Topics

251

General Software Discussion / New faster Firefox browser released

« on: November 15, 2017, 01:58 AM »

Mozilla is getting some attention for a big new revamp of their Firefox browser that is supposed to be much faster and more memory efficient..

Their official blurb:

Firefox Quantum is over twice as fast as Firefox from 6 months ago, built on a completely overhauled core engine with brand new technology stolen from our advanced research group, and graced with a beautiful new look designed to get out of the way and let you do what you do best: surf a ton of pages, open a zillion tabs, all guilt free because Firefox Quantum uses less memory than the competition. Your computer will thank you.

https://blog.mozilla...ing-firefox-quantum/

Lots of reviews all over the web.. Who has tried it and has some thoughts?

252

General Software Discussion / How AV can open you to attacks that otherwise wouldn’t be possible

« on: November 10, 2017, 08:55 AM »

Interesting essay on how running an antivirus could actually open you up to some risks..

Antivirus programs, in many cases, make us safer on the Internet. Other times, they open us to attacks that otherwise wouldn't be possible. On Friday, a researcher documented an example of the latter—a vulnerability he found in about a dozen name-brand AV programs that allows attackers who already have a toehold on a targeted computer to gain complete system control.

https://arstechnica....wouldnt-be-possible/

253

General Software Discussion / Windows 10 free upgrade loophole closing in December

« on: November 07, 2017, 04:35 AM »

There is still a way to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, but there won't be for long..

If you haven’t yet switched to Windows 10, either by upgrading your current PC or by buying a new one, it’s not too late to do so for free. That is if you’re reading this before the end of 2017, when Microsoft has decided to end free Windows 10 upgrades for good. So, you’d best act quickly…  Unfortunately for anyone yet to take advantage of the assistive technologies workaround, Microsoft has announced it’s ending the free upgrade offer on December 31, 2017...

http://www.makeuseof...ndows-10-free-quick/

254

Developer's Corner / Packt free programming ebooks every day

« on: November 05, 2017, 06:50 PM »

Packt still offers free programming books every day -- you can find some useful ebooks here.
https://www.packtpub...offers/free-learning


Today they have one that looks fun for new coders who want to learn python:
Python Projects for Kids by Jessica Ingrassellino

255

Living Room / Entertaing story: I Forgot My Pin: An Epic Tale Of Losing $30,000 In Bitcoin

« on: October 30, 2017, 04:30 PM »

Really entertaining story about someone who forgot his password to a bitcoin hardware device and went on a quest to recover it.

Spoiler Alert:

Spoiler

In the end he does recover the password and get his bitcoin money.

https://www.wired.co...lar30000-in-bitcoin/

256

Living Room / Wildlife webcams?

« on: October 25, 2017, 06:06 PM »

Do we have a thread for natural wildlife webcams?

Look at all the creatures hanging out in this watering hole!

257

Living Room / Awkward humor videos

« on: October 15, 2017, 01:54 PM »

I can't get enough of comedians who employ these awkward pauses, etc.  Think the British version of "The Office", etc.
My latest favorite -- a big long series by Tim Heidecker, "On Cinema at the Cinema":

https://www.youtube....oDTYwY7v_V12KJfQueXZ

If anyone has other similar awkward, subtle, comedy shows they'd like to share, I'm all ears.

258

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / NANY 2018 Release: cnpaperplay - Codenames /Codenames Duet Play on Paper Clone

« on: October 13, 2017, 08:40 PM »

cnpaperplay is a play-on-paper game based on a very of an awesome two-player cooperative word-based board game called Codenames Duet by Vlaada Chvátil and Scot Eaton.

Note that this game plays very well over the phone, by text, by email, etc. -- players do not have to be in the same physical location.




Basic rules of the game:

• A random grid of words is laid out for both players to see.
• Each player receives a secret "key" telling them which of these words they want the other player to guess or avoid.  These keys are coordinated in the sense that there are a specific number that will be the same as the other player (read rules for details).
• Then players take turns giving a clue to the other player of a specific form (see detailed rules) and the other player will try to use the clue to identify which card they should choose.
• Players win as a team if they guess all the correct cards.

My version does things very slightly differently since I designed it to be played on paper, but the basic idea is the same.
The created pdf books have some brief instructions but to learn more how to play see the official detailed rules of Codenames Duet: https://czechgames.c...es-duet-rules-en.pdf


What I chose to do is write some fairly flexible code that makes print-and-play "books" (pdf files) that can be split up between two players, who can then play the entire game with paper and pencil.
Each page is a separate game/puzzle.
The code can make random books of any size and with difference configuration parameters, and supports custom word files.


I'll open source the code at NANY time but for now here are two sample books.  Remember that each player gets their own book -- you can't look at the book of your partner!!

If you feel like trying a game (or 10), these two booklets are all you need.  Print them and give each player a book and a pen and you are good to go:

• MAIN DOWNLOAD: 1mb zip file with books for 100 games of cnduet and 100 games of cnteam, in english: https://www.donation...ooks_englishonly.zip

Or get a version with japanese and other language translations: https://www.donation...npaperplay_books.zip.

Download/browse the python source code which has now been open sourced on github:
https://github.com/dcmouser/cnpaperplay

The data files (words and instructions) are easily translatable into different languages if anyone feels so inclined.

259

General Software Discussion / Newspaper Article: Russia Has Turned Kaspersky Software Into Tool for Spying

« on: October 11, 2017, 01:44 PM »

Russia Has Turned Kaspersky Software Into Tool for Spying
Searches exploited popular Russian-made antivirus software [Kaspersky] to seek classified material, officials say
WASHINGTON—The Russian government used a popular antivirus software to secretly scan computers around the world for classified U.S. government documents and top-secret information, modifying the program to turn it into an espionage tool, according to current and former U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

https://www.wsj.com/...-u-s-data-1507743874

That article is paywalled but hopefully someone will find a non-paywalled alternative soon.

260

Living Room / Interesting read: Apple is really bad at design

« on: October 08, 2017, 11:47 AM »

The “notch” on the new iPhone X is not just strange, interesting, or even odd — it is bad. It is bad design, and as a result, bad for the user experience...Plenty has been written about the mind-numbing, face-palming, irritating stupidity of the notch. And yet, I can’t stop thinking about it. I would love to say that this awful design compromise is an anomaly for Apple. But it would be more accurate to describe it as the norm.

https://theoutline.c...really-bad-at-design

from http://www.osnews.co..._chins_and_foreheads

261

Developer's Corner / Long thought-provoking essay on programming

« on: October 05, 2017, 12:20 PM »

Long thought-provoking essay on programming

Victor wanted something more immediate. “If you have a process in time,” he said, referring to Mario’s path through the level, “and you want to see changes immediately, you have to map time to space.” He hit a button that showed not just where Mario was right now, but where he would be at every moment in the future: a curve of shadow Marios stretching off into the far distance. What’s more, this projected path was reactive: When Victor changed the game’s parameters, now controlled by a quick drag of the mouse, the path’s shape changed. It was like having a god’s-eye view of the game. The whole problem had been reduced to playing with different parameters, as if adjusting levels on a stereo receiver, until you got Mario to thread the needle. With the right interface, it was almost as if you weren’t working with code at all; you were manipulating the game’s behavior directly.

When the audience first saw this in action, they literally gasped.

https://www.theatlan...ld-from-code/540393/

262

General Software Discussion / SafeBrowse chrome extension hides a cpu draining trojan

« on: September 24, 2017, 08:46 AM »

SafeBrowse, a Chrome extension with more than 140,000 users, contains an embedded JavaScript library in the extension's code that mines for the Monero cryptocurrency using users' computers and without getting their consent. The additional code drives CPU usage through the roof, making users' computers sluggish and hard to use.

https://slashdot.org...cryptocurrency-miner

From https://www.bleeping...hat-drains-your-cpu/

263

Living Room / Jumpy: Animated videogame short

« on: September 09, 2017, 05:42 AM »

This brought a real smile to my face.

264

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / NANY 2018 Release: Joomla Extensions

« on: September 07, 2017, 08:47 PM »

As I have been working for the last several months on migrating the DC website to the Joomla content management system, I have ended up coding a bunch of custom extensions.  Some are dc-specific and won't be of much use to others, but several would be of use to general joomla sites.  I plan on releasing a few as part of my NANY offerings this year.

Joomla Extensions now available, open sourced on github:

Bulk meta info viewer/changer - Used to quickly see and modify your article meta info (most similar to the osmeta extension but less invasive). I think this one is probably the most useful and of general interest to joomla users.

• https://github.com/d...mouser/joomla_dcmeta

Log viewer - Simple extension to allow admin to view/tail system log files

• https://github.com/d...ser/joomla_dclogview

Alternate control panel -- Simple alternate place to put admin modules instead of main control panel

• https://github.com/d...ouser/joomla_dcpanel

Article links plugin -- Makes it easy to see and edit the menus that link to an article being edited

• https://github.com/d...oomla_dcarticlelinks

Menu list plugin -- Easy way to make pages that show a nice list (with image thumbnails) of child pages

• https://github.com/d...er/joomla_dcmenulist

Comment plugin -- Super simple plugin that just lets you "comment-out" sections of an article to make them invisible

• https://github.com/d...ser/joomla_dccomment

Custom function content plugin -- Safe way to invoke custom php functions from article content

• I did not open source this yet -- it's a lot of code and would require some additional documentation.

265

Living Room / One man's engineering quest to add a headphone port to an iphone

« on: September 07, 2017, 02:40 PM »

Really nice detailed 30+ minute youtube video of one man's quest to wire in a headphone port into his iPad:

Fascinating look at one-off manufacturing of custom boards and wiring.  Shenzhen China seems amazing.

266

General Software Discussion / In search of a lightweight multi-user cms/blog for hosting coders

« on: September 01, 2017, 10:57 PM »

As most of you know we are in the process of migrating the main DC website to a new cms (see here), with the aim of making it easier to maintain the site and add new content.

One of the other things that we have done on DC is provide web hosting for some dc members to create their own websites, on a separate server (dcmembers.com).
We started out thinking that would be a really nice feature to offer dc members, but we have gradually done less and less of that over time.

The main reason is maintenance headaches.. It's basically running a shared server with lots of different user accounts and all the headaches that entails.  There are also security concerns with everyone running different web scripts and some being abandoned and not updated with security releases, etc.

The other reason is the proliferation over the years of free hosting services (blogger, github, etc.).


It still occurs to me that a compromise solution would be some kind of multi-user cms/blog system where we would only have to maintain one central piece of software and could create lots of individual user accounts, where each user could maintain their area and their software and blog writings..

It would be more restrictive in format (i.e. mostly uniform appearance of user pages), but that could also be an advantage in terms of consistency, and would have the advantage of sharing visitors and popularity and being able to have a shared news/release page, etc.

So my question is -- can anyone recommend some multi-user cms thing that is really designed to give each author their own (protected) "area" to create and maintain in, and host software for download, while offering some shared news/search/etc functions?

267

Living Room / Who uses a 3d printer?

« on: August 31, 2017, 03:15 PM »

My god the 3d printers are getting good and cheap.. So tempting..  Anyone enjoying one currently?

268

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / NANY 2018 Ideas Thread

« on: August 31, 2017, 02:36 PM »

Use this thread to suggest ideas for people to code for NANY 2018.

269

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / N.A.N.Y. 2018 Announcement

« on: August 31, 2017, 02:36 PM »

Since 2007 we have held an annual event that we call NANY (New Apps for the New Year), where we ask the coders who hang out on DonationCoder to create some new piece of free software and share it with the world on January 1st of the new year.

NANY is really the funnest thing we do on this site, and it's one of the few times we can all play together.  There are no winners or losers, it's simply a celebration of programming and creating new software and sharing it with the world.  You can target any operating system (desktop or mobile) or even make a web-based tool.  It can be a game, utility, large application, whatever.  DC takes makes no claim on your software, it's just an event to encourage you to share a creation with others.  Best of all, everyone who participates gets a free commemorative coffee mug.

Browse previous year entries here: https://www.donation.../index.php?board=323

270

Living Room / Giant review of thermal pastes for PC builders:

« on: August 09, 2017, 02:00 AM »

Giant review of thermal pastes at tom's hardware, for PC builders:

Several years ago, we published a round-up of thermal pastes that started with Thermal Paste Comparison, Part One: Applying Grease And More and concluded with Thermal Paste Comparison, Part Two: 39 Products Get Tested. Since it's so hot outside (at least in our U.S. labs), we're trying to cool so many new CPUs and GPUs, and readers keep asking for it, we decided to combine and update those stories, adding a range of new thermal pastes and pads.

http://www.tomshardw...comparison,5108.html

from http://www.osnews.co...p_85_products_tested

271

Living Room / Cat version of the Blair Witch Project

« on: August 04, 2017, 05:20 AM »

My cat likes to play with stuffed mice toys.. But I have to buy dozens of them because they go missing.

Today I lifted up a sofa corner for the first time in months and I saw this scene straight out of the Blair Witch Project:



I think my cat is performing some kind of ritual to someone the god of mices..

272

General Software Discussion / Anyone know a file searcher than can search for X near Y?

« on: July 31, 2017, 03:59 PM »

It occurred to me that often during searching I am looking for some text X that is "near to" some text Y, and I don't know of a tool that can do that..
Where "near" is some configurable distance in bytes.

Does anyone know of such a multi-file search tool with this feature?

273

General Software Discussion / What are your favorite android phone/tablet apps?

« on: July 29, 2017, 03:21 PM »

Do we not have a thread for this already?  I just got a new cell phone after 5 years or so, and I'm curious to hear what apps people like best.

274

DesktopCoral / MOVED: Settings are reset to default

« on: July 25, 2017, 07:04 PM »

This topic has been moved to Screenshot Captor.

https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=44140.0

275

Developer's Corner / You could instead be making your own dungeon crawler game

« on: July 24, 2017, 10:28 PM »

From Rock, Paper, Shotgun today:

If you are reading this now, you could instead be making your own dungeon crawler. That’s the magic of DungeonScript, a fairly simple browser-based game-making tool intended for first-person dungeon crawlers. After a little studying, you could be making your own dungeon crawlers and sharing them online for us all to play.

Looks pretty cool -- I'd love to see someone here make something..

https://www.rockpape...sed-game-maker-tool/