Messages

76

General Software Discussion / Re: some useful but less-known software. share your list!!!

« on: November 22, 2019, 01:02 PM »

@panzer: Thanks. You always seem to come up with such nifty stuff.   

77

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips'nTricks - Yay! Night Mode cometh!

« on: November 22, 2019, 12:08 PM »

Various news reports are indicating that MS (MicroSoft) are pulling away from the idea of going Cloud-only with ON, and are now consolidating the latest versions of ON in the Desktop software.
In line with that, they have recently released an update to MS Office (including ON 2016).
One really useful (for me) feature of the forthcoming updates to be rolled out between now and year's end is Dark Mode:

Notes:

• Dark Mode for OneNote 2016 is being gradually rolled out to customers during November and December of 2019. To ensure that you always receive the latest features as they become available, enable automatic Office updates. To do this, click File > Account, and then click the Update Options button.
  
  
• Dark Mode is compatible with OneNote 2016 version 16.0.12130 or later. To see which version you’re using, open OneNote 2016, click File > Account, and then note the information shown under About OneNote. You can also click the About OneNote button for more information.
  
  
• If you’re using OneNote at work or at school, your organization’s IT policies may affect if and when you can use this feature. Please contact your IT administrator for more information.

- Turn Dark Mode on or off in OneNote

This could be very good ergonomic news for those ON users who may be visually impaired. Dark Mode looks superb and really easy on the eyes. Pity it's not been rolled out to my ON version yet. Can't wait to try it out.

I really dislike OneNote's visual ergonomics - to me it looks all "glary" and fuzzy. This is due to gradually progressive clouding of my vision - sort of premature cataracts - plus what's called Fuchs endothelial dystrophy. It's not genetic and has been creeping on for years now, all apparently/probably brought on by my having been hit by acute and severe snowblindness when I was 16 and on a high altitude expedition over the Swiss alps. I'd lifted my snowgoggles onto my forehead as they were steaming up, I was sweating so much. It didn't seem too dazzling to me as we were in a freezing cloud. For about an hour our party of about 20 was in this freezing cloud, moving slowly, no stamping, silently and carefully, spread out 2 meters apart in single file, skins on the skis, following in each other's tracks as we traversed along a ridge metres above a huge avalanche slope, in snow conditions which meant the slope could be about to collapse. We were relieved when we got safely clear and laughed at each other's faces, with our ski hats, eyelashes, nostrils and eyebrows festooned with ice crystals formed from our sweat, tears and the steam of our exhaled breath.
However, at high altitudes where the actinic rays are very strong, it was a long enough exposure to do my eyes in. On the descent, my vision became fuzzy at first, and then over dinner in our hostel, my peripheral vision started to go and then I went temporarily partially blind. Very sore eyes too. We'd already the day before had 4 casualties with broken legs (very difficult snow conditions for skiers) within 10 minutes as we made the descent to the Grande St Bernard monastery (our destination for that night), so I was just one more, but luckier casualty.
As an aside:

Spoiler

I was delighted when I later learned that the little worm we had as an expeditions master (a house tutor who also taught economics and from whom we prefects had to protect the junior boys from his perving them in the showers and their dormitories) held it against me that I hadn't successfully completed that expedition. Anything that annoyed the detestable worm was a singular success in my book and only served as an incremental marginal increase to my enjoyment of life. The fact that it was I who happened to have been the source of his displeasure was an unexpected and added bonus that almost made the snowblindness seem to have been all worthwhile. So, to mark this achievement, we held a celebratory afternoon tea in the prefects' room, making peanut butter sandwiches with lashings of Heros black cherry jam, and tea and coffee heavily laced with brandy...and there was also some wine. One of us got horribly drunk and this idjut had to be carried by his fellow prefects to the showers, where he was undressed, left in an icy cold shower for 5 minutes, dried off and carried up to his attic room that he shared with one other boy and where they left him for 15 minutes or so, sat by the open window, to vomit up the contents of his stomach onto the roof tiles. When the flow and bile had stopped, they then carefully cleaned him up, put him to bed naked but wrapped warmly in blankets and excused his absence at dinner by telling the housemaster that he had been ill and gone to bed (which was true). Who was this individual? My lips are sealed, but I do know that he will never forget the experience as he was fully aware of what was going on most of the time and he was horrified and frightened by what he experienced - being shut inside his head aware and observing his total disengagement of motor control - so much so that he vowed never to get drunk like that again. He never forgot the kindness of his fellow prefects. It had been a sobering experience.

The "glary" ON interface apparently looks that way (glary) to me (is perceived that way by me) because of semi-opaque particles in the lens causing intraocular dispersion/refraction of the unpolarised light coming from the light source (the LCD screen). The result is a lot of optical "noise" falling on the retina making the main image indistinct. I can see better at night (less noise) than I can on a sunny day. My eyesight would be pretty good otherwise.

78

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« on: November 09, 2019, 08:05 AM »

@tomos:

thanks both, I just wasn't really familiar with the word tbh

-tomos (November 09, 2019, 06:12 AM)

Well, being a pedant, I wasn't comfortable with this usage either, but I tried what Dorothy did in the Wizard of Oz - she clicked her heels together three times and said "refactor" each time, and all became clear in the morning when she woke up - and it did for me too!
This Dorothy trick incidentally was apparently the origin of the modern verb "to be woke", as in "He/she/it is 'woke'." When things become clear to one, not quite as sudden as in an epiphany, but more like a bubble rising through oil. Not a lot of people know that, though the concept was hinted at in Lewis Carroll's writings:

“Must a name mean something?” Alice asks Humpty Dumpty, only to get this answer: “When I use a word… it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” - Through the Looking Glass(1871), by Lewis Carroll.

79

N.A.N.Y. 2020 / Re: N.A.N.Y. 2020: How can I be of service to you?

« on: November 09, 2019, 07:27 AM »

@BGM:
Just correcting what I wrote above:

@BGM: CodeBank v2.1.2.100 (June 9, 2011 is still available via:
https://files.downlo...=CodeBank2_Setup.exe
Refer Wayback: http://web.archive.o...5/http://zeraha.org/

-IainB (November 07, 2019, 05:01 PM)

Out of interest, I downloaded that file and ran the install.
Confuzzling result:
Which is the "Current/latest" version?:

• Installer says: v2.0.1.74
• "About" says: v2.1.2.95
• Notes for June 9, 2011 (in Wayback) say: v2.1.2.100

So I downloaded the installer kindly provided by you (@BGM) at http://www.sspxusa.org/temp/CodeBank2Setup.exe
@BGM's CodeBank installer says: v2.1.2.100
"About" says: v2.1.2.100

So you seem to have the latest version, indicating that at least some (if not all) of the sites that CodeBank formerly used to distribute the software have only earlier versions of it - which I guess is what you had probably(?) already discovered.
Thanks for providing that latest version anyway. Interesting proggy.

80

N.A.N.Y. 2020 / Re: N.A.N.Y. 2020: How can I be of service to you?

« on: November 07, 2019, 05:01 PM »

@BGM: CodeBank v2.1.2.100 (June 9, 2011 is still available via:
https://files.downlo...=CodeBank2_Setup.exe

Refer Wayback: http://web.archive.o...5/http://zeraha.org/

81

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive

« on: October 29, 2019, 05:09 PM »

Some comments here (above) seem to be redolent of comments along the same lines at two excellent reference links:

• Outliner Software forum: where there's a long history of useful discussion on all Notetaking and PIM-related methods, workflows, software/apps. Still in search of the Holy Grail of PIMs though.
  
  
• Taking Note blog: has very useful thoughts on Notetaking methods/philosophies in general and Notetaking software/apps. Strongly favours the Connected Text PIM, but I gather CT may no longer be being developed/maintained (its future seems uncertain/obscure). Seem to have been no posts since December 2018, though comments from readers have been added since then.

82

Living Room / Re: DC on Discord :O

« on: October 20, 2019, 01:46 AM »

Um, I'm no expert, but it seems to me that this technology may have been superseded somewhat by newer technology, several years ago (on August 14, 2013) - by what seems to be the stuff of nightmares for the NSA and other Five Eyes members - Telegram.
Includes: (some of this is from memory)

• Requires no server, just client devices.
• $FREE "forever".
• Ability to support Channel providers by voluntary donations and/or subscriptions.
• Security based on your unique phone number and passphrase (similar in that regard to the Japanese LINE social network system).
• Works on various clients:
• Android.
• Windows and Windows Portable.
• macOS
• MacApp Store version
• Linux 32-bit
• Linux 64-bit
• Absolutely secure + private end-to-end encryption. with distributed Cloud storage.
• Text messaging with some RTF capability.
• Voice (audio) telephony.
• Voice (audio) messaging.
• Concepts of Channels, Discussions, Groups, and social/business networking, secret chats.
• Dynamic links to URLs, with content partially shown in posts containing those links.
• Posts are left as editable, for a period, or can be replaced (with current date) by new posts.
• Your own posts can be permanently removed by you, for yourself only (e.g., to remove clutter in a thread), or for all others also.
• Files that you download from links or upload to links (documents, images, audio files, audio-video files, compressed files) don't seem to have a limit on size (though I could be wrong) and are stored encrypted in your Cloud Account and regarded as your permanent property. That means only you can delete them, or they will be expunged if you don't use your account for a preset period of your choice (up to 12 months).
• You can "clean" these files from your client device's Telegram cache (to recover storage space), but they will remain yours in the Telegram Cloud and can be downloaded again (useful for backup and for video junkies).
• The use of programmable "bots" (similar to Yahoo! PIPE, IFTTT).
• etc.

See also:

Extracted notes from the Telegram FAQ:
(Copied from: Telegram F.A.Q. - <https://telegram.org/faq#q-how-are-you-going-to-make-money-out-of-this>)

-IainB (July 24, 2018, 12:27 AM)

83

Screenshot Captor / Re: Is there any plan to update to ScreenShot Captor ?

« on: October 19, 2019, 11:09 PM »

I'd appreciate a rules-based file-renamer within Screenshot Captor.
-lanux128 (2019-10-05, 01:09:56)
Would it be enough, or easier, to harness a command-line file renamer like BRC  (brother of the better-known Bulk Rename Utility (BRU)) or Rename Master?

-rjbull (October 06, 2019, 03:55 PM)

Could I suggest, before getting lost in the weeds regarding what sort of file renamer might be the best approach, that some consideration be given to whether there is a real need for this file renaming functionality to be added-in to SC in the first place?

Presumably, the idea of changing the image file's name is "because we've always done that" or maybe there's a desire to have it show pertinent metadata that one might wish to be reflected in the image name, for easier searching, or something.
You don't actually need to change the file's original name to do that. You just need to add/associate the metadata to the image, somehow. One way to do that is, if the images are in .jpg, then add the metadata as (say) EXIF data, and you could then use a sophisticated image management tool (e.g., Picasa) to index, catalogue and search that data. (Works brilliantly). Filenames could largely become irrelevant.
However, if you're capturing images using SC (ScreenshotCaptor) and prefer having .png files, then life can become very easy - if you're also using CHS (ClipboardHelp & Spell). You can use it as an excellent image capture management tool, and save your captured image file(s) in a path such as (for example):
...\Clipboard Help+Spell\Database\Files\2019\10\17_603x276_DF0CFDD5.png - with all sorts of metadata associated:
e.g., including:
*  Size/resolution: | 603x276  (20.69kb)
*  Notes: Any notes, text, URL links, or (say)references to other files (limit 9,999 characters, I think).

Using CHS and its tagging and especially its Virtua Folders feature, you can then categorize sort, classify, search and order that meta-data (and the images it relates to) pretty much any which way you want.

...This is why I keep banging on about CHS (ClipboardHelp & Spell) as being an ideal image capture management tool, if users (and its author) only but realised it. The user can forget about worrying about image filenames or what directory the ruddy image is stored in or where it is.

It really does seem rather like a no-brainer, to me: If CHS is running, then every screenshot image that goes to Clipboard also is saved to the CHS image database folder [NB: together with any post-capture SC(ScreenshotCaptor} artefacts added at time of capture, if SC was being used to make the screenshot], from where the user can, at their leisure, view that image saved - just scroll through the images flagged in the CHS Grid display and view the image (with zooming) in the CHS Memo display. The user can at that point also trigger a separate image viewer (e.g., Irfanview) from the view button in the CHS Memo display, which will have previously been associated with images in the CHS settings. Any half-decent image viewer will also have a built-in image management tool and metadata editing tool. The latter would typically be an EXIF editor - e.g., Irfanview is very good in both regards.

If the user then wants to operate on (edit/change) that image, then they can invoke the third-party image editing tool (e.g., SC is very good) from the edit button in the CHS Memo display and which would have been associated with image editing in the CHS settings. (NB: This would require that SC or other image editor be installed first, of course.)

Done this way, the user:

• can forget about the image file (if/when needed, it's path and name are given in the Text tab in the CHS Memo display), and
• can forget about the viewer/editor applications (they are seamlessly integrated into CHS settings), and
• concentrate on the task at hand - namely the functionality that is required (e.g., image view and/or edit) regarding any particular screen capture or clip or other image selected in CHS.

All the above boils down to making the whole process of image capture management more effective/efficient. It's a useful time-saving approach, simply because it automates the integration of image application functionality. The user typically doesn't generally capture an image because they want to capture it per se, but because they want to do something with the image - or its file -  once it has been captured.

When seeking to improve a frequently-used and manually intensive process, the rule of thumb is generally to automate wherever possible/feasible and cost-effective to do so.
(As usually described in most/any Work Study practitioner's handbook.)

-IainB (January 23, 2018, 05:54 PM)

84

Living Room / Re: TurboTax’s 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans From Filing Their Taxes for Free

« on: October 19, 2019, 09:31 PM »

Regardless, the idea of automating the tax-gathering process using ubiquitous, non-proprietary and lowest-common-denominator technology (i.e., the Internet, in this case) and thus making it less complicated/easier and the cost of compliance less expensive for taxpayers is not a novel idea and should be a key objective for the State treasury - for example, as it is in New Zealand:
As I wrote under: Re: Privacy - Why can't the government do my taxes for me?

In 2008/9 I was contracted as a project manager to establish and commence a project that was going to transform the gathering of revenue/tax data by doing it online. This was for individuals and accounting agents of SMBs (Small to Medium-sized Businesses). It was to automate and dramatically improve the efficiency and speed of the processes involved, which, up until then, had been prone to massive manual processing holdups.

Fast forward 9 years. I was doing my personal online tax return the other day and was impressed with how easy it was,, as the Inland Revenue already knew an awful lot of the private details about my income. What potentially had been likely to take me hours by the old methods was now taking minutes. This was for my individual tax return. (I had read in the press that the SMB side of things was still having hiccups though.)

Then my train of thought reminded me of this silly humour post I made in 2014:

Scott Adams Blog: Message to My Government 03/06/2014
Mar 6, 2014

I never felt too violated by the news that my government can snoop on every digital communication and financial transaction I make. Maybe I should have been more bothered, but the snooping wasn't affecting my daily life, and it seemed like it might be useful for fighting terrorism, so I worried about other things instead.

This week, as I was pulling together all of my records to do taxes, I didn't get too upset that the process of taxpaying is unnecessarily frustrating and burdensome. As a citizen, I do what I need to do. I'm a team player.

I have also come to peace with the fact that my government now takes about half of my income. I figure most of it goes to good causes. I'm here to help.

I take pride in the fact that I don't let the little things get to me.

But the other day, as I was crawling my way through mountains of statements and receipts, trying to organize my records for my accountant, with several more days of this drudgery ahead, I had a disturbing thought. I must warn you in advance that this disturbing thought can only be expressed in all capital letters and it must include profanity. It goes like this.

Message to my government:

DO MY FUCKING TAXES FOR ME, YOU ASSHOLES!!! YOU ALREADY KNOW EVERY FUCKING THING I DID THIS YEAR!!!

Seriously.
-IainB (2014-03-11, 05:57:32)

-IainB (July 01, 2018, 01:54 AM)

85

Living Room / Re: TurboTax’s 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans From Filing Their Taxes for Free

« on: October 19, 2019, 09:03 PM »

@mouser: Not being au fait with US Inland Revenue processes, I had been unaware until reading your post just now that Intuit TurboTax was secure in what seems to have been an obfuscated monopoly/cartel of sorts. Funny how nobody had noticed over the last 20-odd years that Intuit seemed to have had some kind of monopoly, or something there, and thus nobody had done anything to remedy it, eh?
Under what circumstances do you suppose that could happen?   

86

N.A.N.Y. 2020 / Re: NANY 2020 Release - Android App - DiscussionList

« on: October 19, 2019, 06:57 PM »

@mouser: My apologies, but I've had to switch focus to some urgent/unexpected issues that have cropped up locally and thus can't promise to be able to spend time in ß testing to give you any useful feedback right now.

87

N.A.N.Y. 2020 / Re: NANY 2020 Release - Android App - DiscussionList

« on: October 15, 2019, 10:59 AM »

@mouser: Re: NANY 2020 Pledge - Android App - DiscussionList.

Keep the suggestions coming.
If anyone wants to help test beta version, let me know.

-mouser (October 11, 2019, 11:51 AM)

I think the suggestions would be akin to "requirements" rules, so I guess this is partially about the incremental development/refinement of a prototype tool to meet some defined requirements and some as yet unknown/undiscovered/undefined potential requirements.
I'd be happy to help as a ß tester - it could be quite interesting, as, during the testing process, I could get to understand the tool better in terms of what it does now, as well as its potentially expanding context for possibilities of use. I quite enjoy being a ß tester for a couple of Android apps at present and I enjoyed being a ß tester for other software (including Google WAVE and NoteFrog and Wezinc) for the same reasons.

88

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: WizNote (a PIM from China) - Mini-Review + Provisional User Forum

« on: October 07, 2019, 05:18 PM »

@sphere: Thanks for the update. I had largely lost interest in WizNote as they seem to have gone to a subscription basis or something for using their Cloud, and I don't trust the confused chopping and changing that's been going on.
I shall follow up on the LeanNote link. Thanks. Looks interesting.
EDIT: I checked out LeanNote. Seems to be just another Cloud subscription-based app.
Not an ergonomically intuitive or easy-to-use GUI either, No thanks.

89

General Software Discussion / Re: What's the future of OneNote?

« on: October 02, 2019, 01:28 PM »

@rgdot:

In other words:
"You don't like the cloud then leave, we don't give a $#&%"
 

-rgdot (October 01, 2019, 09:14 PM)

Well, at least it's a rather clear statement of future OneNote direction from MS    - one that I hadn't seen before, but which apparently expressly excludes that sector of the market that wants/needs to hold its databases on local devices (PCs, laptops).
I wonder whether all of MS Office (i.e., not just OneNote) is being sunsetted in the same way? Not sure whether that idea would meet my requirements.
Another Q I have now: Why didn't MS sunset Microsoft Money in the same way (migrate to the Cloud)? They could have done, and the market was clearly headed in that direction.   

In my OneNote experiments, I've migrated my Notebooks to the cloud, and it's been pretty much rock-solid stability and dependability for those Cloud-based Notebooks, and a real boon for when I move to using another laptop.
However, I'm now wondering whether I will in fact be able to revert and migrate my Notebooks back to the local device, or even use the backups locally that I have made along the way.
Just supposing: Maybe it's a "gotcha" - "Oh, didn't we tell you there's no going back?"   
 
Google led the way when they introduced the Chromebook, Suddenly, there was another generically useful bunch of Cloud apps that didn't need an expensive DOS/Windows-based device, but was compatible with them anyway (because the Cloud apps are Agnostic in terms of OS dependency).  Shock horror for MS.
So are MS heading in the same direction?

Incidentally, I came across  this today: (might be of use, but it's just migrating to another Cloud-only system)

evimsync
Sync Evernote notes with IMAP, Import Evernote to Onenote
EvImSync is a simple tool to sync notes between Evernote and GMail Evernote2Onenote is a tool to import Evernote notes to OneNote.

90

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks

« on: September 30, 2019, 05:46 AM »

Hmm...Interesting post at asap-utilities.com/blog/

For developers; Application.Version returns 16.0 for both Excel 2019 and Excel 2016…!?
Is Excel 2019 just Excel 2016 with a new name?
(Click on link to go there.)

One wonders whether the same is true of OneNote...

91

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks

« on: September 29, 2019, 09:26 AM »

@sphere:
Sorry, but I don't know where to find the unequivocal statements of purpose coming from MS, regarding OneNote, that might validate, or invalidate your concerns. MS sometimes seem to make statements that obfuscate their plans, or leave things unclear or ambiguous. I suspect that may be because they are waiting for feedback from their users (which they are getting, I gather).

This discussion thread tends to primarily cover Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks, rather than being focused on other things - e.g., (say) OneNote and MS's possible future migration or marketing strategies for OneNote. I set it up to fill what seemed to be an information void. It's accidentally become a sort of user group - though nowhere near as sophisticated as (say) exusmods.com is for the Fallout games.

If you could find some "unequivocal statements of purpose coming from MS, regarding OneNote" that cause you concern, then it could be useful if you were to share them here, for our edification and comment, but you won't necessarily find a Brains Trust here that knows enough about OneNote+MS to be able to adequately advise you or give you any answers, though there will no doubt be lots of useful comments from other DCF folk. Catching up with and understanding how OneNote works in the first place seems to be a pretty big challenge in itself.

I would suggest though that if we take Microsoft Money as an example - refer Microsoft Money Plus Sunset - Mini-Review - DonationCoder.com - then we might be able to see how MS doesn't tend to leave (probably can't allow itself to) users in the lurch when it sunsets a product. That would arguably go double for the enormous user base of the MS Office suite (which includes OneNote).
No doubt time will tell.

92

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks

« on: September 27, 2019, 03:28 PM »

@sphere: You are concerned that MS are going to deprecate support for maintaining OneNote standalone local client databases.
I'm not so sure that MS would become a cloud-only business, as I wrote above:

• In Microsoft's case, they would seem to be decidedly NOT a Cloud-only business and have many examples of where their software continues for ages, or is responsibly and gracefully sunsetted (and even kept backwards compatible in the Windows 10 OS) - the most recent being, I think, Microsoft Money Plus Sunset
• I would recommend a wait-and-see approach regarding OneNote. Trial/use it anyway. It seems unlikely that it will be killed off for several years yet.
• A licence for MS Office 2019 Plus is available relatively cheaply - e.g., here.
• It was possible to get MS Office 2016 Plus relatively cheaply, but I am unsure if it is still available - e.g., here.
• As regards using MS Office 2013, I wouldn't recommend it as the OneNote functionality would be kludgy - it has been vastly improved on since, in ON 2016.

-IainB (April 27, 2019, 04:03 AM)

The idea of going Cloud-only or Cloud-compulsory would seem to take away the consumer choice of using standalone local client databases. That's why, for example I would (and do) advise clients to think twice about doing business with Evernote or (similarly) Google Docs and other Cloud-based service providers, etc.. It's simply too risky, and it's an avoidable risk. It puts Evernote or Google etc. in control of your business databases. If you can afford to take that risk - or can't afford to avoid it - then go for it, but I still wouldn't recommend it - especially if you can afford not to take that risk. That is different to things like implementing (say) Citrix Thin Client systems though, which may often seem to be (and often are, in business terms) a no-brainer from the user perspective.
The status quo of doing work on standalone local "fat" clients that are not-network-connected devices and have local databases would be a typical and fundamental user security and ease-of-use/access requirement - e.g., especially in Defence organisations.
I would suggest that commercial use of MS Office licences (which comes as a bundle with OneNote) would stop dead if MS went all fascist and disabled the app from being able to be used stand-alone - it would adversely affect potential security risks, by definition.

However, if you want to ensure that you don't get caught out with your pants down, as it were, in the event that MS does leave OneNote users high-and-dry without the future option for full standalone independent OneNote client functionality (and databases), then make sure that you have a backup copy of the latest MS Office 2016 install + all updates and stock up on MS-Office Pro licences - now!   

By the way, LOOK OUT! The sky is falling down! I think a lot of the supposition and discussion on this subject might/could be "fake news" promulgated by the IT media who need those clicks from the nervous and twitchy fingers of all those millions of MS Office OneNote users out there. Must be one heck of a big market.

93

General Software Discussion / Re: PearNote for Mac (like Onenote)

« on: September 26, 2019, 11:47 AM »

@sphere: Thanks for posting that (above). You pressed my CRIMPer buttons.
I don’t have a Mac to trial this with, but if it’s as good as the video says and if it meets one’s requirements, then it could be a compelling reason for migrating to a Mac.
I'm still stuck with OneNote (though InfoQube is looking increasingly attractive).

94

General Software Discussion / Re: What are people using these days, instead of Surfulater?

« on: September 23, 2019, 09:56 AM »

Re Clibu: "Clibu is completely free at this time. At some point we’ll charge - if you can afford a cup of coffee a month you’ll be able to afford to use Clibu."
Well, I can't.

-tsaint (September 23, 2019, 08:22 AM)

Have to agree. The "price of a cup of coffee" metaphor tends to be lazy and ignorant marketing BS spouted by con merchants. Why can't people do things for themselves?
I stopped buying coffees or taking clients to cafés and buying them coffees for a chat years ago, after totting up the annual cost on my marketing budget. I also detest coffee shops as they tend to lack privacy. Nowadays, I take 'em out for an occasional meal instead, and meet them for ad hoc chats in offices where we can discuss things in private and make the coffee, or tea, etc. ourselves in a kitchenette, from preselected ground coffee or preselected leaf teas.
At work or home, If I want a coffee or cup of tea (which may be be several times a day), then I make it myself, using my favourite fresh ground coffees or leaf teas selected from the supermarket (there's always a wide choice for coffee) and (for teas) a local Chinese supermarket. The price per cup is then very cheap, the quality is good and I have become quite good at making nice coffees/teas.
I have some very good Iranian friends whom I visit to give English lessons (conversational and written technical English). Always a pleasure, as the husband makes some of the best Persian-style coffee in the city (in my view). He's taught me how to do it too, but it's a definite skill. He's an MD, but he learned about making coffee whilst working in an Iranian cafe, from a purist coffee-maker as his teacher.

95

Living Room / Re: silly humor - Masculinity Is A Growing Threat

« on: September 23, 2019, 07:41 AM »

BabylonBee is becoming my new favourite go-to for surcease in a world that sometimes increasingly seems to be going mad.

Least Masculine Society In Human History Decides Masculinity Is A Growing Threat https://babylonbee.com/news/least-masculine-society-in-human-history-decides-masculinity-is-a-growing-threat U.S.—As society becomes increasingly dominated by nerds, hipsters, and computer programmers, people have fixated on what they think is our biggest problem: masculinity. “It’s just toxic and causes nothing but problems,” said Elisha Mcewen, a vegan activist and no threat whatsoever to spiders or tight jar lids. “I was sharing my feelings on masculinity with other men in my drum circle, and we all agreed that if we ever encountered masculinity, we would run far away.” Masculinity is said to have in the past been the cause of such things as violence, war, bullying, defeating the Nazis, carving society out of untamed wilderness, and landing men on the moon, but now masculinity is being driven out of society to make sure nothing like those things ever happens again. However, there are reports that masculinity still lurks out there, which is a source of anxiety to modern men and causes them to have upset tummies. “I am just so worried that somewhere out there someone is still knowingly producing testosterone,” said Wyatt Lockhart, a Twitch streamer who had never thrown a punch outside of a video game. “I constantly have to find a safe place to calm down just thinking about it.” Duke Miller, a Marine sergeant and one of the few remaining examples of traditional masculinity, was asked about his feelings on the negative view of masculinity, but he seemed confused by the word “feelings” and then punched out an elk just because.

96

General Software Discussion / Re: some useful but less-known software. share your list!!!

« on: September 22, 2019, 08:52 PM »

@Curt:

Released on 6 Nov 2007, 368kb exe ("Download 32-bit"): https://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=1212

-Curt (September 22, 2019, 02:45 AM)

Oh, that's right, I thought this looked familiar. It's (v0.6) in my archives - I didn't think to look there.
I've been down this road before. In 2008 I downloaded and trialled it, but Texter hadn't been developed beyond v0.6 (and it still hasn't) and has basically been left behind as technology develops. I'd forgotten about it. I suggest you do too!   

97

General Software Discussion / Re: some useful but less-known software. share your list!!!

« on: September 22, 2019, 01:31 AM »

I found the Texter page in Wayback:
http://web.archive.org/web/20190207163021/https://lifehacker.com/lifehacker-code-texter-windows-238306
 - but the v0.6 download doesn't seem to work (endless wait; presumably not captured)

However, I did find this:
https://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/LH-Texter.shtml
Is it a continuation of the same thing as discussed above?
I only briefly looked around, but it seems to be OpenSource{?}, so presumably it's been under some continuing development.
There's apparently a Windows installer and a portable version.
I was tempted to try it out...

98

Living Room / Re: Free call recorder for Android

« on: September 18, 2019, 03:43 AM »

@4wd:

...With Android 9 they really locked it down to the point where if you want to do call recording then you're probably going to need root, (or alternative firmware, eg. Lineage, etc).

-4wd (September 17, 2019, 03:11 PM)

Thanks, that's rather interesting.

99

Living Room / Re: Free call recorder for Android

« on: September 18, 2019, 03:37 AM »

@anandcoral:

..."Automatic Call Recorder" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appstar.callrecorder

-anandcoral (September 17, 2019, 04:09 AM)

Hey, thanks for that tip. I just installed it. That seems to be a seriously useful call recorder. The call notes editor is very useful too - actually meets pretty much one of my main requirements, but which I had not come across before (there are simply too many of these apps to trial them all).   

100

Living Room / Re: Free call recorder for Android

« on: September 16, 2019, 11:17 PM »

@4wd:

He's got a Moto G7 Power, they run, (for all intents), stock Android - in his case, v9.

-4wd (September 15, 2019, 06:50 PM)

Yes, it's not an area that I know much about, so I couldn't offer any suggestions other than what I did (from experience of using 2 Samsung phones), but I did read somewhere that Google had at some stage (Android version) apparently deprecated/removed the automatic call recording functionality API or something, but the fact that it worked as standard using the Samsung Voice Recorder app under Android 6.0 on one phone (Samsung SM-G930P) but not on another (SM-G930F) - unless you installed another voice recorder app (and that didn't work quite as well) - was what puzzled me. I mean, the functionality was evidently still there, but differently enabled.
This is from my relatively narrow experience of comparing the use of the above 2 refurbished unlocked phones. Assuming other things (e.g., hardware and Android 6.0) being equal, it seems that the "F" and the "P" may relate in part to the peculiar service provider specs (Verizon, etc.) or country/market sector that the phones were originally tied to in their first (initial) life, so I wondered whether there was an undocumented firmware/hardware switch involved somewhere. Those phones are presumably sealed/unserviceable to block your average user from meddling, for a reason.

I must be missing something here, because I don't understand this. Maybe Samsung disabled the functionality in later Voice Recorder app updates, depending on that supposed switch setting? I don't know, but both phones were Android 6.0 (or their internal specs said so, at any rate), yet they are different as regards the enablement of voice recorder functionality.
At what point (version) was that API removed from the Android OS altogether - do you know? It must have happened (apparently) after Android 6.0 and was apparently in place in Android 9, from what you write, but one suspects that the hardware/firmware functionality may remain. (I sometimes wonder about that as regards wireless phase-locked loop and AM/FM functionality, which is trivial using modern technology, so why disable it?)

I don't know how easy it would be for a user - e.g., @Kalos - to (say) replace Android 9 with Android 6 on the Moto G7 Power, but, if it were possible/feasible, then I wonder whether the Voice Recorder functionality that is apparently enabled in Android 6 would in fact work, depending on the aforementioned supposed hardware/firmware switch. How would one go about testing this on a suck-it-and-see basis? It would be easier if we had access to the different firmware specs/settings for these Samsung F and P and phones, but I'm not sure where to start for that - they may be restricted anyway, due to there being some legally/commercially sensitive aspects, for all I know.
Ultimately, most things are hackable.