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Re: Microcenter

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Cydrome Leader <presence@mungepanix.com> wrote:
>Chicago Paddling-Fishing <jwn@ripco.com> wrote:
>> Cydrome Leader <presence@mungepanix.com> wrote:
>>>Chicago Paddling-Fishing <jwn@ripco.com> wrote:
>>>> Cydrome Leader <presence@mungepanix.com> wrote:
>>>>>Kristian M Zoerhoff <kristian.zoerhoff@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> On 2017-09-25, tert in seattle <tert@ftupet.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> Cydrome Leader wrote:
>>>>>>>> barbie gee <booger@nosespam.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> On Thu, 3 Aug 2017, dye wrote:
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> In article <ns7sgu$1th$2@remote5bge0.ripco.com>,
>>>>>>>>>> Chicago Paddling-Fishing  <jwn@ripco.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> Mark Anderson <mea@nospambradnylion.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> In article bje@ripco.com says...
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yeah but at least they are trying, look where Radio Shack is today.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Keep in mind when MC opened (1997/98?), the computer market was totally
>>>>>>>>>>>>> different from today. They need to keep changing shit to get people in the
>>>>>>>>>>>>> door.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Remember Handy Andy?  They tried to charge me $108 for a 12 pack of
>>>>>>>>>>>> fluorescent tube bulbs because the cashier thought it was $8/bulb
>>>>>>>>>>>> instead of $8/12 pack.  Had to get a manager to figure that out.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Microcenter hasn't changed much since they opened.  After a few years
>>>>>>>>>>>> opening they became a better deal for a lot of things than that monthly
>>>>>>>>>>>> COD computer fair.  Do they still do that?
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm not a gamer but it's obvious from posts, news articles and feeds
>>>>>>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>>>>>>> the game market is mostly "online" these days. I don't quite get what Steam
>>>>>>>>>>>>> is, but it's obvious it's some pay to play system. That and all the console
>>>>>>>>>>>>> machines that only work over the net. With all that going on, I can't see
>>>>>>>>>>>>> where carrying them in a store works anymore.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Maybe MC is trying to take a stab at Fry's, although I haven't been out to
>>>>>>>>>>>>> the one in Downers Grove (or wherever the hell it is) in a while, last time
>>>>>>>>>>>>> I was there they had a couple aisles dedicated to loose "parts". Seems like
>>>>>>>>>>>>> a waste of floor space but who knows.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm not a gamer either.  I was looking for PS2 games in some bargain bin
>>>>>>>>>>>> but now PS3 are the bargain platform.  Microcenter used to have those
>>>>>>>>>>>> bargain bins of random stuff that you could spend a lot of time looking
>>>>>>>>>>>> through for something you might need and get it cheap.  They don't do
>>>>>>>>>>>> that anymore.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> They still have bargan bins (well, more like tables).
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> My big MC bargin bin score was circa 1998...someone had returned a Palm
>>>>>>>>>> Pilot 7, which was better than the Palm 5 I went to buy, but also
>>>>>>>>>> *included wireless celluar*.  The people who returned it had
>>>>>>>>>> activated a data plan and it worked wireless for free for about a
>>>>>>>>>> year and a half.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Not that it was fast or anything, probably an analog cellular connection,
>>>>>>>>>> but this was living large in 1998.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Hah!
>>>>>>>>> I'm surprised they didn't cancel the account, but good for you!
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> I had two different Palm devices, and while they were fun to have, and I 
>>>>>>>>> could read my email on them, but looking back at them, boy, were they 
>>>>>>>>> clunky compared to our smartphones.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Maybe somebody here can remind me about all of this.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> What the hell was a palm even for? I don't recall anybody who ever had one 
>>>>>>>> being able to explain what it really did other than looks real stupid 
>>>>>>>> hanging off an belt next to a two way pager. I don't recall them even 
>>>>>>>> having "basic functionality" like being able to exchange "electronic 
>>>>>>>> business cards" or anything like that by pointing them at each other.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Even those silly watches you'd link to your computer by letting the screen 
>>>>>>>> flash made more sense.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I got a Palm III from work in 1998 or thereabouts. It had some infrared way
>>>>>>> of communicating with other Palm III's but I don't remember ever using that
>>>>>>> feature. I used it for playing games and taking notes. The Palm script was
>>>>>>> easy to learn and note taking wasn't too cumbersome. It had a backlight so 
>>>>>>> you could see the LCD screen in the dark. It also had a flip cover that made 
>>>>>>> it great for pretending you were on the USS Enterprise.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Sheeeeeit.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> My wife worked for 3Com back in the day (99-06?), so I cycled through a Palm
>>>>>> III, a IIIc (color screen!), a V, and a Sony Clie (their licensed clone of a 
>>>>>> Palm that, of course, used Memory Stick instead of SD). Man, fuck Sony sideways.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> You could beam certain data between units via IR, but it was wonky as fuck.
>>>>>> Syncing it in a corporate environment was a challenge, but I do recall getting
>>>>>> it to work with Lotus Notes (yeesh) when I was at IBM. 
>>>> 
>>>>>Back to my old question. What the fuck were you (or anybody really) even 
>>>>>syncing? Buzzord bingo terms? Did those piece of shit even do some sort of 
>>>>>off-line POP mail? I stil have zero understanding of why nerds used those 
>>>>>things.
>>>> 
>>>> Data... the goal is to never type the same thing twice... which included
>>>> backing up your contacts so if you reset the device they weren't all lost
>>>> although even back when I had the Franklan eBookman, I recall using a USB
>>>> cable to sync contacts back and forth (it had contacts and note taking
>>>> apps on it too and was pretty cheap back in 99 or so).
>> 
>>>Still just not getting it.
>> 
>>>Why the hell would you backup a contact list on a device bigger than an 
>>>phone of the era?
>> 
>>>Here's what it comes down to.
>> 
>>>palm pilots were completely stupid devices for stupid people.
>> 
>> They weren't stupid... they were much better than little scraps of paper kept 
>> inside your pocket protector so you could move them easily from shirt to 
>> shirt each morning...

>Scraps of paper in pocket protectors? I think I've found the problem here.


>> Back then you just didn't have the digital bandwidth (actually I think it was 
>> still analog signals at that time... when I worked at Motorola cellular in the
>> 80's it was all analog).  Syncing with a USB cable in the 90's was a lot more
>> reliable than syncing with a watch flashing at a tube screen.

>USB at any point in the 1990s was far less reliable than aiming a watch at 
>a 14" CRT.

I would tend to disagree.  Perhaps you were syncing usb devices using a cable
that had been cut?

>Is this a website you maintain?

>http://www.faughnan.com/palm.html

Not I (opted not to visit it)...  The sidekick was a neat device too in its
day, but these days I prefer android.

-- 
John Nelson
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Re: Microcenter Chicago Paddling-Fishing <jwn@ripco.com> - 2016-09-25 06:57 +0000
  Re: Microcenter Crawford Sausage Company <mea@brandylion.com> - 2016-09-25 12:16 -0700
  Re: Microcenter dye@d118-75-174-144.try.wideopenwest.com (dye) - 2016-09-28 21:24 +0000
    Re: Microcenter Geoff Gass <glg@tanzenmb.com> - 2016-09-28 23:57 +0000
      Re: Microcenter Michele <eatshitanddie@spammers.com> - 2016-09-29 00:50 -0500
      Re: Microcenter dye@d118-75-174-144.try.wideopenwest.com (dye) - 2016-09-30 16:15 +0000
  Re: Microcenter dye@d118-75-174-144.try.wideopenwest.com (dye) - 2017-08-03 16:24 +0000
    Re: Microcenter barbie gee <booger@nosespam.com> - 2017-08-05 09:38 -0500
      Re: Microcenter Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com> - 2017-08-23 13:15 +0000
        Re: Microcenter Geoff Gass <glg@tanzenmb.com> - 2017-08-23 14:23 +0000
          Re: Microcenter Chicago Paddling-Fishing <jwn@ripco.com> - 2017-11-05 09:08 +0000
        Re: Microcenter Don Seeley <see-sig@fakedomain.com> - 2017-08-30 16:24 +0000
          Re: Microcenter Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com> - 2017-09-02 21:52 +0000
            Re: Microcenter Michele <goaway@noseytwats.com> - 2017-09-07 01:42 -0500
            Re: Microcenter dye@d118-75-174-144.try.wideopenwest.com (dye) - 2017-10-14 20:39 +0000
        Re: Microcenter tert in seattle <tert@ftupet.com> - 2017-09-25 00:52 +0000
          Re: Microcenter Kristian M Zoerhoff <kristian.zoerhoff@gmail.com> - 2017-10-04 01:39 +0000
            Re: Microcenter nobody@[127.0.0.1] (David W. Tamkin) - 2017-10-04 15:01 +0000
              Re: Microcenter Kristian M Zoerhoff <kristian.zoerhoff@gmail.com> - 2017-10-04 19:11 +0000
                Re: Microcenter Michele <goaway@noseytwats.com> - 2017-10-06 00:16 -0500
                Re: Microcenter Kristian M Zoerhoff <kristian.zoerhoff@gmail.com> - 2017-10-07 22:26 +0000
                Re: Microcenter Michele <goaway@noseytwats.com> - 2017-10-07 23:00 -0500
                Re: Microcenter Geoff Gass <glg@tanzenmb.com> - 2017-10-11 23:19 +0000
                Re: Microcenter Michele <goaway@noseytwats.com> - 2017-10-12 00:39 -0500
                Re: Microcenter Geoff Gass <glg@tanzenmb.com> - 2017-10-13 17:51 +0000
                Re: Microcenter Michele <goaway@noseytwats.com> - 2017-10-14 22:45 -0500
                Re: Microcenter barbie gee <booger@nosespam.com> - 2017-10-21 23:49 -0500
                Re: Microcenter barbie gee <booger@nosespam.com> - 2017-10-21 23:48 -0500
                Re: Microcenter nobody@[127.0.0.1] (David W. Tamkin) - 2017-10-07 02:56 +0000
            Re: Microcenter Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com> - 2017-10-10 03:11 +0000
              Re: Microcenter Kristian M Zoerhoff <kristian.zoerhoff@gmail.com> - 2017-10-11 16:07 +0000
              Re: Microcenter dye@d118-75-174-144.try.wideopenwest.com (dye) - 2017-10-14 20:46 +0000
                Re: Microcenter barbie gee <booger@nosespam.com> - 2017-10-21 23:51 -0500
                Re: Microcenter dye@d118-75-174-144.try.wideopenwest.com (dye) - 2017-10-23 23:06 +0000
              Re: Microcenter Chicago Paddling-Fishing <jwn@ripco.com> - 2017-11-05 09:25 +0000
                Re: Microcenter Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com> - 2017-11-07 03:18 +0000
                Re: Microcenter Chicago Paddling-Fishing <jwn@ripco.com> - 2017-11-07 05:15 +0000
                Re: Microcenter Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com> - 2017-11-26 05:57 +0000
                Re: Microcenter Chicago Paddling-Fishing <jwn@ripco.com> - 2018-01-14 01:57 +0000
                Re: Microcenter Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com> - 2018-01-17 04:03 +0000
                Re: Microcenter Chicago Paddling-Fishing <jwn@ripco.com> - 2018-08-13 06:48 +0000
                Re: Microcenter barbie gee <booger@nosespam.com> - 2018-08-17 19:24 -0500
    Re: Microcenter Max <betatron@gmail.com> - 2017-08-05 21:07 -0500

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