Messages

226

Living Room / Re: More ammunition why patents are EVIL

« on: July 08, 2011, 02:34 AM »

When it comes to medicine, one has to wonder just how genuine the "we want to help people" thing is. [...] But that's an extension from patents to the market, and how things can go horribly wrong in the process there.

Capitalism is very successful in making rich people richer, but almost completely blind to the needs of the sick, most especially if they're poor.

-rjbull (July 07, 2011, 03:44 PM)

Hang on here... Whereas there might be concerns certainly on the health research and treatment front capitalism can be said to have delivered a lot. It seems to me we live a long longer, and healthier, and don't have to put up with a lot of aches and pains that previous generations just had to put up with, and don't die anywhere near except from things that stem from our own lifestyle (eating crap, smoking, not moving) or the really tricky problems. From a patent perspective I think the system did work and deliver a lot until slowly the market evolved.

Now "the system" for applying and delivering these is starting to fail, but that is because we had a situation where all the actors in the chain benefited from costs rising. Drug and product makers? check. Insurance companies? you bet, their profit is typically in % of cost volume. Hospitals and practitioners? Regulators/government departments? yup, them too, size of industry increases their weight, importance and budgets. And, for the longest time, the consumer too - after all you pay enough for the insurance (or taxes, if paid by government) so you are going to make sure you get your money's worth and go for more consumption of services... People have been warning of this since the 70s, and we just carried on...

deleted but left in here to not undo history, but let's not hijack this thread

227

Living Room / Re: More ammunition why patents are EVIL

« on: July 08, 2011, 02:18 AM »

To me the problem isn't really the length of the patents - if they are used and licensed reasonably, they can last a while without harm

As has been said before the two big weaknesses:

- patents granted that are too vague, too generic or too obvious. Let's assume patent offices no longer employ Einsteins and outsource a lot, and it shows... I mean, 1 click checkout? Blatant in computer related fields but increasingly happening, it seems, in biotechnology where patents have appeared for things like crossing two broccoli varieties by cross pollination... you know, the traditional way?
Companies have been quick to take advantage of that, with pragmatic reasons (i mean, most dont set out to be evil, just doing everything they can within the system to defend their business, which everyone would expect them to do) - after all if you dont do it,

- patents that the owner does not work or license, or at prohibitive rates. How the system should cope with this without overly infringing on the rights of business owners and inventors too much, and without turning punitive for the small operation (it can take a lone/small business inventor a while to get an idea ready for market) *is* a challenge
aside: a very damaging example of this are patents that are there to prevent competition that might be based on new, emerging techniques. Companies in health watch the publications and apply for vague patents on "the use of new technique X to the treatment of condition Y" - where they didnt invent or pioneer X and might not be researching its applications to Y, just defending a product they have that tackles Y's symptoms.

228

General Software Discussion / Re: SpiderOak - very nice people =)

« on: July 08, 2011, 01:41 AM »

Being over: At least Spideroak lets you delete files moderately quickly from its interface or, iirc, the web admin - so you can pick whatever large bits you might want to take off the system to bring it back to level

I downgraded Syncplicity from paid to free recently and between the "you cant do anything you're over" and the fact that you just cannot do anything on the web admin I had to "unsubscribe" all the folders (which wipes them from the backup space) and start over. Way worse

Not sure how others do it, it would be interesting what the best practice ought to be - to me if I am over I would like an easy interface mode to pick what to remove to be brought back to level

Elegance: interestingly enough I have had to use dropbox for work and I found the approach inelegant - that you have to put everything into that one folder. If I have folders all over that I want to backup I need to move them and adapt applications.. and if I only want to back up part of a folder tree I have a mess... It does work for a shared project folder, though.

229

General Software Discussion / Re: Help: Spherical timesheet gone, what do I use now?

« on: July 06, 2011, 03:14 PM »

note that back then 199AUSD were a lot cheaper... (and I did get it while on a deal, iirc)

230

General Software Discussion / Re: Help: Spherical timesheet gone, what do I use now?

« on: July 06, 2011, 02:49 PM »

That looks pretty cool... pricey though.  Glad you were able to get your license key back

-wraith808 (July 06, 2011, 12:28 PM)

It was pricey - but back then it was near unique. I needed to easily track where my time went when I was juggling so many things. And I just forget to press timer buttons.

The other tools I found now are all in the 29-50 price bracket (well, the outlook one goes to 79 and that gets close to Spherical territory). They are all a bit different, and not quite as slick a workflow than Spherical was, to me. Also, spherical tech seems better at capturing what happens when you have windows open in the background and switch between multiple windows (say developing a web application, or having long running tasks and checking on them)

But I would say they are also nice to run for the duration of a 15 or 30 day trial period and figure out where you time goes. It does help even for our never-long-enough private time. Noticing things is the first step to changing them

Note that if you are the kind who can plan tasks in advance and then press the button to record time, there are millions of options - if you're not...

Qlockwork http://www.qlockwork.com  - 49-79

works with a tracker + an outlook extension. A bit broken in my highly messed up test machine Outlook 2003, but that is possibly not representative. It certainly looks very impressive in the description, I think I will test it some more.

Qlockwork helps you categorize your work by project or customer.
Automatic assignment - Set up simple rules to automatically assign your activities.
Complete control - You can also assign activities to projects by hand in seconds
Qlockwork automatically tracks everything you do on your PC, and you can add extra tasks into the Qlockwork calendar manually.
Meetings and planned phone calls  are included and tracked against the appropriate project.
Add activities manually simply by adding them into your calendar.
With Qlockwork Pro, you can also automatically include appointments from another Outlook calendar in your time reports.

worktime http://www.nestersoft.com  - 29.95-49.95

tracker. Nicest reporting screens. wasnt 100% stable in my test, but then I did have 4 trackers on the machine at once.. Developer asks for some feedback about what interests you in the software, and does email back

Project tracking
 Track your work on projects. WorkTime project tracking proposes various services so your work is not interrupted...

Documents usage tracking
 Track your work on documents. Track documents in any graphic design tool (including InDesign, Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, AutoCAD)...

Applications usage tracking
 WorkTime automatically picks what applications you use and records application name and time spent working...

Portable USB installation
 Track your work on your laptop, on your or client's desktops. Have all recorded results always synchronized...

Reporting your work
 Generate detailed reports about your work. Export reports to various formats. Generate invoices and timesheets

timesprite http://www.timesprite.com $34.95

Looks the simplest but has been the most stable. Supports both the "window logging" and the more normal "push button logging"

TimeSprite records the titles of the active window as you work, and intelligently groups similar titles to report how you spent your time.

You can assign the recorded window titles to your own groups to create a timesheet.
TimeSprite automatically records your time using the title of the window you are working in.
Recording stops automatically when you don't use the computer for 5 minutes (configurable).
You can view a summary of your time, a journal or diary view, and weekly and monthly timesheets.
Make notes in the Journal view.
Include or exclude groups from the timesheet.
Add, delete or edit entries to adjust the reports.

231

General Software Discussion / Re: xplorer² 2.0: First beta versions around

« on: July 06, 2011, 02:43 PM »

How good is the preview? I'm in dire need of the fastest possible "preview and move in predetermined folders" tool and not adverse to buying what it takes...

232

General Software Discussion / Re: Help: Spherical timesheet gone, what do I use now?

« on: July 06, 2011, 11:20 AM »

and i distinctly remember saving that license key to note last year - won't lose it again

233

General Software Discussion / Re: Help: Spherical timesheet gone, what do I use now?

« on: July 06, 2011, 11:18 AM »

Question 1: anyone does by any miracle know this company or people in it that could help me get my old key back and continue using it  

-iphigenie (July 06, 2011, 10:50 AM)

I know it's not much, and the info probably isn't valid anymore, but it's worth exhausting all your avenues.

http://web.archive.org/web/20100104120904/http://www.sphericaltech.com/contact.asp

-skwire (July 06, 2011, 11:03 AM)

Thank you - you are a lifesaver!

I should have thought of the wayback machine, used it in the past, yet i didnt.

Why a lifesaver? because the link to the login-to-get-your-info was visible on the page and it is NOT on the sphericaltech.com domain and it IS still up

And I have my license key again. And indeed i have a maintenance subscription which is still valid, until october... and claims to be renewable... ah well...

Now to check if it can activate, works on windows 7 64bit (it did work on 32bit fine, even though it is years old)

I'll keep testing the other tools on the hobby machine - I will need an alternative eventually and a dev that is alive and responding

 

234

General Software Discussion / Re: Help: Spherical timesheet gone, what do I use now?

« on: July 06, 2011, 10:52 AM »

My conclusion after a tiny incomplete check

- logging windows seems to produce different strings in different tools, which is odd but creates a difference in how easy it is to analyse things later. Some are more clever than others in differentiating application name from meta information and using it.

- things that recognise a break and prompt you on return (chrometa does, spherical did) are good. Although chrometa also prompts when I was standing here reading a document on screen, not good.

- spherical was very slick on the learn-and-log front, with an end-of-day or end-of-week type routine. Many of the ones I just tried make that harder.

- being able to go into "edit this" from the report really saves time (yeah, spherical again)

- changing what a rule does must ask whether it is a global change (i.e. affects backwards) or only for the future (i.e. new project, same tools)

- i am really used to the one tool and I did pay the (moderately high) price back then because it worked "just right". Shame that clearly I am strange and it was not right enough for enough others

235

General Software Discussion / Help: Spherical timesheet gone, what do I use now?

« on: July 06, 2011, 10:50 AM »

Hi

First, I feel profoundly stupid.

I would have sworn that when I last reinstalled it last year, I logged in and I had the license code saved somewhere - either in my licenses folder or in a saved note. But it's not in any backup I can see of my backup folder, and it's not in opera notes, or in my abandoned evernote, or in my fastmail notes... not sure where else it might be. Probably saved somewhere on the work computer I have since returned to the company I am no longer working for...

And more stupidly I went on the sphericaltech.com site earlier this year as I suspected I would need it again and was checking whether there was a new version to upgrade/buy etc.

And now they seem to have vanished. And I should know better.

Anyway, what did spherical tracker do?

• log the address bars of all open windows, application and document name, email subject/recipient etc.
• track breaks and interruptions, calls and meetings
• allow you to review your work every day and assign activity to projects
• learn to automatically assign particular documents, folders, programs to particular clients. Allow that to be changed over time without affecting past entries.
• produce nice reports that help when building timesheets
• it had more features for companies, groups etc. but these are what mattered to me

Question 1: anyone does by any miracle know this company or people in it that could help me get my old key back and continue using it 

Otherwise considering that once in the flow of a day of work I am unable to remember to click buttons to track what I am doing, I need something like this.

I found the following:

* Qlockwork, for Outlook. Tracks all activities but shows the resulting timeline and reports within outlook. I like how the time usage shows up as a calendar (although it would be even better as a diary, imo, especially as the calendar seems to be picked up by synchronisations etc. which is undesirable). I used it less than a day and the report seems to freeze, could be because it is less than a day. But obviously if it cant do a report without a crash it is out.

* Chrometa. Modern "app" look. Seems solid enough. Far too much of a pain to use to assign things (mouse interactions sluggish and selection jumpy). Also the program window always makes it look like you have only 20 minutes active work, although the report comes out correct. I have only the desktop standalone tool, havent tried the webapp aggregation yet. Does catch break but I am getting too much time wasting around the assign-to-project phase to disqualify it.

* Timesprite. looks quite a bit like Spherical. Assign-to-client via "grouping" windows, almost a 1-right-click action. Didnt look like it at first but best option perhaps so far

* Worktime. Fancy reports by type of activity, top sites, top documents - havent quite figured out the assign-to-client angle, seems you create it by typing simple rules or by setting a general context for all you do and then changing anything that was an interruption. Manual logging of other stuff. Has frozen on me.

* open tempus - free software tool. not clear where to start

I also remember that there is a coding snack that does the logging on this very site but I am not manually doing the analysis and reports
There are also 2 web based solutions that claim to do the same, but they are pay-per-month and I am not sure I am interested in pay per month.

I want spherical back, but failing that, are there others I should consider?

PS: will go get the URLs and add them asap

236

General Software Discussion / Re: FlatPress blogging platform: flat text file stored, open source, freeware

« on: July 04, 2011, 05:55 AM »

flat files are super fast to browse - if the site doesn't change much, besides new posts, then flat files for a small site would always be way faster than anything dynamic. Might even be the case for a large site.

After all, whenever you try to do a high uptime, high volume site what is the first thing you do? turn as much as you can into flat files in a cache, so not everything is a meaty server hit...

237

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera 11.5 Released

« on: July 04, 2011, 05:39 AM »

I am having this weird thing in Opera at the moment where the "delete" from shopping cart in amazon doesnt work. Needless to say it is annoying 

238

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: WaggleImage on Bits du Jour (Nov 18 2008)

« on: July 04, 2011, 05:32 AM »

This looks tempting, organising/sorting my documents is a key need I have, and haven't fulfilled yet in spite of trying.

What concerns me a little is that it seems the documents are moved into a database, they are no longer on disk as files that can be viewed elsewhere. Is this correct?

I produce most of my documents through writing/printing to pdt/capture from web/capture from camera rather than scanning so I am wondering - are the benefits more on the scan/ocr/index side of the process or are the tag/organise/dispatch features also worth it (of course at 9.99 it is a bargain and I could try, but each software bought does demand time to learn, so I better check)

239

Living Room / Re: Have You Wanted Books You Discarded?

« on: June 26, 2011, 06:11 PM »

I left a mountain of books behind when I moved - each time - then promptly started gathering books again, just not the same.

I kept all the technical books but I must admit that I should have not bothered - they age. There's a few I would have kept anyway, because they are so good, but I have so many and I still have them, since I feel guilty to just throw them away (anyone wants java 2 books?)

I now tend to buy my technical books as ebooks, at least they dont use up space and I know I wont need more than 1% of them in 10 years....

I do miss many of the french books I left behind, but I was moving to england and what good are books you cannot share or lend with your local friends. So I kept only few books in french...

I have too many books I wont reread that I should give away, if someone wants to come dig

240

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: GameShui Launcher

« on: June 25, 2011, 01:06 PM »

doctorfrog linked to darkadia which claims to get information from http://www.giantbomb.com - although giantbomb.com has a bit of an identity problem - it has its own content, plus user generated content, but the database is theirs and might, perhaps, be made available free for non commercial projects... Which pretty much makes me wonder: why would I, a user, take time to put content in your app, perhaps even with a paying membership, and then you will keep the information in a black hole unless paid for?
Almost makes me want to restart my old DB on my old website...

-iphigenie (June 25, 2011, 10:19 AM)

They do have an API, and the content is accessible from it for non-commercial non-competing use.  But they have a paid option for subscriptions, which makes me wary of them going the way of MobyGames.

Also, I just generated an API key, and the terms of service are sort of restrictive- you can only use the data by online requests, i.e. you can't use it offline or store it for offline use.

-wraith808 (June 25, 2011, 10:43 AM)

Which kind of will pause them a headache or two - I put information on their database, about games I have, and suddenly I am not allowed to keep that information offline on my machine? what gives?

The only information they can make that kind of requirement about is, of course, the reviews and editorial they write - and fair point on that.

But information *about* the game, like requirements, size, versions, paths, patches, mods, urls etc. are public knowledge... edited by people, not editors, they might be able to protect the entire database as a whole (like other data providers, protects from someone copying the whole thing and reselling it) but subsets, individual meta data etc?

Clearly they can control the API access as they wish, obviously... but probably it's worth talking to them they possibly havent thought it through...

PS: means that sites like darkadia make 1 request per item per view each time anyone browses... cant cache... that's load...

241

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: GameShui Launcher

« on: June 25, 2011, 10:19 AM »

doctorfrog linked to darkadia which claims to get information from http://www.giantbomb.com - although giantbomb.com has a bit of an identity problem - it has its own content, plus user generated content, but the database is theirs and might, perhaps, be made available free for non commercial projects... Which pretty much makes me wonder: why would I, a user, take time to put content in your app, perhaps even with a paying membership, and then you will keep the information in a black hole unless paid for?
Almost makes me want to restart my old DB on my old website...

242

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: GameShui Launcher

« on: June 25, 2011, 03:35 AM »

I've read both threads and at first I thought.. why would you need a games launcher? I was puzzled... I am a games addict (self confessed) and dont use/want a launcher so what am I missing?

So I went in brainstorm mode and found all these good reasons for quite different kinds of launchers. Just sharing since I did the thinking and perhaps there are some nuggets of use. Note: I dont think the different needs want the same tool at all

* you play lots of esoteric, old, indie etc. games which don't all start easy and don't all play nice in the start menu (or, like me, you've been moving games folders for n generations of computers and get tired of adding them to start menus manually)

* you dont want your games in the start menu, or the desktop, it's a lot of noise/clutter (very true. I use fences to hide all the games icons out of the way)

* you have lots of games, and want to keep information -  things you might keep track of: general info (pulled from the web?), personal notes, keys reminder, where the special folders are (for example screenshot folder, saved games), any mods or extensions (although these might have their own entry, perhaps related), links to community, walkthroughs etc. For long, complex games perhaps a journal tab..

* you want other things started at the same time as certain games - say chat, voice comms, an overlay, a screenshot/screenrecorder tool, or a virtual CD loading the game CD image - or you might even want certain things to be closed/killed before you start a game (i switch my virus scanner to games mode, and sometimes I do start some of the above tools. manually)

* you remove/reinstall games a lot and want to keep stuff in between. Where you were at, what version/patchlevel/mods, what the saved games are, any notes (imagine an rpg) - does that fit in a launcher at all I am not sure, but a launcher would keep your entry when you uninstall the game, so that is a start

Now I started thinking "i dont need a launcher". I find the launchers that come with steam, impulse, raptr etc. to be annoying. I think the steam/raptr etc. tools are popular because of autodetect, but they are not very useful. For example, I only *install* in steam, on average I then start the program directly...

I muddle, I just browse, dig around, keep notes in Opera and LWA and online - and start the things from wherever I can/must... Right now I use Stardock fences and put all games there not in the start menu, minimize the fence to a small square most of the time, and drag it open when I want my games. But that is just plain old windows link launching - no features to have info, reminders, other apps launched - so I could see the value of having something nicely tuned for games...

The question then will be of trade off -  the time it takes to invest in such a tool to get it to the point where the benefits are kicking in AND the fact that any time/information put in there is stuck in that tool and would take more work to get out for reuse elsewhere (even with an export). That is a problem for any information management tool, in the end. Portability, clean exports etc. will all help

anyways, perhaps this was useful and perhaps this was noise

off on a tangent...

Going back to the autodetect, there is a lot of information about games that is both useful and global. I for example spend time figuring out what needs to be backed up so that my configs and saved games can be migrated to another computer (or sync'd). Some games nicely put savegames in clear places, others hide them in systems folders. Sometimes there are additional ones or stupid things hard coded in like paths... I bet 20% of the people who play any game will do the same... Now we have several sites online which have huge DBs of games and reviews etc. do any of them have an API? DO any of them track this kind of more practical information (where are saved games? screenshots? what are the basic keys for basic things?). Being able to check and get information, or share information back up....
in short, is there a public, open GDDB?

243

General Software Discussion / Re: When your word processor begins openly mocking you, it's time to call it a day

« on: June 21, 2011, 06:06 AM »

and for the curious here's some I found, havent checked them all yet

Xiosis Scribe
Jarte (odd concept with some clever ideas I havent seen elsewhere)
Atlantis
Scrivener windows beta

of course a few of the open source ones - and I should revisit softmaker, good point

I tried some of the "idea managers" "mind mappers" and other outliners that can export to word, because capturing reusable elements and reusing/reordering/fleshing out is a great idea... but havent found one that could do that without the mother of all  messes (i.e. you can't edit a thing once in word without the whole thing going ridiculously so messed up you might as well retype). That includes onenote up to 2007.

244

General Software Discussion / Re: When your word processor begins openly mocking you, it's time to call it a day

« on: June 21, 2011, 05:47 AM »

This is indeed my only problem with word - the formatting jumps around so much I cannot use it to write anything of substance in it. It hijacks the writing process and before you know it you spend more time cleaning up bullet lists that have gone broken for the 5th time this hour, and not writing.

Now I need more to organise my thinking than the one screen "focus" writers that exist, so am exploring a few alternatives, and it is interesting, once you start looking, how many "small business" word processors are still out there

Else i'll just reinstall Word Pro from 99

245

Living Room / Re: A rant on religiousness about OSes

« on: June 20, 2011, 06:42 AM »

Good points on Linux, when you consider the point of interaction for everyone coming to Linux is the particular Desktop Environment -- Xfce, KDE, Gnome, Unity, Enlightenment, etc. If you like one of those, you'll likely enjoy "Linux" in the broad sense. I just need a handful of icons on the desktop and about a dozen in the taskbar. Nothing more complex than one-click and I'm good to go.

-zridling (June 20, 2011, 01:33 AM)

A presentation I saw recently made the interesting point that if you put a windows user (or mac user) in front of the "big" environments, Kde, Gnome or Unity, they are not impressed. They know their way, but it is very same-ey. And often not quite as polished looking. Whereas if you show someone a customised-to-work barebones wm - with a clean desktop, transparent-ey shells, multiplexers, only a few bars and things that seem to fly on a keystroke... it is more intriguing

Finding and learning the tools is the challenge though - obviously on windows I had years and years to find the right tools one by one, and when you get to a new OS it's daunting.

246

Living Room / Re: A rant on religiousness about OSes

« on: June 20, 2011, 06:31 AM »

BTW - I've got a few notches on my belt with Litestep, which can be VERY minimal but retain quite a bit of functionality, and Liteshell is about as minimal as you can get with a desktop right-click menu and configurable hotkeys, if you need assistance, give me a shout.
Caveat: these alternative shells and their communities aren't what they once were, and Vista/7 hasn't played nice. Be careful...

-Edvard (June 19, 2011, 01:56 PM)

I havent tried any yet - being careful! - just made a list of what is available that is from 2010-2011. Ones that caught my eye wich I hadnt heard from before (ok, twas 2004 or 2005 last time i'd looked) were "Cameo" http://cameo.binarybums.com/ (portable, very intriguing), "Emerge desktop" http://emergedesktop.org/, "bblean" http://bb4win.sourceforge.net/bblean/ (attractive since I use fluxbox on Slack but there are a zillion variants none seem all that stable), "Wez’s Evil Shell" http://evildesk.wezfurlong.org/ and "SharpEnviro" http://www.sharpenviro.com/wp

247

Living Room / Re: A rant on religiousness about OSes

« on: June 19, 2011, 11:36 AM »

and since i dug the old thread from the grave, let me see what has changed.. not much (well, Solaris is gone as an option...)

In the past month I have read at least a dozen of Z sucks I am switching to Y posts in all directions, including this one http://batsov.com/Li...-on-the-desktop.html

now i will agree with most of his list of problems/pain encountered in GNU/Linux systems in the past 10 years, but I also must say that I totally remember having the same kind of problems on windows in the same time period. Driver issues, graphics issues, sound issues, hardware not working after a new version, issues around power management and suspend/restore... I have had near all the problems he lists both in gnu/linux and in windows

at the moment as a minimalist desktop person - as someone who wants an interface that gets out of the way, not in the way - I much prefer the experience I get on the gnu/linux desktop with "old" wms than I do the up-to-date gnome/unity/kde stuff OR windows 7. They all suck, as per rule #1  

I'd like a simple linux desktop/wm but with all my windows apps and tools... and am looking at alternative shells on windows to see if i can simplify it (I used to use Object Desktop suite for that on windows but they have pretty much given up on all the non eye candy tools and features so I have to find a new way to get a clean, keyboard driven interface with right click menu and no clutter...)

248

General Software Discussion / Re: web clipping

« on: June 19, 2011, 11:21 AM »

I have the same kind of problem and situation - I also use Opera and i have 3 different inconsistent things I use none of which is perfect. My main constraint is that it needs to work off a key or the web, because a key function is to be able to capture something that comes up while at work or on the road, and capture it

what i use:

- diigo. bookmarking with highlighting and snippets + can keep a cache of pages (not 100% reliable alas). Just not enough that can be done with it afterwards if you are aggregrating for writing or organising (lists, groups and slideshows, good for sharing but not for writing, imo). Has great extensions in other browsers and a more limited diigolet in Opera. Perhaps it will port its extensions to Opera

- opera notes. very simple but because it is sync'd and accessible at my.opera.com it is extremely useful for all sorts of tidbits of information and often to write/prepare for writing. The capture from opera *and* the fact that they can be used as quick paste tools mean I use them all the time... I really should see whether something can be done to access/manage opera notes on the desktop from one of the outliner tools perhaps, that could be very interesting

- local website archive - a bit clunky to capture from opera and alas can only do full page, so I use it less than I once did due the the clutter it generates. I used to use it all the time as my main tool but it kind of stayed behind in time.

So I am looking at tools too

249

Living Room / Re: Why ebooks are bad for you

« on: June 19, 2011, 10:46 AM »

Actually not quite true - I subscribe to the DIgital Concert Hall (basically all of the concerts from the Berlin Philharmonic) and that works great.

-Carol Haynes (June 19, 2011, 07:03 AM)

This sounds intriguing - will have to look it up  

Also your points on DRM I totally agree with

The natural unit for digital goods is the household, not the individual person. It needs to be possible for people to use things on multiple devices and by multiple people, and not be required to buy additional copies unless there is simultaneous use. It's pure greed to want two people in a couple to have to buy a copy of something each, and is way more incovenient and expensive than the physical original in that way. Because even with a physical book you can have multiple people reading the same book almost at the same time (the way it works here it is very possible that R would start on a book I am still reading through, while I am at work for example, or doing something else... especially when a much wanted book turns up from a SF or Fantasy series)

250

Living Room / Re: A rant on religiousness about OSes

« on: June 19, 2011, 10:41 AM »

The mac religion topic just had a revive last week