Messages

51

Living Room / Re: Sansa Clip Zip: Wow!

« on: January 14, 2012, 06:47 AM »

I dont know your experience with this stuff so apologize if I'm not technical enough, or too techinical!

It's a USB DAC (Digital to Analog Converter).  You plug it into your USB port and it converts audio into analog signals the line input on your stereo/receiver can reproduce through speakers (or, if you use the headphone output, directly through headphones).  It requires no drivers (it's just a USB device) and you get another volume slider exclusively for it (in Win 7 at least).  It takes the place of a soundcard (a soundcard on a desktop PC usually is a PCI DAC). 

This device is great for boosting the audio quality output of a laptop (what I use it for).  It bypasses the crappy soundcard on the motherboard and allows you to use any powered speaker or amplifier system.   

It does not allow as much configurability as built in soundcards do (or did... it's been awhile since I've had one).  But it works on any computer and the sound quality is fine.  Here is the in-depth review I read a few years ago when deciding to get it: http://www.head-fi.org/t/456945/first-impressions-nuforce-udac-usb-dac-amp-with-line-out-and-s-pdif-out

And here is the product link to the new version:
http://www.nuforce.com/hp/products/iconudac2/

And, just to give you more options and confuse the issue, here is a wireless audio cable that uses the same principle as the uDAC above.  Both are excellent in my opinion (you use these separately, they dont stack):
http://audioengineusa.com/Store/Audioengine-W1

52

Living Room / Re: Sansa Clip Zip: Wow!

« on: December 12, 2011, 05:37 AM »

Actually, wait a second... I completely overlooked something... the nudaq is a usb amplifer: usb in, analog audio out.  Probably wont work for these mp3 players.  Sorry, that's my bad.  In my excitement I overlooked the obvious!  A good option for computers though.

53

Living Room / Re: Sansa Clip Zip: Wow!

« on: December 11, 2011, 07:43 PM »

More expensive, but just mentioning it because I have one and it's worked extremely well for me:  NuForce's Nudaq.
http://www.amazon.com/NuForce-uDAC-2-Silver-Headphone-24bit/dp/B003Y5LY1C/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1323654072&sr=1-1-spell

No pressure, if you're not into audio you're probably not interested.  Just throwing it out there!

(I use the nudaq from my computer into a receiver.  I assume the one mentioned above would do the same.  I would not expect these to power speakers directly (self-powered speakers should be fine.)

54

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs is dead.

« on: October 26, 2011, 08:04 PM »

I'm going to bow out at this point, because apparently his 'reality distortion field' goes both ways, as it seems that some can't see the negative, and some can't see the positive.  Few are completely either, and IMO, he doesn't fall into that few.

And one last point I'll add- most people can't say that they truly innovated *anything* without dependence on *any* other technologies, so take that for what its worth.

-wraith808 (October 26, 2011, 03:13 PM)

Two very insightful comments!  (and in some circumstances, possibly inciteful)  Thanks wraith.

55

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs is dead.

« on: October 26, 2011, 11:26 AM »

For me the problem is the extremes: Jobs was very good at what he did and revolutionized tech... he's not perfect, and he's not evil.  I try to stay in the middle (which has it's own pitfalls).  I did find this CNN piece interesting though:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/26/short-takes-are-we-turning-steve-jobs-into-a-saint/?hpt=hp_c2

56

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... someone using CAD software

« on: September 29, 2011, 02:43 PM »

I'm not a huge fan.  I'm not against the ribbon in general, just in Autocad it's not the most useful thing.

-superboyac (September 29, 2011, 09:29 AM)

Totally agree.  Whether a ribbon works is very dependent on how the designers lay it out... AutoCAD's just makes me cry (I actually like Excel's implementation). 

Yeah, I do a lot of system block diagrams at work and it really can be an art form: How do you convey as much relevant data in as concise a way as possible?  And yes, I find Edward Tufte's ideas stimulating (while a tad too theoretical sometimes!).

57

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... someone using CAD software

« on: September 29, 2011, 05:37 AM »

SuperboyAC, I use autocad at work and love the freeform drawing capabilities as well... I hate visio and other such "diagramming" software because they take the art out of diagramming! 

BUT, what are your thoughts on the new UI (2010 and later, assuming you're seen/used it)??  To me it is cumbersome and the entire program is getting sluggish.

Sorry if this is OT, by the way.

58

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / Re: Looking for people willing to do a simple exercise

« on: September 26, 2011, 06:06 AM »

Is exposure any relation to hormesis http://gettingstronger.org/ ??  The idea that small amounts of stress make your body respond in beneficial ways?

59

Living Room / Re: A Religion for the 21st Century!

« on: September 26, 2011, 05:43 AM »

And I thought this thread was going to be about Science.

60

General Software Discussion / Re: A unified solution for note taking and task management

« on: September 14, 2011, 02:25 PM »

No, not a tldr post... an itch of mine is that people dont argue intellignetly anymore on the internet, and I see your post as an intelligent argument!

I dont have really have a return argument.  As I have thought and struggled with this issue I personally am getting tired of it and also think that, for me,  there is plenty of life outside of it (I think you allude to this type of person in your post I guess I'm one of those!). 

Sorry, cant (or wont) hold up my end of the argument to make it as worthwhile as it probably could be!  But keep going... I enjoy reading the research you've posted on DC in this area (since i'm getting tired of doing it myself!) and even when I disagree you give me things to think about.  So many different angles to consider things from!  Thanks Paul.

61

General Software Discussion / Re: A unified solution for note taking and task management

« on: September 14, 2011, 08:35 AM »

Quick comment, more from the philosophical side... one of the reasons why todo-esque software struggles so much is because the software is trying to model a hugely complex "organism."  Lists, charts, pictures, spreadsheets, timelines, etc are all awesome ways to present different types of data.  Many programs strive to model these disparete methods of presenting data and some do well in areas.  BUT, despite the huge number of note-taking, todo, etc software already out there people are always looking for something better.

Two thoughts on why this is the case:
1. Incredibly complex system to model
2. (Perhaps even more important) Everyone has their own way of doing things

Add to those two major principles: file format (proprietary vs not), OS choice, etc and you have a dizzying problem.  Just like "productivity systems" Complete Information Management solutions need to match the person that uses them (very hard, especially with more than one user), contain large amounts of data, AND relate that data.  I think this is why you have people preaching everything from simple text files to large all encompassing programs (which may as well be their own OS).

I'm not saying "dont try," and I'm not saying "my way is best."  Just bringing something up that I've noticed over the years I've been searching for the same kind of tool... and failing... time and time again.  I cant even model my own preferred way of doing things, let alone find a program that will do it for me!  Some of them help in some small ways, but I have not found one program.

62

Living Room / Re: Anyone here using a standing desk?

« on: July 18, 2011, 11:28 AM »

do take note that prolonged standing has been known to cause varicose veins..

-lanux128 (July 18, 2011, 01:02 AM)

Come on, this statement is science not objective proof!     Here's an article "proving" the opposite.
http://www.veins.co.uk/new_myths_about_vv_standing.htm

63

General Software Discussion / Re: Study Tool Linking

« on: July 17, 2011, 11:07 AM »

If you want something builtin, look up "cross references" in Word.  (Word also has hyperlinks, but I prefer cross references.)  

If you want more control, a cross reference is just a bookmark with an inserted REF field that links to it.  You can easily make a bookmark, then insert a REF field as a hyperlink to the bookmark.  (if you insert a cross-reference, Word does some automagic stuff, but the pieces are the same)

I forget the sites I was on, but searching for stuff on Word bookmarks, fields, should get you what you want (or what I think you want based on my interpretation of your request!!).

If you want to link to something outside of Word, I think you have to use hyperlinks.  I'm not sure if there is any other (non VBA) way of doing it.

64

General Software Discussion / Re: Software to share To-Do lists?

« on: July 15, 2011, 07:18 AM »

What about http://todotxt.com/  This used to be Todo.sh that was on Lifehacker.

Commandline control of textfile todolist.

65

General Software Discussion / Re: Virtual cd/dvd drive software (2011)

« on: July 14, 2011, 05:34 AM »

Need to add the MagicISO does support ISO, but uses UIF by default.

66

Find And Run Robot / Re: A hint to those moving FARR with settings from XP to Vista/Win7

« on: July 13, 2011, 11:28 AM »

Oh, I see.  So IF the program is in the Program Files directory, you have to use the Win7 document folders.  That makes some sense.  I typically install portable apps into a portable program folder on another partition so that's why I havent run into this before.

Just for my own clarification.  If I just unzip FARR and CHS into a folder they do not have the portable switch turned on?  (Sorry, at work and cant test.)

67

Find And Run Robot / Re: A hint to those moving FARR with settings from XP to Vista/Win7

« on: July 13, 2011, 10:59 AM »

This is something I've seen with CHS as well... does this mean that Win7 does not allow completely portable applications (I doubt this based on what I've seen) or is it just that FARR and CHS use the Windows document folders?  (Not pointing fingers or making suggestions, this is purely informational!)

I have yet to figure out the Win7 scheme!  (Granted I havent spent time researching it either!

68

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a single timeline task planning tool

« on: July 13, 2011, 07:02 AM »

If you do check todolist, make sure to have a look at the gantt chart plugin and calendar plugin.

69

Clipboard Help+Spell / Request: Select Audio Source

« on: July 09, 2011, 10:17 AM »

Dont know how hard this is, if it's not worth the time, no problem. 

What I would like is be able to choose the audio source for sound output in CHS.  Right now, like most apps, CHS just uses the default audio device.  Many music players have an option allowing you to select a particular output.

My problem (in case there are other ways of solving this) is that the CHS sound is rather loud.  I can change the volume of CHS in the Win7 sound mixer, but I dont think it maintains that setting through default device changes, etc.  (have not extensively tested this)  I also would prefer the sound to always come out of my laptop speakers, not my usually connected USB DAC.  One somewhat simple solution is to edit the wav file volume... but, I figured mouser might like to learn about the windows sound driver! 

Any thoughts?

70

General Software Discussion / Re: web clipping

« on: June 19, 2011, 01:50 PM »

Agree with the comments about Local Website Archive.  I love that it saves pages in html, but it does not seem to be updated much. 

- The search is somewhat powerful but never quite what I'm looking for.
- No "virtual folders" or tags (asked the author about this and he's not planning these) makes organization really tough
- No multi-page capture means if an article does not support single page view you get a bunch of entries for the same article (once again, asked about this but not going to be supported)

I've toyed with using priprinter and a pdf creation tool to make pdfs that I could store in other ways using other tools, but havent done that yet.

Understand the OP is looking for snippets and this is more about whole pages... but I havent found much for either.  I dont like that programs tend to store all this stuff in their own format. 

Why cant we have something like IDImager or what benubird was talking abou t (havent seen any updates recently): a database on top of the original files so we can add metadata and organize, but view the content regardless. 

71

Developer's Corner / Re: Database for a Desktop?

« on: May 07, 2011, 09:33 AM »

This may be completely off topic from where you were intending, but here is a blog by someone using Excel, SQLite, and Python.  He's doing some pretty interesting stuff, it may give you some ideas.

http://blog.gobansaor.com/

72

Living Room / Re: Anyone here using a standing desk?

« on: April 21, 2011, 06:31 AM »

Everytime this comes up I say the same thing... sorry for being a squeaky wheel!  But, more important than sitting on a chair, standing, or sitting on a ball is your overall posture.  I've also been very impressed with the overall ideas presented in this blog on movement quality and efficiency:

http://toddhargrove.wordpress.com/

In particular, I found the following articles very helpful, though I recommend reading around the blog:
Three essential elements of good posture: http://toddhargrove.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/three-essential-elements-of-good-posture/
Movement Reversebility: http://toddhargrove.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/reversibility-or-how-to-avoid-sitting-on-a-whoopie-cushion/
Efficiency is the essence of coordination: http://toddhargrove.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/coordination-part-ii/
The skill of relaxation: http://toddhargrove.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/coordination-part-ii/

In the end, I stand or sit at work as I decide to depending on how I'm feeling.  I just feel these discussions (and many discussions in general) turn to the "things we can buy" rather than treating the problem (which usually involves self-mprovement... much harder!).

73

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: Snap DB

« on: March 24, 2011, 10:55 AM »

Understood!  If a user really need multiline maybe excel is the better choice.

74

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: Snap DB

« on: March 24, 2011, 09:16 AM »

One thing I have done in the past to get around the multiline issue is to use a textbox for a given field... obviously this opens just a bunch more questions.  In my case I only had one multiline field, and I only needed to see one record's field at a time. 

Assuming these requirements are met, you could have a textbox that displays "multiline field X" for the selected record.


(For those wondering, I was replicating a "task manager" type tool with excel (as my task list) and word (as my task note/comment) using VBA to bridge the gap.  Yes there are many tools that do this type of thing (TodoList) and yes it's painful... and yes computer security rules at work suck.)

75

General Software Discussion / Re: Excel - pattern matching in cells

« on: March 17, 2011, 07:30 AM »

Actually, what I like less than having "no Regular Expression support" in office, is having "partial support only in Word."  Look at the Word Find help and you'll see some regex-like stuff.  To me it just completely confuses the issue (personal opinion of course). 

At least with VB you can get it back, but yes, it would certainly be nice to have it built in (unless you dont dont trust the probability of MS' implementation being helpful of course!).