Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 March 29

= March 29 =

Virtual VS. Augmented reality
Whats the difference between Virtual reality and augmented reality?--Accdude92 (talk) 01:44, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Virtual reality is completely fake, while augmented reality starts with a real scene and then "enhances" parts of it (like magazine cover-girls). StuRat (talk) 02:31, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Augmented reality takes reality and overlays 'virtual' information over it. At least that's what it does on the mobile phone apps (search augmented reality phone app on google). The idea of augmented reality is say you hold up your camera-phone and it shows you the real scene infront of you with information overlaid onto it. As StuRat says virtual reality on the other hand tends to be an entirely created virtual world that you place yourself in by way of controllers/equipment (e.g. you put on a helmet and gloves and interact with the entirely fictitious world around you). ny156uk (talk) 06:55, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * However, let's not confuse technology with equipment.  The helmet and gloves approach can be used for either augmented reality or full virtual reality. It's a question of whether everything you see and hear is virtual, or if the system combines the real and the virtual.
 * The promise (rarely realized) of augmented reality is that you could use it to 'augment' your knowledge of what's going on around you. Imagine opening the hood of your car and and seeing everything neatly labeled, with interactive instructions on how to change your oil.
 * In full virtual reality, you'd might be standing in an empty room learning to change the oil on a car that doesn't really exist but looks real to you.
 * APL (talk) 14:08, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Another example of augmented reality might be a Google satellite map, on which street outlines and names have been overlaid. StuRat (talk) 09:00, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

How to download this "spreadsheet"?
This page http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/mar/29/indices-multiple-deprivation-poverty-england#data includes a link to a spreadsheet towards the bottom, where it says "DATA: download the local authority spreadsheet". When I click on it, or try to save it, it only appears as a "Google Docs" webpage. (The page also says my browser is incompatible with Google Docs, but I'm using Firefox 3.6.16 which is compatible according to their help page). How can I save it as a conventional spreadsheet please? Thanks 92.29.126.172 (talk) 13:08, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Google docs works for me, I am on firefox 3.6.16. Have you disabled javascript or something like that? Taemyr (talk) 18:20, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * File>Download as>[Whatever format you want], if the menu bar is usable for you. I don't see why it wouldn't be; I'm using the same version and it works for me. Reach Out to the Truth 19:48, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

That does not work for me, and don't you think that would be the first thing I'd try? All I get is an html page, not a spreadsheet. 92.29.119.112 (talk) 09:51, 31 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Try resetting your FF user agent. See this Firefox help page >MinorProphet (talk) 17:54, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Saving with Firefox: normal vs. scrapbook
Why does the ScrapBook add-on saves pages better than Firefox standard saving? Some web-pages get a broken layout when saved with the latter procedure. Couldn't Firefox integrate Scrapbook into its core?
 * I don't know about the individual specifics, but code for Firefox is held to high standards of correctness, reliability, and security, while there are no standards for add-ons. They'd need to vet any code before integrating it, and there's no guarantee that any add-on's code is even in suitably good shape to evaluate.  Paul (Stansifer) 14:40, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

Question about article Digital Visual Interface
Hello,

on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface, pin C1 (Analog Red) is not displayed. It is present in the list however when you want to edit it.

What is wrong here?

Best regards,

FLConcorde — Preceding unsigned comment added by FLconcorde (talk • contribs) 14:06, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * (I added a title to your question.) 93.95.251.162 (talk) 15:02, 29 March 2011 (UTC) Martin.
 * Beats me. Maybe bug in Infobox connector??? 93.95.251.162 (talk) 15:28, 29 March 2011 (UTC) Martin.


 * Yes, that "custom name" feature is only used on three articles and the first custom pin is erroneously omitted in all of them - so it looks like the template has an error. I've left a message at Template talk:Infobox connector. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 16:48, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Update: there was a typo in that template. I've fixed it, so it should be okay now. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 20:29, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

Saving and Exporting in Snow Leopard
Hello chaps, I recently upgraded to Snow Leopard and I'm on 10.6.6. When I used to save or export things on my old Mac, the Finder window would give me the entire folder structure in columns, so I could easily navigate to other folders. Now when I save, I am offered only the folder I am in, with no option to navigate anywhere else apart from a rather unwieldy drop-down box. Is there a way of making Finder behave in the (better) way I am used to?

Cheers 195.60.20.81 (talk) 15:59, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * In Finder generally: View > As Columns. In the Save dialog, click on that little icon of columns in the top left, part of those little icons that are just to the right of the left/right arrows. If those aren't visible, click the little down arrow next to the filename to make that appear. --Mr.98 (talk) 20:55, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, but I'm already in column view, the problem is that I can's see all of the files, I cant navigate back along the columns to the root of the folders. Finder only lets me see the folder I am in, even in column view. 195.60.20.81 (talk) 15:13, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

New York Times limitation on the number of articles
What alternatives do they have to know when someone already reached the limit of 20 articles? You might try to guess: "counting them up to 20." But that leaves an open question: "how do they know who are you?" IPs can be changed, cookies can be deleted, and they do not require that you sign-up for your 20 articles. So, can they limit users at all? Quest09 (talk) 16:55, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Searching Google for "New York Times paywall" quickly finds some articles about how it works and how trivial it is to circumvent (I guess WP:EL means I won't link to them). From the description it doesn't sound like it's anything fancier than an HTTP Cookie and an url "cookie". -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 17:13, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Well, and what about the claim that "the Times paid $40 million to erect its paywall in the first place." Is that possible? $40 millions for that? Quest09 (talk) 17:25, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Philip Greenspun wonders the same here. The whole thing may have fancier features than they've turned on yet, but still that does seem vastly more than you'd expect. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 17:33, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * One thing I will say is that if they're serving custom page content to every visitor (rather than the same content to everyone) they'll lose a lot of the efficiencies of page, page-fragment, and database-result caching, which will significantly increase their hardware requirement. Wikipedia serves almost everyone (that is, everyone who isn't signed in, which is almost all readers) with fully cache-able content, and so a lot of the traffic just comes from squid web caches (and doesn't trouble the web app proper, or a database server).  Facebook, by contrast, serves almost every visitor with custom, database intensive content (because, at least as far as I can tell, most Facebook traffic is from signed-in Facebook users). The difference will be manifest in the two datacentres.  Perhaps that $40 million reflects the ongoing licence fees for things like Oracle (which is swingingly expensive) and other software, and for professional services over an N year interval.  But it's still a lot. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 17:44, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Keep in mind that 100% efficiency is probably not required in their business model here. They're no doubt factoring in circumvention along various lines. IP tracking would probably be some 90% effective — the number of people who are going to circumvent is probably low, and some means of circumvention will burn themselves out if they are repeatedly use (e.g. if lots of people used tor, you'd still have a lot of IPs that went through their 20 a month — the more people who use it, the more quickly it fails to be reliable). --Mr.98 (talk) 19:07, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Exactly. We say, "Oh, all you have to do is delete your cookies".  For probably a large majority of internet users, that's something they would not know how to do, and would not think of doing to evade the paper's page limit.  The NYT doesn't need to prevent every single person from viewing too many pages, just enough of them for their business model to succeed. Buddy431 (talk) 18:03, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * "delete your cookies". For probably a large majority of internet users, that's something they would not know how to do" You don't have a high opinion about the average Internet user, do you? 212.169.177.145 (talk) 19:21, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * You must realize, that this desk, and Wikipedia in general, are not representative at all of the world population, or even the computer using population. I don't know where you work and who you associate with.  I attend a high ranked public university in the United States.  Using a computer is essentially mandatory, if for nothing else than checking e-mail and word processing assignments.  I would bet that less than 50% of the student body would have any idea what a HTTP cookie is.  If you told them to clear their cookies without any context, most of them would have no idea what you were talking about.  If you told them to clear their cookies on their web browser, maybe half of them would start poking around the options menu of their browser, while the other half would say "huh?".  Maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one.  See this study.  I generally take the attitude that any given person is ignorant of any given concept until they show me otherwise.  This strategy has rarely let me down. Buddy431 (talk) 20:46, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * The sad truth is that you are very probably right. 212.169.177.145 (talk) 21:27, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Getting around the pageview limit in google books isn't easy. I haven't made any serious attempts to mess with it, but the obvious stuff like clearing cookies doesn't work. 21:11, 29 March 2011 (UTC)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.57.242.120 (talk)


 * I'm not sure there is a limited number of pages in the case of Google books. I think some pages are simply missing. You can preview the rest. Quest09 (talk) 23:07, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * It used to be that some books would trigger maximums. I haven't seen this for awhile, though. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:45, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

Epson TX 111
i have a Epson TX 111 in one inkjet printer about 11 months old. when i give it the order to print it print few pages or even not and the paper jams before printing any thing on it and it shows a general error that remove any foreign object from printer and turn the printer on. i don't find anything in the printer. what should i do. it also occurs when i give it order to copy. please help me i am in trouble as it is my home printer which i use to print or copy.

-all the cartridges are full and new. -good power supply with required voltage. -no part of it is damaged. -placed in a flat surface. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gopalmishra77 (talk • contribs) 16:55, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * It sounds like a mechanical issue and nothing at all to do with your computer (because you said it happens when you press the copy button and that shouldn't even need the computer to be turned on) so in which case if you can't see anything visibly wrong there isn't really much you can do except contact who you bought it from and/or Epson to get it repaired/replaced. I don't know what part of the world you're in, but I would assume that as it comes with at least a 12 month warranty it's likely they'd fix it under that (assuming no physical signs of abuse etc).  ZX81    talk  17:53, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * I've had continuous problems with paper jams in my printers. It's almost always a result of the page feed mechanism pulling in multiple pages instead of one.  Thus, a workaround is to feed in a single sheet of paper at a time.  I use the manual paper feed for this, but, if your printer lacks a manual paper feed slot, you can also take all but one sheet of paper out of the paper bin.  Yes, this is annoying, but I find it better than endless paper jams. StuRat (talk) 21:14, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

slow shutdown (Windows XP)
i had a computer with

Intel core2due 2.93 ghz processor Asus G41 motherboard 2 GB ram 320 gb hard disk

and no hardware problem and about 20 gb of free space in system drive partition with windows Xp loaded in it. it has a good and updated antivirus which scanes system daily. and updates daily. my computer takes about an hour or two to shut down but starts very fast. i have tried all types of computer shutting down process(including comand prompt) but problem still presists. i also tried it by deleting cookies and temp file from my computer. and also by taking out the cmos. i also tried system restore to a point when i install windows to it. about 9 months ago.. so please tell me what should i do to shut down my computer normally... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gopalmishra77 (talk • contribs) 17:08, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Second question moved to own section CS Miller (talk) 18:28, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Up above, apparently. StuRat (talk) 21:06, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * If you already tried a system restore that far back, I suppose you might as well go all the way and re-install the O/S, after wiping the hard disk completely. StuRat (talk) 21:06, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

Capacitor colors
Does the color of a capacitor have significance? (I'm thinking of the small capacitors used in computers and monitors and television sets.)

I tried to search this on google but 'capacitor color' finds pages about the color codes used on capacitors, not the actual color of the capacitors.

Thank you, Wanderer57 (talk) 20:56, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Apart from the colour code that is sometimes used to define the capacitors value, the colour has no significance. Different manufacturers go for differnt colours. -- SGBailey (talk) 22:08, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

((( For reasons I don't understand, el Aprel deleted my original reply. I have replaced it and left his to follow mine. Whatever... -- SGBailey (talk) )))


 * My mistake. There was an edit conflict that I didn't look closely enough at and misread the diff.--el Aprel (facta-facienda) 02:59, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * (e/c)I don't think so, other than the color coding you mentioned, which isn't used all the often (compared to the color coding of resistors).--el Aprel (facta-facienda) 22:09, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

Wiki spam
I'm a moderator on another wiki. For the last month we have been suffering from someone posting spam - a single figure number of pages a day. They are very consistent about what they do: Post a page on some irrelevant subject under a username made up for the purpose of this page. The page title is long and descriptive and ends with an integer (EG "How to make friends and influence people 73"). The page include one picture which is uploaded after the text has been edited. The picture name is shorter but descriptive and also ends with a integre - usually larger (EG "Image:Mixed Drinks 860.jpg") which is uploaded by an IP address user. Names and IP addresses are not (yet) repeated. The pages get deleted some time in the following 24 hours.

Why do they do it? What is the point of the integers? -- SGBailey (talk) 22:16, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Who knows what would motivate a vandal on a low-traffic website! Or on any website, for that matter!  It's probable that your wiki is being attacked with a bot: that might be a program written as a toy-project by a novice programmer who thinks it's fun and cool to "hack;" or you might be the victim of a non-technical enthusiast who is operating some program written by somebody else.  (We have an article on script kiddie, a known phenomenon on the internet).  The integers are probably a (very simplistic) randomized value added to prevent you from exact-string-matching the contributions (making it marginally more difficult to block the vandalism).  If possible, apply access control by requiring user-logins (read the Preventing Access section of the MediaWiki manual, if you're using MediaWiki).  That will categorically prevent non-authorized users from contributing.  If you must allow anonymous users to create accounts or edit the wiki, consider other options, following the Wikipedia vandalism-prevention model.  Use social pressure to discourage vandalism and establish community norms.  If the wiki is mission-critical, consider hiring (paying) moderators to monitor contributions.  Nimur (talk) 04:43, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * So much as I thought. We just keep pressing Delete. Thanks. -- SGBailey (talk) 05:40, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * There is the possibility this is being used as one way of controlling a botnet. Tell homeland security and worry them it might be terrorists passing secret messages and let them deal with the perp. Actually no I wouldn't wish a government organization on anybody but a virus firm might be interested. Dmcq (talk) 10:35, 30 March 2011 (UTC)
 * CAPTCHA is used precisely to prevent this kind of thing. No idea how hard it would be to implement though. 01:00, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

Surveillance
Is there a way that I can set up a program on my computer that will record sounds from users without the users even knowing that it is there?
 * That's illegal in many places. Shadowjams (talk) 06:38, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Illegal or not, you don't need a computer to do that. Much easier to use a bug, sound recorder, or simply a mobile phone.--Shantavira|feed me 08:50, 30 March 2011 (UTC)
 * But these aren't really answers to the question. [This site] explores the legality of audio surveillance. From my perspective, the OP seems to want to record sounds from his own computer. Depending on the context, I can understand the motives behind it.  The easiest way I can think of to do this, especially if you have a laptop computer with a built-in microphone, is to open Windows' Sound Recorder and simply let it record in the background.  As far as actively concealing the presence of the microphone or the program, I couldn't really say.  Kingsfold   (Quack quack!)  16:48, 30 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Windows lets you do some truly... unique things with other programs and the Explorer shell. I have a book that describes, among other things, how to disable specific buttons in the Windows Calculator from another process. I imagine one could write a program which, given sufficient privileges, would hide Sound Recorder's window and taskbar icon while leaving the program itself running. This is certainly not the most time-efficient solution, though. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 02:01, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

Yahoo/AT&T Display Name
Greetings and salutations, fellow denizens of the Internet. I have an issue I hope you can help with. I have an at&t email address (which was switched over to Yahoo! about a year ago with all the others). Every time I send an email, the recipient gets it listed under "First Last" instead of my real name (which Yahoo! does have). Why does it do this, and how can I fix it? 71.236.122.228 (talk) 23:29, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Probably the easiest way is to contect customer support on Yahoo!. Taemyr (talk) 05:26, 31 March 2011 (UTC)