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Newsletter for March 29th, 2009 - Codename "Last Call"

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mouser:
Newsletter for March 29th, 2009Codename "Last Call"


1. Newsletter Editorial

Greetings all!  As I write this, it's Sunday night, March 29th, and we are approaching the final days and hours of the 4th Anniversary fundraiser for the DonationCoder.com website.

So this newsletter is my last chance to reach you before the site returns to normal for another couple of years..  And this is your last chance to be part of something special.

March's fundraiser has been a great success in many ways -- all of us on the forum have enjoyed watching the thermometer banner as it has inched upward.  We passed our initial goal of raising $8,000 raised around mid-month, which was a wonderful thing.  Contributions slowed down after that and we are just about at $10,000 raised at the time that this newsletter goes out.

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We're still holding out hope of reaching our ultimate $12,000 goal.  A majority of the donations so far have some from repeat donators so the best possible thing that could happen now would be if in the final hours we saw a flood of new people taking the plunge and becoming supporting members, inspired by this latest newsletter.

Why not stop by the website and check out the things we do and the benefits of becoming a member.  Then ask yourself if this isn't the very best time to finally join the thousands of others who have become supporting members.  Everyone who makes a donation during the fundraiser will receive a lifetime license key for *all* of the software we make (dozens of high quality programs), as well as lifetime access to our shareware discount and giveaway section.  In addition, everyone who donates during the fundraiser will permanently be entitled to all software updates and new software we develop in the future -- even if we decide to begin charging subsequent members for new programs.  So if you think there's even a small chance you could might benefit from our software in the future, now is the perfect time to join, and you only have a couple of days left to do so.  And you'll be helping us achieve our goals.

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It's easy and safe to make a donation -- we use only the most trusted 3rd party payment processors: PayPal and now Amazon.com, as well as several other trusted shareware payment services.  Still not sure? Check out the new quotes page and see what hundreds of satisfied members have said about us so far.

And if you are uncomfortable making an online payment, that's ok too -- we're a friendly site -- you can send us a payment through snail mail post, in the form of cash, coins, checks, diamonds, gold, cookies, chocolate, oil paintings, knitted cat socks, etc.  In all seriousness, if you consider it a contribution, we will too, and we're happy to have it.  We're trying to do something a little different, and the most important thing for us is that we have your support, in whatever way you can give it.

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IMPORTANT: WE NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Lastly, let me make a very important request that is completely independent from our request for financial donations.

We've just posted our first ever DonationCoder.com survey and we're dying to have a lot of people participate.

It's exciting for me since this is the first time we've actually tried to find out how people would like the site to evolve in the future, and which aspects of the site people would like us to focus our attentions on.

Whether you've donated or not -- we want desperately to hear your views on the site -- what works, what doesn't, and what you'd like to see us concentrate on in the future.  In fact, it's especially important for us to hear from people who have decided not to donate -- tell us what we could do to make the site more useful to you.  The survey is completely anonymous, and will only take a few minutes of your time.  It will make the site a better place, and help us figure out how to spend some of the money we raise during the fundraiser!

We'll post the results of the survey publicly at the end of the month.

-Jesse Reichler (mouser)
 Site administrator, programmer, and your humble newsletter editor,
 March 29th, 2009


* Make a donation and Join DonationCoder.com now
* Take the DC March 2009 Survey
* The New Quotes page - Read what people say about DC



And now back to our regularly scheduled newsletter..

2. Your Participation Requested

No matter what your level of computer knowledge, or how long you've been a DC member, we'd love to have you participate on the forum.  See the links below for some good places to jump in and make your first post.


* What's your favorite food snack?
* Android phone - anyone using it?
* What would it take to create and then sell a very successful website?
* Should we have a yearly Best Avatar award on DC?

3. New Big List of DC Software Updates

I released the second half of a massive batch of updates to my programs on DonationCoder.  And in the coming weeks I will be releasing some screencast tours of various features -- so if you ever wanted to learn what some of these programs do or how to use advanced features, stay tuned to the forum:


* Process Tamer 2.10.01
* URL Snooper 2.23.01
* Screenshot Captor v2.53.01
* LaunchBar Commander 1.91.01
* Find and Run Robot 2.53.02
* Multi Photo Quotes 1.29.01
* Flipbook Printer 1.09.01
* Drag and Drop Robot 1.12.01
* The Form Letter Machine 1.09.01
* MiniCap 1.16.01
* PopUp Wisdom 1.06.01
* JrDebugLogger 1.08.01

4. Software Discounts for March and April 2009

Coming up in April we we have a new discount on Macro Express Pro. And the end of march marks the end of discounts on: Website Watcher (30% and one of my favorite programs), Local Website Archive (30%), AM-Notebook (30%), SoftCat CD Cataloger (40%), and JP Software's Take Command v10 Dos Shell Enhancer (50%).  We're going to try to get back to securing regular monthly discounts for our supporting members.


* March 2009 Discounts Posted
* April 2009 Discounts Posted

5. General Software Discussion

It's probably fair to say that the majority of the discussions on DonationCoder.com are about computer software.  Below are some noteworthy threads about software posted to DC since the last newsletter.


* eBook Reader alternate to Acrobat?
* Making my life difficult - Windows 98 - advice needed
* Looking for Search and Replace tool for MS Word Files
* Making the switch from Windows to Mac? Read this first.
* A free program that shows live the amount of traffic generated by each process
* Enable advanced performance - the optimization that isn't
* Recommend a good freeware spam filter for Outlook 2007?
* Bookmarks, I am frustrated
* Freeware Image Organizer (Especially Tags/Keywords)?
* Looking for: Stability - System - Stress Test to run in Windows
* Portable Software from Zenosys

6. Specific Software Discussion

Some noteworthy posts about specific software applications since the last newsletter.


* Maxto-very interesting...
* PortableApps - Manage your collection of install-less utilities and usb drive app
* Rambooster. Junk?
* Anybody tried ECMerge? (file compare tool)
* Shape Collage - Free Automatic Photo Collage Maker
* HotKeyz freeware hotkey tool

7. Website Discoveries

In each newsletter we highlight some of the software coded by DC members that is available on Donationcoder.


* "50 Most Beautiful Icon Sets Created in 2008"
* Create Animated Gif Typewriter Effect for your Text Online
* Hack Your Day Blog
* Facebook: How to Friend Someone Without Showing Your Status Updates
* Addictive Tips Blog
* P2Labs.com freeware
* dotTech.org Blog
* Lifehacker thread on GTD modifications
* OpenOffice has its own aggregated news 'Planet' site

8. Debates and Controversies

Here's a collection of threads on our forum that revolve around debates and controversies.


* Linux vs. Vista for an absolute beginner? (+related Vista/hardware query)
* which is better for hard drive transfers: ide or usb cable
* Eset False Positive Fiasco
* When in Trouble: Approach Strangers

9. Mini-Reviews and Coding Snacks by Members

The Coding Snacks Section is where people can request small utilities be coded while they wait.  Since the last newsletter we've had quite a few new ones.  And we've also go a new mini-review to add to the mix.


* Coding Snack: PickMe - Random (real random) file from folder and subfolders
* Coding Snack: MIDI data and screensaver
* Coding Snack: Consolidate files in the parent folder
* Coding Snack: Find filenames/folders above certain length and offer to rename them
* Macro Express - MiniReview
* Coding Snack : make folder set out of a txt file
* DC Member Contribution: Free ActiveX Controls for Programmers
* Coding Snack: BBCeditor 1.0.4

10. Fun and Games

If you've read the newsletter up to this point, take a break and check out some of the lighter fare from the forum - humour, videos, and games..


* How To Destroy the World with Nanotechnology
* The Daily What's Top 7 Billy Mays Infomercial Re-Dubs : NSFW Language
* Funny song clip about system administrators
* What is Twitter: A Funny Sarcastic Cartoon
* These Wonderful Friends of DC

11. Developer's Corner

If you're not a developer, don't be put off by the title of this section. There is likely something of interest to you on the Developer's Corner. It's more than just a forum for the discussion of software development, it's also where we discuss web design, entrepreneurial struggles, and general productivity issues.  And it's great to see that the section has been pretty active over the last few months -- keep it up people!


* SurveyGizmo - A nice online survey web service
* Introduction to Google's ad auction
* Steam online game account system flirts with micropayments
* Firefox Addons Developer Guide published
* Check this out - Videos on how to protect your website against hackers
* 7 Reasons Not to Direct Link to a Developer's Download Files
* Frustration with User Feedback
* On developer's block, and calling it quits. Being a programmer is hard

12. News You Can Use

DC Member Ehtyar has taken to producing wonderfully weekly summaries of important tech/computer/security news articles that he comes across on the web.  A big hit on the forum.  How is he able to keep up this pace and when will he collapse from exhaustion? We are all waiting to find out.  I've also added in some security news items here.


* Tech News Weekly: Edition 10-09
* Tech News Weekly: Edition 11-09
* Tech News Weekly: Edition 12-09
* Tech News Weekly: Edition 13-09
* Acrobat bug can lead to malware installs without even opening an infected file
* BIOS Level malware attack

cranioscopical:
Good work  :up:

TucknDar:
And the $10,000 mark is passed :-*

hawleyj:
Hi
Just a quick question. If I make a donation, does it change my membership status. I am a charter member but whenever I click on "make a donation" it seems to take me to a new member signup page. Are there means to distinguish between a new member and a continuing member. Perhaps its not that important but it just seemed confusing that even though I was logged in I kept ending up on a donation page requesting all new data.
Jim

mouser:
Hi Jim -- donating again won't affect your membership status.  Once a charter member, always a charter member.  Once you donate you will get a link to "upgrade" your forum account, but clicking on that will only add the donation amount in credits to your account, not change your membership status.

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