Modern Technology

Started by Blizzard, September 18, 2014, 03:03:16 pm

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Blizzard

September 18, 2014, 03:03:16 pm Last Edit: September 18, 2014, 03:04:39 pm by Blizzard
Man, modern technology is really something. When you stop for a moment and think a bit about it, it's really mind-blowing. So I'm just gonna gush a bit.




My Samsung Galaxy S2 is getting a bit screwy so I decided that it's time to buy a new phone (it's almost 3 years old, I've had it for a big longer than 2 years).

First: The Internet
The vast amount of information available these days is insane. We have never lived in a more prosperous age. Not only that, information has been organized quite a bit in the past decade. The Internet used to be filled with lots of shit (it still is), but today you can find all the information you need very easily. I searched a bit through gsmarena.com to find a phone that I'd like to buy. They have this search engine with extensive options and you can find just the phone you want very easily. I decided that I'll buy a Sony Xperia ZL.

Second: Globalization
After picking the phone, I have to find a place where I can buy one. Turns out that the phone isn't actually available in my country so small ads or carrier deals won't work for me. Luckily, the Internet still provides another solution: eBay. I found a seller that's stationed in Germany so I wouldn't have to pay import taxes or wait too much. My SIM card burned out the other day and I don't want to get a new one until I have my phone (which uses a micro SIM card, but my current one is the regular one).

Third: Online Payment
PayPal, duh. I easily paid for the phone using PayPal. It's great that you don't have to go anywhere. You just login, confirm and it's done. The future is now. And it's nothing less awesome that they said it would be.

Fourth: More Globalization
The phone is already on its way via DHL. I paid for it yesterday and it will probably arrive next week or so (I don't expect it to arrive over the weekend). In other words, I bought a phone that isn't available in my country without having to leave my chair and it will even be delivered to my doorstep. Tell me that the future isn't awesome.

And I'm just mentioning a few things here. The Internet is obviously the key element here, but you get the idea. Want to learn Japanese? You have the Internet. Looking to buy groceries and get them delivered home? Internet. Need some info and references for your essay? Wikipedia/Internet. Bored and want to watch a movie? Netflix/Torrents/Internet. Feeling lonely and want to talk to someone? Forum/Internet. Horny, but have no partner? Internet porn. Making travel plans and buying plane tickets? Internet. Want to sell your stuff? Internet. Want to become a rock star and have your own website? Internet.

Seriously, this is the future. And it's awesome. It's a shame that people have gotten so used to it that they don't see its awesomeness and the potential it has.
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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

legacyblade

Every time I get an amazon prime trial, I realize how awesome it is to live now. This week alone, I was able to get a wiiU at a good price with two games ($300 for the wiiU, mario kart 8, and nintendo land), a screen protector, an awesome NES skin for it, new controllers, etc. I got free two day shipping, but with amazon prime, overnight shipping is about 4 bucks. I also got a windows 8 tablet (venu pro), an HDMI splitter for me tv, and a few retro games for my N64. All from the (dis)comfort of my computer room chair. Last time I had a prime membership, I ordered all the parts for a new computer and built it the next day. Prime usually gives you great discounts, so I freaking love today. I can download anime or watch it on crunchyroll within an hour or two of when it airs in japan. I have a personal media server running through my house so I can watch any of my movies or tv shows from any device.

When you start a movie on your computer, switch to your tablet to watch it on bed, use your phone to continue it on the toilet, then watch it on the TV without ever having to search for your place, you know you're living in an enchanted wonderland :P

Soulshaker3

Quote from: legacyblade on September 18, 2014, 03:47:45 pm
without ever having to search for your place, you know you're living in an enchanted wonderland :P


You want to misteriously disapear and leave a signed paper that benefits me? Because that's how you misteriously disapear :V:
Hellow?

legacyblade

It's called plex :P Super easy to install! As long as your router is half decent, you too can live in an enchanted wonderland. (best of all, plex is free. Though I think the iPhone app cost me a few bucks)

Soulshaker3

Nuuuu i have iphone, I guess it's time to jailbreak it. Btw how does that work?
Hellow?

legacyblade

You could spend a couple hours jailbreaking (and potentially breaking if you mess up) your several hundred dollar piece of technology. Or you could just spend 3 bucks :P

How it works is you install plex, tell it which folder to look for your media in, name the media properly (with the proper sub folders), and you can access it on your iphone as long as the computer running plex is online. If you have a good enough internet connection, you can even access it from outside the house. But I only use it when I'm on the same network as my server PC. It should only take you a couple hours to setup. If you get a lot of lag on your videos, you'll need to buy yourself a better router. I'm using a router that cost me about $60 and it works fine, so you won't need to break the bank for this lol.

Ryex

Or you could ditch plex for a better media server http://mediabrowser.tv/
I no longer keep up with posts in the forum very well. If you have a question or comment, about my work, or in general I welcome PM's. if you make a post in one of my threads and I don't reply with in a day or two feel free to PM me and point it out to me.<br /><br />DropBox, the best free file syncing service there is.<br />

G_G

Whats this one got over Plex because I haven't had any issues with Plex nor any reason to try and find a better media server. Granted I came from something called PS3 Media Server which used DLNA to stream.

Blizzard

Hasn't jailbreaking become as easy a connecting the device to a PC and pressing a button on a PC app?
Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Ryex

September 19, 2014, 01:22:26 am #9 Last Edit: September 19, 2014, 01:28:02 am by Ryex
Quote from: gameus on September 19, 2014, 12:44:36 am
Whats this one got over Plex because I haven't had any issues with Plex nor any reason to try and find a better media server. Granted I came from something called PS3 Media Server which used DLNA to stream.


for one thing MB3 is completely free
Personally I think it is easy to use (better interface)
It looks better (plus you can actually theme it)
it lets you do metadata editing (unlike plex)
better stability

I could go on but I'll just refer you to this topic here http://www.avsforum.com/forum/26-home-theater-computers/1524370-2014-plex-versus-mb3-media-browser-3-one-best.html
I no longer keep up with posts in the forum very well. If you have a question or comment, about my work, or in general I welcome PM's. if you make a post in one of my threads and I don't reply with in a day or two feel free to PM me and point it out to me.<br /><br />DropBox, the best free file syncing service there is.<br />

legacyblade

Plex is completely free too :P Just some makers of apps (the iPhone one for example) choose to charge for their plex app. Though I might check out Media Browser.

For me to change over, it would have to:

a. Handle mkv files with multiple audio and subtitle tracks well. (I mainly watch anime, and they're often encoded funkily and with lots of language tracks)
b. Have an Amazon Fire TV app (I used to use Roku, but it HATED my router. For it to stay connected, I would have to reboot the router every hour or so)
c. Have options to handle overscan. (My TV is a little on the old side. It cuts off about 2 inches from the sides and bottom of the picture in the mode that shows the most. But the fireTV plex app allows me to compensate for this)
d. Keep track of what episode in a TV show I'm on and remember at what point in the episode I last watched.
e. Automatically download metadata from the internet (Episode titles/descriptions, show/movie summary, artwork, etc)

P.S. Plex seems to let me edit the metadata. I can edit any of the information it downloaded from the internet.

@Blizzard, It used to be pretty hard back when I did it with a second generation iPod touch XD Though pirating apps has always been a bit of a hassle, even on jailbroken devices. I don't think it's worth slowing down your OS, and the time investment to save a few bucks.

@Gameus, I used to use PS3 Media server as well XD It was awful compared to plex. Did you know your PS3 can see your plex library as if it's a PS3 Media server?

Soulshaker3

Last time i jailbreaked my phone it was just press 1 button and that's it, as in that time i didn't found any benefit of it i just restored and i'm not with it anymore.
Hellow?

legacyblade

Jailbreaking gives you access to Cydia. It allows apps not approved by google, and allows apps certain abilities that the default OS won't give them. But I've never found much use for it, lol.