wind rss feed (aka 'latest wind headlines')

[michal]

Hi,

How about a wind rss feed? So, if you use firefox, you could get Latest Wind Headlines folder in the toolbar (if you do not have firefox, grab one).

I have build one for the buoys (http://www.sonic.net/cgi/michkrom/buoy.rss), but Id like to see one for iwindsurf data. The iw/ik folks may have issues with controlling the (no)membership access. This could perhaps be solved with the use of member account and a charge per each load of the feed (say 1/10 cent)? the more you use (load) the more you pay so nobody will be prone to share membership.

BTW, being computer geek (besides being sailboard head) I always have problems with multiple access (I have total of 8 computers at work & home). This is somewhat annoying, on top of the weather

Any ideas or comments?

Michal

[isobars]

Comments? You bet:
Rant on.

My single computer absolutely destroys at the very least 500 hours of my time and another 50-100 hours of Dell/Microsoft/ISP time plus long threads on professional computer newsgroups every year just trying to keep it working. How can anyone possibly own 8? Thats 4,000 hours a year of rage and non-productivity. Ive almost worn out the paint on the power switch because it freezes almost daily, and Im fed up with reformatting my HDs ... Dells only solution to my long list of problems. The entire week leading up to Christmas involved 12-16 hours every day on the computer and the speakerphone with Dell, and they expect me to PAY for it! Gooooood freaking luck, Dell! Thats what credit cards are for; merchants who do not deliver.

Firefox works adequately on it part of the time; so far Thunderbird has proven unable to work on this computer, a big disappointment since Outlook Express has never worked reliably (often not at all) on it.

And thanks for this opportunity to warn people about the Dell myth; it IS a myth, and Im embarassed to admit I bought TWO of the sorry things, wasting big chunks of 6 years of my life on products that do not work.

RSS? Maybe if my custom hand-built PC works FAR better than these useless ripoffs.

Rant off.

Mike \m/

[jse]

I agree, the single computer limit is a drag. I dont know how they implemented it, but I would suggest timing out stale sessions and marking existing sessions invalid when a new session for the same user is started. I understand how their business model requires this. But Ive had problems in the past where I used someone elses computer to check the wind and their browser remembered my login, thereby allowing the other person to piggyback on my account. After a few days we ended up logged in together and I had to call and tell him to stop using it.

Steve

[coachg]

Sorry to hear that Mike. Ive had my Dell since 98 and its still going strong.

Coachg

[isobars]

Dells going to be sorry, too, if my custom PC will run Windows successfully and thus proves that the problem is my Dells and not Windows. (Ive already established their incredibly bad service, so they wont skate free even if my custom is also barely of any use). I dont LIKE getting hosed, and I LOVE hosing arrogant corporations back ... truthfully and legally, of course.

Maybe if I can find a computer capable of basic stuff like word processing and browsing without freezing almost daily, RSS might be of interest.

Mike \m/

[goinoff]

What OS are you running? WinXP, Win2000, Win98??
What CPU is in your machine??

WinXP on a Pentium 4 should work great w/256k mem or more. I have an old dell that runs win98 that still working but is slow as hell. Since you problem still occurs after re-formatting the HD, it might be a hardware problem - disk or motherboard. Good luck with it....

[paulch]

forget about complaining about dell. the root of most peoples computer problems lies in Windows OS. Ditch Windows and go for OS X or Linux! Ive got a 500 mhz p3 running SUSE Linux great and a 500 mhz G4 running os x great. once you find a reliable os you dont need to keep upgrading hardware every year.

[isobars]

This is getting OT, but then all of us use computers, so ... Thats my conclusion, too. A 10-hour HW test revealed zero HW problems. This is a recent high-end (for my needs) P4 w/plenty of RAM, HD, etc. But after reading a 115-page treatise based on over 4,000 articles and trials and bigtime IT pros comparing Macs and PCs, the PC vs Mac dilemma is settled, hands-down, for me. The guy should do the same for Ford vs Chevy; the argument would be settled once and for all -- except that the latter is based largely on personal preference; the Mac vs PC dilemma is boiled down to cold, hard, well-supported facts at http://www.macvspc.info/.

Mike \m/

[spyder]

I cant help chiming in..
obviously this topic is for a computer forum, but ah, what the heck...

My main business is repairing PCs, although I do have servers, and do some web development, and I can tell you I really dont do anything but fix these monsters, and do a little web surfing on the side (like posting this ...). I honestly dont really do much else with them.
Sad and true.

It is quite unbelievable to me how massive the conspiracy world is of our virus/spyware/malware/spam buddies out there. Coupled with the multitudes of companies that provide us crummy apps to seek and destroy these bugs. Can we say zero day exploits !!

I equate the PC to the drug industry who likes to toy with your well-being, keeping you alive, but constantly wounded. Take some more pills, they wont hurt you (too much).

On the other hand, the PC has been the mainstay of my income and employment for many years. I spent 5 years in Silicon Valley as an engineer (10 years in LA), and my job was basically supported by the PC (and Apple to some extent). I used to chuckle when companies depended on $20K+ Sun Sparc stations to design chips and other hardware for PCs. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands spent on applications for design and verification. The Million dollar+ hardware chip emulators to validate functionality just so the next model PC would clunk off the assembly line.

Remember the Pentium bug ? That was because some engineer forgot to include a emulated ROM into the final design from a 5 million dollar emulation system..DOH ! Theyve come a long way since then.

And now, I spend hours cleaning out peoples PCs that are infected with this and that, XP not working right, and failing hard drives.

Conspiracys anyone ?
H-A-R-D D-R-I-V-E-S
V-I-R-U-S-E-S
S-P-Y-W-A-R-E
S-P-A-M

On the flip side, I am truly amazed at how robust a PC can be. I have had web servers running Windows 2000/03 for years, in my house under quite crummy circumstances, and they have been super reliable. Hawaii is not very friendly on computers, but yet these babies have survived hell and high water (almost literally).
Aside from a downed power supply, or a stick of bad RAM...or a few Windows issues...it really is quite amazing.

I love the PC and all its blemishes..but I feel bad for those that get clobbered by its endless source of problems.

Apple ? Sorry it doesnt pay my bills.

[michal]

Interesting, almost good for a doc thesis - the thread started as rss idea, quickly ended up in PC/Win vs Mac religion...so human to ramble...

But does phoneweb wireless access colide with PC access as well?

So my2c on computers: the most recent, most polular OS will attract the latest spyware and viruses, hence the problem. My home PCs use Win2K and Linux so I do not have big problems. My work PCs are maintained by sombody else, so not my problem again . But then, I do not let any crap from the web to install on my PC, the same way I would not let any bum sleep in my house. Never had problem with Firefox and RSS - works on all 8 computers

Happy new year to all the board-heads there!