At least Google and Microsoft are giving away something semi-useful in exchange for spying on us.
Spying issue aside, I’d much rather have a dumb TV and hook a streaming capable device to it than pay a premium for “smart” functionality.
We bought a smart TV when they were first being heavily marketed, that set suffered from a faulty software update after about 13 months and the vendor, Funai - Philips, replaced it after initially refusing. I turned off the update feature + internet in the replacement and we don’t use any of it’s smart functions. Our game consoles ( WII U & PS-3 ) support all the functions that are needed.
( Shortly after we got the replacement Philips canceled their marketing agreement with Funai over QC issues and took back the manufacturing of Philips TV’s. )
Mark Gosdin
The Steam Controller has a little jingle it plays when it turns on and off (the turning on sound reminds me of Mario Maker however…)
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My Win7 PC is constantly crashing all of the sudden. It has developed a quirk where after log-on it will freeze the desktop at whatever it is currently showing and then lock up. Mouse cursor still responds to input and num lock light on keyboard will toggle but nothing will make the PC do anything.
I also discovered that the internet was right: my old motherboard despite what the BIOS claims doesn’t support DDR3 2400.
Ain’t technology grand? lol
Did you try doing a BIOS reset? I had a computer that acted up like yours every once in a while and after resetting the BIOS, reapply your tweaks (if you have any).
Not too long ago I’d used my mobo’s software updater to roll back the BIOS as it was a beta and was having some issues. That could have caused the problems. I used the BIOS’ own utility to upgrade back to the beta but Windows was still crashing and freezing unless in Safe Mode.
Not too long ago my Win7 install refused to boot and I had to whip out the repair utility on the Win7 CD to fix it.
I reinstalled Windows (it’s been on there for ~4 years).
You might want to try doing a clean reinstall,
(Everyone hates this suggestion but it’s fixed quite a few issues for me by doing that. Just need to have everything backed up.)
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Sometimes a backup of your data and a clean install is the best answer. As much as we hate to do it.
I’m getting ready to do just that with my company’s ERP server. Talk about a mess. 
Mark Gosdin
I went ahead with the clean reinstall and I’m up to speed now, more or less.
On reinstall, I disconnected all of my external hard drives but left my auxiliary SSD still connected and Windows, in infinite wisdom, put the stuff relating to booting onto that SSD-which left me unable to actually use that SSD-even though I installed it to my main SSD. Luckily that didn’t take too long to sort out, but it did remind me why you’re advised to disconnect all drives except the one you’re installing to when installing windows lol.
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Crunch Report - Week of November 16, 2015
**Pandora to Buy Rdio for $75M**
**A New Google+**
**Amazon's Black Friday Comes Early**
**Square Finally IPOs**
**Samsung Gear VR Now On Sale for $99**
A Video Conference Call in Real Life
Crunch Report - Week of November 23, 2015
**How Will Drone Registration Work in the U.S?**
**Bezos' Blue Horizon Vs. Musk's SpaceX!**
**Pawsthetics is 3D Printed Parts for Pets**
Happy Thanksgiving!
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I keep running into issues with the lack of sound support in Windows.
Not only can Windows not output the same sound to Bluetooth and the headphone jack (or multiple bluetooth devices) but it has no option to make sound from Program A come from one device and sound from Program B come from another.
I found an app that allows me to run multiple copies of the same game on one PC on different monitors. Unfortunately the sound for both comes out of the same sound source.
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Crunch Report - Week of November 30, 2015
**Amazon's New Prime Air Drone Revealed**
**Zuckerbergs Pledge 99% of Their Facebook Shares**
**Yahoo May Be Gearing Up For A Sale**
**Apple Makes Swift Open Source, Developers Rejoice**
I’m holding out hope that Amazon’s drone delivery scheme is an elaborate hoax/joke. Then again, Amazon does have a habit of throwing hare-brained ideas at the wall and seeing which ones stick (eg: Amazon Locker). But for this one, unless the FAA is going to give Amazon special dispensation (can Amazon out-bribe UPS?), I don’t see how they could do this.
Otherwise, that Audi car commercial where the man escapes from the horde of delivery drones by jumping into his car, or the insurance commercial where the delivery drone drops and breaks the man’s delivery, will go from “joke” to “prophecy”.
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Since we live under the approaches to Orlando International Airport I doubt that Amazon will ever be able to drone deliver anything to us.
Mark Gosdin
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