Topics

101

General Software Discussion / read saved webpages / notes on mobile

« on: January 13, 2009, 06:32 AM »

On my daily commute i'd like to read up on the latest net news without paying through the nose for data rates.

My mobile (SE W880i) has Access Netfront and Opera Mini installed, both can save and restore webpages from the application itself. I don't want to save webpages via 3g (it doesn't have wifi) - so I'm using a desktop browser or offline browser or pdf printer or (your suggestion).

I tried going the MHT route (saving from IE desktop) and Netfront didn't display the second of the two test pages, and Opera Mini can't see the .mht files altogether.

It doesn't appear that the phone supports pdf documents, but surely I must not be the only one that wants this. Any ideas?

102

General Software Discussion / simple & easy way to exchange sensitive information?

« on: January 08, 2009, 05:41 AM »

A simple question, which is hard to answer:
I'd like to send some private information such as a password or my card details for example to a friend (not a power user), what is the easiest way to do this?

So far the easiest solution seems to be using logmein to securely login to their pc and type it there. Problem with this is setting up the account , complete pc access and unsecured at their end. (in my case only the third option is an issue). they don't have to know any password.

What EASY & SIMPLE (and relatively secure) method would you use?
* anything method using a password would mean they need to be told the password as well somehow, so please take this into account.
* no encryption keys are setup
* existing tools are preferred for simplicity.

103

DcUpdater / idea: Install program via downloading single .dcupdate

« on: December 05, 2008, 06:41 AM »

Would it be interesting to download an run a .dcupdate file for a program which is not installed yet - which launches dcupdater and let dcupdater install the program?
That way you'd never have to point to the executable and the installation could be zero-click. That's pretty amazing.

I guess it would work without much extra development for programs that have an installer, and that .dcupdate files for zipped archives would be installed inside a MyDocuments\DcupdaterApps\<zipfilename> if a default path is not set within dcupdater (as its a portable app).

Imagine all coding snacks pointing to a dcupdate file, wow.

104

DcUpdater / bug: all updates shown twice, any idea?

« on: December 05, 2008, 05:18 AM »

Every program is listed twice in dcupdater, any idea how this happened? I tried to uninstall it and reinstall. there's only one .dcupdate file per program. Running vista 32. Screenshots enclosed.

105

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / NANY 2009 Release: JustCloseSomeTasks 1.21

« on: December 04, 2008, 06:07 AM »

NANY 2009 Entry Information

Application Name	JustCloseSomeTasks
Version	1.21 [July 08, 2009]
Short Description	An utility to let you easily close inactive tasks.
Supported OSes	Windows XP/Vista
Download Link	* NANY Release - See end of post * Latest Version * or inside the program Help >check for updates
Author	Link to Author's Profile page Donate

Description
JustCloseSomeTasks is an utility to let you easily close inactive tasks. It saves taskbar space by offering you to close the stuff you've not used for a while. Tasks are automatically marked for closing when they're not used for a certain time period (expiry time). The program will learn your behaviour and adjust this expiry time.

I use a lot of programs, and many at the same time. Because of this when a lot of windows are open the taskbar becomes cluttered  and I lose the overview required. JustCloseSomeTasks knows which programs I've not used and helps me manage.

Screenshots


Usage
Installation
Portable installation, DcUpdater support via help menu

Using the Application
Press the hotkey button (Ctrl-[ by default - change via system tray -> preferences) and all windows are listed with the ones older than 120 seconds checked. press the close button to close these tasks. The program will learn and adjust the auto-marking period based on your usage.

Known Issues
* If installing under windows vista to the Program Files folder, please be aware that the program might not be able to read it settings file. Run it once as an administrator to have the settings.ini created.
* Applications that don't communicate their window title or ID are hidden from the list for safety reasons. If you know any please let me know as I'd like to add support for the most vocal missing ones.

Download Page

106

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / NANY 2009 Withdrawn: JustRecently

« on: December 02, 2008, 04:15 AM »

NANY 2009 Entry Information

Sorry this project is withdrawn.

Application Name	JustRecently
Version	In Development
Short Description	Fast extendable recently opened files solution
Supported OSes	Windows XP and Vista
Web Page	http://justice.dcmembers.com/
Download Link	Not available yet
System Requirements	Any pc that can run Windows XP/Vista
Author	My Profile

Description
Save time and frustration finding that file you last used. A fast recently used files browser that is extendible through .Ini files to support individual applications via registry keys or program locations.

Usage
Installation
Depending on feedback a portable or installable application will be made available.

Features
* Live Search
* Support for Recent Files and folders
* Group recent files by application for selected applications
* extend applications using easy to write ini files. (possibly an extension creator)
* Hope to add shell context menu support (needing some help)

107

Developer's Corner / AutoHotkey: LiveSearch example

« on: November 26, 2008, 05:32 AM »

Might be useful for N.A.N.Y. this year I thought for those who will use AHK like me. Find below an example of live processing of the contents of an editbox. You can use it to filter a listview for example.

expand code

; Live Search Example
; Performance enchancements
#NoEnv
SetBatchLines, -1
SetKeyDelay, 0

Gui, Add, Edit, vMyEdit gLiveSearch, %LastMyEdit%
Gui, Show

LiveSearch:
   Gui, Submit, NoHide ; or without submitting use get ControlGetText, MyEdit, Edit1, %MainWnd%
   ifEqual, LastMyEdit,MyEdit ; don't process no changes
      return
   Gosub,LiveSearchProcess
return

LiveSearchProcess:
   Tooltip % MyEdit
   LastMyEdit := MyEdit
return

108

Find And Run Robot / suggestion: open plugins folder

« on: November 26, 2008, 03:52 AM »

I'd like to see an Open Plugins Folder button in the options -> plugins screen. I'm using Vista and I have loads of plugins installed under C:\Program Files\FindAndRunRobot\Plugins but FARR doesn't find any plugins, and I cannot find out where FARR is looking for plugins.

109

Living Room / A fork in the road - dangers of web services

« on: November 25, 2008, 03:57 AM »

Today's news brings up the risk of continuity of webservices:

Today marks a fork in the road for this particular startup. Values of n, the company behind Stikkit and I Want Sandy, will be closing its doors. Both services will going offline at close of business (5pm PST) on Monday December 8th, 2008. Until then, they'll be up and running as usual to allow our users time to make the transition, find alternative services, and download any data they wish to take with them.

While the company and services will be shutting down, Stikkit and Sandy's DNA will live on; the intellectual property behind both has been acquired by Twitter, Inc.

from Daring Fireball

As one of the comments says:

Blogger Tom said...    I don't think it's wrong to say "You got me addicted to your service like crack cocaine, and now you're telling me to go to very poor alternatives which are nowhere near as powerful."

    I don't like being told "it was free, so deal with it". If Google decided to close Gmail and delete all your mail in 10 days, would you have no right to be mad because it was "free"? Of course you would. It's a very poor excuse.

As users will become wiser of web services and more of these will be bought up / close down - will this ultimately undermine confidence in web services? What guarantees should be in place? Should the webservice become open source or an read only archive be created when it will no longer be supported? It shows that the webservice industry is still growing up in my opinion.

As a person who earns a living (indirectly) with the web, it's a valid concern.

110

General Software Discussion / RSSFWD.com - RSS straight into your email inbox

« on: November 13, 2008, 05:07 AM »

Found this gem, RSSFwd allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds by email. I use it to get notifications of software releases, which would easily get missed in my RSS feed reader as I am subscribed to so many feeds. You can set how often you want to get emailed as well which helps combat overload.

from google

111

Living Room / [forum] request for link statistics

« on: November 10, 2008, 05:06 AM »

When uploading files you can see how many downloads the file got; which is one of the best features of this forum. Is it possible to do have the same functionality with links? I don't always want to host the files here but I'd love to see how many people clicked through. maybe there's a plugin that already exists.

112

Finished Programs / JustToDoIt - Fast ToDo lister

« on: November 05, 2008, 08:33 AM »

I've always been looking for a better todo list manager and while I was working on Axem I realised the interface was very suitable for a todo list app.

so here's JustToDoIt: A fast todo lister for my own use that you might enjoy
 * it creates two text files, Activetasks.txt and completedtasks.txt, each file has a list of tasks, one task per line (so should work well with your own programs)
 * you can check tasks to complete them and remove them from the list
 * no need to save

Download Latest Version

113

Coding Snacks / Managing tasks / windows like real time strategy games

« on: October 06, 2008, 04:24 AM »

A great post on the Windows 7 Engineering blog about Managing windows in windows 7 got me thinking again on window management

I tend to work on several different tasks, each with their own windows. Usually this is a web development task, a web research task, maybe an email / administration task and a file management task. For example the webdevelopment task can consist of Dreamweaver, beyond compare, several browsers, remote desktop, visual studio.
That's 6 windows for one task, and then with 4 tasks this can easily get to 15+ windows.

The taskbar, systemtray, alt-tab etc don't work very well in this scenario. Instead of using virtual desktops which are never very well implemented in my opinion, I was thinking about creating window groups ala RTS games:

* Define a group by selecting multiple windows on the taskbar, then ctrl-<number> them
* ctrl-numbering with no windows selected should remove the group.
* Switch to a group by pressing windowkey-number (unfortunately number only will conflict, although windows+number is also the hotkey for quick launch icons bah) - this should minimize or hide (?) the other groups.
* add the current window to a group by activating it and pressing shift-number
* remove the current window from a group by activating it and pressing alt-number

Would this be worth pursueing?

114

Developer's Corner / autohotkey arrays

« on: September 17, 2008, 07:45 AM »

I'm always fighting with them can you tell me what's the easiest way to maintain a list of strings, add a listitem, remove a listitem, return a listitem? For example I'd like to keep a list of hidden window titles and then unhide one and remove it from the list. Autohotkey makes it really hard, I usually build a concatenated string and split them into an array but then when i want to return a value but am not sure where its position is it's near impossible.

Any ideas?

115

General Software Discussion / Looking for a second task holder?

« on: September 16, 2008, 07:42 AM »

I've got a lot of tasks running simultaneously, and have moved the task bar to the right of the wide-screen so I can read the window titles better. However when I have over 12 windows open it becomes annoying. I've used hide to system tray software in the past but I've got over 15 system tray icons already. So what I'm looking for is a 'drawer' that can hold my windows out of sight, and a way to hide windows to it and restore them from it.

idea:
taskbar = primary tasks;
taskdrawer = secondary tasks such as winamp, things i'm not working on;
system tray = for the rest.

I've started on a autohotkey script to do this but it's a bit more complicated than i thought (restore individual window, autohotkey is crap with arrays). Any software out there that can fill the gap? Bonus points for keyboard shortcuts. i don't want to use a virtual desktop manager

Actually its similar to my PutAside program but I want to hide windows even though i'm working on the same task, not all of them..

116

General Software Discussion / TaskTome: Powerful Task Organiser

« on: September 11, 2008, 04:17 AM »

Found this program via Lifehacker and freewaregenius, thoguht some of you would be interested

taskTome is a personal information manager which allows you to maintain a list of events, tasks, notes and financial information. taskTome is light-weight program that displays the information that you need to keep track of without cluttering it up with un-needed features and controls, while still allowing you complete control over the information - including the ability to search, format, print, export and customize data.

Features

The main features of taskTome are:

View appointments and events in a monthly calendar,
Maintain a task list with comments,
View and edit rich-text notes and documents,
Manage finances with bank/cash balances.

-http://tasktome.shanemca.com/index.html

from Lifehacker
I'll let you know how I get on with it, if interested.

117

General Software Discussion / Online shops user opinions firefox addon?

« on: August 30, 2008, 06:39 PM »

Whenever i'm shopping online I want to know if the website with the good deal is reputable. It's possible to google for shop + scam, and check the mcafee siteadvisor (or start a topic in your fav forum) but I was wondering if there are any websites that are not marketing driven with honest user reviews of shopping websites (like ebay's feedback system).

Bonus points for any firefox addon integration for easy access / discussion.

If not is this a good idea for a new site?

118

Living Room / Blocking text-ads, no revenue left for web-writers?

« on: August 08, 2008, 04:16 AM »

Just been reading Gizmo's article on disabling Google's text advertisements. I'm realizing it has come this far: people have been increasingly annoyed by advertising on their favorite websites. N now even Google's textads are targeted because a small percentage puts the ads on the page people have become annoyed. So they disable the ads. That's their right.

However that leaves millions of bloggers without a possible revenue stream to support their writing so I am thinking what it can be replaced with. I've no idea. Personally I wouldn't donate to a website because I liked a certain article, donationware works best for 'tools'. I don't think I can get paid for putting legitimate search results underneath a post, which would be a benefit to readers, which is a shame. Subscription services go against the nature of the web (hiding content from public). I wouldn't buy a mug just because i read a website. Maybe that means that it's just too hard for an individual to recoup their costs?

That said, the majority of people will not have adsense blocked. And I think the majority of bloggers don't blog for money, but because they like to discuss.

119

Find And Run Robot / lnk pattern scoring

« on: August 07, 2008, 06:16 AM »

Why does FARR score .exe results 150 but .lnk results only 50? Am I wrong in assuming the majority of searches would be for shortcuts?

120

Find And Run Robot / [suggestion] delete aliases from results list

« on: August 03, 2008, 05:24 AM »

Would be helpful to be able to delete unwanted aliases straight from the results list, when I encounter them and decide I don't like them. Maybe pressing the delete key on a result should give it the lowest score ( i think it's -1000)? I'm finding I'm hunting for the right screen at the moment.

121

General Software Discussion / Quickie: Assembla - online project hosting

« on: August 01, 2008, 04:06 AM »

I just wanted to write a bit about Assembla, which I use to work on some personal projects. I think it could be of great benefit if you aren't already using a similar tool. Assembla projects free and paid integrated tools for project management, bug tracking and versioning. They call it workspaces. I only have experience with the free option. I've not used most of the features so that's why this is not a review.

They describe themselves like this:

Assembla provides tools and services for accelerating software development, with three lines of business: Tools: Workspaces on Assembla.com, this web site, used by thousands of teams. Talent: Staffing services that find the best person or team for the job, worldwide. Knowledge: We run projects ourselves, and we do management consulting to fix stalled product release cycles, streamline product strategy, build startup teams, implement iterative and agile processes, and get products released.

-http://www.assembla.com/about

What do you get?
* You can sign up for unlimited free workspaces with unlimited team size and integrated tools like wiki, discussion, alerts, chat, ticketing, Trac, Git and Subversion.
* You can manage / add / change /remove team members, invite people to contribute.
* Set specific filter createria that send notification to you via your workspace and/or email
* Set of reporting tools (scrum) that allows you to manage bigger projects
* Set milestones
* Online subversion repository that you can access from any pc via the browser or via a SVN client
* All this integrated nicely and better than I could do it myself would I set it up.

There's also a whole paid job side that you can use to get paid for jobs and find jobs to work on, but I haven't looked into that. This is possible because it has a mini developer network based on user accounts so you can find people that are expect on ruby on rails etc.

How free is free?
IF you use > 200MB per project then they might contact you to see if you're interested in upgrading. They also make money offering upgrade features to the free spaces if you desire to do so or if you create an unreasonable demand on their system, ie. the next big software project. They also offer consultancy. However you'll not notice any of this while you use your own projects and there are no obtrusive commercial elements. Disk space limits are not strictly enforced. If you are using a lot of space, you should support our effort to provide quality hosting by purchasing a commercial space subscription, and we will remind you to do it. We provide extra disk space to volunteer projects, such as open source projects and research projects. More information on the differences between free/paid see their tour

Hope this is useful to you.

More Screenshots

122

General Software Discussion / Convert to tiff (lzw)

« on: July 31, 2008, 03:26 AM »

I'm trying to convert all the BMP images in the Pictures folder to TIFF(LZW compression), then delete the originals. I want to keep the folder structure in place, keep the original date. Apparently this is too hard a task. Photoshop can't do it, as actions always save to a specific folder (either chosen for the action or it copies all files into 1 flat folder), irfanview can't do it (same reason). Anyone got suggestions that work? I don't mind doing it via the commandline.

O yeah I got other images in these folders with a different format (jpg / png) I don't want to convert them or manually have to select individual files so ImageTasks doesn't seem able either).

123

Living Room / [Ted] Kevin Kelly: Predicting the next 5,000 days of the web

« on: July 30, 2008, 07:57 AM »

Eye opening brain churning talk about where the web is going. Ted's a fantastic site also for people with ideas.

About this talk: At the 2007 EG conference, Kevin Kelly shares a fun stat: The World Wide Web, as we know it, is only 5,000 days old. Now, Kelly asks, how can we predict what's coming in the next 5,000 days?

-http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html

from Ted (Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers)

124

Find And Run Robot / Minor nag: Installation process

« on: July 29, 2008, 04:39 AM »

With the recent amount of updates  I was thinking maybe it would be a good time to see if you can make the installation process more seamless. It currently takes 8 clicks to install farr, from dcupdater. Also there's several information screens to go through which you might be able to consolidate, and several introduction screens for the winzip installer, installshield etc. One click to introduce the software, one click to install it, and one to finish it would be ideal.

Not really a big deal probably  , but something that could be made better.

125

General Software Discussion / Report ACL lists for a folder structure

« on: July 24, 2008, 04:11 AM »

I'm looking for a program that creates a texfile with all ACLs from a root folder down, showing the additions / removed permissions only.

so if I have a C:\test folder which John and Bob has read access, and a subfolder called test2 which John and Pete read access I'd expect a report like:

[Select]

c:\test  - READ: John Bob
    +--- test2 (READ: -Bob, +Pete)

Or something more legible. I want this program so I can redo an existing ACL structure and the interface windows provides is useless.