Messages

776

General Software Discussion / Concatenating MP3s

« on: February 10, 2008, 11:56 AM »

I'm looking for a good way of concatenating MP3s. I know this seems like a stupid question. Out on the intertubes there are n+1 ways of joining MP3s -- writing these seems to be another favorite hobby of those who love to write video converters and file synchronizers.

However, it seems that the obvious way of doing this -- simply concatenating the files -- only partially works. In particular, it seems to me that the block numbers need to be fixed up.

What I'm trying to do is reassemble large audiobooks that have been broken into short pieces. A typical book might be 10 or more hours long, and because most MP3 players don't support bookmarks, they are frequently broken up into song-sized chunks. The latest version of the MS Zune firmware does have bookmarks (for podcasts, anyway), which is a much better way of doing things. I can set the book aside, listen to some music, and resume the book right where I left off. So I'd like to take better advantage of this feature.

The thing is, in the couple of MP3 joiners I've tried, the result is broken. The file plays as an MP3 just fine, but the Zune is unable to hold a bookmark that points beyond the first chunk of the book. In fact, it's not able to even correctly show the length of the book.

So, can anyone recommend a way of taking a set of input files and producing a new single MP3 that is completely according to specifications?

777

Find And Run Robot / Re: Farr won't close after programme launch

« on: February 08, 2008, 08:01 AM »

I've seen this, too. (I've been meaning to post, but hadn't figured out how best to describe it)

Once FARR is in the state, it can't be closed at all by any means I've found. The only solution is to kill the process and re-run it.

778

General Software Discussion / Re: How many of you use encryption?

« on: February 06, 2008, 08:37 PM »

Warning: I just installed TrueCrypt 5 on a new computer. It was able to mount a volume from TC 4.3a, but it was unable to actually open the volume. I was getting weird error messages. After uninstalling v5 and putting v4.3 back, I can open my volume once again.

I suggest waiting for 5.1.

779

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone know of a program that does this?

« on: February 06, 2008, 04:43 PM »

Dexpot (http://www.dexpot.de/index.php?lang=en) does what you want.

I've been using your scheme of separate desktops to host generic stuff vs. games vs. development for some time, and find it's a pretty good way to work.

780

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Deductoid puzzle game

« on: February 06, 2008, 04:41 PM »

Looking at the screenshot I would appear to have been playing this game everyday for more than 10 years.

-drjdcollins (February 06, 2008, 03:58 PM)

10 years is quite a long time to spend solving a puzzle 

Yes, I've played Sherlock, and even have the port for my PocketPC. But I'd have to say that the games do have slightly different flavors, with timns's being superior in some ways.

781

Living Room / Re: This coming year, I am SOO looking forward to __________ .

« on: February 06, 2008, 04:14 PM »

5. Pruning the wild raspberry patch out back into someting that will produce fruit.
6. Building and using a cider press for the old untended apple trees out back until I can get *them* pruned into usefulness.
7. Hopefully, admiring the rosebushes I transplanted last fall, bloom into splendiferousness.

-Daleus (February 06, 2008, 09:26 AM)

I don't think that pruning really does anything for the productivity of raspberries -- at least not mine. They grow like the dickens, and also produce piles of fruit. But last fall I mowed over most of my raspberries, they were completely taking over the landscaping beyond my control. If they come back, maybe I'll be able to control them; if not, well, I've still got the ones in the woods.

Rosebushes are positively my enemy. They grow wild everywhere, and cause some serious bleeding when I'm mowing near the edges of the lawn where they are trying to encroach. The best answer to these, I think, is Round-Up early in the spring.

Do you have any more information on pressing cider? I've got a mess of old apple trees way out in the woods (I suspect it was an orchard way back when) and I sure do love cider. Next fall I could have DonationCider 

782

General Software Discussion / Re: How many of you use encryption?

« on: February 06, 2008, 03:59 PM »

The imp thing about TC is 'plausible deniability'. Without this a harmful agent (such as the govt) would know that there is encrypted data and by law (or worse) force you to reveal the key. With a hidden container there is no trace that there is any data at all.

-MrCrispy (February 06, 2008, 03:46 PM)

That's mostly true, and I do think that one of TC's outstanding features is how well thought out its plausible deniability is.

Not that I'm hiding any crimes, but...

I think that it's incorrect to say that the bad guy would not know that there is encrypted data. The DC container file must still exist; it's impossible to say what's in it, or indeed that it is encrypted data, with absolute certainty. But they don't need that kind of certainty, they just need the reasonable suspicion to issue a warrant that will force you to open it for them (or find you in contempt, and lead to deeper investigation, etc.)

The strong point of TC's plausible deniability is that a given container can have two separate keys, each of which reveals different content. You can have an outer shell that contains slightly embarrassing data, and give up that key when under duress. The bad guy, looking at the outer shell, has no way to know that there is another inner shell with the really juicy stuff, still buried in the container. But to be really plausible you need to mfill the outer shell with something that they'll believe that you were really trying to hide.

783

Living Room / Re: Power and Ports - The Ever Diminishing Resources in My Office!

« on: February 05, 2008, 07:26 PM »

FWIW, agreeing with f0dder, I believe there's 3 sorts of 3D audio: there's the DX type stuff used in games to, I guess I'd say enhance the illusion. There's the multi-track audio used for the same purpose for movies. And there's a compromise (or maybe just plain fake) waveform processing to make 2D sound seem like it's really 3 dimensional -- again with the same purpose of enhancing the illusion that you're really there, instead of listening to what all too often is the world's crappiest speakers that they bundle and sell for PCs.

-mikiem (February 05, 2008, 06:17 PM)

Nope. I can hear width and depth, but not height -- even from my expensive entertainment center with 5.1 DTS. I don't know anyone who claims to hear height, even you didn't make that explicit claim. You just say that it's "really 3 dimensional ... really there". And my argument is that marketing is programming people to misunderstand the term "3 dimensional".

You say that they are "mak[ing] 2D sound seem like it's really 3 dimensional". This is incorrect. They're taking 1D sound (the left-right width dimension) and processing it to create the illusion of 2D (left-right and front-back)

So let me ask you explicitly: do you think that the sound you're hearing lets you discern how high above the ground the supposed "source" object is?

784

Living Room / Re: How many germs are living on your keyboard?

« on: February 01, 2008, 09:30 AM »

This might not be all bad. Some scientists think that increasing incidence of allergies may result from extreme degrees of hygiene in modern life:

It appears that when the immune system gears itself up to make antibodies against germs, it promotes a kind of immune system boost that discourages allergy. This theory has attracted a lot of attention, and has been called the  hygiene hypothesis. As an off-shoot of this idea, scientists are now looking at the possibility of boosting the kind of antibody response we make to germs in order to protect children against allergies in later life.
http://www.allergycl...epidemic.htm#Hygiene

785

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: WikidPad - an IDE for your thoughts

« on: January 31, 2008, 04:19 PM »

I downloaded and tried WikiPad and I tried some others as well. I've decided that outlining is not for me as a writer.

-e712 (January 31, 2008, 03:10 PM)

If you tried it and it doesn't fit your mindset, that's fine. But for the benefit of others reading, I feel compelled to point out that WikidPad is not an outliner. Actually, I imagine that some wiki purists would be aghast at such an implication.

WikidPad uses a tree control, typical of outliners, to show the set of links radiating out from a given page. This shouldn't be interpreted as a representation of the wiki's informational structure. It's really just a navigational shortcut.

In data structures terms a wiki is a directed graph. It has (potentially) many incoming links to each page and many outgoing links. In an outline, a given node can only have one incoming link -- its parent. But a wiki allows any node (page) that relates to another to offer a link to it, leading eventually to a very densely packed structure.

Perhaps more importantly, if you're consistent about the way you name things in a wiki, you'll find that the interconnectedness arises all on its own. You don't need to intentionally create a link; the link manifests itself based on the usage of similar terms.

It's very gratifying when working in a wiki to discover that you've already done something that you forgot about. As you're describing a related concept leading up to another page, you find that the link is already populated; simply by thinking descriptively and consistently, you've created a knowledge web that not only holds together, but reinforces itself.

On the other hand, don't get me started on the crappiness of rich text editing in most wikis. It's worse than dismal. WikidPad is probably better than average in this regard, but that is a very low bar to clear.

786

Living Room / Re: download the "unable-to-download swfs"

« on: January 29, 2008, 01:32 PM »

The fact that you're trying to excise a message saying "this has been stolen" suggests that it has, in fact, been stolen. If that's the case, then your question really isn't appropriate here.

If it were just a SWF that someone put out there without any stated restrictions, that would be one thing. But if they've taken some steps to prevent you from downloading it and running it locally -- even if these steps can be easily circumvented -- that should make it clear that the terms under which they're licensing you to use the game do not allow for you to do it that way.

787

Coding Snacks / Re: What language is the best for a new programmer to start with?

« on: January 22, 2008, 04:34 PM »

If one is thinking portability-compatibility (with Linux, for instance...), I guess one has to go more with... java, python or ruby ??

-Armando (January 22, 2008, 02:04 PM)

This is one of my pet peeves. Why would you think portability is important? There are vanishingly few pieces of software that can be good on all platforms even if your choice of language, libraries, programming, etc., are all perfect.

Users in 2008 deserve a level of usability that simply can't be achieved by a portable application. Windows, Mac, and the various Linux UIs all have different metaphors. Too, the types of people using all of these platforms differs significantly, with different goals, different skill levels, etc.

The fact that something can run on all these platforms does not mean that it will usable on all of them. You won't be able to optimize your UI toward the expectations of a given platform. And you won't be able to design your interactions in a way that works well for all user types.

Better to do it well on one platform. If you know what kind of software you're trying to build, then the rest should logically follow.

788

Coding Snacks / Re: What language is the best for a new programmer to start with?

« on: January 22, 2008, 01:55 PM »

Would a book on computer languages still be useful after 13 years?

-Deozaan (January 22, 2008, 01:25 PM)

Hmmm. That's close, I don't remember the exact dates. AFAIK the last real watershed in C++ was the STL. If the book discusses the STL (or the official inclusion of templates in the language, which I think pretty much coincides), then I think you'll be OK.

A large part of a program is the UI and coding a UI in C++ MFC, etc is not easy at all. If you are interested in Windows programming, I'd recommend a .Net language (VB, C#) if you want to go the .Net route, or VB6 or Delphi for the COM route. For web dev. I'd go ASP.Net or VWG (http://www.visualwebgui.com)

-PPLandry (January 22, 2008, 01:52 PM)

I agree completely. C++ is difficult because so much of the language is subtleties that are very much not apparent to newbies. And MFC is like root canal. I hated it back then, and today there are just so many superior alternatives that I would never consider doing such development.

789

Living Room / Re: Gamespot Editor Fired for Writing an Honest Review

« on: January 22, 2008, 12:17 PM »

The lynchpin of this latest article is this

with no real transparency into the Gerstmann firing we still don't really know what happened last November

Everyone is assuming that GameSpot's refusal to release specific information about Gerstmann's employment there and the terms of his leaving is because GameSpot has something to hide. I can virtually guarantee that this is not the case. It's almost certainly because labor laws prevent them from revealing any personal information.

It is entirely possible (although we have no reason to believe so) that Gerstmann was caught misappropriating company funds or something like that. We have no reason to believe that Gerstmann's not hiding something unless he publicly authorizes GameSpot to release all information related to his employment history. These laws are designed to protect the employee's privacy, but the sword cuts both ways. In this case they allow lingering doubt about Gerstmann.

At the end of the day, the real reasons that a review site publishes what it does aren't important. The only thing that matters is how well those reviews work to direct us to try things that we end up liking. If they steer you toward stuff that you enjoy, and don't let you miss much that you would have, then heed their reviews. If they point you to garbage while missing the gems, then remove them from your bookmarks.

Why do you care if the reviews are underwritten by advertisers at one end of the spectrum, or divinely inspired at the other? As long as they work, that's what counts. If they don't work, ignore the site and let it die.

Why do we fault businesses for working for money, but shrug it off when individual people do it? We criticize WalMart, but we don't give a second thought to the consumers who stopped going to Ike Godsey's General Store (http://www.the-waltons.com/ikesty.html), killing his friendly personal business just so that they could save a few cents.

Added later: Part of this controversy may be an assumption that there actually is and objectively correct review. That is certainly not correct; each of us has different preferences that make it so that a review that accurately recommends a product for some people will aggravate someone else. For example, there's a major gaming genre of First Person Shooters, and some reviewers lean heavily on this genre. The thing is, I can't play these games. They give me motion sickness. So any review that lauds an FPS I ignore, and any site that emphasizes the genre, I avoid. You, on the other hand, may love these games. If so, more power to you. Go ahead and read those sites. There's room enough in this world for all of it.

Judging by the popularity of Cheez Whiz, Britney Spears and the ilk, there are plenty of people in this world who are perfectly happy with artificial, processed products. If that's what they want, why not let them have it?

790

Living Room / Re: An apology

« on: January 22, 2008, 09:16 AM »

Ralf is MIA - we need a Top 10 list AND a haiku. Ralf? Raaalf? Where are you?

-Darwin (January 22, 2008, 08:38 AM)

Another favorite quote:

Daddy's gonna kill Ralphie
- Christmas Story

791

Living Room / Re: An apology

« on: January 22, 2008, 07:43 AM »

Are we doing quotes? Here's one of my favorites, sorta a propos

If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.
- Henry David Thoreau

792

General Software Discussion / Re: How many of you use encryption?

« on: January 21, 2008, 06:59 AM »

There's a lot more to protect than your data. The keys to your identity are far more valuable in the long run. Your bank account numbers, PINs and passwords give a bad guy not just the means to take your money, but also to cause you very long-term problems (like hijacking your social security account), or to destroy your reputation in any number of ways.

Locking your house is a pain in the butt, but virtually everyone does it. The dangers of not locking your data may be somewhat less likely to materialize, but pose more significant consequences.

793

Living Room / Re: Did dual-layer recordable dvd discs ever make it mainstream?

« on: January 18, 2008, 03:50 PM »

Since I'll be turning thirty-eleven tomorrow, let's count the obsolete computer media I've worked with.

• Paper tape - the first program I ever wrote I stored onto a punched paper tape that spewed out the side of the teletype machine.
• Punched card - the first project I had to hand in was on a deck of punched cards
• Cassette tape - on the school TRS-80, and later on my Atari 800, I stored programs on cassette tape. Finding the right spot on a 60-minute tape was the fun part 
• Magnetic tape reels - a simulation of a filter in the air-to-ground radar of the A6 Intruder was stored on a big tape reel
• Floppies:
  
  • 8" - how many of you knew of, or have ever seen, an 8" floppy?
  • 5.25" - notching them so you can use the flipside. I once dropped a whole box of these into a puddle.
  • 3.5" - we hacked the formatting on the Atari ST. You could fit 1-2 extra sectors on the outer tracks, and you could fit a couple of extra tracks on the inside. And if you staggered the index marks to match the speed of the drive, you could get it to stream successive tracks without waiting for extra rotations. I was hardcore back then.
    I also remember installing OS/2 1.3EE from a stack of 30-something floppy discs.
• QIC-60 backup tapes
• Magneto-optical WORM drives, also for backup

794

Living Room / Re: Did dual-layer recordable dvd discs ever make it mainstream?

« on: January 18, 2008, 01:50 PM »

Remember when buying DVDs was prohibitive

-Lashiec (January 17, 2008, 09:06 PM)

Are you kidding? I remember scrounging for 5.25" floppies, and cutting a notch on the opposite side so I could flip them over as double-sided.

795

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: automatic card reader drive letter assignment/removal

« on: January 17, 2008, 12:35 PM »

This is built into Windows.

Go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools >  Computer Management > Storage > Disk Managment

Right-click on the unwanted disk and select Change drive letter and paths...


Then click the Remove button.


This should be a lot easier and obvious, because everybody's got those zillion-in-one card readers but only ever use the SD slot, and having all those useless drives in explorer makes it harder to use.

Edit: as noted in the page linked above, you do need to do this again for every device. For a card reader device that's just once, but for thumb drives you'd have to do it for each drive.

796

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Coollector 2.0: freeware for movie lovers

« on: January 17, 2008, 08:30 AM »

Hector, you've obviously invested a ton of work into this. So I wouldn't be ashamed of trying to recover that investment by making money off the affiliate links. It seems like a pretty reasonable deal to me.

I haven't actually tried to use the program. It looks good on your web page, but I'd need a few things before I would switch to it. I suspect that on a forum like this where most of the participants are computer savvy and much more than casual users (many are developers ourselves) that most of us actually have some kind of movie catalog already.

• Import - I'm not going to re-enter all the movies. Barcode helps, but only those of us with CueCats. I personally am using Ant right now (http://www.antp.be/s...ftware/moviecatalog/) which is pretty advanced for exporting; I'd need a way to move my collection from there into your system.
• Reporting - I want a way to produce two reports: complete catalog and "things I haven't watched yet". These should be sortable in various ways, like by genre, formatted not in a list by card-like, perhaps 6 per page, showing box shot, brief description, actors, rating. DVDProfiler and Collectorz are very advanced in this feature.
• Completeness - Your approach of starting with a full catalog certainly has advantages, but it's got liabilities as well. With programs like Ant and Collectorz, I can always be sure to find my data, because IMDB and other sites are the source. I have a fair amount of foreign and wacky films, some normally unavailable in the US, so I'm worried that you won't be able to cover my whole collection.

797

Word Processor Roundup / Re: Textmaker (Softmaker/Ashampoo Office) 2008

« on: January 15, 2008, 12:53 PM »

One thing I'd like to know is if DataMaker

-Darwin (January 15, 2008, 09:30 AM)

After looking at their web site, I'm not enthused:

DataMaker 2008 works with any ODBC or ADO database. It will ship with a very fast database driver for the dBASE database format, but you are not limited to that: You can use DataMaker to access databases from MySQL, SQL Server, IBM DB/2, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Microsoft Access etc. – all databases for which ODBC or ADO drivers exist. (emphasis mine)

dBase is a nonstarter for me, since there's no provision for protecting it from multiprocess accesses. Your average Joe won't be able to set up mySQL, and if you've got Access, Oracle, SQL Server, etc., then I don't see much that this product will offer.

798

Word Processor Roundup / Re: Textmaker (Softmaker/Ashampoo Office) 2008

« on: January 15, 2008, 08:14 AM »

Just got a marketing email from them, touting their new 2008 release. It notes one significant difference between the Softmaker and Ashampoo versions of the product:

Please note that only genuine SoftMaker Office 2008 contains the BasicMaker macro language, not the licensed Ashampoo Office.

For the vast majority of users this probably doesn't matter, but the folks on DC are probably more likely to be power users that might want scripting capability.

Here are the major bullet points on the new version:

SoftMaker Office offers four new and improved applications:

• TextMaker 2008 with many enhancements such as PDF export, OLE server capabilities, a style manager, print preview, envelope printing and, and, and...
• PlanMaker 2008, the latest version of our spreadsheet application.
  Now with OLE server capability, PDF export, new calculation functions and many other improvements.
• SoftMaker Presentations 2008, SoftMaker's brand new alternative to PowerPoint. Just as capable, but much easier to use!
• BasicMaker 2008, our new VBA-compatible macro language that lets you automate TextMaker and PlanMaker like in Microsoft Office.

799

General Software Discussion / Re: issue trackers: do you use one? What's the best?

« on: January 11, 2008, 08:31 PM »

You might consider Fortress, from the folks who brought you Vault:
http://www.sourcegea.../fortress/index.html

They have a free single-developer license if this is just for you.

800

Living Room / Re: What should I do with my audio CDs?

« on: January 11, 2008, 01:51 PM »

From the links above, I read the 30,000 foot view of how FLAC works; very interesting. It doesn't seem like voodoo, but MP3 still does. Does anyone have a link that would help me understand how MP3 achieves it's lossy compression?