Messages

26

General Software Discussion / Specs for new pc?

« on: June 06, 2010, 03:54 PM »

Hi fellow dc-ers,

I'm looking to build a pc for my kids (email, web surfing and some gaming). I'm looking for some ideas in terms of cpu, motherboard, case, disk, memory... possibly tested configurations. The excellent guys at ArsTechnica used to have hardware guides with several configurations (budget box, hotrod and god box) but they've not been updated for quite some time (Oct 2009), any other good trusted source?
Thanks in advance.

Cheers  /jerome

27

General Software Discussion / Re: What to use to back up 1:1 ?

« on: May 18, 2010, 04:30 PM »

+1 for SuperFlexible!

I've been using it for years for synchronisation between several PCs, backup to external drive and backup to AmazonS3 (using AES 256 bits encryption) and I'm still discovering new customisation options!

Cheers  /jerome

28

General Software Discussion / Re: Has anyone discovered any cool Windows 7 third-party utilities?

« on: November 16, 2009, 10:35 AM »

Hi there,

You might want to have a look at this list by Scott Hanselman:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/LightItUpListOfApplicationsThatUseNewWindows7Features.aspx

Some tools have already been mentioned here (Gmail notifier) but there are some good finds as well.

Cheers  /jerome

29

General Software Discussion / Re: Software for simple system of organization

« on: July 31, 2009, 03:00 AM »

I've been using MyLifeOrganized for a few years and I like it, even though I'm not using some of its more advanced features.
You can pretty much do whatever you like and it syncs with my smartphone (which was a requirement for me).

cheers  /jerome

30

General Software Discussion / Re: Google Chrome: Time for a Second Chance?

« on: July 15, 2009, 03:22 PM »

I also tried Chrome when it was announced, as suggested by a friend of mine I read the end user license agreement... scary to say the least.
My view on this is that google has forgotten its original motto "don't be evil", they just launch a browser to get more data about what people are doing on the web and use that to improve their engines and above all to improve the monetization of their work through ads.
If you have the smallest concern about your privacy, don't use Chrome... Use firefox or even IE (given the scrutiny MS gets, you're probably safe)
By the way, you should also try alternative search engine, I must admit I don't use google a lot these days (try ask.com, exalead.com or even bing.com, their results are as good as, if not better than google). I hate monopolies and to me, google is probably one of the most perverse of all monopolies.

Jerome

31

General Software Discussion / Re: Good tool to batch edit EXIF date/time data?

« on: June 09, 2009, 03:20 PM »

Thanks for the suggestion. I eventually ended up writing my own command line version of it (quick'n'dirty way but works like a charm).

Cheers  /jerome

32

General Software Discussion / Good tool to batch edit EXIF date/time data?

« on: June 06, 2009, 05:27 AM »

Hi DCers,

I need to edit the taken date of several hundreds of pictures (my son's camera date/time settings were not set correctly). I've looked around and couldn't find a tool for that (my fav picture viewer IrfanView doesn't seem to be able to do that).
Suggestions anyone?

Cheers  /jerome

33

General Software Discussion / Re: Kana Reminder alternative??

« on: June 04, 2009, 09:45 AM »

If you need a reminder utility and you like the dark side of command line interfaces, the best one is definitely Remind, it can do everything as far as triggering is required, but there's a steep learning curve.

Cheers  /jerome

34

General Software Discussion / Re: Search with Bing

« on: June 03, 2009, 03:14 PM »

Howdy,

I've read some pretty good reviews of bing so far... So I tried it, and I must say I'm quite impressed with what they've done! To benefit of all new features you need to set your locale to US, hopefully international markets will get the same features soon.
I'm quite happy to find a serious competitor to google! Time for a change?

Cheers  /jerome

35

General Software Discussion / Re: The Best Of: text editors

« on: May 27, 2009, 12:02 PM »

Hey DCers,

I really like emeditor too, the only issue for me is when working on huge files (100Mb+) it tends to be a bit slow (even though it works fine), then I prefer TextPad. And when in need for more advanced tools (and just for the fun), I use Vim (if someone asks why... I started working a looong time ago as a C developer on Sun workstations where the only decent editor was Vi).

Cheers  /jerome

36

General Software Discussion / Re: Local backup like "Carbonite"

« on: May 24, 2009, 08:33 AM »

Hi Steven,

You can find all contact info here, including Tobias email address. It's a bit pricey, I'd agree, but I think it's well worth the money (imho). For info, I'm using it to backup my files on Amazon S3 (adding encryption), on my external hard drive and also to sync some files with my work laptop.

Cheers  /jerome

37

General Software Discussion / Re: Software to capture onscreen video (not youtube)

« on: May 23, 2009, 04:43 PM »

URLSnooper by mouser should help you (to get the url of the media), I've used it in conjunction with FlahGet which can download most streaming medias out of the box.

Cheers  /jerome

38

General Software Discussion / Re: to mindmap or not?

« on: May 23, 2009, 09:29 AM »

Thanks David, it's a really great find!

I looked at the Axon site and was so intrigued I downloaded the trial version... I really expect a steeeeeeep learning curve, and I could not find some tutorials to get me started. I also have a visual issue as it looks like the Axon screen is getting refreshed sometimes in what appears to be a random fashion (the whole background is flashing quite slowly and the whole window is being redrawn), during this flashing the program doesn't seem to respond to mouse clicks. This is a showstopper for a program that is priced at US$135!
Nevertheless it seems to be extremely powerful, but I don't think I need all the features. Not sure yet if I'm ready to invest enough time in it. I'll be playing with it for the week-end and see how far I can get.
Just to come back to my initial question, I'm still curious to get feedback from DCers using mindmapping...

Cheers  /jerome

39

General Software Discussion / Re: Local backup like "Carbonite"

« on: May 22, 2009, 04:47 PM »

Hey,

My favorite backup solution is SuperFlexible File Synchronizer, I've been using it for years and I'm extremely happy with it. Tobias, the main developer keeps on improving it and responds quickly to email questions and support requests.
Superflexible can run backup jobs (one-way or full sync using intelligent file tracking) on different triggers (incl startup or shutdown), but unfortunately it can seem to run on idle time. It may be worth to give it a try and ask Tobias what his thoughts are...
I cannot recommend another piece of software more than SuperFlexible, to me it's the holy grail of backup and sync.

Cheers  /jerome

40

General Software Discussion / to mindmap or not?

« on: May 22, 2009, 04:02 PM »

Hi DCers,

I've been wondering for a long time whether or not I should map my thoughts using some kind of mindmap tool. Even though I like the concept, I've never really made the move to mindmap. I think I could really benefit from it, especially as a software project manager in a big corporation.
In terms of tools I think Mindjet's Mindmanager or MatchWare MindView 3 Business Edition are serious contenders, but are both quite expensive. I've tried Freemind as an alternative OpenSource solution, but it didn't really compare in terms of features (e.g. export to Microsoft Office programs like Word, PowerPoint or Project which are the de facto standard at my company).
Anyone having the same doubts or hesitations?
What are your thoughts about mindmapping? Have you used it successfully?
Thanks for your ideas/help!

Cheers  /jerome

41

Clipboard Help+Spell / More dictionaries?

« on: April 03, 2009, 04:52 AM »

Hi there,
I've decided to give CHS another try as my needs have evolved over time (last time I tried was 2 years ago I think).
I've one question though: where can I get dictionaries for other languages? Does the CHS dictionary format follow some kind of standard?
Thanks again mouser

Cheers  /jerome

42

General Software Discussion / Re: Calendar Math, which language to use?

« on: December 26, 2008, 04:45 PM »

Well, not sure if it can fill all your needs, but the best tool for calendar manipulation imho is remind (open source) that you can find at http://www.roaringpe....com/products/remind.
It's not a scripting language on its own, but it can do pretty much anything (including user defined functions) as far as dates and reminders manipulation. It has a steep learning curve though :\

The best introduction to remind can be found here: http://www.roaringpe...oad/remind-oclug.pdf

It can generate calendars in postscript or html.

Cheers  /jerome

43

General Software Discussion / Re: Tool to make screenshots of web site using command line

« on: November 19, 2008, 04:08 AM »

Excellent find lanux, I should have checked NirSoft before asking

Cheers  /jerome

44

General Software Discussion / Tool to make screenshots of web site using command line

« on: November 18, 2008, 12:00 PM »

Hi DCers,

I've to make a lot (meaning 100+) screenshots of websites from their urls, and update them regularly (once a week).
What would be the best (i.e. free) tool to make these screenshots?

I considered MiniCap by mouser, but I'm not sure it's well suited to run in unattended mode (overnight for example).

Any similar experience amongst you guys?
Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Jerome

45

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« on: August 03, 2008, 11:18 AM »

Hi folks,

Just a quick note to share my experience... I've been looking for the perfect outliner/note-taking app for a long time, I've tried many of them and I've never been satisfied up to the point where I consider writing my own! During this quest I've tried SQLNotes several times, never being able to overcome the initial learning curve.

Today I decided to take some time to try it again (after reading posts from well-respected fellows here), this is an incredibly flexible program! I'm sharing this for those of reading these lines who, like me, never invested enouch time. Thanks Pierre-Paul for this really great application! I'm really excited at the perspective of digging even more all the features!
Merci Pierre-Paul!

Cheers  /jerome

46

General Software Discussion / Impressive list of outliners/note-taking apps

« on: July 24, 2008, 01:53 AM »

Hi all,

I wanted to share with you this impressive list of outliners/note-taking apps grabbed from outlinersoftware.com

I'm still looking for the perfect outliner program (and I've tried so many!)...

Cheers  /jerome

47

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a special RSS reader

« on: July 02, 2008, 07:14 AM »

resurecting this old thread... it looks like Newzie development has been suspended, anybody here still using it?
I'm using Google Reader for my RSS reading, but it definitely lacks some advanced features only found in desktop software, if you're using a desktop software for RSS agregation, which one are you using and why?
I'm tried feeddemon, but I don't really like it, RSS bandit is too buggy for me, newzie seems very nice, but I don't want to invest time in a dead product.

Cheers  /jerome

48

General Software Discussion / A new task manager on the block...

« on: June 28, 2008, 02:19 PM »

Hi all,

I thought I knew all existing task manager tools... I was wrong!
I just discovered a new one (at least for me) : Watership Planner
They have a very interesting, comprehensive approach to task management: it includes values, goals, time tracking, roles, daily/weekly planner... lots of things in it.

Af first glance, it seems to be quite powerful, but it may be a bit too rigid for me (lack of customization from my very own perspective), I'll continue using MyLifeOrganized as my main task manager. But seeing what they've done in Watership Planner gave me new ideas for customizing MLO (using values to tag some tasks for example)...

There's a trial download on the site above, no time limit, just a limit of 30 tasks. The full version costs $89.95 or €54.95, I've no relation whatsoever with the editor, I've no idea if they're responsive to user requests. Current version number is 1.73.

Enjoy!

Cheers  /jerome

49

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MyLife Organized (updated review)

« on: June 26, 2008, 10:58 AM »

Excellent review superboyac!

I use MLO daily for close two 2 years now, and I still love it. It's extremely customizable (you can manage goals, checklists, tasks), you can sync to MS Outlook for example, you can sync to a network share or an FTP server (and it will manage conflicts if any). There's also a PDA (Windows Mobile) version of the software (requires an separate license though).
I think it's also worth mentioning the very flexible licensing: if you buy the profesional license, you can run the software on up to 5 different computers!

I've tried many task managers, and MLO is the best (for me at least!).

Cheers  /jerome

50

General Software Discussion / Re: TheBat, calendar and MS Outlook

« on: February 03, 2008, 11:04 AM »

I can maybe rephrase this...

Question for TheBat! users (and others who are not using MS Outlook) here: what calendar/scheduling software do you use in conjunction with this great email client?

Thanks!

Cheers  /jerome