Messages

6026

General Software Discussion / Re: what kind of keyboard you use?

« on: April 20, 2006, 10:19 AM »

I prefer to say OLEDs are a future of keyboards, not *the* A tiny, but important difference I think it's a safe bet to say that regular keyboards will still be around for many years.

OLED is really cool because when the light is off, you can't even tell there's light there, so it blends in the surroundings.  Not many things use it now, but my new minidisc player uses it and it's sooo nice looking.

Could you post an URL that has pictures please?

-brotherS (April 20, 2006, 09:03 AM)

Well, yeah, that's what I meant of course.  And let's not forget how expensive this keyboard will be at first, at least a couple of hundred bucks, I'm assuming.

Here's some links to the OLED minidisc players.  I just got the orange version of this one, but this guy has great pictures:
http://forums.minidi...x.php?showtopic=9326

There's another minidisc player that comes out tomorrow in Japan that is supposedly the king of all of these new units, and it employs an OLED screen also, but much smaller than the one above.  Here's a link to that:
http://forums.minidi....php?showtopic=14814

I haven't seen any other practical applications of OLED yet.  I hear it's used as a gimmick in some alarm clocks.  There are some prototype stuff out there like a OLED monitor, a flexible OLED newspaper that can be rolled up.  So minidisc seems to be the only real useful application of it so far.

6027

Podcast Radio Show / Re: Podcast Audio Radio Show - Upcoming Show Planning

« on: April 20, 2006, 01:34 AM »

OK, i was just practicing and I think I have my "Ode to Cody" down.  It's a happy little jingle, I'll record it on my minidisc player and upload it tomorrow.  For all concerned, it's a Hammond organ instrumental.  I'll use it as an introduction and theme song to my podcast (if it becomes a periodical thing).

6028

Podcast Radio Show / Re: Podcast Audio Radio Show - Upcoming Show Planning

« on: April 19, 2006, 04:29 PM »

Hey, I just found out about this.  I'll be willing to do a periodical rant where I can kind of vent about what's wrong and right about software in general.  I can even record a song (instrumental) "Ode to Cody".  I just got a minidisc recorder, so  recording should be a cinch.

6029

General Software Discussion / Re: what kind of keyboard you use?

« on: April 19, 2006, 03:31 PM »

Since no one has mentioned it, I'd like to bring up the future of keyboards.  It uses my new favorite thing, organic LED (OLED).  OLED is really cool because when the light is off, you can't even tell there's light there, so it blends in the surroundings.  Not many things use it now, but my new minidisc player uses it and it's sooo nice looking.  Anyway, here is a keyboard that uses it, and what's great is that each key has an OLED screen on it's surface and depending on the application you're using on the computer, the keys will change to show different things.  No more need for keyboard templates, special gaming keyboards, etc.  So cool!

http://www.artlebede...m/portfolio/optimus/

6030

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« on: April 18, 2006, 01:11 AM »

nevf, that's great news also!  I will try out the new Surfulater tomorrow at work.  Powermarks, cool!  I'm also curious to see the new text editing features.  Thanks for the update.

6031

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« on: April 17, 2006, 01:17 AM »

Here's an update to a program discussed here, Mybase.  On the Mybase yahoogroup, the author has released a beta of the new version 5.0.  He has apparently rewritten the code from ground up (I think mouser was considering this for CHS), and there are a ton of new features.  I haven't experimented with it fully yet, but it also seems like he has incorporated "labels" into the program somehow.

I still like this program, even though it uses a regular tree heirarchy to organize information.  I'm curious as to how the label system works.  I wonder if it provides the option that some of us have discussed here, where the user decides if they want a regular tree heirarchy or some kind of virtual heirarchy by categories and tags.

And just to recap, let me remind you guys of the new features in v5 that I like.  It has fully indexed searches and the filter-as-you-type feature that I love.  Evernote has this as well, but I must say, the way Evernote does it is amazing--very fast and very smooth, probably the best implementation of this feature I've ever seen in any program.  But Mybase is doing it now also, so that is a huge thing.  Mybase also allows multiple databases to be open at once, like Keynote used to do.  I think Surfulater offers this also, in a slightly different way.  Anyway, just an update, glad to see this software still evolving.

6032

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: A USB device manager that makes sense

« on: April 17, 2006, 01:06 AM »

Thanks for the tip everyone, I think it was just a post out of frustration at the time.  I realize now that you have the ability to disconnect single devices.  Sorry.

6033

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: A USB device manager that makes sense

« on: April 16, 2006, 02:53 AM »

You know how there's that icon in the system tray for "Safely Remove USB device"?  And then you click on it and remove the device, but if you have more than one, it disconnects all of them?  And also, it's annoying how you see the list of devices and it looks like you can select one and just disconnect that one, but it doesn't really work that way?

So, the idea is to make a usb device manager that makes it easy to connect/disconnect the usb devices.  Maybe it already exists, but I couldn't find one.  I'd basically like to see a list of the usb devices and I could select one or many of them and click disconnect.  Also, if at all possible, maybe I could reconnect a device without having to reboot.  Does it sound reasonable?

Thanks.

6034

General Software Discussion / Re: Winamp plugins and additional useful stuff

« on: April 13, 2006, 06:30 PM »

brothers, i think I tried pacemaker once and I thought the other plugin, chronotron, did it more easily and better.  I love toaster.

6035

General Software Discussion / Re: Review of File Renamers — let's make a list

« on: April 13, 2006, 06:27 PM »

Yeah, sometimes I find myself to be a little hypocritical.  If you read my posts, you'll often see me violently opposed to all-in-one applications, and I always generalize that single-task power applications are always better than one application that tries to do everything.  That's just the nature of things.  You can't do everything well, but it's easy to do one thing really well.

So, I guess I sound like a hypocrite when I say I use my file manager as my file renamer.  But, upon closer inspection, it's not as hypocritical as it seems.  I still believe that a standalone file renamer is probably much better than what is available in DOpus or TC.  But the reason I use DOpus is because it does what I need it to do perfectly well, so I have no desire to explore or even use a separate application for it.

To answer your request, zridling, I'll describe how the renaming works in DOpus.  Once you open the window, you have all sorts of options of how to rename the file using regxp, or just search and replace, or series numbering, etc.  Basic stuff.  There's a preview pane to see the results before you commit.  It's pretty powerful, I would say I've only used about 10% of what is capable of doing.  I can't even relate to people who need something more powerful, but I acknowledge that my needs are much simpler than some other people.

The renamer for Total Commander is pretty much the same as DOpus, it seems like they are equally powerful.  I'll say this much, I thought the interface for TC was slightly easier to use and understand that DOpus.  That's about all I can say about file renaming from my experience.

6036

General Software Discussion / Re: Review of File Renamers — let's make a list

« on: April 13, 2006, 10:43 AM »

RJ, your comment is quite common in my email this week. Seems most people use other tools, viz., their file managers like Total Commander or Directory Opus to rename files on the fly. This fact of utilization will need to be noted within the review, I believe.

True.  I use Directory Opus for my renaming needs, and befor that, I used Total Commander.  I'm sure, that the standalone apps are more powerful, but since I've used it, I've never had to go beyond the ability of Dopus or TC. 

6037

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you use RSS feeds?

« on: April 07, 2006, 12:59 PM »

Perhaps the following is a good solution, and I don't know if any of the existing softwares do this:

All of the text parts of the thread will appear in the rss reader, but for any noncompatible objects (like video or pictures), you can click on the link to the thread to read it in the original webpage.  But it would be nice to get all the text at least.

6038

Living Room / Re: Why is my USB flash drive so slow on my home computer, but not at work?

« on: April 07, 2006, 11:00 AM »

Have you got any USB1 devices plugged into any of your USB2 ports? USB 1 devices can knock down all other USB 2 ports to USB 1 speeds.

If you have got USB1 devices try unplugging them and see if your USB2 devices speed up.

If not try a cheap USB2 PCI card (you can get them for a few dollars) so that you have a separate USB2 interface.

-Carol Haynes (April 07, 2006, 10:36 AM)

Actually, I have a joystick attached to one of the neighboring ports that is probably usb1.  I'll give that a shot when I go home.  I think everything else is 2.0, but I'll check.  If that's true, that really sucks...so I can't mix devices?  lame.

6039

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you use RSS feeds?

« on: April 07, 2006, 10:52 AM »

I'll admit, I don't know too much about rss feeds, but I tried using them for a while.  Here's my experience, please fill me in on the points I am not understanding.

There are a few forums I want to keep track of, so obviously rss feeds are good for that.  The thing I didn't like was that rss feeds don't actually give the whole thread or information, they just give a few lines of the whole thread.  Is this true for all rss feeds?  To get the whole feed, you still have to go to the actual website, whether that is supported inside the actual application or using your regular web browser.  Right?  So, basically, I get a taste of the thread, but I still have to go the website to read the whole thing.  That didn't do much for me.  I'd rather be able to have the complete threads from all the forums come into the application where I can read all of them in their entireity in one place.  Was it my setup that was wrong, or is this really how rss feeds work?

maybe this omea reader is the solution...

6040

Living Room / Why is my USB flash drive so slow on my home computer, but not at work?

« on: April 07, 2006, 10:02 AM »

I have a Sandisk 512 MB SUB flash drive.  On my home computer, transferring to/from it is as slow as an ox, like over 5 minutes to transfer 100 MB.  However, the same drive, when I use it at work transfers blazing fast, like 10 MB per second.  What's the deal?  All of my USB ports at home are 2.0.  And it doesn't matter where I plug it in, either the usb ports that come attached to the mother board, or the extra belkin 4-usb-port pci card that I've installed.  I don't get it.  Anyone else ever have this problem?

6041

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: BatchFTP

« on: April 06, 2006, 01:53 PM »

-- If you really want to go simple, superboy, you could always use good old fashioned start -> run -> ftp; no chmod there, either though.

-allen (April 06, 2006, 01:32 PM)

haha!  I'm simple, but not that simple!  That's funny...i do that, and I'm left with a screen that says nothing more than "ftp>".  minimalism at it's best.

6042

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: BatchFTP

« on: April 06, 2006, 12:59 PM »

Good one, patteo!  That certainly is worth thinking about.  I guess the only benefit of a dedicated ftp client is the power to do a lot ftp specific stuff.  I don't do a lot of ftping, so maybe someone else can answer, but I imagine that there's a good reason to use ftp specific software that allows you to do much more than just the typical file operations.  But, for simple users like myself, I can see webdrive as very useful.

6043

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: BatchFTP

« on: April 06, 2006, 10:29 AM »

i remember when I was in college, the very first ftp program i used was ws_ftp, it was free for people who worked at college.  Some office also had cuteftp, and I liked it at the time, but this was years ago.  I remember I felt so special when I found out about bulletproof ftp, no one was using it, and it's interface was really cool at the time.  This batchftp might be the perfect balance, like you said, especially since I don't even ftp anymore.

6044

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: BatchFTP

« on: April 06, 2006, 09:49 AM »

yeah, i tried it for a few minutes, it looked good.  If I start doing ftp again, I'll probably get a license, unless there's something better.  Bulletproof has kind of stagnated lately anyway and become a little old-fashioned.  Like the browse window when picking directories could be a little more modern, etc.

I have Dopus, and it comes with ftp features, but I've never tried it, I wonder if it's any good...

6045

Living Room / Re: hard drive resurrection [I'm desperate!]

« on: April 05, 2006, 07:36 PM »

f0dder, what do you recommend for drive analysis or repair?  Or is there no reliable way to do something like that?  I'd be interested to know.

6046

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Windows system tray clock replacement

« on: April 05, 2006, 10:26 AM »

sure!  ok, i understand now.  Yeah, I've used Whois a few times a long time ago.  thanks.

6047

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Windows system tray clock replacement

« on: April 05, 2006, 10:11 AM »

dang, brotherS!  How'd you do the detective work?  It seems like Mr. Boukyan is running some sort of scam.  (Boukyan also sounds a little like an Armenian name...he's giving us a bad name!)

6048

Living Room / Re: hard drive resurrection [I'm desperate!]

« on: April 05, 2006, 10:04 AM »

SpinRite... fancy ascii graphics and a lot of buzzwords. And that's about it.

-f0dder (April 05, 2006, 04:40 AM)

Whoa!  I've always heard good things about SpinRite.  f0dder, what do you recommend instead of spinrite, the HDD Life, or something else?  Or maybe you feel none of these softwares are all that great, I'd be interested to know.

6049

Living Room / Re: Keeping track of software license/serial keys

« on: April 05, 2006, 09:55 AM »

superboyac,
But as I have said elsewhere, the number of notetaking applications is approaching astronomical.  What are you going to do when your current favourite is superceded?  It probably won't be easy to convert from one format to another.

-rjbull (April 05, 2006, 09:23 AM)

True, true.  I've thought about that.  Here's what I'm thinking, if ever I need to transfer my notes elsewhere, most of these notetaking programs have SOME kind of export feature.  Now, they may not be that helpful in the sense that it can go directly from program to program, but I'm hoping that once  the notes are exported, they can be processed somehow with a little bit of work to be imported into whatever the new program I have chosen.  Yeah, it's a pain, but that's how I prefer it right now.

Keepass looks cool, I need to check it out.

6050

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Windows system tray clock replacement

« on: April 05, 2006, 01:31 AM »

Ah!  Thanks!  I knew there was something weird about the whole thing.  That's just wrong, some guy makes a good piece of software for free, and the thief wants $30 for the same thing, which is totally overpriced for just a clock replacement.