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Messages - Wordzilla [ switch to compact view ]

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426
Living Room / Microsoft Vista feature presentation (Parody)
« on: July 12, 2006, 10:17 AM »
Microsoft Vista feature presentation with the video replaced by a OSX desktop  ;D

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4134446112378047444&q=microsoft

427
Another good point Carol. I would be in support of adding an ADDITIONAL stream in ogg, but moving it strictly to ogg would alienate alot of users who might not know about ogg, or might not want to use ogg. MP3 is the mainstream format, and is supported by every player, proprietary or not, and it works well.

couldn't agree more. :)

428
proprietary? How so?

yes, MP3's always been proprietary.  :)

From Wikipedia
Thomson Consumer Electronics controls licensing of the MPEG-1/2 Layer 3 patents in countries that recognize software patents, including the United States and Japan, but not EU countries. Thomson has been actively enforcing these patents. Thomson has been granted software patents in EU countries and by the European Patent Office [1], but it is unclear whether or not they would be enforced by courts there. See Software patents under the European Patent Convention.

For current information about Thomson's patent portfolio and licensing terms and fees see their website mp3licensing.com.


Ogg would require users to install a 3rd party codec when you can play mp3's out of the box in just about any media player on the market

There are many free OGG players out on the web and also, OGG is natively supported by many well-known music players.  ;)

Check these links out:

Mobile players known to support Ogg Vorbis
http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/PortablePlayers

3rd Party Software known to support Ogg
http://www.vorbis.com/software/


Just for your information, Ogg is the official audio/video container format for Wikipedia, Wikinews et al.

Yeah it's true that MP3s are ubiquitous and you can play it out of the box, however it's still proprietary. And it's not good.  :)

429
Is it possible that we adopt the OGG format for our podcasts instead of MP3?

MP3 is rather old tech and it's proprietary.  :down:

430
Living Room / Re: Cartoon: Maladies of the Information Age
« on: July 12, 2006, 06:35 AM »
always reloading the "recent posts" page of DC ;)

it wouldn't be a bad idea if you subscribe to DC's RSS Feed, manually refreshing the page might be a cause for RSI (repetitive strain injury)  ;)

https://www.donation...ndex.php?topic=496.0

I use RssReader (free) as my dedicated DC RSS reader, it checks new posts on the forum for me every 5 minutes. If there's a new post, it pops up an unobtrusive notification in the tray area . :up:

431
I can be more productive with Office 2007, so I'll buy that. But I'll wait until I upgrade to my next computer to get Vista. XP is so well-tweaked and documented that it's quite stable for me.

I've been using Office 2007 for quite some time, I think we can be much more productive with Office 2007 than with any other office productivity suite out there. It's a great innovation rather than just an expansion pack for Office 2003. Microsoft might be too big, but not stagnant.

Now I cannot get back to my old Office 2003 - it's definitely too dumb when you have 2007 at hand.

432
Microsoft is virtually supporting only ONE platform right now - Windows XP.

50 million users won't get any support/security update from now on.


http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/default.asp

End of support for Windows 98 and Windows Me

Effective July 11, 2006, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me (and their related components) will transition to a non-supported status. After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide any incident support options or security updates. Microsoft is not offering a custom support agreement for these products.


433
Living Room / Re: Audio Learning and Wire-free Headphones
« on: July 12, 2006, 04:42 AM »
i've actually been looking into wireless headphones myself, so perfect timing.
Yeah I'll get into the technical stuff soon. Doing product reviews - always my favorite.  :D

your blog looks absolutely beautiful by the way - i'm bookmarking it and can't wait to read more. 
Thanks! ;) I'd love to see if the blog hosting idea works.

434
Announcing the DonationCoder.com Best Of Blog:
An Exciting New Feature at DonationCoder.com

I had the idea for this feature almost a year ago, but only just recently bit the bullet and implemented it.

It's basically a blog-like view into the "best" posts on the forum at any given time.



In some sense, it turns the forum into a kind of digg-like cauldron, where the most notable posts can be recognized and promoted to the Best Of Blog page and presented for more casual viewing, in a form similar to lifehacker.  Clicking on an entry brings you into the forum discussion of that post where the reader can join in on the discussion.


Note: This new page is not for hardcore DonationCoder.com forum readers.  There will be nothing on this page that isn't already on the forum.  It's main purpose is providing a less overwhelming, more accessible view of just a few items on the forum each day.  It should provide a gentler way of casual visitors to get introduced to our site.

So, if you have a friend who would be too overwhelmed to jump right into the donationcoder.com forums, send them over to http://blog.donationcoder.com - it's the perfect introduction.

Genius idea and implementation! Well done!  :up:

435
Living Room / Audio Learning and Wire-free Headphones
« on: July 12, 2006, 02:09 AM »
Hi guys,

I just had some thoughts posted on my DC blog about audio learning and wireless headphones and would love to have your ideas on it.  ;)

https://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Other/mobysaurus/blog/


436
Living Room / Re: Buzz Out Loud podcasts at CNET.com - Love it
« on: July 06, 2006, 12:05 PM »
daily tech podcast? sounds great!
going to check it out.

not neccessarily updated every single day, but mostly. :)

437
Living Room / Re: Buzz Out Loud podcasts at CNET.com - Love it
« on: July 06, 2006, 11:58 AM »
And here's a nice open-source podcast aggregator called "Juice"  :)

Product Homepage:
http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/

438
Allow me to ask something, how many of you have paid for the current version of office you are running? I know a lot of people say they wont upgrade because the price is too high, but I am just curious how many have paid for their CURRENT version?

I paid (actually my parents paid) for my Office 2003 Pro Academic version and I got rid of it for Office 2007 Beta 2 when it went public.  :D

Office 2007 rocks!  IMO, it focuses on down-to-earth productivity. I almost tried to migrate to StarOffice before Office 2007 came out because I'm always in favor of open standard. But StarOffice just can't compete with Office 2007, sad though.

439
Living Room / Buzz Out Loud podcasts at CNET.com - Love it
« on: July 06, 2006, 11:08 AM »
The best IT-related podcast I've listened so far... :Thmbsup:

Buzz Out Loud (affectionately abbreviated "BOL" by fans and known by their tagline as "the podcast of indeterminate length" or "CNET's podcast of indeterminate length") is a daily podcast produced by CNET. The show stars CNET editors Tom Merritt, "the segue king" and Molly Wood, "queen of the rant." It is produced by Veronica Belmont, who is now a regular contributor to the podcast. In its public debut on April 29, 2005, the show promised to deliver 5-or-so minutes of Tom & Molly's take on tech news every second day, but has evolved into 30 minutes of tech-related banter and commentary on a daily basis.




Check it out at:
http://bol.cnet.com

Feed URL:
http://www.cnet.com/i/pod/cnet_buzz.xml

440
I use symantec antivirus corporate edition, and while it is (imho) a great anti-virus, its liveupdate definitions are only posted every few days. I do know that symantec posts daily updates (manually downloadable executables). What I would like is an app that will load

http://www.symantec..../pages/US-SAVCE.html

and scan for the executable link, download the file, run it, and delete the file, all automatically. Is this possible? Sounds like a perfect AHK script :) Perhaps even have an option to configure how often (since symantec posts multiple updates per day).

I don't think the symantec antivirus corporate edition is good enough for your security. Back in my old university, around 80% of all students used it since it was a legal free download from the school website, and it updates itself daily and automatically from fast intranet school servers. However there were always many complains about the anti-virus - it simply didn't provide any effective protection in many many virus cases, the viruses just went through the shield and you wouldn't suspect it until you got Ad/porn pop-ups, a hijacked browser or BSOD, etc.

Fortunately, the school board decided to provide Kaspersky a couple of months ago, AFAIK.

I always volunteer to help virus victims if I can, and I did helped a lot of people (mostly my school mates), and from my experience, I'd prefer to say if you are using a Symantec anti-virus product and are contented with it - please think twice, especially if you just have a Symantec anti-virus working without any anti-spyware program.

More than 95% of the computers that had symantec antivirus corporate edition installed (and mostly updated) that I have helped were infected by 10+ bad stuff (be it a virus, a trojan or spyware, etc. Unwanted Cookies NOT included)

The anti-virus program won't give you a warning message never means your system is safe.  8)

I used to use Mcafee Antivirus Enterprise 8.0i + Anti-Spyware Module 8.0 alone and the week before last I was infected by Malwarepipe (the most nasty malware I have ever got) and other 395 spyware (as reported). All Mcafee told me was that system infected by Puper (trojan) and nothing else. My Ad-aware SE free anti-spyware only reported a dozen cookies after a full system-scan.

And their definitions were ALL up-to-the-minute!  :o

I tried Spyware Doctor 3.8 after that and it reported 396 spyware and I instantly paid the company to get rid of all these nasty stuff for me.   :up:

Before that I suffered from fake "critical system error" and "malware infection detected" pop-ups every 10 seconds and there were Ad/Porn pop-ups every 10 minutes or so. I couldn't even bring my laptop to school for that reason.  >:(


I'm currently with Mcafee Antivirus Enterprise 8.0i + Anti-Spyware Module 8.0 and Spyware Doctor 3.8

441
netstumbler:
http://www.stumbler....me/readme_0_4_0.html

Yeah, I would too recommend Netstumbler all the time for such purposes, and it's especially good at hunting wireless hotspots.

I used the app quite a lot when I was trying to improve the wireless signal quality and coverage in my uncle's company since it gives you very detailed and constantly updated signal info about each network.

442
Quoted as it is from my email to mouser today (with his consent)


What do you think if we offer site members (charter/honorary/supporting) a FREE blogging service (or space) upon request? Could be "DC-ized" Wordpress or Blogware or whatever open source. The URLs to respective blogs might be given out as http://username.dcmembers.com.


Benefits:

1. A very attractive additional offer for charter/honorary/supporting members and, of course, potential supporting members, at a relatively low additional cost.

2. It further promotes DC's reputation and popularity. People know that the way that DC operates, its founding ideas and philosophy, and the service quality of the site is awesome, the site is "doomed" to be non-commercial, community-based, and first-class. Few of our members would doubt that and they probably would take our free blogging offer at once, and by the same token, they might treat it as their perfect home for blogging - it's unique, it brings visitors from time to time (DC's a community, first of all, and again you can publicize your blog with your posts, and people will visit it), and it's pride for people to consider themselves as a supporting member and an actual part of this site/community.

3. Blogs attract friends and visitors, and thus more supportive members.

4. It allows people (especially site members) to know much more about each other, and currently DC doesn't provide any stuff like this. And that's not good... :) Blogging bring a person's real life closer to other people, and there's no way a forum will ever achieve.

5. Members exchange their minds on the forum, they become interested in each other, willing to know more about others' life and stuff, and they probably will frequent other members' blogs and comment. You know, if there're more than 5 people who frequent your blog, there's a great chance that you would keep the blog up-to-date. The more active is a member on the forum, the more exposure of his blog will get, and let's say more visitors/friends and comments, which again... you know... it's a healthy positive spiral.


It's not at all hard to find a good blog hosting service today, however I believe that DC's blog hosting will still make a big difference because of DC's popularity is actually based on voluntarily supportive members, not like these blog hosting conglomerates like Blogspot, MSN, etc., where people often think themselves as just free riders (well, in most cases, I believe).

Personally I've blogged on MSN spaces, Blogspot, Wordpress and Live Journal and never did I feel any pride just being a user of such services, and often I regarded myself as a pure free rider who was willing to make do with a "free but basic version". Perhaps no one would say that he was so smart and classy that he decided to use MSN Spaces or put a label on his blog - "Proudly powered by MSN guys". :P    However if someone maintains a DC blog like http://jesse.dcmembers.com, for software lovers/connoisseurs/donationware advocators, it just makes a huge difference - than "http://jesse.spaces.msn.com" or "http://jesse.MySpace.com"


443
Never heard of Safe Mode + Administator + Password Cancellation,i'll try.

Well, it's simple. (ONLY FOR GOOD PURPOSES)

1. Restart Windows XP and hold F8 to enter Safe Mode.

2. Click "Adminstrator" (This account won't show up in normal mode and usually isn't password protected)

3. If you can log on into desktop, right click on "My Computer" and select "Manage"

4. Go to "Local Users and Groups" -> "Users"

5. Find your friend's username in the "Users" group and right click on it, then select "Set Password"

6. Now you can choose a brand new password or just press OK to cancel the current password.


I hope you would find this helpful. :)

444
It's also throwing me kernal errors now,anyone no where i can get win98 patches ?

Better re-install the whole system. Win 98 won't be able to fully recover from infections of so many spyware. System file damages and losses is inevitable.

The mother (also computer illiterate) has locked herself out of her XP home Pc,and no she doesn't have the restoration disc (not for the win98 either) ,i hope this isn't breaking forum rules,if so delete, i'll understand,but is there a way to get in there,she needs her Quicken files

Have you tried the "Safe Mode + Administator + Password Cancellation" trick?

445
General Software Discussion / Re: Mobysaurus V2.4 Preview 2
« on: April 08, 2006, 01:03 AM »
I've got a lot of feedbacks since the first release of Moby 4 months ago, they brought many best ideas that we can build into Moby.  :-*

Here's one of them which I just received, probably the longest one I've ever got. What do you think about it?

Name:      Jens *****
Email Address (Optional):     J******@yahoo.com
Did you find Mobysaurus useful?      7. Other
Where did you get information about Mobysaurus?      2. Search engine

We really appreciate your comments (any length):     

Ok, here's the initial feedback I promised an hour ago. Essentially, this is a Jekyll and Hyde program: content scores 10/10, but interface (and everything associated with it) scores little more than 1/10. In short, it's quite terrible!

In more detail:

* The whole interface is clunky and far from intuitive; things could easily be streamlined with just one input field, radio buttons for the various search and result display options, and perhaps a redesigned sidebar. Buttons should be intelligent; allowing multiple buttons to be selected when appropriate, or cancelling conflicting buttons when not. WordWeb has a very simple, quick to use and well thought out interface that you might have a look at (Moby in WordWeb's skin would be perfect)

* more options for display appearance (header colours and fonts), and please ensure that using a black or very dark background works all screens (eg the shortcuts screen that opens as default; on my system, the text, being black and not changeable, is invisible)

* enable use of postscript OpenType (OTF) fonts. The program appears to use a very old (Win95 era?) font dialogue. WinXP can natively use PostScript and OTF fonts, and even Win95/98 aren't difficult, just needing Adobe Type Manager running...

* first entry (ie title of entry) could be in bold; as such wouldn't need to be indented.

* different downloads for different screen sizes seems unnecessary (and cumbersome, if someone use both a large desktop monitor and a laptop, for example); it shouldn't be difficult to let users choose their own screen size. For that matter, although I have a large screen (and so downloaded the larger version), had I have know that the display would be near full-screen and not reduceable, I'd have chosen the smeller version instead. I'd much prefer having Moby in a little window, perhaps beside my wordprocessor window, than have to pull it up every time.

* searching in "any occurence" brings up more entries than for one screen. The message about pressing F6 to go to next page only displays if the mouse is outside the results window. So, with the sidebar hidden, took me a few instants to realize what was happening. Also, the sidebar only displays headings for that result page, not for the whole search, which would be far more useful.


There are many more points I could make. In short, the entire interface needs to be rethought, with an eye both for usefulness and useability. Also, the .net Framework thing doesn't appear to have much to do with next generation. 200MB on the disk is excessive (an vast understatement) for a word-based application. A plain text version (with basic formatting, saved as RTF) of Roget's entire II thesaurus, for example, only takes up 1.6MB, and when compressed as a ZIP is a mere 600Kb. Much as I would like to believe that Moby is a great resource, I can't believe it contains so much more information to warrant 200MB (roughly one half of the Encyclopaedia Britannica's entire text)!

Anyway, I'm sure I'll get used to Moby - it does contain a lot of information, but please do something about optimizing it!

Thanks,

Jens

446
General Software Discussion / Re: Mobysaurus V2.4 Preview 2
« on: April 08, 2006, 12:50 AM »
Just bumpin the thread to keep Mobysaurus on his toes and anticipating the next release.I really
like this app and hope you continue it's developement. :Thmbsup:
-tinyvillager (April 06, 2006, 02:44 AM)

Thanks tinyvillager!  :D  Finally I get to work on Moby for a few days or more. Wish me best luck.  ;)

447
General Software Discussion / Re: Mobysaurus V2.4 Preview 2
« on: February 11, 2006, 10:57 AM »
1) When I try to edit the html for any of the template, nothing happens -- does this require a specific editor be installed?

Technically, it's bug (though 99% of all users would never notice). Thanks for letting me know. :) I'll correct this in the next release.

You can associate the .mst file extension with your editor program (like notepad) to solve this.

BTW, you can find the template files under the "HTMLGen" folder. Normally there's no need to edit them. :)

2) System wide keyboard shortcuts to launch mobys., or Handy Moby, directly from the tray would be great.  I really appreciate all the keyboard shortcuts within the program, now if I could  just get into the program without having to reach for the mouse.  (Mouser ate my mouse.)

Well, both Moby and Handy support (customizable) system-wide hotkeys. For Mobysaurus, the hotkey is Ctrl + F3 by default, and for Handy, Ctrl + F11.

How to customize the hotkey?

Mobysaurus: Menu -> Options -> System Hotkey
Handy Moby: Right-click tray icon and go to "System Hotkey"

You're right, the app's still not user-friendly enough. Better work on this. :)

3) With all the different features/functions, mobysaurus would work really, really well as an MDI -- composer open here, thesaurus there.  I understand that would be a huge job to implement, just an idea for the 10 year plan cheesy

Really a good idea. Although a lot harder for me to implement. :)

448
General Software Discussion / Re: Mobysaurus V2.4 Preview 2
« on: February 11, 2006, 08:44 AM »
The website seems to not work ATM -- do you have a direct download link?

Might be a temporary server problem, anyway, it's working now. :)

449
General Software Discussion / Re: Mobysaurus V2.4 Preview 2
« on: February 10, 2006, 08:32 AM »
anderson, if you're interested i can post a little tutorial about how i build all the donationcoder.com installers so that they are both zip compatible for manual extraction or runnable directly as setup programs.  to me its the best of both worlds.

Can't wait to see your post. :)

450
General Software Discussion / Re: Mobysaurus V2.4 Preview 2
« on: February 10, 2006, 08:26 AM »
hi anderson

i tried my friend computer 1024 works on his computer. i also tried same computer on my computer but it doesnt start anyway

Can't figure out your problem, maybe insufficient disk free space?

Well, if you still fail to install it, you can copy your friends' installation folder (C:\program files\mobysaurus\, by default) to your computer, and create a shortcut on your desktop for the main executable (mobysaurus.exe). It'll work exactly the same. :)

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