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Comment Re:Worst Job Ever... (Score 1) 20

by cygnwolf (#50950233) Attached to: Being Effective and Having Fun at Your Company's Trade Show Booth (video)
Seconded. Since the company I work for is now international, most of our existing customers we only speak with when they're having problems. I get a huge amount of good material and inspiration from the existing customers I speak with at the show. Sales leads are great too and are the main reason for attending, but the face to face with existing customers is a very nice side perk.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Measuring (and Constraining) Modern Mobiles' Data Use?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I've carried a smart phone for several years, but for much of that time it's been (and I suspect this is true for anyone for whom money is an object) kept pretty dumb — at least for anything more data-intensive than Twitter and the occasional map checking. I've been using more of the smart features lately (Google Drive and Keep are seductive.) Since the data package can be expensive, though, and even though data is cheaper than it used to be, that means I don't check Facebook often, or upload pictures to friends by email, unless I'm in Wi-Fi zone (like home, or a coffee shop, etc). Even so, it seems I'm using more data than I realized, and I'd like to keep it under the 2GB allotment I'm paying for. I used to think half a gig was generous, but now I'm getting close to that 2GB I've paid for, most months. This makes me a little paranoid, which leads to my first question: How accurate are carriers' own internal tools for measuring use, and do you recommend any third-party apps for keeping track of data use? Ideally, I'd like a detailed breakdown by app, over time: I don't think I'm at risk for data-stealing malware on my phone (the apps I use are either built-in, or plain-vanilla ones from Google's store, like Instagram, Twitter's official client, etc.), but of course really well-crafted malware would be tough to guard against or to spot. And even if they can be defeated, more and more sites (Facebook, for one) now play video just because I've rolled over a thumbnail. Second, what tools or tips can you offer for doling out my data more carefully? Can you name some apps that actually do a good job of minimizing data transfer, or managing apps' data use to at least to look harder for a Wi-Fi connection? I know Opera Mobile uses compression to minimize data transfer, and I'm sure it's possible to turn off many of the annoying sound-bearing ads of the world. In short, what are some ways to get the most use from my limited data allotment, and be mindful about the ways I *do* spend it? This will be even more important if, as I hope, my next laptop has built-in data service. Web sites are I suspect only going to want to use more of my bandwidth in the future, even if it does get slightly cheaper. Nowadays, browsers have made it a chore even to do things like turn off images, never mind dancing, animated ads. Turning off images used to save my 56k dialup bandwidth, and the concept here is the same. (Google doesn't exactly make turning off images in Chrome friendly enough for my mom.) (I'm using an Android phone, but I'm sure there are iPhone users who'd like to know the answers to parallel question for Apple gear. I can't be the only one who finds cavalier bandwidth sucking by web pages to be a blood-pressure-raising offense, when I'm paying for each expensive byte. There are lots of places where even wired connections are expensive, but at least with a wired network connection things like Squid can be deployed.)

Comment Re:Make it DARKER dammit. (Score 1) 233

by cygnwolf (#49164573) Attached to: Spock and the Legacy of Star Trek
Lot of good points there, but I do have a question, because the fan that I was of TNG and TOS doesn't remember a ban on warp 9. I remember Picard and the Enterprise D travelling at greater than warp 9 on occasion (though only a few times under their own power) I know there was a 'theoritcal limit' that warp 10 was "Impossible" but then, VOY had to go and break that too....

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