SHORT VERSION: How do I research US law regarding disposition of purchased pirated tangible works (assuming they haven't been seized by police)?

• I think the law should be : The buyer must be refunded, and they don't need to return it, and do need to destroy it, and debt incurred for pirated goods (e.g. if no refund can be obtained) is not valid. But I don't know what they are, and I don't know where to start to find out (other than "go to law school" or "consult an attorney").

Computing-related? Well, similar questions seem rather evenly spread between Computing, and Miscellaneous, with a bunch in Entertainment and elswhere... I have done a bunch of work improving some of wikipedia's copyright articles...but I'm stuck.

LONG VERSION:

• Situation:
• In the US, a person buys a copy of a copyrighted work (an artist's print, for example) and it's an unauthorized copy (a copy made without the authorization of the copyright holder).

1. (a) Is the person entitled under law to their money back?

• (b) Do they need to return the work? Destroy it? What can/must they do with it?

2. Note: I think the following question has the same answer as 1 (a), but I'm asking it anyway, in case there's something relevant, though the questions above are more important to me. Question: If the person can't get their money back from the seller, and used a credit card to buy it, are they entitled under law to not pay for it if they file the appropriate dispute with their credit card company (without getting a ding on their credit report for a 'bad debt')? (In other words, I think that iff the answer to 1 (a) is yes, the answer to this question is yes too.)

NOTES:

• I'm quite familiar with the usual legalities of credit card disputes, chargebacks and the main legislation - FCBA, FCRA, FDCPA, FACTA...
• I'm also fairly familiar with copyright in general. Assume it's a recent work; copyright expiration is irrelevant.
• I'd be happy with just a pointer to a secondary source where I'd be able to do further research myself, but, I'm not interested in an answer that doesn't include references of some kind - I want to know what laws exist, not what someone thinks it should be...
• I think the answersshould be yes, a refund is required, and they don't need to return it, and do need to destroy it, and debt incurred for pirated goods is not valid. But I don't know what they are.

I came close to finding answer in statute.
§ 509. Seizure and forfeiture:
They "may be seized and forfeited to the United States."
Let's assume the pirated goods have not been seized. That's the case I'm most interested in, and I can't find any statute that covers this question. --Elvey (talk) 16:59, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

In the UK, this would be covered by the Sale of Goods Act where goods must be "as described". Unless it's made clear at the time of purchase that it's an unauthorised copy without the copyright holder's permissions, then it's clearly not "as described" and the purchaser would be entitled to sue for their money back. I don't know US consumer rights, but wonder whether researching general consumer rights might not help? --Phil Holmes (talk) 17:09, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect that the answer to this is to be found not in copyright law but in law on fraud (recourse for the person who unwittingly bought stolen goods) and receipt of stolen goods (for disposition of the goods). Just a suggestion/idea. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:20, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This source (edited by Elvey: link disabled, as google says the site is spreading malware) says, "In the end, the only individual not liable for infringement in a transaction is the ultimate retail buyer (unless the buyer sells the infringing work)." --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 21:43, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That's interesting. This page regarding software piracy from the US Copyright Office left me with the impression that with the case of software, even the ultimate retail buyer could be liable, since infringement does not require you to be knowingly doing it. ("And if you do buy an illegal backup copy, you will be engaging in copyright infringement if you load that illegal copy onto your computer, i.e., the unauthorized reproduction of the infringing computer program into memory. ... Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed. "). But just that's my interpretation, not a legal opinion... --Mr.98 (talk) 10:44, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, all! Regarding the last two comments, looks like your sources suggest you're both right; it seems the retail buyer is not liable if it's a tangible work, but is if it's software. It looks like the statutory definition of "reproduction"/"unauthorized reproduction" is key; if it's narrow...

Mr.98: 1(a) is probably partly answerable as you suggested-good point. But piracy isn't theft; the original hasn't been taken from its rightful owner; it's just that copies have been made. So I doubt laws regarding "stolen property" would apply. As far as I can tell, the buyer has no legal obligation to turn in, return or destroy the item.

Whoops - I should have asked this in misc, not computing, as my question is about tangible works, not software. --Elvey (talk) 21:54, 18 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have just downloaded the latest version of Xcode from Apple's App Store so that I have a compiler for C++ but am confused by part of the setup process. Here, scroll down to "If your Xcode (version 3.2.1 or higher) window does has an iPhone OS option, then try the following." First of all, in my version, there is no 'Command Line Utility' as mentioned in the instructions; there is only 'Command Line Tool' as in the screenshot. Secondly, I can't see how to select C++ stdc++ and this becomes a problem later when, in another document, I am told to create a string with first line 'string s="hello";' and Xcode can't work with this, instead advising me to correct it to 'std::string s="hello"'. Can someone please tell me how to get it right? I'm only just beginning to learn C++ and I'd hate to fall at the first hurdle, i.e. setting it up. Thanks. meromorphic [talk to me] 19:13, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding the diff between "Command Line Tool" and "Command Line Utility", I suspect they renamed it at some point in the development process but failed to update all the documentation accordingly. StuRat (talk) 19:24, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Don't be discouraged. C++ is widely known as a "platform-specific programming language," and despite decades of effort to standardize it, C++ is still platform-specific. So the example code you see on your school website "might" not work exactly as-is on a different system. On the same note: your "bug" is an issue with the C++ Standard Library: anything that starts with "std" is a member of that library. So, a "std::string" is a standard C++ string, used for storing text, and accessible via standard string utilities.

You can safely use "std::string" - in fact, many programmers consider this to be better practice, because it never assumes that your string is standard unless you say it is. Xcode is trying to help you by not making any assumptions! Many compilers automatically include standard libraries - allowing you to drop the pesky std:: namespace preposition. Many programmers dislike it when the compiler does that sort of thing automatically - it might not be your intent to use the "std" namespace.

So, you have two options: at the top of your file, include the line "using namespace std;" ... or manually prepend std:: before each standard library function or object. Nimur (talk) 19:35, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, that's brilliant! Thank you both and especially you Nimur, for your extremely informative reply. meromorphic [talk to me] 19:47, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"Many compilers automatically include standard libraries - allowing you to drop the pesky std:: namespace preposition" – this makes no sense. You have to #include <string> if you want to use STL strings, with or without the std:: prefix, and you have to specify "using namespace std" (or "using std::string") if you want to omit the std:: prefix. There may be so-called "C++" implementations that don't require those things, but they aren't really C++. -- BenRG (talk) 20:27, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

To be fair, the root-cause is often an auto-generated precompiled header that includes standard libraries and namespaces. For example, Microsoft Visual C++ creates an entire set of headers and project configuration files at the start of every project. The novice C++ programmer can not always decipher how many things are going on behind the scenes of an IDE, which is why many teachers prefer to train students without an IDE. Nimur (talk) 21:57, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Wikipedians,

I've come for help on another SQL task I need a query for, first up I the sample data:

The "cartridge" table

then the "printers" table

I am looking for a query which will result in something like the following

I am kinda lost, I know that I have to use 'group_concat' and 'join' but I can't quite put my finger on how exactly. Guidance rather than a working example would be much appreciated (still rather new at sql in general)

Thanks in advance great jedis! PrinzPH (talk) 23:55, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If this were some other DBMS, I would utilize a table-returning or list-returning function to perform the split, but I don't think you can do that in MySQL. (My searches for MySQL based split functions yielded many results, but none I found produced a multi-row result in a form that could then be fed back into the calling query.) The next best thing appears to be the FIND_IN_SET function (see [1]). This will allow you to match rows from the cartridge table to the printer table. Something like:

	SELECT c.cartridge_id, p.model
	FROM cartridge c
	JOIN printers p ON FIND_IN_SET(c.cartridge_id, p.Cartridges_which_work) > 0

This may not be the most efficient method, but if it works, you should be able to wrap the results up with a GROUP BY and use the group_concat function to get the end results you are looking for. -- Tom N (tcncv) talk/contrib 01:18, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I know we're not supposed to, but why is the printers table not even meeting first normal form. Some exercise in masochism? --Tagishsimon (talk) 01:36, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This is what I noticed too. If you have the ability to change the schema, you should have only one printer model listed per row. You would have several rows for each cartridge, each containing one printer they are compatible with. This will make it easy to get a table that has the same information you are looking for in the end with just a simple where clause. Formatting it into a list could probably be done with some creative SQL, but would make more sense to do on the software side of things. Database Normalization explains why this change would be a very good thing to do. 209.131.76.183 (talk) 11:57, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed. To go further, I'd anticipate you'd have three tables; one listing printers, one listing cartridges, and a link table containing two columns being a foreign key pointer to a printer and a foreign key pointer to a cartridge. --Tagishsimon (talk) 12:27, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oh wow thanks for the replies... I never formally studied SQL so a couple of the concepts you mention are new to me and make a lot of sense. I am trying to streamline our company's database which for the longest time have been kept in excel form which is why it looks like the way it does. I will make the changes to the schema as suggested. I do not have a lot of time to dedicate to learning all the nuances of this, could you guys provide links to the top fundamentals I should know (aside from the Database Normalization and 1NF linked about). Again, thank you very much! PrinzPH (talk) 17:18, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Update: Just finished skimming through 1NF, and geez! I never realized how ignorant I was when it came to SQL. Very enlightening PrinzPH (talk) 17:42, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

And, just to state it explicitly, your "printers" table should look more like this (although I'd name it "PRINTER_CARTRIDGES", if that's all it's designed to tell you):

Your simplest SELECT statement would then look like this:

SELECT PC.CARTRIDGE_ID,PC.PRINTER_MODEL
  FROM PRINTER_CARTRIDGES PC
 ORDER BY PC.CARTRIDGE_ID,PC.PRINTER_MODEL;

This would functionally give you what you want, although it doesn't put all printers which use a given cartridge on a single line. Also note that, while we didn't use the CARTRIDGE table in this query, it's still useful to have, in that we can use it to verify that each CARTRIDGE_ID is valid before we enter it into the PRINTER_CARTRIDGES table. Without this, you typically end up with entries like "CART2", "CRTRDG 2", "CART02", "2", "02", "two", "II", "cartridge 2", etc., which makes for a real nightmare. StuRat (talk) 18:50, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Much appreciated Stu! :) I have made the changes and things have definitely been easier. Warm regards PrinzPH (talk) 18:56, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You're welcome. I will mark this Q resolved. StuRat (talk) 20:11, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

this is on my desktop Mac - I'm wondering if it's some sort of setting that's kicked in, but I can't see what it is. Can anyone help? Thanks Adambrowne666 (talk) 09:54, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like a mouse problem. Have you tried thoroughly cleaning the mouse and the mouse pad? Or using a different surface for the mouse?--Shantavira|^{feed me} 14:11, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Classic mouse gone bad....I have had that happen twice....Only thing to do is get a new mouse. Zeno333 (talk) 15:04, 13 July 2012 (UTC)Zeno333[reply]

Check your mouse sensitivity.--v/r - TP 19:43, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, all - i used to be a pc user, now a mac user, I face the issue of expense - replacing a mouse on my crappy old pc was a simpler matter - anyway, no worries - will try the other measures suggested here and see how i go Adambrowne666 (talk) 23:59, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have a MAC also..replacing the mouse on a MAC is really not more expensive than on a PC....I got a plain HP LED optical Mouse to replace a broken one, and the HP mouse said it was for PCs only, but it works fine on my MAC, including left and right clicks, the scroll wheel and the "control-key" scroll wheel web page zoom option. 24.170.135.182 (talk) 22:32, 15 July 2012 (UTC)zeno333[reply]

I recently bought a pack of the rare and special 90 minute blank CDs on ebay instead of the typical, mainstream 80 minute blank CDs that are sold on many stores. I burned 23 songs to one the 90 minute CDs through Roxio Creator DE 10.2. Then I played it on a digital radio CD player and a normal radio CD player and they were able to play 1 ½ songs, which means that on the middle of the second song on the CD, it stopped and both CD players tried to read it and then they gave up trying to read them, so the radio screens went back to displaying the number 23 like when I put the CD in the CD players of my 2 radios before I pressed play. That means that the CD players did recognize that there were 23 songs on the CD. So, that is the story of the first CD. In total, I burned 4 CDs. CDs number 2 and 4 for I put 22 songs instead of 23 to see if it would make any difference in how the CD players would play the CDs. Also to see if it would make any difference in how the CD players would play the CDs, for CDs number 3 (23 songs) and 4 (22 songs), I used the “overburn by sectors” option, which increased the space for burning by about 2 minutes, the maximum option, so instead of 90 minutes, the CD space became 92 minutes for burning. Both CD players were able to play every song except song number 23 on CD number 3, which was good. However, the CD players could only play the first 4 songs on CD number 4. So, is the problem the CD players that are having trouble reading parts of the four of the 90 minute CDs I burned or is problem the CDs themselves when I burned those songs to them? If the problem is the CD players, what kind of CD players should I get that will be able to play a 90 minute CD? Willminator (talk) 18:33, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm almost sure that 90 minute CDs violate the CD standard, not because of the number of minutes but because the tracks and perhaps the bits on each track are too close together. It's understandable that a player might be able to read the beginning of the disc (which is on the inside) but find the rest of it just a little outside the bounds of readability. There's probably no way to tell which players will reliably read non-compliant discs except actual testing. The total track count is stored in the table of contents at the beginning of the disc, so that's not evidence that the players could read anything from the rest of the disc. -- BenRG (talk) 20:37, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Most likely the problem isn't with one or the other, per se, but rather the combination. For example, the pits in the CD may be too small or close together for the CD player to read. The simplest solution is to give up on 90 minute CDs and settle for 80 minutes, which might mean two CDs instead of one per album (or you could just leave off your least favorite songs). (Even if you do find a CD player which can play those correctly, do you really want CDs that don't work on most other CD players ?) And, since CD seems to be a dying format (being replaced by flash drives and streaming music), I wouldn't invest much more money in it, in any case. StuRat (talk) 20:41, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

So, does that mean that I might have wasted my money buying a pack of 90 minute CDs? Also, why does the CD description on the ebay page say that if I put 80 minutes or less of music to a 90 minute CD, it would work on all CD players? Is it that the bits in the 90 minute CDs are normal when there are 80 minutes or less of music? Willminator (talk) 22:08, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Update: I checked CD nmumber 3 again since it was the one that played 22 out of 23 songs. It turns out that if I click next to play the next song, it will not go play song 23 even though the screen will display "23." However, if I let song 22 play, it will go to 23 and number 23 will play, thankfully. However, after 23, it will not go next back to song 1. 90 minute CDs are weird. Willminator (talk) 23:54, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

In that case, instead of putting smaller pits closer together, it sounds more like it's putting those pits (for minutes 80-90/92) into an area that's normally not used. If they work fine with 80 minutes, I'd just use them that way, in which case you only lose the difference in price between those and standard blank CDs (plus the cost of those CDs you've already turned into coasters).

In the future, you might want to ask yourself why something like that is so rare, since, obviously, everyone would like to have 10 extra minutes on their CDs, if it worked properly. At the very least, I'd do some online research before hitting the BUY button. StuRat (talk) 00:15, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, thanks for your helpful advice. Willminator (talk) 12:16, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You're welcome. Can we mark this resolved ? StuRat (talk) 03:22, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

On my user page, I am trying to use some CSS boxes. I know a good amount of CSS, but I am stumped here. I want the boxes on the left to take up whatever room is left over after the size of the infobox. Unfortunately, when the screen gets too small, everything shifts to the bottom. Please help!--v/r - TP 19:51, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You had your left side tables set to a width of 75% (that's 75% of whatever their parent is), and the infobox, {{user infobox}}, (by way of {{infobox}}) has a width of 22em, which not only will vary based on browser but also based on font availability, and also probably whatever zoom level a person is using. You'd want 75% plus 22em (which varies) [plus whatever extra margin the infobox has] to add up to no more than 100%, and you can't rely on it to, because trying to reconcile two different units of measurement like that is just not something that can be done. One simple solution is to change the widths of the left-side boxes to 100% (since they're tables, which collapse their border, padding, and outside margins inside their width) and then place them all in a single containing div with a margin-right that is big enough to accommodate the infobox, which is what I've gone ahead and done for you. ¦ Reisio (talk) 00:58, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Slightly better would be using div elements instead of table elements, as the table elements are technically (meaningfully) inappropriate; and div elements (meaningless organizational block elements) take up as much horizontal space as possible by default, which means that: once your infobox on the right ends, should your left-side content continue, it can go ahead and take up all the space including the extra space on the right that the infobox is no longer monopolizing. ¦ Reisio (talk) 01:22, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I use "Auto Filter" and "Standard Filter" in LibreOffice Calc 3.5.4.2 to view, analyse and edit various subsets (parts) of a spreadsheet.
Very often I need to take a quick peak at (and edit) the UNFILTERED spreadsheet BEFORE I AM FINISHED working with the filtered view.
Q: Is there some way to do this?
(Removing the filter and then Typing in the filter criteria anew, time and time again, is far to cumbersome).89.9.213.91 (talk) 23:21, 13 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I was wondering if there were particular pieces of software or certain companies that were most prone to virus attacks. I am struggling to find exact wording of this question to make it clear, but i will provide a couple of examples.

I have been told that users of windows get attacked much more often than users of linux or such. Reasons for this that ive heard are:

- Many people capable of making such attacks use/prefer linux, and hate microsoft for various crappy decisions theyve made over the years - More people are using windows, bigger victim pool. - Windows has many different protocols that allow programs to communicate with eachother, causing many loopholes and vulnerabilities that linux just doesnt have.

I do not claim massive accuracy to these reasons, they are just things i have heard, as i dont know a terrible ton about the topic.

Also, i confess that at the moment i have a setup at my house where the only thing available to me is AOL Dialup. I hear many similar things about AOL, how people hate it and that its basically the most unreliable most expensive dialup there is. For similar reasons, are users of AOL more targeted than the average user?

NOTE: This is NOT about how to avoid attacks. I don't do anything silly like go to shady websites etc etc. I'm just asking about what programs have properties that lend to high rates of attacks, and perhaps, how someone theoretically making a virus chooses their target/method. I know this is a huge topic, but id like whatever insight can be given. Am i correct to some extent about windows/AOL?

Thanks! 216.173.145.47 (talk) 00:09, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, having downloadable programs be easy to use and useful makes them vulnerable. For example, if it automatically downloads new versions onto your computer and changes all your configuration files to make it work best. StuRat (talk) 00:19, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

So, somehow, auto configuration makes it worse? or is it the fact that it downloads without user consent, which can somehow be exploited?

PS: I find this funny since AOL's slogan is "So easy to use, no wonder its #1!".... although i find it bloated and only easy to use if youre not pc literate and dont know that there is better out there :o </side comment> 216.173.145.47 (talk) 00:26, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The number of installations is obviously a factor. Besides that, culture is important. Linux inherited some nice features of the unix culture, such as "don't do stuff as root without a good reason" - which was already deeply ingrained before Windows even had the concept of a non-privileged user.

Not only are the Windows installations more abundant, they are also less diverse (see monoculture (computer science) - oh, there's a stub that needs expanding) which means that attackers have to do less work to capture a larger slice of the target population.

Bug count comparisons aren't as important as the cultural differences and the abundance of near-identical targets. 98.226.12.79 (talk) 09:34, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Here are my two cents-

• windows is closed source - loopholes are harder to find (compared to linux / FOSS) but still accessible to a determined hacker. Once found, these are reported and closed less effectively. (Security through obscurity)

• Bigger target pool in desktop users.

• see [2]. Linux traditionally is harder to use. It does not try to be idiot proof. Instead many simple operations require quite a bit of understanding and tinkering to carry out. This makes the average linux user more tech savvy and more security aware than the average windows user. I think that this is the most important reason for the lack of linux/Free BSD malware despite most servers running them. sysadmins and hackers won't engage in risky computer behaviour and will immediately recognize most malware. (now this is changing though)

• Then there are other strong points- applications are restricted to a tiny subset of files (apparmour /SELinux) to prevent a hacked app from reaching a users other files. (e.g. a pdf reader can only access one pdf file per instance). Hacked user apps cannot attack other users or the OS by having security clearance required at every file access, etc.

Staticd (talk) 10:56, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

On firefox, i notice an issue that occurs sometimes when i have enough tabs at the top that i have to scroll through them (there will be left and right scroll buttons next to the tabs)

I generally have alot of tabs open, and i recall one time where i had as much as 40!!!! But this issue has occured when ive had as little as 12 or so tabs open, so im thinking its not that i max out my memory use or reach some sort of limit of the firefox browser.

Anyeay, the issue im having is that when i create a new tab, it sometimes doesnt show up on the right side. Its there, but i have to click a random tab, click "scroll tabs right", click a DIFFERENT tab, scroll again, etc, until the right most tab is fully shown. (Each time i click scroll right, it only scrolls part way over). It sometimes goofs up even more, to where if i want to scroll in either direction at all i have to use the same method.

Is this a known firefox bug for an earlier version? (Will updating to latest version fix this?) What the hell is causing it in the first place? Any thoughts?

Thanks! 216.173.145.47 (talk) 00:22, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have a workaround for you: Open a new window once in a while, and only have up to a dozen tabs in each window. You could have one with games, one with Wikipedia pages, etc. And, of course, try to have fewer total tabs open. (I find it hard to believe you were actually using all 40, and that will just use more resources and slow down you computer.) Also, as a practical matter, finding the tab you want when there are that many can be painful. StuRat (talk) 00:47, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If you are really attached to using lots of tabs (as I am) you might find the firefox extension Tree Style Tab [3] useful - this presents your tabs at the side of the browser and allows you to collapse/rearrange groups of tabs. I often find myself needing to have 50+ tabs open since I receive articles from academic journals as RSS feeds, and go through them opening the articles I'm interested in for further skimming. I find it much more efficient to avoid multitasking by going through the whole list first and then going through the interesting articles afterwards - I find that this extension makes working with even that many tabs really easy. Equisetum (talk | contributions) 11:56, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There's a pref (or two?) in about:config somewhere where you can configure the width of tabs so they collapse farther down (like to the size of the webpage shortcut icon only) instead of taking up so much space... IIRC this was the old default behavior or close to it, and I've always reverted back to it. Otherwise I'd also suggest tree style tab. ¦ Reisio (talk) 02:18, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I got following message supposedly from Amazon:

"Hello Osman Rafi,

This is an important message from Amazon.com

At Amazon we take your security and privacy very seriously. As part of our routine monitoring, we discovered a list of email address and password sets posted online. While the list was not Amazon-related, we know that many customers reuse their passwords on several websites. We believe your email address and password set was on that list. So we have taken the precaution of resetting your Amazon.com password. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused but felt that it was necessary to help protect you and your Amazon account."

The message goes on recommending me that I go to amazon.com and change my password. It looks like a phishing scam, but, the amazing thing is that there was no link in the email and no attachment. So, how does the scam work? OsmanRF34 (talk) 00:51, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think this is probably legit, as a large list of passwords was recently leaked (from Yahoo), and googling parts of the text of this message suggests that Amazon used it legitimately before after a similar leak (from Gawker). In any case, you should be able to find out if it's true by going to amazon.com and trying to log in. -- BenRG (talk) 02:09, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I was afraid of going there because I thought my browser might be compromised, and they were trying to trick me into going to a site were I would have to type my password. But no. In the mean time I discovered that Amazon indeed is sending this email, since Yahoo passwords were compromised. Were it phishing, it would have been the first phishing message without spells on my whole life. OsmanRF34 (talk) 03:20, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have many documents created using MS Office 2000 Word and Excel. If I install MS Office 2010 Word and Excel on my computer, will I still be able to view and edit these documents using the new software? Also, will the installation automatically remove MS Office 2000 from my computer or can I keep this as well, in parallel with MS Office 2010? Grateful if anyone could advise. Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jandmtaylor (talk • contribs) 08:17, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The 2000 docs are almost certainly readable under 2010. However, it is possible that, if you read them in 2010 and store them again, they will no longer be readable by MS Office 2000. StuRat (talk) 08:27, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Microsoft Word and Excel 2010 are backward compatibel with 97-2003 file formats and features. That's the official version. In the practice, some things can look strange. OsmanRF34 (talk) 17:17, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note though that depending on your operating system, some functionality may be broken. New versions of Office for Macs, for example, no longer support VBScript, completely breaking all backwards support for spreadsheets or documents that require it.

I have, in the past, been able to store multiple versions of Office on a Mac without any difficulties. I don't know about Windows, though — if they share Registry settings it may create conflicts. --Mr.98 (talk) 17:25, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I am trying to write the simplest opf programs in C++. All I want to do is get the program to request two inputs 'a' and 'b', add them output 'The sum of a and b is [a+b].' but the build fails every time I try it.

#include <iostream>

#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main ()

{
    int a;
    int b;
    
    cin >> a;
    cin >> b;
    
    int c;
    c=a+b;

    cout << "The sum of "<< a <<" and "<< b <<" is "<< c << "."<< endl;
    
}

Can someone please have a look at the code above and see if he or she can spot an error? Thanks. meromorphic [talk to me] 20:12, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That looks fine, and works for me. Are you sure you're compiling it with the compiler in C++ mode (e.g. g++ not gcc) and not C mode? -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:43, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If you are going to ask for help with a problem, you should report what system you are using to build the program and exactly what error message you get when it fails. Looie496 (talk) 20:48, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I am extremely new to programming in C++ and to using Xcode (in fact, prior to a few days ago I'd only ever used Matlab) so it's difficult for me to know what's what at the moment. For example, I don't know how to put it in the 'mode' (or whatever the term is) that is appropriate for my programming needs, i.e. that would make my code work. Would someone please direct me? meromorphic [talk to me] 21:04, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, you're using Xcode. That's a start. What is the error message you get when the build fails? Looie496 (talk) 21:14, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

(At all stages, please bear with me since I may give the wrong answer to seemingly obvious questions.) Xcode identifies no errors with the code but when I click on the 'play' button, it says 'Build Failed' and an exclamation mark inside a red octagon appears. When I click on it, on the LHS it says 'Dependency Analysis Error'. On investigating this, it tells me 'Build setting PRODUCT_NAME undefined'. I can't see anything else that might be of use in diagnosing the problem. Is this helpful? meromorphic [talk to me] 21:29, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it means the problem is not in this C++ code, but in some other stuff Xcode wants you to set up so that it can create an interface for your program. Not having ever used Xcode, I can't help you with that, but maybe somebody else can. If I were facing this problem, I would hunt around for something that says "Product name", but of course I really don't know whether that would be useful. Looie496 (talk) 21:45, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

My personal prejudices militate against using an IDE (although I've never used Xcode), but simply using the tools from the command line. This Stackoverflow question shows the command-line options for using g++ to compile C++ on MacOS. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 21:48, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your link but please don't forget how new I am to all of this; of the three suggestions on that page, which one do I want and where exactly should it go in my code? And do any alterations need to be made to what I have currently? I've tried all three at the top of my code, to no avail. meromorphic [talk to me] 21:57, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

THe operant point is that your code is fine, but the way you're compiling it is the problem. That code simply has you invoking the command line C++ compiler directly (g++ yourcodefile.cpp). So you'd do that using a terminal window. But it looks like Looie496's suggestion should fix the particular problem you're having in this case. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:05, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

A quick Google search for the error message (always a good thing to try) yields the following answer: You need to modify the Product Name build setting. Set the product name to what you want the application name to be. The Product Name build setting is part of the Packaging build settings collection.. Looie496 (talk) 21:51, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

In other words, you missed a step when setting up the project. Consult the Xcode "Getting Started Guide" here: Start a Project for future reference. To fix your current project, type "Command 1" and select your project (which should be towards the top on the left) and edit your build settings, ensuring that your product name is correctly set and is valid. Again, reference Project Editor Help, Edit Basic Settings for Mac OS X Projects. (For the other readers, "product name" would equate to the argument -o output.x, were one to invoke the g++ compiler on the command line; of course, in Xcode, the product might not be a compiled binary, or might not use g++, so this more general interface automates the build configuration and generates the correct output, invoking one or more compile or build steps suitable to the product or target type). Nimur (talk) 23:16, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

OK, that seems to have made it work. Thank you all for your help. I now have a new, and, no doubt, equally simplistic, problem though. Where am I supposed to enter the value of 'a' and 'b'? When I run the code, it says 'Build Succeeded' and I think it's waiting for me to input the respective values but I don't know where/how to do so. Any ideas? I'm working in Xcode remember. Thanks. meromorphic [talk to me] 10:02, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

While I do develop on a Mac, I don't use XCode, but rather traditional UNIX tools. So take the following with a grain of salt. What you have done is build a program that reads from stdin and writes to stdout. These are I/O streams from the world of text terminals, and are by default connected to your "controlling terminal" (in practice usually the text terminal you run the program from). XCode seems to run your code in gdb, the GNU Debugger. You can access its text streams if you click on the little icon labelled "gdb" that appears when you click "Build and run". Alternatively, go to where you saved the project and run the program from the terminal: Open a terminal, enter "cd Documents/adder/build/Debug/ <return> ./adder <return>" (this assumes that your project is stored in "Documents" and is called "adder" - substitute as necessary. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 11:17, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I can't see the gdb button (no extra buttons appear when I click 'Build and Run', at least for my setup of Xcode) and when you say terminal, do you mean the program 'Terminal' that comes as standard with a Mac? I'm also a bit confused by this suggestion; is debugging necessary? I thought I only needed to find a way to enter the values of the variables 'a' and 'b'? meromorphic [talk to me] 15:33, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Review this document, Xcode Basics: Building and Running Your Code. Make sure that your selected scheme is configured to properly run your program. (If you missed a step during project setup, as I suspected earlier, you might also need to manually edit your scheme with the correct settings). Finally, check the Debug Area, where your program's standard in and standard out area (as well as debug information) will be displayed.

Alternately, as has been suggested, you can build your program and then launch it outside of Xcode, using the Terminal. Option-click on the build-product and "show in Finder." Navigate to that folder in terminal, and run the application.

Strictly answering your question: you do not "need" to debug your program. However, unlike the raw unix-style command-line tools, (where you either ran a debugger, or you did not)... Xcode's distinction between "running" and "debugging" lies along a continuous spectrum - especially if you are compiling with the llvm toolchain. Advanced programmers - see LLVM Compiler Overview.

As you are no doubt finding, Xcode's toolset is geared to the professional developer's workflow for developing Mac and iOS applications on OS X. It is fair to say that your "Hello World" program could be written, built, and executed, all without using Xcode, and would probably save you some difficulty. But, some day, you may progress past Hello World, and if you design application software, you may find the Xcode toolset very helpful, once you get above the early-stage learning curve. Nimur (talk) 18:19, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

[I can but hope that the rest of C++ is less complex than setting it up appears to be.] Ok, I have managed to change the debugger from LLDB to GDB. And, if I pause the program whilst it's running by clicking on the pause button at the top of the debug area, the 'Local' variables are displayed as 'a = (int) 0', preceded by a blue box with a white capital 'l' inside (and the same, respectively, for 'b' and 'c'). I still can't see how to enter the values of 'a', 'b' and 'c' though. I have looked at the documents that have been linked in to this thread but I am an extremely basic programmer and I find them confusing. I'm afraid to say that I am just not experienced enough to know what to do. Can anyone offer any more help? meromorphic [talk to me] 10:21, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You said that you can press the pause button and see local variables...which means the program is running somewhere. It's likely that as a novice you don't exactly know where...so the problem might be is that because your program doesn't provide any output before it takes input, you might not "see" it running...it might look like an empty new line in one of the windows. Try the following...you should see "This is a simple addition program." in one of the windows:

#include <iostream>
//#include <string>//not needed yet

using namespace std;

int main ()
{
    //declaring uninitialized variables
    int a, b, c;

    cout << "This is a simple addition program." << endl;

    //Get value a
    cout << "Enter value for a: ";
    cin >> a;

    //Get value b
    cout << "Enter value for b: ";
    cin >> b;

    //Set c to sum of a and b 
    c = a + b;

    //Output result
    cout << "The sum of " << a << " and " << b << " is " << c << "." << endl;

    return 0;
}

Also, C++ is challenging...it's usually not used by novices anymore. Is there a particular reason you want to start learning programming with C++?Smallman12q (talk) 13:07, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

As Nimur has pointed out: The main problem is not C++ in this case (though that does have its own unspeakable depths), it's that XCode is not geared to make the first simple steps for a very simple program very simple - XCode is geared towards efficient development of complex programs, mostly using Apples large libraries and GUI frameworks. If you have the experience with tools, you can develop command line programs (I managed to figure it out ;-), but its not as simple as typing "g++ hello.cc; ./a.out" anymore, in particular since XCode does not offer an obvious terminal into which to type these things... --Stephan Schulz (talk) 15:51, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you so much Smallman! It is finally working. Thanks to everyone who helped, indulged and had patience with me throughout this protracted saga! Happy Editing! meromorphic [talk to me] 19:19, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

 – Happy to help out.Smallman12q (talk) 21:43, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Greetings, oh mighty and exalted Wikibrain.

I humbly ask that you might aid me in my quest for knowledge.

I am using an iPhone app on an iPad2, as there is no native iPad version of this app. Because it's an iPhone app you're given the choice of either having a tiny app in the middle of the screen, or scaling it to fill the whole screen. This is toggled by pressing a 1x/2x onscreen button in the corner.

I use this app (and indeed, all iPhone apps on my iPad) in 2x mode. I have no interest in 1x mode, it's of no use to me at all. The problem is I'm using a drum machine program, and occasionally I'll accidentally hit the zoom button, rescaling the app, and completely screwing up my rhythm.

So, my question is this: Is there any way to get rid of this button completely and just make the iPad always use 2x mode? I've gone through all the settings in the control panel, and didn't see anything, nor did a Google search turn anything up.

Am I just going to have to learn to be more precise with my onscreen drumming?

Any help appreciated! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.113.29.67 (talk) 02:14, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm cleaning out my place and I have a ton of old computers and computer parts. By 'old', I mean stuff that's 5-10 years old or so. For example, I have boxes of old printer cables, video cards, sound cards, etc.. These are PC parts, not Mac. What should I do with them? I hate to throw them out, since they're still working (or they were working years ago). I know I could try to sell them on eBay, but I honestly don't think they're worth much, and probably not worth my time trying to sell them. What should I do? A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 15:58, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There are several things I do with them, depending on what they are and if they work.

• If they don't work, I save them up and once a year we have an "electronics recycling", where they take anything except TVs and send them to be recycled, mainly getting the metals.

• If it works but is a little out of date, we have a place called the "STAR Foundation" that takes anything except CRT monitors. They put together systems so that people can use them to learn computer skills. They don't care if it is 5+ years out of date. Last week I gave them a 15 inch LCD monitor. About a month ago I gave them a laser printer that works, but has XP and Vista drivers only, and now I have only Windows 7. I've given them modem cards, video cards, memory modules, etc, and said "use them if you can, otherwise recycle them".

• Other than that, I might take it to Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:50, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

In Saskatchewan here we have SARCAN, which accepts used consumer electronics of all kinds. Useable products and parts are either sent to charity or sold with the proceeds supporting community programs, and unusable products are recycled. Perhaps you have something similar in Chicago, like freegeekchicago.org? BigNate37_(T) 18:00, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

As a teacher of "hands-on" computer courses, I often introduce students to the hardware aspects of computers by getting them to take apart old ones, photographing and documenting what they find as they proceed. We are capable of demolishing a lot of computers that way. See if a local school running such courses could make use of your old equipment. HiLo48 (talk) 18:05, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

eBay! Shadowjams (talk) 22:48, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

One caution: Don't donate hard drives, they may still contain personal info. It's possible to delete it all, but far easier just to destroy them. The value of a 5 year old hard disk is quite minimal, anyway. StuRat (talk) 22:51, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Actually since wiping a drive sufficient to make data recovery nearly impossible is fairly easy (at most you may risk a tiny amount of data in reallocated sectors if you don't use the HD's erase function or it's improperly implemented) whereas actually destroying a drive is something that's likely more difficult for the average user to do right, and know they did right, wiping the drive makes far more sense. Sure throwing a drive up and down or hitting it with a rubber mallet will probably kill it, but there's no guarantees. Nil Einne (talk) 03:23, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think I could figure out how to destroy one. Might be fun.  :-) StuRat (talk) 03:42, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The Freecycle Network. Mitch Ames (talk) 09:03, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Dear Wikipedians:

I use a Mophie battery, pictured here:

to provide in-the-field charging of my smartphone when I am outside.

However, however, when I attempt to charge the Mophie battery itself using the Belkin charger (a surge protector with 2 USB charge ports), pictured here:

I find that all four led indicators on my Mophie battery lights up simultaneously (only three led indicators are lighted in the photo above, indicating the power level of the Mophie battery at 3/4), whereas normally, while the battery itself is being charged, the led indicator for the current power level at which the battery is being charged is supposed to blink, while the led indicators for the power levels that have already been charged should stay constantly lit, that way I know the progress of the charging process for my Mophie battery. And I find that no matter how long I keep my Mophie battery plugged into the Belkin charger, the battery won't be charged, I know this because after I have removed my Mophie battery from my Belkin charger and press the power-level indicator button on my Mophie battery only 1 indicator light would light up.

The thing is, my Mophie battery will charge properly with either my Google Nexus smartphone power adapter or my Blackberry Playbook charger (the Blackberry Playbook charger unit is shown in the photo of the Belkin charger, it is the black rectangular (with round corners) fat adapter with some plastic wrappings pasted around it that is plugged into one of the regular AC-main power sockets on the Belkin charger), you know, one of those direct AC-Main to micro USB charger units. I find the inability of my Mophie battery to be charged on my Belkin charger to be very frustrating and would appreciate any insights you may have on how I can make my Mophie battery properly charge on my Belkin charger's USB charging ports.

Thanks for all your help,

L33th4x0r (talk) 17:21, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I do not know for sure what the problem is, but I found in the USB article the following:

"The USB 1.x and 2.0 specifications provide a 5 V supply on a single wire from which connected USB devices may draw power. The specification provides for no more than 5.25 V and no less than 4.75 V (5 V±5%) between the positive and negative bus power lines. For USB 3.0, the voltage supplied by low-powered hub ports is 4.45–5.25 V.[42]

A unit load is defined as 100 mA in USB 2.0, and 150 mA in USB 3.0. A device may draw a maximum of 5 unit loads (500 mA) from a port in USB 2.0; 6 (900 mA) in USB 3.0. There are two types of devices: low-power and high-power. A low-power device draws at most 1 unit load, with minimum operating voltage of 4.4 V in USB 2.0, and 4 V in USB 3.0. A high-power device draws at most the maximum number of unit loads permitted by the standard. Every device functions initially as low-power but the device may request high-power and will get it if the power is available on the providing bus."

So I think the problem could be that one adapter uses a different USB version and delivers a lower maximim current, than what your battery needs. --helohe (talk) 22:51, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Is there any free online service which makes a full vulnerability scan, lets say with OpenVAS or Nessus, Nmap and nikto, on my ip address? I can not test it locally because I would like to find out if my system is vulnerable from the outside (WAN side). --helohe (talk) 23:00, 15 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know exactly what sort of vulnerability you're referring to, but Shields Up amy do what you want.--Phil Holmes (talk) 14:45, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

They may mean testing of firewalls, virus attacks, etc.--Canoe1967 (talk) 15:26, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You probably mean an online port scanner such as [4], [5].Smallman12q (talk) 21:34, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I open a file in Ruby and, then do:

size = 0
file.each_byte do |byte|

size += 1

end
puts size

For some reason the final result turns out to be far smaller than the size of the file. I have a file that is 1 gig that tells me it read only 4000 some bytes. Any idea what is going on? Originally I was trying to operate on each byte of a file and save the result (which should be the same size), I always ended up with something smaller, hence the reason I'm running the above test in the first place. If it helps, I'm using ruby 1.9 on 64bit windows 7. Also, if it helps: the final output varies file to file, but is always the same when run on the same file. Thanks:-)71.195.84.120 (talk) 01:41, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Apparently, the file needs to be opened using rb not just r...so problem resolved71.195.84.120 (talk) 02:16, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Good, I will mark it resolved. StuRat (talk) 03:20, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

Resolved

Until recently I used an old Microsoft Natural keyboard, until it suddenly lost three letters (zxb) from its repertoire. I bought a new MS Natural with "IntelliType" software, which has some pleasant features, but the F# keys no longer do their standard MacOS functions. With IntelliType active, they do things like Save and Print; with IntelliType disabled, they do nothing. The "Microsoft Keyboard" control panel (in System Preferences) says of the F# keys only – falsely – that they are "Handled by Mac OS".

I can't be the only one to have faced this mess! The next thing I try will be to uninstall IntelliType entirely. —Tamfang (talk) 01:52, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm. This blog is written by someone facing pretty much the opposite mess - that the F-keys only do the standard functions and not the extended options. However, he seems to have narrowed it down to issues between the driver software and Mac OS, so removing IntelliType may be the best option. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 06:38, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That blog page indirectly gave me the simplest answer to my problem: toggle "F Lock" (a key beside F12). Now the F# keys behave as expected. —Tamfang (talk) 19:13, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Whenever i save some picture from a website, a number is automatically assigned to its name.What is that number? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Amrahs (talk • contribs) 14:47, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Without knowing the site there isn't really an accurate way to answer this. Could you give an example filename? Websites generate filenames based on all sorts of different things, for example the date (such as a unix timestamp), how many previous files are on the server, or a random number. Your browser or an extension could also be generating these numerical filenames. AvrillirvA (talk) 15:22, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think that is the file name that the website uses. Try downloading one from wikipedia or commons and see if any strange numbers are added?--Canoe1967 (talk) 15:25, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What is that website?--Shantavira|^{feed me} 16:18, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If the filename is the same as another file already in the directory you're downloading to, many browsers will add a number (and continue to add an incremented number as many times as you do it) instead of replacing the existing file. ¦ Reisio (talk) 02:21, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I am looking for an idea for the header part of a website. Don't need any actual code, but just an inspiration. Basically I have two blocks of links that I want to arrange:

Block A: Home (could perhaps also go to block B), Part 1, Part 2 Block B: About us, contact, etc.

By blocks, I mean links that belong logically together and links in one block should have the same style but be distinguished graphically from those of the other block. Any website I was looking at only had a single row of links which all have the same style. Any suggestions on an example website or any other ideas would be appreciated. bamse (talk) 15:50, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What's the question? I happened to have this page [6] open in another tab, which has three rows of links - one for sections of the BBC site, one for categories of news, and one local areas. This sounds like what you've described, but surely you wanted something more than a link to the first website I saw?  Card Zero  (talk) 16:54, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, in fact something like that could work. Ideally the design would emphasize the fact that there are two main parts (Part 1 and Part 2) to the site, but will think about the bbc design. bamse (talk) 19:35, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It would help to know what the subject matter is, as some subjects may lend themselves to graphics. For example if "Part 1" is "mammals" and "Part 2" is "birds", you could have a pic of each family be the link to those items. An icon of a house is frequently used to represent the home page. StuRat (talk) 20:04, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately more boring than that. It is an auction/marketplace site and part 1 would be all the auctions and part 2 would be a listing of marketplace items (i.e. items for which user can make offers which are then accepted/rejected by the seller). bamse (talk) 20:38, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

An auctioneer's hammer sounds good as an icon for the first one. The 2nd one is a bit trickier. Maybe one person handing money to another while that person hands a box to the first ? StuRat (talk) 03:46, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hey all; I'm typing this message from my desktop PC because I've managed to spill a quantity (maybe 1/5 cup?) of semi-skimmed milk onto my laptop computer. Immediately afterwards, I did the obvious things - clean up the residue, turn the laptop over - but despite these efforts the keyboard does not function properly. At first, it was just that some keys fired for multiple letters (so both i and o would trigger the sequence "io", for example) but now I've noticed that a couple of the keys plain aren't working. We're about 24 hours on now. Should I continue to wait - and if so, how long? - or get someone to open it up properly and take a look? (The computer functions fine otherwise, it's just the keyboard that's botched.) I opened up the bit you're "supposed" to open up but I can't get close to the keyboard like that. Regards, - Jarry1250 ^{[Deliberation needed]} 18:07, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Try compressed air (that comes in cans) + removing the keys. the keys of my laptop can be removed. you can just pop them off. Verify that yours can be removed too (probably yes). Clean the removed keys with soap, let them dry. Clean the laptop with the air can OsmanRF34 (talk) 19:31, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

My keys can be removed, but they reveal a plastic surface with holes through which the actual plastic press-sensors project; which bit do you think is worth cleaning? - Jarry1250 ^{[Deliberation needed]} 21:31, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Another option is an external keyboard. As long as you have a free connector which matches the keyboard (presumably USB), that should work. It does make the laptop less portable, but promises to completely fix the problem at a minimal cost (or even free, if you have an extra keyboard or can borrow the one off your desktop PC when you use the laptop). You might even prefer it, as typing on the mini-keyboard on a typical laptop can be painful. StuRat (talk) 19:53, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I've already ordered a PS2-to-USB converter to get my spare keyboard attached, which is a good suggestion -- but I take my laptop everywhere, so I'll need to get it fixed at some point I think.

A third option is to use an on-screen keyboard operated by the mouse, but I'd only suggest that if your typing needs are quite minimal. StuRat (talk) 19:58, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, I do too much typing for that :P But I did try it, useful for getting my files off. - Jarry1250 ^{[Deliberation needed]} 21:31, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict × 2) I take it the entire keyboard cannot be easily removed (for cleaning or replacement) from the laptop? (some can). I would suggest getting it looked at ASAP. Skim milk might not be too acidic on it's own, but any residue as it goes 'off' possibly could be and cause corrosion and permanent damage, or just as you are experiencing cause key malfunction. If you have any cleaning agent like freon that would be good to use on the keyboard only, if possible. Googling "milk in laptop keyboard" returned "How to Thoroughly Clean Your Keyboard (Without Breaking Anything)" which covers general external KB cleaning, and "Laptop troubleshooting forum: Milk spilled over laptop keyboard", "milk in keyboard" got "So I spilled milk over my laptop..." and "Getting-milk-out-of-computer-keyboard", with suggestions that might help. (A rather common misfortune it seems!:-( ) Hope these lks help. - 220 of ^Borg 20:02, 16 July 2012 (UTC) Edited my comments 220 of ^Borg 20:11, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the links, I'll have a look. - Jarry1250 ^{[Deliberation needed]} 21:31, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know how long you might need to wait, but I once dropped a phone in water and it took over 72 hours before it dried out enough to be used. I had tried it at 60-ish hours and it still wasn't working. So I'd say give it a while yet. If the keyboard is completely borked it is possible to replace the keyboard - it's fairly easily done since people sometimes want to change from one locale to another (e.g. moving from Britain to France and changing their keyboard to suit). It's also cheaper than a new laptop at around $50 (based on my 2-year old Dell machine). If you're reasonably handy with a screwdriver you should have no issues, and you'll probably find instructions at http://www.insidemylaptop.com/ or by Googling '[your laptop manufacturer & model] replace keyboard'. Of course, that assumes that no lasting damage has been done to the circuit boards underneath your keyboard. Not sure how you'd know if that was the case. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 20:05, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oooh, I'll have to have a look, thanks. - Jarry1250 ^{[Deliberation needed]} 21:31, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, thanks all. It looks like it's not difficult to change the keyboard, so I'm going to wait for it to dry out a little more, and if it's still broken I'll buy a replacement keyboard (£24.99). Cheers, - Jarry1250 ^{[Deliberation needed]} 21:59, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Many laptop manufacturers have a service manual downloadable from their website, though it can be tricky to find. This contains detailed instructions about taking your laptop apart and putting it back together again. Whatever you do, keep track of which screw came out of which hole - they sometimes vary in length to avoid touching internal components - and take your time and don't force anything. The keyboard is usually one of the easier components to replace. You could wash your keyboard (with water) to remove any milk residue, then dry it thoroughly before putting it back in your laptop. Astronaut (talk) 11:21, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

In a real life career setting, how much is knowledge is normally required from Computer Scientist about a subject matter different from CS? For example, programs normally for processing language, layout, pictures, movies would need knowledge from language, layout, pictures, movies, AND cs knowledge, how well can you divide the CS work from the subject matter (language, layout, pictures, movies) and still produce good results? OsmanRF34 (talk) 19:25, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It is most efficient to have a single person who knows it all. Slightly less efficient is to have a team, where one knows computer science, and the other knows the subject matter, that work together simultaneously. They have to work together closely though, or you can get some rather poor results. Another even less efficient method is to do it by iteration. That is, someone who knows the subject matter comes up with the specs, then the CS people make a program, then they show it to the first group, who then suggests changes, and back and forth several times. StuRat (talk) 19:43, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It sounds like you should read about software engineering - the discipline of designing and creating software products, which is a very different discipline from computer science. Nimur (talk) 19:47, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

OK, software engineering, not CS. My business logic keep being the same. OsmanRF34 (talk) 22:47, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

When I used to write accounting systems, the fact that I know what A=L+P meant and what Debits and credits were, enabled me to understand exactly what the accountants for whom I was writing the software, really wanted. --TrogWoolley (talk) 19:51, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Osman, what you refer to as knowledge about different subject matter is commonly called business logic by those in the software industry. The degree to which you can separate the technical work from the work requiring knowledge of the business logic varies depending on the size and scope of the project. In a sports game like those produced by 2K Sports, there is a team of 10-30 people involved in the day-to-day technical development of the software, whereas there only needs to be roughly three to five people (depending on how you count them) who possess and apply a knowledge of the sport on a regular basis. The rest of the team is able to perform their duties with only a tangential knowledge of the subject matter of the software. In smaller settings, e.g. a database programmer working amongst accountants, that programmer will need to have a thorough knowledge of the business logic. BigNate37_(T) 19:59, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sometimes software does not model business procedures. Do you still call it business logic then? It sounds a little bit forced when talking about image processing or computer games, for example. OsmanRF34 (talk) 22:48, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Terms like user friendly and ergonomic still apply. That's not as industry specific, though. For example, in pretty much any application users would prefer to use a pull-down list with a small number of items, rather than type in the name of one. This is true whether it's a pull-down for shipping options or to select a weapon for a game. But there could be game-specific knowledge, like wanting access to your healing potions from the panel where you view your health status, or, in the previous example, also having hot keys available to swap weapons, drink potions, etc. Similarly, in image processing software, you might want hot keys to change brightness, etc. StuRat (talk) 03:50, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It's still business logic, formally speaking. Although in common parlance we didn't call it as much when I was working in a games studio. It was more like I would say something to the effect of "that's not how baseball works" and then if my uninitiated co-worker decided to question me, we would walk over to the resident expert and ask him a baseball question. But it's still business logic. Of course in that example, business logic also includes things like how to score a multiplayer game when one user disconnects during an online league game, which doesn't involve baseball rules per se. Granted, I'm only going on my personal experiences here, I can't provide you any links to verify that. The article on business logic seems to define it rather narrowly. BigNate37_(T) 04:47, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Whenever I'm working on any application I've generally considered the information about how a user should experience the application (game or otherwise) to be the "business logic" and the implementation to be system logic. For example, a game needing to allow the player to swing something to hit another player is the business logic, but the way the collision is detected is system logic. Depending on the freedom granted to the developers and the vision of the designers this line can swing very far in either direction. Chris M. (talk) 19:57, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I am not exactly new to java, but i could never do stuff with applets properly. I'm currently trying to make an applet for independent research, NOT for homework, and its not working.

When i view the applet on the webpage, it simply shows a gray viewing area. I'm thinking ive done something silly, like added all the components, but failed to "show" them somehow in the paint method?

Either way, here is my source: http://pastebin.com/t1HvR5hb

Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you! 172.163.37.111 (talk) 05:01, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You're adding all your UI components to a JFrame that you create and then do nothing with. You don't use the JFrame for applets, only for applications (some java programs are written to work either stand-alone or as an applet, and they will make clever use of the main(String[]) and init() methods to dynamically decide whether to put their content into a JFrame or into the content pane of a JApplet). In a JApplet, you should invoke getContentPane() directly, and add your UI components to that. BigNate37_(T) 06:35, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• Here's a new version of your init() method. I didn't go to the trouble of testing it for errors, but it should help get the point across in case I didn't explain it well. BigNate37_(T) 06:38, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This helped. However, i now have another issue. The applet does not show if i have the source state a package name. It will say "main (Wrong name main/attractors)" ...... Taking the package off means it works. This is rather annoying as i would like to have a package so that i can make some runnable information in a separate class. How can i do this without this error? 172.162.231.158 (talk) 15:45, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

So I'm editing a Wikipedia page using my IPad and I want to find text, say all instances of a refname. How do I search for text on a webpage when I have no CTRL-F? I know this is a pretty basic question, sorry, I've been using keyboard shortcuts since before they were shortcuts. ;-) Itsmejudith (talk) 17:55, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Here: "When in safari tap the search field in the upper right and enter the word you are searching for. The google suggestions will appear but beneath them it will say "on this page" and you can tap that to run a word search." - Cucumber Mike (talk) 18:09, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Cool. Do people say that to you all the time, Mike? I hope so. Itsmejudith (talk) 19:34, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't want to mess around; I just want to get everything. I recall that the best way to do that is Web2C, but I can't find that in the APT cache. Is there an APT package that installs everything, or do I need to download Web2C and go around APT? --Trovatore (talk) 19:13, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I recommend TeX Live, which is the default LaTeX for Ubuntu. Looie496 (talk) 19:19, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks much. Do you know if it includes, say, PGF and TikZ? --Trovatore (talk) 19:27, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]