The Tech Random Crap Thread

I am on a lot of websites researching PoE builds and other game stuff and I worry that I may pick up something. I try to keep my super sketchy celebrity gossip news sites to my phone.

I got a virus downloading the software for my Fitbit on my last PC and that was a hot mess.
 
What would you all recommend for virus protection software?
If you're talking about yourself, then prudence.
If you're talking about a computer you have to share with the rest of the family, then get another computer for the rest of the family and make them use that one.
if you MUST share a computer with multiple users, then these days it's usually Bitdefender or Malwarebytes.

--Patrick
 
I personally have the free Bitdefender AV on my all of the computers in my house - mine, my son's, our HTPC. My work laptop has the corporate ed of Bitdefender on it too - it doesn't really take up a lot of CPU/Memory.
 
Thanks guys. I’m not really sure if what I’m googling is riisky or not, but a lot of the websites with PoE info are also sketchy RMT sites, so better safe than ransomewared.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
Microsoft threw a datacenter into the ocean and it worked out splendidly

The future might just be 20,000 webservers under the sea. The article says that the benefits (excellent cooling, sealed dry nitrogen atmosphere, etc.) outweigh the ability to easily reach component for replacement. The plan for the future is to seal these things for five years, and just turn off any components that fail during that time. "Our failure rate in the water is one-eighth of what we see on land,"
 
OK, before I go digging into the depths of Google to figure out wtf is going on, I noticed yesterday that any video I watch on any platform (either streamed or pre-recorded) slowly goes out of sync with the audio over time. Is there an obvious culprit here?
 
The ones I’m talking about are always fixed by a reboot of the device, and are frequently fixed by pausing playback for a moment or two, I suppose to let things “catch up.”

—Patrick
 
The ones I’m talking about are always fixed by a reboot of the device, and are frequently fixed by pausing playback for a moment or two, I suppose to let things “catch up.”

—Patrick
Yeah pausing and refreshing already didn't work, which is why I went with the reboot option.
 
Too bad you can’t actually buy one. You’ll have to buy an entire run of them, no singles.
No word on how many can simultaneously support 900mA, or if any have 2A boost for charging.
But hey, it supports Xeon and ECC, at least.

—Patrick
 

figmentPez

Staff member
Cripes, only 16/45. There's a lot here I RECOGNIZE, but few I could name specifically.

I had to look up how to spell
tamagotchi
before it would accept the name for the keychain egg thing.

It took me several guesses to figure out the TV was a
Trinitron

I thought the camera was a _____ but got it on the second try with _____
8mm video, Brownie

Okay, I'm at 33/45, and I'm going to start Googling the ones I know I'm close on.

Ah, the old klunky gaming system
the one I thought was a pong clone, but realized must be an early console is a Magnavox Odyssey

The art deco looking furniture that I thought was a radio, turns out to be
the Baird Televisor, a mechanical television. I know I've heard of it on Technology connections, but I would never have remembered the name, or the look of the cabinet. I just knew it must be an early TV or radio, and googling paid off.

Ah, I'd forgotten that the early ____ was so barebones.
The Apple I is the computer shown just as a monitor, keyboard and motherboard. Looking through Google images got that one for me.

Looking through Google image results for early computers got me
Bombe (which I initially thought was early RAM), Univac, and Xerox Alto

It took a lot of googling to figure out which calculator they have pictured. I know very little about the history of pocket calculators.
Busicom LE-120A Handy-LE 1971

The name of the cellphone was really hard to track down. A lot of articles on the first cellular phone call don't bother to mention the name of the unit.
Motorola DynaTAC 8000X

And, unlike the pager, they won't just accept VHS, you've got to get the model
JVC HR-3300 Vidstar

That leaves me at 42/45, and I'm giving up.

Anyone know what the last few are?
8. Looks like a generic beige box with rows of red lights.
15. A chair in front of something, looks like a weird arcade cabinet
45. Looks like a desk with a calculator built into one side
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I only got 25 before I had to start looking things up.

I remember seeing number 8 somewhere in a youtube video before... it's a computer with no inputs or outputs but somebody got it to play music.
I played 15 before. IT's maddening that I can't remember its name. It was a space game and that hood covers a kind of concave lensed monitor that made it look more "3D" ish.

I was kicking myself that I couldn't remember the name of the
Palm Pilot
, I sold those in high school at Best Buy.
 
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