I'm betting some cat knocked it there.

I rarely see it on my Windows PC or my Linux Laptop. I do see it all the bloody time on my iPad and Android Phone.

And it's not just that trick. I go to a site on my iPad and start reading an article and all of a sudden there's an ad taking up the entire screen and not giving me an option to close the ad short of closing the browser.

I'd have to say that fully 2/3rds of the articles I want to read don't get read by me since I'm denied access to them thanks to the ads.

And I'm just loving (sarcasm dripping) the fact that so many sites out there nag you about the fact that we're using an ad blocker. Well gee, if the ads were what they used to be, banner ads on the top and sides without pulling all sorts of fuckery, maybe we'd not use them.

Cases in point. The banner ad that forms in the middle of the screen and blocks what you're there to read. The ads that can't load at the same damn time and jump the text back to the beginning of the article so you have to scroll to find your place...only to have ANOTHER ONE pulling the same bullshit. Or there are the ads that change the position of the screen in random directions so when you are trying to click on a link, it jumps to making you click on the ad instead.

There are companies that I stopped using their products because they've annoyed me to no end as a result of their shenanigans. After one night of TV watching and listening to my Google Home looking up information on the Whopper over and over and over again...I've given up on using the damn thing and stopped giving BK my patronage.

I know they want to be creative in how they market their product, but with me and many other people...they're going to find that they'll face a backlash where people avoid them.

This!

I had to take and advanced class in Web/Media and in the first week the professor asked about social media users.

In a class of 40 students I was one of maybe two that was not on social media.

I was asked why I was not on social media and replied, "Ask anyone in this building, or even on this campus about and I will be remembered because I interact with people.
Why do I need social media".

Well, in the ensuing 5 months I was cruising the campus with my new S.O. and was stopped by a formerly fellow student that asked "didn't you graduate 3 months ago?"

I told him "yes, I did and now I am here with my S.O. and going for a walk after having applied for a bunch of jobs during the week".

Now consider: 3 months after I left, and well after hours (even for a college campus) and I remembered the guy's name and he remembered mine"...well, just consider the average social media encounter w/o a name + face.
How much time is left puzzling: "do I know them, like them and all the other BS questions vs. 'Just Keep walking and ignore if not' or talk to them".

Yes, I understand the value of SM, but darned if I did not see the downside of it from the get go.

I am secure enough in my person to care what I think of me and consider your opinion and not give a flying fuck when 98% appropriate.

I.E. Live long and prosper or DIAF, as appropriate. ;)

That's all well and good that they have a lower power demand.

It however does not change the fact that Edge is a browser that wants to do everything but can't do any one thing well. The damn thing wants to be my primary PDF viewer and I've yet to have one single PDF file load in it either from a web page or from a local file. I'm also quite annoyed with the fact that it gets all pouty when you want to make something else your primary handler of a function that it wants to have control of. It begged me when I wanted to make Adobe my PDF viewer, and it pleaded when I set Opera as my browser.

And even now, any time I go to a Microsoft page it gives me that sad puppy dog look saying that I should give it another chance.

You know the look. The sad puppy that's all alone in the world...at midnight, in the cold, it's raining, on its birthday, and a larger dog stole his birthday bone.

The problem with this way of thinking is that once the device is one generation out, Apple will not fix the device. They'll only sell you a replacement.

Case in point. Shattered my iPad Air screen a while back. Took it to Apple and they said that they don't repair screens for anything but what they're selling on the floor. MEANING...that if I had an iPad Air 2...they would have replaced the screen.

They did offer to sell me a replacement iPad Air for twice as much as the local Zagg kiosk would charge to replace the screen and $75 more than one would have cost me on Ebay.

I do see your point about security...but what do you do when the iPhone 8 comes out and they won't touch the 7 with a 12-metre cattle prod?

...It'll be the last time I use Chrome.

They recently took away my ability to hit backspace to go back a page. Now I have to use Alt+another key to do what I took just one to do. I had to install an extension to put that feature back.

Now mind you, I can understand why most people don't use those features. But then again they're not the same sort of users as I am. As others are. There are people who will open dozens of tabs to compare things or to have multiple sources of information available. Then when it's no longer needed...we close the other tabs and call it a job done.

For example. I'll look at a dozen sites to provide references for things that I say on discussion forums. Once I'm done with my post and I no longer need those tabs and want to go and look at another discussion topic, I'll "close other tabs" and go on my way.

I'd hate to have to click over and over and over when there is a simple way to do it.

The only thing that will keep me with Chrome is if someone creates an extension to put back what Chrome takes away.

Oh, my God...really?

I've avoided anything political for years because I'm sick of the BS all around...BUT could not resist and just hit the back button.

Here is why:

Er, how is that news? Look at what happened November 8th, 2016 for insanity index. Forecast; High.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2016/countymaprb1024.png
Rod Serling voice: Imagine if you will you live in a red'ish area and have been pushed around by your "betters" in blue for 8 years.
A "Republican" president is elected in what was (as Micheal Moore said) was the biggest FU to both sides and it would feel good.

Well, it did feel good and I laughed heartily and long with many chuckles for the past 35+ days.

I wish I could find the meme like http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2016/countymaprb1024.png where it said
  "The blue areas want a civil war to oust President Trump, but the red areas own 95% of the guns. How's that gonna work out?"

Chance of dunderheads: 100%

Agreed, but before Nov 9, 2016. Then it changed.

Protectionism, Xenophobia, and nut job anti-consumerism regulations to be expected for the next two years.

Secured boarders and deporting illegals, visa overstays and countries that sponsor terror, Xenophobic only as it relates to those that want to hurt/kill is usually called common sense.
Anti-consumerism? Not wanting to buy a product that anyone paying attention would have (and DID) tell you was a P.O.S not even meant to help?
Johnathan Gruber...look him up.

Sticking busybody noses into random vaginas guaranteed.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!
Something like this, eh? https://patriotpost.us/cartoons/24498/
Or the Bill Clinton school of humidors?
Or sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, unless it is stuck in an intern.

Skyhigh medical bills and health insurance: Paid for by lobbyists that stand to gain.

Oh, so you are aware of what Obamacare was all about when the Democrats rammed it through on a PartyLine vote on Christmas Eve. Good for you!! You finally understand or just tripped over the truth.
R.R quote: https://patriotpost.us/memes/47509/

Hilarity, hypocrisy and hysteria: delivered.

I think you meant: Hillary-ity, hypocrisy and hysteria: delivered. (NOOOOOOTTTT).

Global shunning: On the way.

America! F*ck Yea!!! (tongue firmly in cheek w/ smug sarcasm as a bonus)
Trying to make the EU like the USA is working about as well as the reverse.
Then again, most people don't recall the point of the Statue of Liberty. (Hint: Not to make the US more like France, but quite the reverse).

'moose. (American, Veteran and currently residing in one of the two solid red states)

(aside: Mr. Moore was right...once...dang that felt gooood)

iCloud is Apple's version of cloud storage.

Google Drive is Google's

How in the name of Satan's sweaty jock strap is Google responsible for some problem with Apple's cloud? What am I missing here?

Honestly I can not complain about the update.

I haven't seen any of the improvements (I use a Bluetooth keyboard so I don't see the predictive keyboard that often) but on the flip side I haven't seen anything bad as a result.

The only problem that I've had to date was the Kindle Software not running properly. If I was in the middle of a book it would crash and I could load it again and read the book. However since they did their update to be iOS 8 compatible...that problem vanished.

I really haven't noticed anything positive or negative as a result of the update.

So...can't complain.

They're still worth the investment under certain circumstances.

The first one is the obvious one. The onboard sound fails or there is a problem with it. In my case I had to buy a cheap card since for some reason, the onboard sound wasn't compatible with Windows. It would play sound, but the line-input and the mic-inputs wouldn't work at all. At least under Windows. Under Ubuntu it worked fine, but the drivers from the manufacturer's website were rejected by Windows and the built-in ones only ran the sound output to the speakers.

Since I needed it to all work (was using a chat program when I was playing WoW), I had to buy an inexpensive sound card and disable the onboard to fix the problem.

The second one is also obvious. If you're doing something with audio on a professional level. Things like mixing or sound processing.

The third is a little less obvious and one of the reason that I want a high-end card. Since I don't buy Cable Television, I have a media-PC running things. It's the hub for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, as well as my Blu-Ray/DVD player. Since it's the hub of my multimedia system, I want it to run through some decent speakers and get reasonable sound. Since I'm in the IT industry, I can get a set of 7.1 speakers and a Creative Labs card for less than I could get a decent surround system at Walmart, Target or Best Buy.

Agreed.

Similar story here, when I left an IE session open on Drudge and went to sleep.

Woke up and saw "Antivirus 2009" or some such crapware.

Turned out to be 2 0-day exploits to javascript and pdfs to load executable code.

Insult to injury was I turned off javascript in pdfs explicitly and an update turned it back on. Son of a beeyotch.

Flew under the radar of Symantec 9 or 10, IIRC. Sucked because I was still in .edu and had no time for that kinda shite, but dealt with it just the same.

Now it is the "only if I allow it" kinda rule...even then there is a 90% chance of "oh, hell no!".

Gulf War Vet who is not missing the point over here.

That money is being wasted isn't the fault of the agencies that are shutting down.

I think the shrimp on a treadmill, study of the drinking habits of Brazilian prostitutes and a host of other forms of waste would beg to disagree.

I mean, WTF...over.

It's the fault of the Republicans who're holding the entire country hostage in a blatantly un-Constitutional attempt to repeal majority-supported legislation

Oh, you mean the *FORMER* democratic majority that rammed it through in the dead of nite on
CHRISTMAS EVE?

First: Current congress is not beholden to a previous congress.

Second: "Power of the Purse" is there to keep the Executive branch in check.

Third: "Holding hostage"...are you fucking kidding me? This must be that "calm rhetoric" I keep hearing
so much about.

They've tried dozens of times to repeal the legislation through the normal legislative process and failed miserably each time; now, they're determined to wreck the national economy (with the shutdown) and possibly even the global economy (with the default) if the majority doesn't give in to their demands. They've shot multiple prisoners already (don't forget the ongoing sequester!) and are now threatening to blow up the whole building.

At least 7 of those "failures" have been passed and signed into law by the Prezzie.

New word time: Conflating. Two separate issues, bro.

The sequester was a 2% reduction in growth of the 5+% in spending YOY.

See, here is the thing: recall that a democracy is "two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner" and
a REPUBLIC is "the same situation with a well armed sheep contesting the vote."

Can you say "contesting the vote?...I knew you could."

"Blow up the whole building"...really, again?

Such a shame we live in a place that's rested so much on its laurels and is now so far behind the times.

DING! DING! DING! DING!

We have a winner!

That, I agree with. So many "useful idiots" vote 'black prez' first time and 'single issue' the second time over "jobs, economy, competence/leadership" even if you ignore the IRS targeting, NSA wiretaps and FBI investigation of anyone who disagrees with the 'community organizer in chief'.

Shame on all of them for staying home out of fear of reprisal. (I understand, but at least the WWII vets stood
up, as did the Vietnam vets).

Gulf War Vets...one question: "y'all pissed off enough yet? Because we are next, I think."

To Quote (Dingy) Harry Reid: "We won't negotiate with a gun to our head."

I'd like to test that theory, asshole....just keep pushing vets around.

When you make a 40-something want to give his life for his country...again...you've fucked up.

[SNARL]

Remember your oath: "...against all enemies foreign and DOMESTIC..."

(sarcasm tag)
That's one way, another is to sick the IRS after political opponents and the DOJ after reporters after a bit of judge shopping.

What's a little voter suppression based on race, religion or political affiliation...it is not like it ruins lives like killing does?

Ah, just another of several "phony scandals".
(/st)

Amen.

When I started my degree for the second time, I had about 15 years in IT/Support/SysAdmin roles (or all 3 at once).

I had done quite well in CS and math/Calc classes, but had to start from ground zero (Algebra 1 on up) to get into calc,
because while I had the ability, I lacked the skills/exp.

EE was my goal, after being an AT in the Navy...but calc was a brutal first go, but I *GOT IT* the second time around to the
point I could do volumes of irregular shapes and implicit differentiation so well it was ... (GASP) ... FUN (and annoying to those
I studied with, even though Newton's Law of Cooling gave me fits). And, I was in the top 5 students in my Discrete Logic
class (and dating the girl who was likely #1 in the class).

Second time around was a different story in both Calc I and DL, and I had the same teacher my 2ND time in DL I got to
hear the same concern: "Your excellent knowledge and ability in this subject is not reflected in your grade."

I became CS after EE wasn't going to happen, and second time around went for CS, but got a BA because I could not make
it through Calc III because the math was easy, but Sequences and Series beat me down so badly I just could not take any
more abuse. First was a horrible teacher (use the term very loosely) second was great, but there was some lynch-pin missing
to keep everything from flying apart.

I eventually talked to the Dept Head and explained and he said "CS uses calc and discrete as weed-out courses."
I replied something to the effect of "I see that, and I agree...however you are weeding out people who know what the hell
they are doing."

It is amusing now, but I was explaining the calc I and II concepts to other students, but getting a "C" in both and failing calc III
despite strong math skills and obvious poor decision skills with Seq's and Ser's and getting no help.

I seriously think that if "professors who teach" were subject to a GPA that could cause them fiscal (or even physical) harm
from students, the shitty ones would be weeded out in rapid order.

In my opinion; CS degrees need calc *only* for mathematical discipline, and Discrete should be taught by other CS people.
(Note: when I went through my degree the second time, this was not the case. I had a Theoretical Mathematician teaching
Discrete. It did not go well, surprisingly)

I sorta agree, yes it'll run.

Case in point: Q9550 @3.2Ghz, Radeon 5870, 8G mem would chug is several games (last few Assassin's Creed games,
Dishonoured, Max Payne 3, etc). No slouch to be honest, so there I agree.

However, getting a 3770K @4.7Ghz, Nvidia 660 and 16G of mem = SMOOOOTH gameplay in the above games.

The only time I've seen slow downs is when folding on 6 out of 8 cores with GPU folding paused...even that is rare.

The video card is not the only limiter as I found out after a bunch of research for a paper I did a while back, yes the
new cards kick much ass, but w/o modern CPUs and memory to back it up most of the benefits will not be realized.

(However, for the record you are correct, and would be spot on if most games were half-way decently threaded).