Topics

151

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / new year - new start. time to try again.

« on: December 25, 2006, 01:52 PM »

the new year is nearly here so it's traditionally the time for making fresh resolutions - or just repeating the same ones you made last time around and then gave up with.

i'm here to make my pledge again that i'll stick to an action plan during january and hopefully beyond. making an announcement that i'm going to do a set list of tasks seems to be the only way i can get such things completed - otherwise i drift off into other projects. i'm exceptional at keeping busy but terrible at staying focused.

so, if anyone would like to join me (again) in promising they will get a specific task done in january then please do sign up here. i think we did really well last time as a group and i know for certain that i did a great deal better than i normally do solo.

i've not actually decided what i'm going to set myself yet but i've got a few projects to pick from.

come on, pick that thing you've been putting off and commit to tackling/completing it. there's plenty of advice to be found in the GOE section of the forum so there's no excuse for not being capable - and just making that small vow here that you'll do it should be enough to ensure that you succeed.

152

Developer's Corner / tutorial movie - how to animate a character in flash

« on: December 25, 2006, 04:08 AM »

Came across this today...

http://www.adobe.com...imate_character.html

If you've got a free hour it's worth looking at to get a good idea of animating a character in flash.

I'm pleased to see that what I did is pretty much the right way of doing it. I had been wondering if I was doing things the wrong/slow way but if it's good enough for Chris George then it's good enough for me. (check out his website www.mudbubble.com or blog www.keyframer.com)

He does have a few good tips that I think will help the next version of cody's animation.

i may dig deeper into flash and actionscript and will post my findings here - if they seem of worth.

here's the link to the cody animation pack i did https://www.donation...88.msg46862#msg46862 i'll probably use that same thread to post updates to the cody animation that can then be downloaded and used by anyone.

153

Official Announcements / cody flash animation pack (walk v01)

« on: December 23, 2006, 07:57 AM »

here's a simple flash animation file that can be used for importing into other flash animations - if you'd like to have a walking cody. it's very basic, only a profile view at the moment.

the idea is for it to be used with flash games so consider it a first test file - if anyone feels adventurous and wants something more advanced that they'd like to use in a game then post your suggestions.

i've included an example .swf file walk animation. the zip file contains the .fla that can be edited.

(example animation is at 24fps - the .fla file is set at 12fps.)

154

Living Room / digg requires far too much effort!

« on: November 23, 2006, 02:22 PM »

i was bored so i thought i'd look at digg.com

i closed my browser and came back here after about 10 seconds of looking at the digg.com homepage.

i really haven't got the time to browse through all those pages - isn't it about time there was a website that rated the digged links over on digg.com - something where a hive-mind selects the best stories from digg and posts them on another website - where they could then be voted for by another hive-mind.

and, even better if there is another website collecting the sorted links from the meta-digg website that has yet another panel of experts or hive-mind thingy. so, we arrive at about a list of 10 links that i know will be worth looking at as they've been sorted so many times over.

(apologies if this has been said several times before - i'm sure it can't be a new 'joke' but i'd like to see it implemented all the same.)

i bet it's been done already. does anyone know of the über-digg or meta-digg.com? (such a site must follow the rule of only obtaining links/stories from digg or other similar sites where the hive exists.)

155

Living Room / does having many program windows open slow the sysem?

« on: November 09, 2006, 06:01 AM »

i seem to be working with more an more programs that are open simultaneously (with several running in the tray also).

i tend to minimise most windows and just concentrate on 2 or 3 visible ones but i'm going to get into the multi virtual desktop way or working - i'm sure this will be less messing about, minimising and restoring windows every few minutes/seconds.

so, the question is: does minimising program windows have any impact on the way the system performs, compared with keeping all the windows open.

this will include programs that will also have many of their own child windows. so, as an example - i may have 2 or 3 virtual desktops, with these programs spread amongst them: photoshop, illustrator, adobe bridge, acdsee, firefox, internet explorer, opera, winamp, mirc, maxthon (with a few tabbed pages open), notepad, and 2 or 3 folders open (maybe dreamweaver too).

i shall obviously try this myself but i'm asking the question as without someone responding with an authoritative reply, i know that i'll just start imagining that the system is slowing down even if it isn't.

156

Living Room / how wide can you stretch the width of your windows?

« on: November 08, 2006, 07:38 AM »

i'm testing webpage layouts and i'm curious as to how wide you can actually stretch the width of a browser window (i've noticed that all my windows behave the same - not just browsers).

i'm not talking about the the 'maximised' window width - i mean, if you arrange a window on screen so that it is almost the maximum width of your monitor - and then you move the window over to a side edge of the screen so that most of it's content is hidden off screen...

...how far can you then drag the side edge of the window so that the window is widened even more?

i can only resize the window so that it never has more width than the horizontal width of my monitor. okay, this seems sensible but i'm sure i've had windows in the past that i could resize wider than the width of the monitor - maybe it was when i was using dual monitors(?)

could someone please confirm whether they can actually resize a window so that it is wider than the physical pixel dimensions of their monitor (or not).

thanks.

157

Official Announcements / wtfCody

« on: October 31, 2006, 01:25 AM »

158

Living Room / desperation - any uk readers know this old theme tune.

« on: October 28, 2006, 09:31 AM »

this isn't the forum for it but i'll ask anyway...

does anyone remember the children's program 'picture box' that was shown in the 70's?

i've finally managed to get the theme tune for it but it's not the best quality in the world.

my desperate question is: does anyone know what the them tune is called or do they know what instrument(s) it was played on. i always thought it was a pipe organ of some kind (church organ or smaller fairground ride thing) but now i'm beginning to think it sounds like steel drums.

the website tvcream doesn't know much about it.

also, am i losing my mind or did there used to be a nature program called 'survival'. it had a theme tune played on flutes - i can't find any mention of it anywhere online. i'm after that theme tune also - anyone remember the show?

159

Find And Run Robot / keyword to search in specific area

« on: October 27, 2006, 02:30 AM »

this might already be possible to do in farr, maybe through a workaround or something??? i'll make the suggestion anyway.

would it be possible to have farr search withing a specific area of the hard drive that it isn't normally set to do by typing in a quick keyword (or specific path).

so, if you typed 'mydocs money', it would start searching in the 'my documents' folder for the file name with 'money' in its title. you could, of course' set the keyword for the 'my documents' folder to something other than 'mydocs' - just 'docs' for example.

other quick keyword search locations would be set by the user for whatever they though appropriate 'music', 'videos', 'program files, etc. etc.

searching an entire drive or specific path would be done by specifying the usual 'C:' or 'D:\foldername\foldername' type structure as the keyword then the search word.

i appreciate that there would have to be another element for the trigger to work so that it isn't confused with a more basic search action - like simple searching for a file named 'mydocs' that is in the start menu.

i apologise if farr is already capable of doing this (or if the suggestion has already been made) - i have just got into a habit of using it the way i do and haven't really kept up to date with the changes and new features.

160

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: application sensitive pop-up notes

« on: October 21, 2006, 11:54 AM »

here's a suggestion but i won't be too surprised if there is already a little util that will already do it - maybe even a previous coding snack, here goes anyway...

there are certain jobs/tasks i need to do with certain programs. i might not get around to doing these tasks straight away - or, they might just be little things that could be done when i actually run a program with the intention of working on something else.

so, i'd like to make a few notes about the tasks i will need/want to do with specific apps. the idea of the coding snack program would be to monitor which software application i've loaded in and then a note would pop up relating to the reminders i've set that can be done with that program.

example: i run photoshop, a note pops up in front of photoshop saying "don't forget to change the colour of the shirt, blah, blah". the note would be a list of several reminders. similarly, i run premiere, a note pops up in front of the program saying "edit last 20 minutes of project blah, blah".

originally, i was going to request a more intelligent reminder application - something that could read the text you have on screen and spot 'keywords' that would trigger a related set of notes. the idea would be that when i'm shopping online, i often forget which retailers i've used in the past. i'd like a reminder util to prevent me from buying from retailer i've had a less than positive experience from in the past - but i've forgotten the fact. the program would allow me to just make a quick note mentioning the retailer and the problem, and then, should i stumble across the retailer again in a few months time and be tempted to buy something, the util would have spotted what i'm about to do - by using the keywords match and then the reminder note would pop up.

i can see that this could lead to many other 'context' sensitive reminders BUT i also appreciate it is something that would ultimately become very annoying if the util was forever throwing reminders at you.

and so, the simpler and less problematic, program title matching method note reminder is all that i request.

thanks.

161

Living Room / do you think this will run vista?

« on: October 21, 2006, 11:30 AM »

said to be a working laptop - but will it run vista?




original image from http://ironwork.jp/m...rm/computer/pc2.html

162

Living Room / Neave.tv - clever use of online videos

« on: October 14, 2006, 07:28 AM »

this is clever use of the available online videos (youtube, etc)

like tv channel surfing but all through your browser - you can even watch it full screen.

here's something to start you off http://www.neave.tv/#carlitopolis (animal lovers that can't take a joke then beware).

or just start on the main screen http://www.neave.tv/

use the F key to swap between fullscreen and reduced player size, and use the menus at the bottom of the screen to select other channels. oh, press 'space' to pause, - and + to change the volume level.

i think this could be the start of future online TV.

163

General Software Discussion / Denim - An Informal Tool For Early Stage Web Site and UI Design

« on: October 11, 2006, 06:26 AM »

i'm in the process of working out a new website - not something i'm in the habit of doing, so it didn't take long before i become overwhelmed by what i'm trying to do.

so, i thought, there must be a good way of web prototyping.

i came across 'Denim'. it tries to mimic what you'd do with paper - but has the advantage of being able to create links between the pages.

i've not tried it yet but i will give it a go. only real dissadvantage i see is that i'll be sat at the computer whilst using it - i'd rather be sat elsewhere whilst trying to be inventive/creative.

here's the link to the Denim homepage if you want to look further: http://dub.washingto....edu/projects/denim/

164

General Software Discussion / folder marker - easily colour your folders

« on: October 10, 2006, 02:11 PM »

this was on Shell Extension City.

folder markers http://www.foldermarker.com/ lets you colour your folders - looks great as it so easy to use - just a right click and select from the menu.

165

Living Room / anyone tried the google web accelerator?

« on: October 09, 2006, 02:09 PM »

that's just it really - has anyone tried the google web accelerator?

http://webaccelerator.google.com/

i've seen a service that you have to pay for here in the UK which is mean to be okay and works by sending you compressed versions of the the pages you are browsing.

i'm assuming the google accelerator does a similar thing.

166

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / inspiration from Geoff Thompson

« on: October 06, 2006, 03:05 AM »

if you are into martial arts (and live in the UK) you've probably already heard of Geoff Thompson.

i first saw the man on a late night TV show that attempted to dispel the myth that martial arts are going to help you out if you are attacked by someone.

i'm sure my reaction was similar to that of other people when they first see Geoff Thompson in action and explaining his philosophy - i was absolutely astounded. like some kind of iconoclastic prophet, he explained to the audience the 'reality' of self-defence (which i won't go into, that's for him to tell you if want to learn more).

but, there is far more to Geoff Thompson than martial arts. he began as a bouncer and factory floor sweeper (i think) and has now become an extremely respected motivational author and writer. he's now also a Bafta award winner.

a few years ago i bought some of Geoff's training (self-defence) videos and a couple of his 'life-couch' motivation books. the videos were, and still are, quite revolutionary to see - they demonstrate REAL self defence techniques and theories. the books are equally inspiring as Geoff tells us how he hit rock bottom in life but made the choice to turn things around (which his business empire clearly shows that he has) and how you can perhaps make and carry out similarly life changing choices.

i admit, he doesn't really focus on 'time-management' techniques and anti-procrastination isn't really something he'll go into detail about, but he does offer a less 'business man' approach to self-motivation - which seems to be the dominant way in the business. once, he was possibly the worst kind of person you could meet - violent and likely to hit you a few too many times if you were in the wrong night club at the wrong time. now, he has transformed into one of those rare people that amaze you with their calm insightful wisdom that is all the more touching and powerful because you know of his origins.

i've made this post as i've now seen that Geoff is offering a podcast, available here http://www.geoffthompson.com/podcast.asp so, if anything i've said sounds remotely interesting then you might find the podcasts of worth.

(if you are interested in self-defence or martial arts then i thoroughly recommend Geoff's videos/dvds and books. if you want a good 'self-motivation' read then his other books are very practical and enjoyable to read - filled with all those kind of tips that seem so self evident that you just have to use them.)

oh, and here's Geoff's main home page http://www.geoffthompson.com/default.asp

167

Living Room / DonationCoder.com wallpapers (part of set 03)

« on: October 01, 2006, 12:02 PM »

here is another wallpaper (or whatever they are). there are two more but i'm going to put them on hold until i've got other things out of the way.

again, it's 4:3 standard size - 1600 x 1200 pixels.

i'll make widescreen or dual screen if there is a request to do so.

edit

widescreen version now here.


edit

'binary' - more traditional/minimal wallpapers now added.

widescreen versions are 1900 x 1200 (not the usual 1680 x 1050).


edit

just realised i got the widescreen ratio wrong - should have been 1920 not 1900. corrected wallpapers uploaded.

168

Living Room / DonationCoder.com wallpapers (set 02)

« on: September 30, 2006, 01:56 AM »

new wallpapers (set 02).

these are just standard 4:3 ration at 1600 x 1200 pixels.

i'll do the widescreen and dual screen versions if there are any requests for them. if there aren't any requests then i'll do the larger versions when i get around to them - there is another wallpaper set (set 03) waiting to be finished.

i hope you enjoy them...

169

Living Room / DonationCoder.com wallpapers (set 01)

« on: September 27, 2006, 08:19 AM »

these are the first set of wallpapers featuring Cody the DC mascot.

where it seems appropriate, i'll do a dual screen version, otherwise there will just be a standard 4:3 ratio size and a widescreen 16:10 size.

i'll do another set soon (set 02 is almost complete).

i hope you like them.


image dimensions are:

standard 4:3 ratio = 1600 x 1200 pixels

widescreen 16:10 ratio = 1680 x 1050 pixels

dual screen = 3200 x 1200 pixels


edit
wallpapers removed and posted further down.

170

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / who dares wins - my challenge to you.

« on: September 23, 2006, 12:24 PM »

right, i've had enough. i'm sick of reading about how to do things and then finding it still not make enough difference for anything to really change.

so, i challenge you, by the end of this month i will have completed a task that i find impossible to get on with - and for it to be a proper challenge i'd like to see someone else attempt to do the same with something they are procrastinating over.

my task will probably take 7 days to complete, i'm not sure of the hours but it's one of those 'project' type tasks that everyone makes and then sticks on the shelf for another year. i admit that i started the project not long back but now i've got to that stage where i'll look for any excuse not to do it.

is anyone prepared to take the challenge - by the end of september you'll have either completed or made serious inroads into a project you currently cannot contemplate.

go on, i dare you. put your money where your mouth is.

171

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / overcoming bad hoarding habits tip.

« on: September 22, 2006, 01:13 PM »

this isn't rocket science and you'll have to forgive me if it's already been said several times before elsewhere, anyway, here goes...

yet again, i appear to have collected a pile of magazines that i've only glanced through or not even attempted to read at all. why buy them then you may ask. well, i intended to read them eventually, just like many of us collect webpage favorites that are never looked at again i suspect that collecting printed material that just gathers dust is just as common.

part of the attraction and addiction of collecting/hoarding material that is never used is that you at least experience that short burst of 'knowledge is power' sensation - that little thrill that you will be better prepared when the times comes - and so, it is difficult to stop the habit.

of course, after a while the collection grows to such a size that it's physical presence is just an annoyance and the fact that you still haven't read any of it just reminds you that you probably never will.

so, what to do?

get a sharp knife, get the magazines, pick one up and flick through it. see something that looks interesting? good - then cut it out. see something else that looks interesting? good - cut that out too.

now throw the magazine away and pick up another mag from the pile and repeat the process.

you should eventually end up with a nice set of articles that will be worth reading. the extracted pages won't take up much room and they will almost scream at you for attention - so you'll read them. if they are worth keeping then hang on to them - they won't take up much room.

there is an advantage to this hoarding method and that is you don't waste time reading the 'news' sections or other nonsense gossip pages - it's all out of date and is utterly pointless to look at now - so you'll only be reading the bits that are worth it.

172

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / keeping fit kind of tip.

« on: September 22, 2006, 11:56 AM »

i recently bought an exercise bike at the beginning of the DC GTD experiment with the hope that i'd be able to use it without giving in after a week.

thankfully, i'm still using it but i have only just started to not hate it - and so i come to the tip...

i thought watching TV whilst using the bike would take my mind off the ordeal of sitting there peddling away for 30 minutes. NOT True. i don't think it made any difference from just staring at the wall or out of the window. every time i looked at the clock it looked like time had actually slowed down - i'm pretty convinced that my perception of time did change as trying to guess a one minute passage of time proved that i was way off.

now, the good news is that instead of watching TV and experiencing time grind to a halt, i find that if i read something whilst using the contraption then it seems that time is either running about right or maybe even a bit quicker. i assume that reading requires more effort than watching TV and so my mind is more occupied and so, i forgot about what my legs are doing and the tedious exercise.

i really believe there is a dramatic difference between the two methods of attempted distraction.

if you have recently started a similar exercise routine and you are able to read at the same time then i thoroughly recommend trying it.

maybe listening to a podcast would be just as good as reading but i doubt it - afterall, listening to something is not much different to watching something on TV.

i guess if you could do something that engaged the mind even more than reading, like doing a puzzle, then the passage of time might seem even quicker.

173

Living Room / incredible fast shutter liquid photography

« on: September 20, 2006, 01:47 AM »

Martin Waugh's 'Liquid Sculpture'

http://www.liquidsculpture.com/index.htm

174

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / i'd like to buy some discipline please.

« on: September 19, 2006, 02:01 AM »

here's my confession:

i've read the books and i've embraced the philosophy - but i still become bored with certain tasks and so put them off to do other things.

i have doubt in my mind so i have to admit i'm not a 'true' believer (maybe i'm just lacking vigor this morning).

here's the problem as i see it (and that i keep repeating to mouser whenever i get the chance, which he already knows so it can't be of any help)...

buying a self-motivation (time management) book isn't buying discipline. that's all i need - that's all we need - discipline. well, self-discipline.

where can i buy some from. has anyone got some spare that they don't really need - name your price - if i comes with a guarantee i'll pay.

175

Living Room / media icons - suggestions please.

« on: September 17, 2006, 01:30 PM »

i mentioned something about icons before - well, about managing icons for file types. Iphile was the answer.

now, i realise there is one further step to complete...

if, like me, you try out different media players or image managers and let these programs associate themselves with your files, you'll find that your icons keep changing to whatever the associated program wants to use.

thankfully, Iphile can keep things in order by saving categories of icons - so, you could have a standardised/default set of icons just for your media files regardless of the program that is associated with them.

my current problem is that i'd like a really nice set of icons that i can assign to my media files (audio, video, image) and then keep them that way. i could start designing my own icons to use but i don't think it's worth reinventing the wheel on this one.

there must be lots of nice looking icons out there that clearly display what file type the icon represents at the various icon sizes.

now, i'm thinking that something that was thoughtfully colour coded as well as displaying the extension letter would be good. so, as an example something like:

.psd file would be kinda blue to match the photoshop .exe feather icon
.pdf file would be kinda red to match acrobat
.ai file would be kinda orange to match illustrator icon

being more general, things like .avi, .mov, .mpg, would have a nice video type icon with the extension stamped over the top. similar sort of thing with .mp3 and .wav or .ogg or whatever. yeah, and .jpg, etc.

so here's the question: does anyone know of any nice icon sets without me having to click through a load of dodgy websites?

thanks.