Topics

1

Developer's Corner / Are there any Android developers here? Wanna write a media player?

« on: September 01, 2010, 10:21 PM »

Howdy y'all, long time no see...

I would pay good money for an awesome MP3 player program for Android. There's one feature that I cannot find anywhere: song rating support. I want to be able to rate all my music using the somewhat standard one through five star rating system available on most music management programs (Media Monkey, J. River Media Center, Winamp, WMP, etc.) and some dedicated PMPs (Sandisk Sansa Fuze, most iPods (I think), the Creative Zen line, and the Archos players too (I think)).

Anyone out there have the know-how and ambition to create a killer MP3 (and other formats I guess) player app?

I would be willing to pay a somewhat large amount of money to get the ball rolling on this project, if that would help. Of course, I don't want to waste money, so I'll need to be convinced that whoever I give it to will actually deliver (or attempt to deliver) what I want.

The best media player I can find is called Meridian. It has some semblance of a star rating system already, except as far as I can tell the ratings do not sync with any other programs.

2

Found Deals and Discounts / Alibre CAD Standard for $99 ("90% off") until 8/31/09

« on: August 25, 2009, 03:46 AM »

If anyone out there is looking for a CAD software package you should check out Alibre. Full disclosure: I've never actually used the program, but it looks very good. The website has a bunch of videos if you're curious.

The $99 is technically 90% off their regular price of $999, but they have sales for $500 fairly often so this price is really more like 80% off.

[edit]
Novedge, not to be outdone, is selling it for $89! I imagine this will end on the 31st as well.
http://www.novedge.com/products/1558

3

General Software Discussion / Firefox --3.5-- Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« on: July 01, 2009, 12:08 AM »

The other "Firefox extensions topic" is long and quite old so I figured a new one is in order. But, if the powers that be decide to delete this thread that's no big deal.

Now that I'm back to using Firefox I've realized how much I enjoy tweaking my browser. Here's my list so far...

• Flashblock - I'm sure most of you know about this already, but for those who don't: it blocks flash objects and replaces them with empty boxes with a Play button. Click the Play button to display the flash object. Useful because flash stuff on webpages is often annoying. It also comes with a button that can be added to the toolbar that enables and disables the extension.
  
  
  
• Download Statusbar - Adds a small... uh... status bar to the bottom of firefox for each download. (Similar to what Chrome does, but this was released long before.)
  
  
  
• Findbar Basics - I got this because it makes "Ctrl + F" both open AND close the find bar, it has a couple other features too. - Thanks for the tip Innuendo!
  
  
• Nuke Anything Enhanced (Aardvark looks better, see posts below) - This is mostly for printing, select stuff and "nuke" it, which removes it from the web page. Now when you print you aren't wasting ink on a bunch of ads and junk.
  Before and After...
  
  
  
• Close Tab By Double Click - You can normally middle-click to close tabs in Firefox, this lets you close tabs by double clicking, just like in Directory Opus.
  

4

General Software Discussion / Windows 7 limited time upgrade discount starting tomorrow (June 26th)

« on: June 25, 2009, 04:34 PM »

Sorry, I didn't like the first version of this post, so I re-wrote it...


Microsoft has announced the prices for the various Windows 7 editions, they're keeping them at pretty much the same prices as Vista... They're also starting a promotion tomorrow that will let people order the upgrade versions for around 50% of what they will be a couple weeks from now.



Prices...
Ultimate
Upgrade Promo: not available
Upgrade: $220
Retail: $320
OEM: ?

Professional
Upgrade Promo: $100
Upgrade: $200
Retail: $300
OEM: ?

Home Premium
Upgrade Promo: $50
Upgrade: $120
Retail: $200
OEM: ?

Here's an article with more info: Computerworld: Microsoft discounts Windows 7 Home Premium to $50; deal to last two weeks

I'm weary of "upgrading" Windows from one version to another, but this deal is just about too good to pass up. If I wasn't so broke I'd grab one of these up and just plan to install XP first, then be forced do do a CLEAN install of Windows 7.

5

General Software Discussion / Some webpages are virtually illegible, kerning issue?

« on: February 07, 2009, 08:19 PM »

I've been noticing a bunch of web sites lately that have a text block that I pretty much cannot read. The text is rendered very similarly (if not exactly the same) in Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Is there some issue with the font on my computer or something? Anyone know how to fix this?

Here's a screenshot from theonion.com...

6

General Software Discussion / Google Experimental

« on: January 04, 2009, 02:32 AM »

Whoa, I happen to notice this link on the bottom of my Google search results today...

Google Experimental

Looks like Google is trying to make themselves better again. There's a few "experimental" modes you can try...

Search Wiki with sound
Do you like SearchWiki? Do you enjoy having the power to remove results from your search results pages? Now you can do so in style by having a sound effect play along with the animation whenever you remove a result.

Alternate views for search results
See results on a timeline, map, or in context of other information types. With these views, Google's technology extracts key dates, locations, measurements, and more from select search results so you can view the information in a different dimension.

Keyboard shortcuts
Navigate search results quickly and easily, minimizing use of your mouse. Current keyboard shortcuts include:

Key
Action

J
Selects the next result.

K
Selects the previous result.

O
Opens the selected result.

<Enter>
Opens the selected result.

/
Puts the cursor in the search box.

<Esc>
Removes the cursor from the search box.

Accessible View
Navigate search results quickly and easily, with just your keyboard. As you navigate, items are magnified for easier viewing. If you use a screen reader or talking browser, the relevant information is spoken automatically as you navigate.

Current keyboard shortcuts include:

Key
Action

j or DOWN
Selects the next item.

k or UP
Selects the previous item.

l or RIGHT
Moves to the next category (results, sponsored links, refinements).

h or LEFT
Moves to the previous category (results, sponsored links, refinements).

<Enter>
Opens the selected result.

/
Puts the cursor in the search box.

n
Moves to the next result, and fetches more results if necessary.

p
Moves to the previous result, reloading earlier results if necessary.

=
Magnifies current item

-
Shrinks current item

A
Switches to Accessible Search Results

W
Switches to regular Web Search Results

For now, you need to use the Firefox 3 web browser with this experiment. This note will be updated as other browsers are added. Magnification already works with Google Chrome and Apple's Safari.

I pretty much stopped looking after checking out the Timeline mode of the Alternative view for search results mode (which is in the screenshot above). I've been wanting something like this for a while!

7

Found Deals and Discounts / Parallels Workstation 2.2 (newest) for Windows and Linux for free (ends ????)

« on: January 01, 2009, 05:40 AM »

If anyone's interested Parallels is apparently giving away version 2.2 of Parallels Workstation (the latest version as far as I can tell) for free!

Go here!

I filled out the form (name, e-mail, company, and phone) and got the following email almost immediately...

Dear [Hirudin],

Thank you for your interest in Parallels Workstation 2.2!

Your permanent activation key is listed below:

PRODUCT : Parallels Workstation 2.2 for Windows & Linux

ACTIVATION KEY : 3[XXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX]

I don't know how long this will be going on, so act soon!

I found out about this on this slickdeals.net thread...

8

Developer's Corner / Efficient way to find highest common denominator? (For reducing fractions.)

« on: July 13, 2007, 09:13 AM »

I'm making some AutoHotkey scripts and need to reduce a fraction.

Can anyone help me find the most efficient way to find the highest common denominator between 2 numbers?

I figure I can do a brute force type thing where I make each number "numerator1" and "numerator2".
Take each numerator and divide it by a counter.
 - If the results for each division are integers then I'd make the results the new numerators.
 - If one of the results is not an integer then increase the counter over and over until the counter = the smaller of the numerators
But I figure there's probably a better way...

9

General Software Discussion / Perl scripting using Vista's speach recognition! Awesome!

« on: July 11, 2007, 11:43 AM »

WOW™ I didn't even know this was built into every Vista machine!

10

General Software Discussion / The GIMP/PhotoFiltre/Paint.net/etc., thoughts...

« on: June 14, 2007, 06:38 AM »

Before I begin, I used the DC search to find instances of "Gimp" in thread subject lines, none were found to my surprise.

Well, I'm swearing off PhotoShop. I hate Adobe and I hate all their programs. Not to mention the planned obsolescence (new model every year even if they've made very little changes), the insane prices, or Adobe's fondness of proprietary file formats.

I've tried The GIMP before, but I think I dismissed it pretty quickly. At the time the "FauxtoShop" interface was the first (big) nail in it's coffin for me. Well, I'm trying it again. I've made 1 whole image, and I think I'm going to start using it as my primary photo editor.

Anyone know of any other free graphics apps that are actually pretty powerful? For instance, I gave Paint.net an honest try, but it's severely lacking in features ATM.

Are any of y'all using The GIMP exclusively? Any tips for a casual user?

Here's an awesome feature that I don't think I've seen in other programs...

I wonder what other gems it's got...

11

General Software Discussion / Seadragon:AWESOME photo viewing & Photosynth:AWESOME community photo processing

« on: June 04, 2007, 01:45 PM »

This video blew my mind! I actually think Seadragon looks more useful, but Photosynth is just amazing!

Seadragon



Photosynth


Watch the whole video

By the way, I found this on Geekologie; probably a website we can all enjoy!

12

General Software Discussion / Looking to do high quality video conversion

« on: June 03, 2007, 11:46 AM »

I've done it the hard way, it sucks, but you get high quality files. I actually wrote a tutorial type thing a few years ago for a flash class I was taking. Here it is if you wanna check it out DVD to Xvid.

Are there any programs out there that will let me take DVD content, manipulate it with AVISynth, convert the audio with LAME (-alt preset standard), and spit it out as an Xvid AVI (or even better MKV?). Something that'll convert the chapters, multiple audio streams, and subtitles to MKV would be good too! Maybe even be worth spending some money on.

Right now, here's the short version of what I do to convert an episode DVD (like a season disc of The Simpsons) to AVI...
0. use AnyDVD to decrypt my DVD 1. Rip the episodes out individually with DVDShrink 2. Use DVD2AVI to create a .d2v file that AVISynth can recognize 3. Use AVISynth to manipulate the video (deinterlace, decimate, run filters, crop, whatever) 4. Then put it into VirtualDUB to convert the video to Xvid (using 2 pass VBR) 5. Somewhere in there I also extract the audio 6. convert it to a wav, or normalize it in BeeSweet 7. If I'm going to use MP3 audio; use RazerLAME to make a VBR MP3 8. Use NanDUB to mux the audio and video into an AVI 8b. I might also use some other program to create an MKV with the DVD-like features (subs, multiple audio)

It's a little hard to keep track of, and quite time consuming, but you get good videos in the end.

Just to be clear, I'm not ONLY trying to use DVD a/v as the source, I just think that it's probably the most difficult and therefor anything that can handle DVDs can probably also handle MPGs, AVIs, and yes, even FLVs. For instance, I'd like to take the MKVs that I've already made and transcode them down into 320x240 Xvid AVI files for my Zen Vision:M, and probably some WMV files for a buddy of mine with a Zune.

[edit]I removed the phrase "the easy way" from the subject of this thread[/edit]

13

General Software Discussion / Symbolic Links in Vista - Like a playlist, but for anything!

« on: May 10, 2007, 03:24 AM »

Symbolic Links are something that I just found out about, but so far I think they're awesome!

From what I can tell, they transparently link a virtual file or folder with a "real"(?) file or folder and that's about it.


A little backstory, I'll try to keep it short...
I've finally switched away from TheBat! (god that program was driving me nuts!) and have started using Thunderbird for my e-mailing. What I've done is created a TrueCrypt volume to store all my mail, call me paranoid... whatever. I mount the volume before I open Thunderbird, do my mailing as needed, close thunderbird, then unmount the TC volume. This way all my mail is encrypted while not in use and is safe from prying eyes (I don't want people reading my eBay bid confirmations and dirty joke forwards from my neighbor). But, I then realized that my profile isn't being encrypted, so my address book, account settings, and passwords were all either unencrypted, or didn't require a password to decrypt. That seemed a little dumb to me (what's the expression? Something along the lines of "don't guard the front door if the back door is open"...).

Along comes Symbolic Links to save the day:
All I gots ta do is find my profile folder (which in my case was in: C:\Users\<my account>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles), copy it to my encrypted virtual drive, then create a symbolic folder link with the same name as my profile folder and link it to the copied folder in my TC volume.
It probably took about 2 minutes once I started, and now my whole Thunderbird profile is encrypted and Thunderbird is none the wiser.

I could probably come up with at least 5 more very useful uses for these right off the top of my head (especially when combined with TrueCrypt volumes)!
What the heck, I'll give it a try:
1. Don't stop with e-mail, encrypt your Firefox profile too
2. Move your "Documents" folder off the C: drive to a flash drive, then encrypt it! Make a new "Documents" folder link in your user folder.
3. Hmmm... Use a laptop and a desktop? Link the Documents/e-mail/bookmarks of each one to the same actual files on a networked drive. No more syncing! You always access the current files/settings.
4. Instead of audio/video playlists, make huge/multiple lists of symbolic links, Winamp will think you're playing a single folder... encrypt them too! (just kidding) -- this would be great for home-made compilation CDs! Store them on your computer without taking up more room.
5. Keep one "dictionary" or "thesaurus" file across multiple programs (this would require some kind of standard dictionary format, which I doubt exists right now). No longer would you have to click "Add To Dictionary" on EVERY new program you type your last name into...

There's tons of possibilities! I must admit I actually had trouble coming up with 5 useful and unique ideas for my list though.

14

General Software Discussion / Looks like KeyPass, is named KeyPass, but is not... oops, I can't read... sorry

« on: April 17, 2007, 03:01 AM »

What gives with this:
http://fileforum.bet...KeyPass/1027267716/1

When I saw this I thought the worst. Something along the lines of: they make some program that looks like keypass, pass it off as the real maccoy, and steal all our sh*t...

Anyone have any alternate theories?

15

General Software Discussion / Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« on: April 06, 2007, 04:13 AM »

Hello all...

I ran into a person that needs a program that can flip the display in real time. It can't just be rotated, it must mirror the display, in real time too.

Long story short, sometimes they need to use the monitor normally, sometimes they need to use it through a mirror.

I see that the nVidia drivers will let you rotate the display, but it wont flip it. Also I doubt NVRotate works wit' other video card brands...


Anyway, anyone know of a program that will do this? Also, does anyone think this is within the scope of a coding snack?
Thanks!

16

Best E-mail Client / I wish I could punch the idiots that made TheBat!

« on: September 13, 2006, 07:40 AM »

Sorry to start a topic like this after not coming here for so long, but I just lost ~350 messages because aparrently TheBat! doesn't take into account the possibility that maybe, possibly, sometime ever someone's hard drive/partition will ever fill up!!!

Here's what happened, I noticed my D drive was full. I couldn't figure out why though... I hadn't received any messages saying that something couldn't be saved or anything like that... All the pictures I had saved recently seemed to work, I couldn't figure it out...

So later tonight I checked my mail. TheCrap! downloaded my new messages, but when I clicked the Inbox it said some BS about the mailbox being broken and would I like to repair it... knowing that "repairing" stuff usually means "making it worse" so I said "No". But just as a test, I clicked off the inbox then back on the inbox, and there's the message again: "would I like to fix such and such?". Realizing that from now on, I'd get that STUPID message every time I clicked the inbox; I might as well let it do whatever it is so convinced it needs to do.

Well the "repair" process took all of 2 seconds. I saw on the bottom right that ~350 messages had been repaired. I thought "great! it only took 2 seconds, it couldn't have done something completely moronic in that amount of time"... but I was wrong. My inbox is now empty. The trash can is empty. There are no new folders that I can see. They're just gone. THANKS A F@#KING LOT RITLABS!


I've been regretting buying this stupid program from the beginning... it's my own fault though; I used the full trial period without noticing all the idiot-syncricities ritlabs programmem into this POS.

For instance, when you download your mail you MUST click on at least one in order to delete anything. So, if you get 10 messages, and they all have viruses, you would HAVE to click on (AKA open) at least one virus laiden message in order to delete the rest.

Here's another, it treats the "Trash" folder the same as every other folder, including confirming every time you choose to empty it. What's wrong with this? Well, it makes it rutine to click the "OK" button the instant the confirmation dialog pops up. I'm glad I never accidently selected to empty my sent mail folder instead of the trash, because I'm sure I would have clicked the confirmation instantly just like I have hundreds of times EVERY TIME I wanted to empty my trash...

Anyway, screw TheBat! ! Screw RITLABS!

Oh yeah, I don't know what they're doing over there, but I only know of one (1) update to TheBat since I bought it about a year and a half ago...

17

Post New Requests Here / DONE: Stop mouse movement when a hotkey is pressed...

« on: April 07, 2006, 01:51 AM »

      WANTED
       FOUND
   Reward: 10Т
 Program that will
temperially disable
mouse movement
when a hotkey is
        held.

I need a lil' program that will stop mouse movement while a hot key is pressed. What I need this for is so that I can use Maomi to start the screensaver, then pick up my mouse and place it in it's charger without de-activating the screen saver.

18

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: Batch command screensaver

« on: April 03, 2006, 12:43 AM »

Has anyone heard of a screensaver that is capible of launching a bunch of commands when it starts? I bet there's something like this out there, if anyone knows of any, please let me know. (Also, I'm going to start searching the net after I post this...)

I think a screensaver (that could be selected in "Display Properties > Screen Saver") that I could use to run a few programs every time the screensaver is activated would be very useful.

The commands/programs I would enable by default would be:
1. Run CCleaner (to clear cache, recycle bin, history, etc.)
2. Lock KeePass (I want my passwords available while I'm at the computer, not while I'm not)
3. Start a "pretty" screen saver (so that it's like a normal screensaver) or maybe start a random screensaver

A couple other ideas:
- Mute the system audio (like IdleMute)
- Kill/pause various programs (like Winamp Killer)
- Maybe turn on some kind of e-mail monitor
- Maybe send IM clients into "away" mode (though I assume most do this by default anyway)

Seems like some of the commands could be as simple as running a shortcut, others might require simulated keystrokes/mouse movements.

Other possible uses:
- Run defrag program
- Start virus scan
- Disable internet activity

19

Living Room / Money Origami

« on: March 30, 2006, 09:13 AM »

Found this cool site, has instructions for folding dollar bills into various shapes (shirt, box, spider, etc.).

Check it!

Whoa, here's another one: Ri' Heah

20

Living Room / AAAaaaa!!!!! Very long post... LOST! NO!

« on: March 30, 2006, 08:23 AM »

When the weirdness happened with the other topic I decided to create a new topic, right here. I also figured out what the problem was with my post, and corrected it before submitting the new topic.

Anyway, that topic is no longer here, and I'm going to go crazy if I have to write it again!

I copied all the text to a txt file before posting it, but after it worked I deleted it. I've already started scanning my HDD for lost files, hopefully I can come up with it!

I assume in order to fix the other topic y'all (mouser maybe) had to revert to a backup or something. Did you make a backup of the current state before reverting? Please say you did!

21

Living Room / New Futurama episodes in the works, Movies too!

« on: March 27, 2006, 05:10 AM »

WOO HOO!!!

I don't know how "official" this is, but on BillyWest.com there is a post by Billy himself that they are making 26 new episodes of Futurama for TV.

And the other good news is that they're doing 26 new episodes of
''Futurama'' for TV and we're hammering out the deal now.The original
plan was to have the DVD's first but that's no longer the case.I'm totaly
jammed dude.

-the Billy West website

"They" have also announced 4 Fururama movies. I'm personally more psyched about the episodes after the huge letdown of the Family Guy movie.

... later...

I want you to know that I heard from conflicting sources about the Futurama
news.I was set straight for now that it is NOT new TV episodes but the
original plan of making a few feature-length DVD's.Don't give up yet.I had
unsubstantiated info but there is a DVD project on the way.

Billy

-Billy again

Dangit! Well, movies are good too!

22

Living Room / Do not attempt to get free stuff from freepay anymore!

« on: March 20, 2006, 03:30 AM »

Hi, as many of you probably remember I used to (late '05) have a signature line that said something like "Get a free Xbox 360!" which was a referral link to the freepay website. At the time, I had already received a free iPod from them (before they changed their name from "Gratis Internet"). I'm confident I will get a free Xbox 360 from them, but I would advise against attempting it from now on because of a couple recient changes they've made to their policies.

Here are the reasons:
1. They reciently changed their policy so that you have to complete all their requirements within 90 days. I've seen from experience that this would be nearly imposible if your friends are half as caucious with what they think is their personal information as mine are.

2. My sister was my last referral, and neither I nor my sister got credit for the offer she completed. I had this happen once when I was doing the iPod stuff. What used to have to be done is: wait 15 days (WAY too frigging long!), e-mail/send them a copy of your confirmation e-mail, then wait while they "confirmed" your order. NOW it's pretty much the same (you still have to wait 15 days, which is BS if you ask me) but there is no longer a way to e-mail them your confirmation e-mail, now you have to fax it to them!

They are actively trying to rip people off, and it REALLY pisses me off!

So, let this be a warning to anyone who may have been thinking about signing up for one of these sites: Don't start, or if you do, get all your referrals lined up before you join. Dealing with their fucking bullshit very may well take the 3 months they allow for everything. Let me re-itterate that I'm not saying that you wont get your product if you jump through their hoops, I'm only saying that they have now made it extremely difficault to complete the requirements in the time they allot. Also, if you do decide to join one of these sites, find someone deserving online and let them "refer" you, it wont change your elegibility/requirements/status, and will get them one step closer. With that said, here's my referral link... just kidding.

Sorry, but I'm going to put a few keywords below for people who may find this post whilst searching the net for information like this.
xbox360s.freepay.com sucks , ps3s.freepay.com sucks , laptops.freepay.com sucks , giftcards.freepay.com sucks , ipodnanos.freepay.com sucks , flatscreens.freepay.com sucks , gamingsystems.freepay.com sucks , handbags.freepay.com sucks , ipods.freepay.com sucks , premiumipods.freepay.com sucks , pcs.freepay.com sucks , macminis.freepay.com sucks , digitalcameras.freepay.com sucks , psps.freepay.com sucks , ipodshuffles.freepay.com sucks , ripoff , scam , didn't work , doesn't work , stole , not worth it , banana pudding , screwed , referrals , refer , free , sign up , www.freeipods.com

23

fSekrit / Is the application part of the file encrypted also?

« on: March 20, 2006, 02:47 AM »

I think I will start using this program, it sounds very cool!



I do have one question:

The application and the text are stored in one file, does that mean the application is also encrypted? The reason I ask is that I've heard it's easier to crack encryption if you already know what is encrypted.

To say it another way: If I encrypt the sentence "My password is GOD" would it be easier to decrypt if I told you the beginning of the encrypted data is "My password is "? So if some hacker person knows what the application data is when it's decrypted does that make it easier to decrypt the application + text?

24

General Software Discussion / PC Inspector:Data Recovery, Drive Imaging and Deletion, Task Scheduler, and more

« on: March 13, 2006, 06:38 AM »

I haven't used any of these programs, yet, but they are free, and could be a life saver if needed.

I've downloaded "File Recovery," "E-Maxx" (iso), and "Clone-Maxx" (iso).



Has anyone used these pieces of software? Heard anything about the company?

I like the idea of free software, but this company reminds me of Ashampoo(sp?) software, I downloaded a program or 2 from them like a year ago, and still get daily e-mail updates of the new "deals" they're offering...

[edit]Oh yeah, here's the link:
PC Inspector


_____________________________________________________

Here's another company (Lexun) who has some similar software, again I haven't tried it...

It looks like their normal website doesn't work or something, so here's the page I used to download their stuff:
Soft Pedia -> Lexun
[/edit]

25

Best E-mail Client / I lost my The Bat! license...

« on: March 12, 2006, 09:44 PM »

So, I reciently formatted and reinstalled Windows, now I can't find my license for The Bat!... I'm not even sure what I'm looking for (a file, an e-mail, serial number, etc.).

To anyone out there who owns The Bat! could you check your registration e-mail/file/other for keywords that I can search for?
(Example: if the registration info is in a file, and the file is named "thebatreg.key" I can search my comp for that file.)