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Comment: Re:surprised, yet not surprised. (Score 1) 157

by vthome (#45385757) Attached to: Google Starts Tracking Retail Store Visits On Android and iOS

like, you want phone navigation? that requires location services.

You can enable the GPS without using Google's location services. I used Google maps today. Location services off.

Don't know which version of Maps or Android you used, but the "latest" on 4.3 explicitly asks you to enable location services if you need your location or navigation. Which is, what you need Maps or Navigation for about 99% of the time.

Side note: Looks like we all are a victim of "bait and switch". Back then when Google needed market share, they were throwing the juicy bits in, and now that they've got it, they're taking them out, one by one. The boiling frog syndrome.

Comment: Re:This is the in-law's house right? (Score 1) 372

by vthome (#41855669) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Ideas For a Geek Remodel?

Sounds like you picked a poor contractor.

That's not an isolated case. In those times of real estate bubble expansion the volume was the king, and nobody gave a damn about quality - there was abundance of customers, individual ones didn't matter. Don't know if this changed yet.

That sucks. It's worth getting to know your neighbors and asking if they've got any recommendations for people to employ (or who to avoid!) so as to get someone who actually knows what they're doing.

That doesn't help either - people giving recommendations may be too stupid to give them (oh, and the less they know about the subject matter, the more prone they are to fall victim to smooth operators, and recommend them). Case in point, my neighbor recommended me "an excellent roofer" who, as I later found out, just slapped a lump of concrete onto my roof - which promptly cracked, leaked again and caused even more extensive water damage than original leak. That was the last straw for me. Well, maybe not - maybe it was the "luxury" car dealership that, while replacing the radiator, damaged the fan clutch (failed 4 days later), put a dent in the door, and, while repairing that, broke the center console (someone stepped on it with their knee). Or, maybe it was the body shop which put the swirl pattern on the whole car after fixing the bumper, and somehow managed to kill the transponder key. Or, maybe the bathroom guys that laid the tile with 50mm deviation from vertical on 1.5m of height and tried to convince me that it looked just fine. Which also managed to cut my driveway along with the backerboard.

The best case is if you can get someone who knows what they're doing and takes pride in doing a good job: they might not have the cheapest quote, but they usually do the job right the first time and that's worth a lot.

It's just the same in software development. You get what you (don't) pay for.

No, you get *up to* what you pay for.

Comment: Re:This is the in-law's house right? (Score 2) 372

by vthome (#41798823) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Ideas For a Geek Remodel?

Here's a counterargument: yes, it'll take you 2 to 10 times as long as "real" contractor would take. However, the quality of the work is defined by *you*, and you *can* afford to take time and utilize a proper process that takes time, instead of a shortcut (just one example: use correct glue instead of "5 minutes curing"). A contractor won't be coming back a day after to finish the job - it'll mean two trips for them, lost time, lost income. You are, however, right there.

One of my horror stories, with lots of pictures and links (use automated translator): http://xn--80ax0d.blogspot.com/2008/06/blog-post.html

+ - Conspiracy: UMA is dead, no VOIP on mobile devices

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vt@home writes "Continuing trend: no new phones with UMA, No GTalk Voice on Android, mobile traffic capping, Skype client for Android without VOIP. Seems that there is a strong push from the carriers to kill any sorts of VOIP over mobile device (two good reasons: consumes "free" data traffic, doesn't bring airtime revenue). Any whistleblowers to shed some light on the situation? Any Open Source projects willing to fill the gap?"

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