Topics

976

General Software Discussion / Outlook revealed to me what databases really are...

« on: November 16, 2006, 10:47 PM »

But it's not printable here. It is here though.

While fighting with Outlook and the miserable way that it handles its own data, it occurred to me what databases really are. Only in the most crass of terms though. 

Anyways, it looks like I've got an infinite loop while exporting from Outlook for the new box. Joy. I've only had to reinstall Office once so far though. I suppose I should count myself lucky... 

977

General Software Discussion / Doing the "Mac"arena

« on: November 07, 2006, 06:50 AM »

Seems like the Macarena is dancing on a few Macs

There's a new virus called the "Macarena" that infect some files on OSX and if they are executed, they can take control of the machine. Symantec gives it a "low" threat assessment (make of that what you will), but warns that this may be the beginning of virus writers beginning to target the OSX OS.

Now for the hard part... Must... Resist... Urge... To...

Ah... Urge resisted successfully!

978

General Software Discussion / IE7 Rant

« on: November 04, 2006, 08:22 AM »

Well, it looks like my venture back into IE and IE7 is about to end. I haven't had time to try out FF 2.0, and I'm not about to as 1.5 is working fine (i.e. I've heard of stability issue so let's wait & see...)

But for IE... I've just about had it. I'm getting really sick of it. It's not the memory hog that FF is, but it's just slow. New tabs take too long. The mouse gesture plug-in is incredibly awkward. I just don't have time for it anymore.

On top of that, I found an annoying CSS bug in the System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser object that just really ticks me off (not sure if it's the IE team's fault or the .NET team's fault - and I don't care much - it's still a problem).  I spent an entire day trying to track it down. No luck. That wasn't an 8 hour work day - that was from the time I got up until now - late at night and into beer time.    These things should take 2 hours max. As it stands, this stupid bug will probably take me DAYS to work around. It should take me zero seconds. If I'm lucky, I might be able to have a crummy semi-work around to do the absolute minimum that I need by abandoning the object and going with some static junk that might take me 1~2 days. Not a happy camper here...

I'll give IE a bit longer, but not much. It's seriously wearing on my nerves now. 

I really hope that the IE team gets on top of it and seriously fixes IE. I don't give a about security in IE. IE security is never as bad as the media makes out, and even when it is bad only twits that surf garbage sites get hammered by that. I just want things to work smoothly. IE7 isn't doing that at the moment. If anyone from the IE team is reading - PLEASE SPEED IE UP! And fix the WebBrowser object too - or go and complain to the .NET team about it. (3dlight and darkshadow scrollbar items don't display in the WebBrowser object at all.)

So... How is everyone else finding IE7 so far? Better than me I hope. 

979

General Software Discussion / My Linux Decision Has Been Made

« on: November 02, 2006, 09:14 PM »

http://www.novell.com/linux/

MS & Novell have teamed up. That's good enough for me. I've always liked SUSE whenever I've used it as well, so now it's a no-brainer for me.

980

General Software Discussion / RTFM :)

« on: November 02, 2006, 07:31 AM »

RTFM

The new pilot for the new possibly regular show from your friends (fiends?) at TheRegister.com. (I love those guys!  )

I've only listened to the first couple minutes so far. I had to stop as I was at the office and it's just way too funny. I'd be roaring on the floor if I listened to another 30 seconds.

Enjoy~!

981

Living Room / ALTools Halloween Desktop Wallpapers (5 of them)

« on: October 26, 2006, 11:39 PM »

Hello fellow DCers!

It's almost Halloween, so check out the newest addition to the ALTools Holiday Desktop Wallpapers collection - Halloween Desktop Wallpapers for 2006.

They're all fun free ways to spruce up your desktop for Halloween




Enjoy~!

Ryan

982

General Software Discussion / Sophos no whiner

« on: October 26, 2006, 10:12 PM »

http://www.forbes.com/technology/enterprisetech/2006/10/24/sophos-microsoft-vista-cx_ll_1023sophos.html

HA! Take that McAfee and Symantec! 

Sounds like McAfee and Symantec want Vista LESS secure so that they can peddle their scareware.  "Oh my! A cookie! You've been p0wn3d!"

983

General Software Discussion / You Should Pay Me to Read This Post (It's worth it...)

« on: October 22, 2006, 11:19 PM »

A while ago I was teasing some people about why I know such awesome ways to make money on the Internet. That's actually very true. I know a lot of ways, and many of them were learned in a Sith temple over a nice warm cup of Jedi blood...

Ok - but seriously - there are good, clean, wholesome ways to do it as well that are legal, ethical, and good for everybody involved.

TrialPay is a new system for software authors to give away their software for FREE and still get paid.  There's no spyware, no toolbars, no tricks. It's all straight forward. You sign up for some service online like a dating site, or complete some transaction like buying some product, or getting a credit card, then you get your software for free.  There are lots of different offers and even some games there as well.

The system is in beta now, and I've registered and uploaded a product that I've just released - the Renegade PayPal Batch Encrypted Button Generator. Check out the page and look for the TrialPay buttons. Click one to go to the TrialPay page and have a look around.

I've also blogged in more detail with screen shots in a step-by-step way. See TrialPay - Good for Customers and Software Authors.

There are many other ways of course, but that's a very cool one.

So - now that you've read this post - you've got to pay me!  Anyone need an American Express Platinum Card or Discover Gas Card? 

984

General Software Discussion / Vista RC2

« on: October 15, 2006, 08:42 AM »

I just got a new box. Not the one that I really wanted... But that's 10k too

Anyways, I'm slapping Vista RC2 on it and curious as to how people have found it (if you use it).

Cheers,

Ryan

985

General Software Discussion / Email Server for Windows Recommendations?

« on: October 12, 2006, 02:48 AM »

Hello All,

I'm looking for a new email server for Windows.

The email server I'm using now works fine for small volumes (up to about 2,000 or 2~3 per second on a sustained basis) or regular email. When I need to send out a newsletter, I can only send single threaded (maybe 2 or 3) or else it crashes the service and I have to get my hands dirty to get things up and running again.

Then there is the bounceback issue...

The news letter has about 40,000 subscribers, so the email server needs to be able to handle a good load. The mailer I'm using can handle 25~50 threads with no problems, and I'd like to take advantage of that so that the emails get sent quickly.

I'm not interested in a stand-alone mailer. They just don't work with a lot of ISPs that require reverse DNS and PTR records.

So, any recommendations for something that can handle a large email volume for a newsletter?

Thanks in advance for any recommendations. (Experience or direct knowledge please - not hearsay or Google searches.)

986

General Software Discussion / Outlook Nightmares...

« on: October 10, 2006, 10:31 PM »

I've used Outlook, and I know what it feels like to be buggered with a razor wire baseball bat...

Holy mother of mercy! HELP~!

Outlook crashed on startup 100%. Got that fixed. Now I have 10's of thousands of duplicate messages. (About 40k or so.) And the duplicate remove I've used has only helped moderately.

I still have about 15k messages that are unread. I keep meticulous track of my messages, and now they're all polluted.

Personally, I'd love to murder the entire Outlook team at MS then do the same to the guys that chose Outlook as the company email software. But as I like my freedom, that's out of the question. (Shouldn't bad IT decisions be grouped in with the 'justifiable homicide' category?)

Does anyone have any advice on how to fix a totally screwed inbox? I don't want to read 15k messages... Again...

The Basic Problem: My inbox now has duplicates of emails that I've already read or responded to. I don't want to delete those. I want to delete the unread ones. And the software I used just doesn't help to fix things.

987

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / DotNetNuke Keep Alive Utility

« on: October 08, 2006, 04:51 AM »

I just released a mini-utility to help keep DNN installations alive and out of the garbage collector. You can find it here:

DNN Keep Alive

It's free.

Cheers,

Ryan

988

General Software Discussion / New App - Floating Ruler - Feedback?

« on: September 27, 2006, 11:28 AM »

So I'm finally fed up with messing around with dumb ways to do things, so I wrote a stupid little application today to give me a simple on-screen ruler to measure alignments in other programs. (e.g. Visual Studio, Photoshop, appTranslator [the real motivation], etc.)

It's a .NET v1.1 app, so you'd need that installed. (Decided not to go with v2.0 but I'll do that later.)

Anyways, I'm looking for feedback. Please be brutal. But keep in mind what it is supposed to be used for...

I know it sucks a bit right now, but it does what I need it to do for now. i.e. Let me visually align things on-screen.

It's kind of like guidelines in Photoshop, but for any program.

Here's the download:

Floating Ruler

Just as a silly aside, the app is 72kb, but the zip is 212kb and 428kb unzipped. i.e. Bloated installer. But it works...

Cheers,

Ryan

989

General Software Discussion / Your Newest Favorite Firefox Extension :)

« on: September 24, 2006, 10:29 AM »

I found this link at Jos:

Pornzilla

Your newest favorite Firefox extension~!   

I nearly died laughing while reading the site. It's just hilarious. It goes on and on about porn and how great Firefox is for porn. Read the "About" at the bottom of the page. Classic!

990

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Guitar & Drum Trainer v3.1.4 released

« on: September 19, 2006, 12:47 PM »

Guitar & Drum Trainer v3.1.4 is out with some new interface changes to make it a bit more attractive.

GDT helps you improve the quality of your practice time and become a better musician. If you're already good, then GDT can help you transcribe music, or just make life easier with pitch shifting music to your instrument.

You can slow down music, pitch shift, loop music, filter instruments with a 31 band EQ, increase your speed and accuracy with the GDT Speed Trainer and a lot more.

You can get more information here.

Peace, Love, and Eternal Groovieness 

Ryan

991

General Software Discussion / Bad Design is Harder than Good Design

« on: September 19, 2006, 11:57 AM »

I just can't get over how hard some software developers try to make life harder. Here are a couple videos that show really bad design that I know would have taken more effort to do than to make it easy for users. These are really standard type things that everybody in the world can do properly without making things difficult. In the second video, it shows that you need to restart the software after changing a tab! Complete insanity.

SPH-V9900 (1)

SPH-V9900 (2)

992

General Software Discussion / What to you think of RealPlayer?

« on: September 07, 2006, 07:12 AM »

I've been watching the counter at s***ware.net soar for hate against RealPlayer. About half of all answers are for it.

I haven't updated RealPlayer in a while, but it just works. I've never had a single problem. I have v10.5 installed, and have no problems with it ever.

Mouser likes it. I don't know who else does.

Years ago it was horrible, but it's pretty good now.

I'd like to know what people hate about it, or like about it. That is if anyone has the time or inclination.

Cheers,

Ryan

993

General Software Discussion / Win/IIS to LAMP Converts

« on: August 31, 2006, 07:54 AM »

Hello all,

I'm looking for feedback from those that have gone from Windows Server (2000 or 2003) and IIS to LAMP and what you've got to say about the transition and your general levels of satisfaction.

I'm thinking of getting a LAMP dedicated server because I can get it for the stupid low price of $30 a month, but before I do that, I want to find out about experiences from those in a similar position.

Any thoughts, muses, or anything is appreciated.

Thanks,

Ryan

994

General Software Discussion / Software Frustrations

« on: August 28, 2006, 10:29 AM »

While I'm usually pretty quick to offer praise for software that I appreciate, I don't usually rant too much about the ones that drive me nuts, and my rants are generally pretty tame.

Support is always important, and that can drive me up the wall when developers don't support their products. (After spending a few hundred dollars on an upgrade, I'm steaming as the developer won't answer emails... as usual...)

Anyways, the last few incidents have pretty much pushed me over the edge, and while reading about some anti-spyware that just doesn't work (another pet peeve), I figured I'd whip up a site for complaining about software. Since most places like to keep clean, I figured a small spot on the Internet for airing out dirty software might be useful or at least cathartic.

So if anyone feels like ranting about something, there's no bad word filter. 

Cheers,

Ryan

995

General Software Discussion / ALSong - New Release :)

« on: August 14, 2006, 02:59 AM »

We've finally released the international version of ALSong.

ALSong is a live lyrics MP3 player and has a few extras like creating mixed albums.

I've got some fantastic free music downloads as well. Each download is in the ALSong album (*.sab) format, and features a complete album.

Thanks go out to The Autumn Addicts and Kimo Watanabe for the music, and V Brown from 808Talk for his instrumental help putting us in contact with them.

Though it may seem a tad on the silly side - my favorite thing about ALSong is the playlist. While it may seem trivial and simple - It's just so much better than traditional flat playlists. If you've got playlists with hundreds of songs, you'll LOVE the folder view!

Enjoy~! 

Ryan

996

Living Room / Addictive Dice Game

« on: August 10, 2006, 05:17 PM »

http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/dice/dice.html

You'll waste far too much time on it... Especially if you like Risk or Diplomacy.

997

General Software Discussion / Guitar & Drum Trainer v3 released

« on: May 05, 2006, 01:34 AM »

After months of work, I've finally released GDT v3.1  ~!

Guitar & Drum Trainer

If you're a musician, you may be interested in it. It's a specialized MP3 player where you can slow down, pitch shift, create loops, and generally do cool stuff that helps you learn new music.

The new version is rewritten from the ground up:

* 31 band EQ
* Full song wave form
* Zoom wave form
* Speed Trainer to gradually speed up music as you play
* Names for loops, EQ settings, and wave form color sets
* Custom colors for wave forms
* EQ visualizations
* Note detection on EQ visualizations (mouse over)

And a bunch of other stuff too of course. But those are a few highlights.

If you're voting in the Shareware Industry Awards, make sure to include GDT in your votes too 

 http://www.sic.org

There's still a lot on the TODO list, but it's coming along.

It requires a bit beefier computer (2 GHz & 512 RAM) but there are CPU controls to help out if you've got a slower box.

The last few months have been crazy busy getting it done, and I haven't even had much time to lurk around here, but hopefully things will cool down a bit.

Cheers,

Ryan

998

Living Room / Hope you don't mind me stealing a few words :)

« on: March 09, 2006, 07:24 PM »

Hey Mouser,

Been busy and not much time to post, but anyways...

I ripped a few words from the text editor review here:

http://www.altools.net/Support/TranslatingALTools/FreeTextEditors/tabid/210/Default.aspx

In the mouse-over text link to the text editor review, and again here:

http://www.altools.net/Forums/tabid/86/forumid/7/postid/478/view/topic/Default.aspx

I just couldn't help it - I got a real kick out of that the first time I read it. 

I hope that's ok - credit is given.

Cheers,

Ryan

999

General Software Discussion / Protect Email Addresses on Web Sites

« on: November 22, 2005, 09:41 AM »

Hi all,

I just released the Renegade Email Protector v2.0.

It is a very simple utility that lets you post email addresses safely on the web so that spambots can't harvest them. I've tested it with a bunch of spambots and none of them were able to gather an address from it.

You can download it here:

http://renegademinds.com/Default.aspx?tabid=68

There are 4 different algorithms with each one being stronger than the previous one. The 4th one is just nasty  (And yes - I'm planning a 5th really nasty mother-******.)

Now - It *is* theoretically possible for a spambot to get an address, but the amount of computing power makes it far from practical. (Spam is about numbers - not quality - I can explain further if needed.)

I'm not sure if anyone here needs it or wants it, but it's there for anyone that does.

And all for the amazingly low price of $0.00 USD. I don't know what that is in pounds, but I'm pretty sure it is 0 Euros

Cheers,

Ryan

1000

Best Music Service / Interesting review

« on: October 31, 2005, 06:48 AM »

I'm slowly getting around to reading more

I think may favorite part was:

Additional things we did not like about Napster: Only available for United States residents - which is just stupid.

That kind of stuff is really annoying, and you know that the industry is behind it. And living outside of the US... err... rather being in the majority (that sounds better) I wish that they'd just get rid of that lame BS. It's not like it can actually stop me anyways. Getting around that kind of stuff is usually pretty simple. It's just, like you said, annoying... Annoying enough to stop me from giving them my money. Which just seems like a recurring theme on the Internet - people constantly putting up barriers for me to give them money. 2CO is a prime example of a good service that went bad. They've implemented a brilliant system that just doesn't work reliably. I'll avoid the rant... Anyways - that's just about raising barriers to receiving money. *sigh*