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Newsletter for August 20th, 2009 - Codename "Screencast Summer"

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mouser:
Newsletter for August 20th, 2009Codename "Screencast Summer"




1. Newsletter Editorial

It's the dog days of summer here in the US Midwest, and it's time for another DC newsletter.  In the last newsletter I announced that I would finally be recording and posting some screencasts showing how to use various features of my larger applications.  I started with a series of about 15 videos demonstrating different features of my Screenshot Captor program, and am now about 20% of the way through a series of about 50 videos on my Find and Run Robot program (yikes!).

So if you've ever wondered what these programs are about, now's the time to stop by the DonationCoder.com blog and have a look -- each video is only a few minutes long and none of them are as painful to watch as the movie Transformers 2.  Furthermore, I'm happy to announce here that I am extending the summer of screencasts for another month, and will be posting a new screencast every day all the way through September.  And I reiterate my plea that other coders on the forum take the opportunity to post some videos of their own software.

Next up, some more donationcoder gatherings to tell you about. Let's be honest, these aren't exactly assembly hall conventions, and it's usually just one or two people getting together.  But anyone within driving distance of my house on August 29th is welcome to stop by to have some dinner and play board games -- the dc server admin (john) and his wife (traci) are moving to my neighborhood and are staying with me for a bit and so I figured the more the merrier.  And in germany there will be another gathering at the famous c-base geek club (i wish we had one of those here).  Check the threads below for details and to rsvp.

Lastly.. Baby Cody, the stuffed animal version of the DonationCoder site mascot, has begun his travels around the world visiting donationcoder forum members; you can check out some pictures of him in England in the links below.

Oh, and if you have some web design and user interface skills, please do see the link in section 2 below -- one of your fellow dc members wrote a very fun experimental interactive fiction text "game" and he really needs some help polishing up the user interface.


* August 2009: 30 Days of DonationCoder Screencasts
* Second official DC Germany meet-up - August
* DC-IRLDD Champaign, IL - Aug 29, 2009
* Baby Cody gets bored with nudone
* Baby Cody In Yorkshire with Carol (and a new friend)

2. Your Participation Requested

We welcome everyone's participation on the forum, no matter what your level of computer knowledge or how long you've been a DC member. If you're still waiting to make your first post, see the links below for some good places to jump in.  DC member Carl Thorpe has come out of retirement to once again try to organize some more discounts - so don't miss the link to the thread discussing what programs you would like him to try to arrange discounts on.


* Web Page Designer needed for small DC related game project?
* Anyone have an i7 chip yet? If so, tell me how you like it
* What shareware programs do you want us to arrange discounts for?

3. Giveaways and Discounts ending this month - only a few days left

Because of the lateness of this newsletter, you have only a few more days to take advantage of August's discounts and enter the August giveaway drawing.


* August 2009 Discounts and Giveaways (still time to enter to win)
* Actual Window Manager - 50% Discount
* Chameleon Startup Manager Pro v3 - 40% Discount (reduces to 30% after August 31)

4. Coding Snacks and DC Member Stuff

The Coding Snacks Section is where people can request small utilities to be coded while they wait.  Since the last newsletter we've had a *LOT* of new requests that have been filled -- several forum members are on fire lately!  We've also got a few new member mini-reviews this month:


* Mini-Review: Digital Game Stores
* Mini-Review: KidsMenu - a shell replacement for kids
* Coding Snack: Wordlist Maker for teachers and students and ppl learning English
* Coding Snack: UpdateEnv
* Chore Cards.. Almost makes it fun..
* Live as if Today was a Quantum Superposition of the the Rest of your Life

5. Website Discoveries

Recent discoveries shared by forum members:


* Ghacks examines tools to download Youtube videos
* Coding Horror Asks: Are You a Digital Sharecropper?
* All Wordy and Junk: A brand new multi-author blog
* MakeUseOf Blog: Sending free SMS messages to a cell phone from your pc
* Plans Unfolding - New and different paper PIM

6. General Software Discussion

Almost half the posts on the forum fall into the category of general software discussions, questions, recommendations, etc. This is one of the most active sections of the DC forum and a great resource if you're trying to solve a software or hardware related problem. We get so much traffic on this board that we've split the recent content into to sections in the newsletter - general software and specific software discussions.


* Maximize Windows "partially"
* Timeline Software
* 101 Lectures for Your Open Source Education -- Online College Tips
* FileBox eXtender Alternatives

7. Specific Software Discussion

This section of the newsletter draws attention to some of the standout discussions about specific programs that have been started since the last newsletter.


* Rainmeter 1.0 Now Available
* USB Safely Remove for Free
* How to install URL Snooper on Windows 7 ?
* SuperCopier 2.2 Beta (NEW!)

8. Fun, Games and Amusements on the Web

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..


* Print and fold your own camera?
* DIY Vacuum tubes
* Flash Tower Defense Game of the Week: Garden TD
* A Dog Goes Blind: It's nighttime always now. Huh. How about that.

9. News You Can Use

DC Member Ehtyar produces wonderful weekly summaries of important tech/computer/security news articles that he comes across on the web.  A big hit on the forum.  We're still wondering how he keeps up the pace and when will he collapse from exhaustion?


* Tech News Weekly: Edition 33-09
* Tech News Weekly: Edition 32-09
* Tech News Weekly: Edition 31-09

mwb1100:
Let's be honest, these aren't exactly assembly hall conventions, and it's usually just one or two people getting together.-mouser (August 20, 2009, 06:58 PM)
--- End quote ---

I manage to get to a one person DC get-together nearly every day!

 ;D

Deozaan:
Let's be honest, these aren't exactly assembly hall conventions, and it's usually just one or two people getting together.-mouser (August 20, 2009, 06:58 PM)
--- End quote ---

I manage to get to a one person DC get-together nearly every day!-mwb1100 (August 21, 2009, 12:02 AM)
--- End quote ---

I'm left wondering what it's like those days you don't manage to get to a one-person DC get-together.  :-\

Thanks for the newsletter mouser! I haven't been as active on DC the past couple of months, so the links in this one are pretty much the only topics I've seen. It's nice to stay connected through the newsletter. :Thmbsup:

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