. And if you're using your phone so much it needs a recharge in the middle of the day, you're less likely to be able to set it down and let it just charge. It was nice when I got my Galaxy Nexus with a spare battery - take a minute to swap the battery and then I don't have to worry about it the rest of the day.

but then you've got to figure out when you are going to charge them. Want to spend your whole evening in the hotel charging a variety of batteries in your phone?

Assuming you get a charger that can charge the battery outside of the phone, this shouldn't take any longer than charging the portable charger.

Comment: Re:And we care because why? (Score 1) 250

by wile_e8 (#42587771) Attached to: Instagram Loses Almost Half Its Daily Users In a Month
Yes, generally. Although I was assuming the majority of Instagram users just use it as an avenue for sharing pictures on Facebook or Twitter (until that got blocked). How many features would those users actually miss if they dropped Instagram and just posted the pictures directly to Twitter? (And how much would the rest of us benefit from not having crappy filters applied to those photos? :-)

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