Good post Neil!

Doug

Doug, Shoe, and Neil. All I really want to do is have some fun with gardeners and use email then I discovered sharing pictures, Pandora, Hulu, cruise and travel sites. Wish my computer was like my 25 year old refridgerator in the basement, works everyday no matter what I add or what's new on the market. It was plugged in 25 years ago and I haven't had to read or do anything to it but keep it clean. Most reliable and nobody wants to steal personal information.

Just wait 'till they put computers in those, too, and hackers break in to change the thermostat and steal information on your leftovers.

Dear Paul, they have put computers in electric ovens now and they keep blowing up. My mother has an electric fan oven and it has gone wrong, three times in 18 months, and every time the computer board has gone wrong!
Built in obsolescence, like most things nowadays.
Regards.
Neil.

Paul

Oh you should have heard me ranting at the salesperson about wanting my dials and knobs back on the washing machine. Now I have to turn the thing off after the previous load, turn it on again, scroll through the settings to the right program, adjust every parameter, and then hit start. I want my old one back where all the knobs stayed set and I just had to turn the big dial in the center to the right place and it automatically started up.

My microwave was replaced within the first month because the control panel went out. My previous range had the computer go out, and it would have cost more to fix than the whole range cost to begin with! My new one has problems with the fan running when it's not supposed to and not running when it is. And I can't figure out my phone for anything-what was wrong with the original ten keys? (I never could figure out when I was supposed to use the # and *). Not that I want to go back to rotary, though. Sometimes buttons really are faster.

I get the strangest looks when people find out I'm a computer programmer after I've complained about these disfunctional devices, but I think it's because I make user interfaces for a living that I have so little patience for unusable gizmos and flashy whatzawhosits which only get in my way when I want to do something simple.

Ooookay here..................I have a question re: iPad...........is there ANY way to remove my books from the archives after I have read them? I have taken to having to keep a list of what I have downloaded from Amazon so I know what I haven't read. Right now I have over 100 books in the archives and I KNOW I haven't read some of them, but without putting them back in the "read" list and starting at the beginning, I can't remember. (BTW, I love perusing Amazon's best 100 free books every month or so to see what is new). At least when you deleted them from the Kindle, they were gone from the device. I cannot imagine WHY they thought it would be a good idea to keep all that on the iPad, especially if one is a voracious reader and has a bajillion books on it.

I have finally found out the secret to not having the aforementined bajillion emails to download, tho. I don't use it for email, as a rule, so if i do happen to tap that I'm in trouble...............UNLESS.................I've gone to my servers mail site (mine happens to be TDS-Gmail) and delete everything there. That is, after I am sure I have it all on my PC. No more email glut.

I have not downloaded books from Amazon to the iPad, and I use a Mac and iTunes, so my method may be different. I use Bluefire Reader, Overdrive, and iBooks. Bluefire uses Adobe Digital Editions on the Mac to translate books downloaded from the library, then I upload them with iTunes. With Overdrive and iBooks I can download directly from the iPad. However, I use iTunes to manage all of them. When I do my sync, under the apps tab, there is a section to click on the various types of reader programs. From there, I click on books to delete or add.

Have you tried doing a google search for something like "delete amazon downloaded books from iPad" ? Google searches have been my go to source for learning how to do things like this.

I have a really dumb question... is Linux an operating system? like windows and mac? Asking cuz we have to buy a new computer tomorrow and I would really love to NOT buy another Microsoft-doesnt-Work product

Yep, Linux is an operating system and replaces Windows and Macs. It's what we use on all our machines in our house, except for one laptop that is dual-boot.

thanks!

Is it an OS that comes pre-loaded on a machine or do we buy it separately? I guess I'll find out when we drive down to town tonight

I've never found a computer that had Linux pre-installed on it. I always download it from Ubuntu of Fedora's website and follow the directions to install it using my USB thumb drive.

I know a couple of years ago Walmart was selling PC's with Linux preinstalled but don't think they are anymore.

Doug

psa said:Just wait 'till they put computers in those, too, and hackers break in to change the thermostat and steal information on your leftovers.

Sorry, Paul. But, by the time they're able to do all that, they'll just go ahead and EAT the leftovers while they're in there!

They're welcome to them. I can't get anyone else to eat leftovers here.

thanks for the info Dave

Dear Dave, my friend went to a store in Southampton with me to buy a new iMac. He asked if Linux could be put on it, and the man from the tech. dept. said to him "Yes Sir, do you want it done now and still be able to use Snow Leopard." My friend did not realize he could have Mac and Linux on his very expensive iMac, so he told him yes! We were told a time to come back and pick it up, and when we did it had been repackaged in its box, and had both the Mac operating system and Linux on it There was no charge for this at all, and it works perfectly.
That is what I call service.
Also a lot of people for some reason are having windows put on Macs, which to me is crazy as when you go into windows it is so slow it is quite unbelievable. Macs were not made to take windows but cope with Linux!
Regards.
Neil.