You're the man now dog.

http://iwanttogetaway.ytmnd.com/

Why is my SSD shrinking?

A simple answer to why SSDs lose capacity based on my admittedly limited knowledge of how they operate:

Basically what it often amounts to is that blocks of memory on the SSD are reaching their write limit and are being removed from use.

On a traditional spinning disk, when bad sectors are found they are marked as bad and reserve sectors at the end of the drive are used to replace them.

SSD's don't spin and as far as I know aren't shipped with blocks reserved. SSDs also have write limits, meaning each block can only be written to so many times before it "dies" and can no longer be used.  When that limit is reached that block is removed from use and thus the drive shrinks.

This happens MUCH MUCH faster on MLC based SSDs than on the better and more pricey SLC based ones.

If your SSD is shrinking fast you may want to look for and eliminate things that are making large numbers of writes all the time, things like using a Journaling Filesystem, programs making constant writes to log files, heavy use of Swap/Virtual memory.

How to read Marvel DCU digital comics unlimited on iPad.

Thanks to the Puffin Browser, which is essentially the same thing as the subscription-based iSwifter- only without the subscription, there is now an easy way to access Marvel DCU on iPad.

Puffin Browser is available for 99 cents on the app store and works great with Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.

It can be a bit sluggish at times but I found that overall it was quite tolerable. I used it to read the Civil War series last night and I'm heading for World War Hulk tonight.

Puffin Browser is an excellent alternative to iSwifter. 

If you found this useful, Please leave a comment!

There was a problem loading title details, try again? Netflix fail.

So, Netflix has finally gotten all the Star Trek series (sans DS9) up for streaming online, but they messed up both Voyager and Enterprise as many/all people cannot stream either of those to iOS devices.

They're working fine on PC and Mac, but when an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch user tries to stream either of those two series they receive the message "There was a problem loading title details, try again?" and the stream never starts.

No word on whether Netflix is even aware of the problem.

If anyone has any further info or ideas, please post in the comments.

Windows Update not working on XP after Virus Removal?

"security center could not change your automatic update settings" got you down?
lockergnome.com forum user 1ComputerGuru has posted simple instructions for re-registering the required DLLs which has worked for many users of Windows XP.

Goto the Run window and try this procedure....

!!Be sure to click OK or hit ENTER after each one!!

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
net.exe stop wuauserv

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wuapi.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wups.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wuaueng.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wuaueng1.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wucltui.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s wuweb.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s jscript.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s atl.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s softpub.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
regsvr32 /s msxml3.dll

Click Start, click Run and then type this:
net.exe start wuauserv

Now, reboot and try the Windows Update site again.
Good Luck


Protip: you call also paste these one at a time into a command prompt rather than clicking start/run over and over.  


From http://help.lockergnome.com/general/Update-Stall--ftopict32327.html#entry251358

Order&Chaos Online, the first true MMORPG for iPhone and iPad

Order&Chaos Online is a great new game and there's a great new message board for it here!

http://oandc.proboards.com/

The top 10 best simple iPhone games of all time.

iOS has tons of great games available, but many of them are too complicated to get into for adult gamers without a lot of time to learn complex control schemes; and while simple games are easy to find, many of them lack the depth to keep your interest for long.

Here we'll distill just the absolute best iOS (iPhone and iPad) games that are both simple to play yet deep enough to stay fun for a long time.

Each game will be rated 1 to 10 for: Ease and Depth. (ex. 1/9 would be a game that's pretty hard to learn to play, but has a lot to keep your interest once you do learn it.) The order of the list is based not only on these two criteria, but also on the overall quality and fun.

Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 are particularly great for the non-gamer/very casual gamer.

We'll start the list at number one and work our way down, since the top pick is bound to come as no surprise.


1 Angry Birds (10/7) Not a real shocker that Angry Birds takes top billing. It's become something of a pop culture phenomenon with everyone from toddlers to businessmen to their dear old grannies spending hours at it.

The premise is simple, you slingshot the aforementioned irate avians at building block structures occupied by green piggies. The goal being to collapse the buildings in such a way that they "pop" the balloon-like piggies as they fall.

The control scheme is dead-simple and intuitive and the depth of play comes from the seemingly endless arrangements of blocks and piggies- making each level fresh and interesting.



2 Plants vs Zombies (8/9) This was almost our number one game, but while it's still quite simple to learn it's an order of magnitude less simple than Angry Birds.

Cute cartoony Zombies slowly shamble across your yard, trying to get into your house. Your only defense are rows of plants you can place in their way.

The controls are simple, you tap little "sunshine pellets" that pop onto your screen and once you have enough of them you can spend them to create plants that do everything from shoot peas at the approaching undead hordes, to blow them up, to freeze them to slow their advance.

The wide variety of plants and zombies with different functions gives this game great depth, but also makes it a bit more complex. Definitely not too complex for your average facebook gamer though.



3 Mirror's Edge (7/8) Based on the under-appreciated console/PC title this graphically gorgeous parkour-inspired sidescroller has you leaping across skyscraper rooftops, running on walls, whizzing down ziplines and sliding under obstacles on your way to liberation in a dystopian megacity.

Swipe left or right to run in that direction, swipe up or down to jump or slide and you've now got 90% of the controls mastered. The built-in tutorial covers the rest (enjoyably) as you play. More demanding on the reflexes than most games on this list, but not terribly. You can play comfortably with one finger.

In a nutshell you get some really fun, fast paced gameplay in a great looking game without burdensome and complex controls.



4 Infinity Blade (6/9) In some ways this game is a lot like Nintendo's "Punch-Out" titles but with swords and castles instead of boxing gloves and the squared circle.

Not only is this game fun, it has absolutely the most stunningly beautiful graphics of any iOS game, and possibly any handheld game for any platform ever. It's really in a league of it's own in this regard.

Gameplay-wise, you follow a forked track through through the enemy castle, meeting enemies and finding treasures along them way. A swipe in any direction swings your sword likewise, a tap on the left or right arrows causes you to dodge in that direction, or pressing the shield icon performs a block. The controls really are quite simple but they lose ease points because a) they do require quick reactions and b) there is an (rather fun) inventory system to be managed.



5 Galcon (9/7) Imagine the board game RISK, stripped down to it's bare essentials, moving at action game pace, in space; that's Galcon.

Games frequently last only a minute or two, but you'll want to play over and over. And if you do manage to get bored with the basic setup, there are tons of varations to keep things fresh.



6 Peggle (8/7) Like pachinko from "The Price is Right" or early pinball games before the introduction of flippers, you fire your ball from the top of the board down thru a series of pins or blocks, trying to hit the most valuable ones as it falls and landing in the highest scoring hole at the bottom. Another "fun for anyone" type of game.



7 Canabalt (9/6) Like the baby brother to Mirror's Edge, you leap from rooftop to rooftop avoiding obstaces and deadly falls. But this time it's much simpler, your guy just keeps running in the same direction, the only thing you do it tell him when to jump by simply tapping on the screen (or tap and hold to jump higher/longer). The further you make it the better your score. Die once and you're back at the very beginning (which is fine for this game).

The 8-bit inspired graphics are simple but attractive and the one-touch controls are easy and fun.



8 Dungeon Solitaire (7/6) A solitaire variant on the popular card-battle genre, you have two columns of five slots each which you fill with cards as you draw one each turn. If you draw a monster card it goes in the monster column, if you draw a hero card it goes in the hero column. The goal is to fill up the hero column before the monster column despite their being more monsters than heroes and the heroes generally being weaker.

Power-up/down cards and treasure cards add a bit to both the complexity and depth; but there and no time limits so you can ponder moves at your liesure.



9 Solomons Boneyard (6/7) An arcadey dual-stick shooter with nice graphics and a basic but rewarding 'level-up/buy new powers' system. Your goal is to use your wizardly powers to stay alive as long as possible in the boneyard while increasing hordes of ghouls come at you from every angle. If you're willing to trade some simplicity for more depth, it's big brother Solomon's Keep is even better.



10 Street Fighter 4 (4/8) This was a tough one, as it's definitely the most demanding as far as control complexity. If you've ever played a Street Fighter or similar 1v1 fighting game you know they require some fast, and precise, fingers. But somehow Capcom has managed to simplify things enough to make the controls really comfortable on the touchscreen without losing the essence of what this game is: a remarkably true port of the console/arcade fighting game.

If you've never played games like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, you may want to skip this one, but if you have enjoyed a fighting game on any system, you'll probably love it.




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