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Messages - Hirudin [ switch to compact view ]

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376
I've often wondered why the alpha transparancy isn't used more on web pages (actually, I don't know if I've ever seen it used). Seems like a nice transparrent logo in the bottom right of the screen (like TV networks do) might be pretty cool.

Do variably transparant .PNGs work in Firefox?

377
General Software Discussion / Re: Media Purveyor
« on: April 11, 2006, 04:18 AM »
Sounds pretty cool! Have you used this Zero3K?

378
Find And Run Robot / Re: Mayk or Find And Run Robot?
« on: April 10, 2006, 06:50 AM »
I'm sure it's a great program, but FR+R works better for me.  The reason I use it, as opposed to a tray launcher or something, is simple: I can't be bothered to "configure" everything.  I want to type and have it magically know what I'm talking about.

:) ... I gotta start using FARR! Sounds just like me, I like the idea of customization, but I'm too durn lazy to actually do it. Especially with the number of format+reinstalls I do.

379
That article was a very good read!



Makes my ramblings seem almost coheirent.

380
Here is why I would use allofmp3.com instead of a P2P network: they have better and more uniform quality. By that I mean, when I download an album from them it's named correctly, it's all the same bitrate, all the same volume, all the same rip (2 songs with the same title but from different albums may not be the same), etc. it's not a compilation of random rips some kid put together in a half hour.

It's also more convienient; if I find an album I might want, but I don't want to download at that time, it'll be there tomorrow. The download speeds are going to be the same next week, and I don't have to worry about them disconnecting in the middle of a transfer. It's also guaranteed to be free from viruses (and DRM, which in my opinion may be worse). The prices are also very good, they don't think they deserve more money to give me less, just because I don't want to get out of my chair.


Personally, I don't view downloading music from P2P networks (or allofmp3.com) as stealing from the artists, I view it as stealing from the record companies. Now, I'm not an expert, and I'd like to be proven wrong, but the record companies are evil. The record companies deserve to be ripped off, as often and as ruthlessly as possible.

Artists supposidly receive ~3% of the money from a CD sale (and that's if you have a good contract!). How much is that? Maybe about 25¢. Yes, artists receive less than the cost of a postage stamp for that $17 "worth" of music you just downloaded. There's a very famous story where the members of the group TLC were bankrupt at the same time that their song was #1. At the time CDs were introduced a cassette tape would cost about $10, a record would cost about $8, and a CD would cost about $16. Did the royalties paid to the artists reflect the different prices? NO, the royalties paid was the same, no matter what media the audio was on. The record companies don't have a problem ripping their artists off, and I don't have a problem ripping them off.

Back when CDs were introduced there was a buy-back program between record companies and record stores. If a record didn't sell, the store could send it back and get a refund (I don't know if it was a 100% refund or not, but I doubt it). Now there is no such pollicy. Stores are stuck with the very expensive CDs that don't sell, even though the actual disc is SUPPOSIDLY only a medium to hold the intelectual property, which is supposidly what they are charging so much for. The record companies don't mind ripping off record stores, and I don't mind ripping them off.

Long ago, when compact discs were a new technology there was a very high failure rate with the discs. I don't know the numbers, but I wouldn't be surprised if 1 of every 3 discs was bad. Over the years the technology has steadily advanced, and today the failure rate is next to nothing. Did the price of the discs steadily decrease? NO, in fact it steadily INCREASED. Yes, that's right, it cost less and less to produce a CD and they were charging more and more (until reciently, which to me is too little too late). They don't have a problem ripping ME off, and I don't have a problem ripping THEM off.

Sincierly,
"I would not break if I saw a record company crossing the street" Hirudin

i think i will fire off a few emails to the artists that are available to download by the service and see what their views are (hopefully some spokesperson will reply from the labels). that's about the only way i'll put my conscience to rest on this matter.
I hope you get a candid response from one of the artists you e-mail. But you may have noticed that most artists are surprisingly quiet about the issue, and I bet it's because they are contractually obligated to refrain from endorsing music piracy. So I would be very surprised if you get anything other than "we're against it" responses.
I can give you one testimonial from an actual recording artist, Immortal Technique, from his song "Obnoxious":
Immortal Technique;
I made this ta' bump in your ride.
Or burn it off the internet;
And bump it outside.
-I.M.
Warning, the rest of the lyrics of this song are particulerly... obnoxious. Read at your own risk.

381
The problem is that AllofMP3 operates under a different set of rules (Russian copyright law) than the rest of the companies. The service has been around for years and has many loyal users; however, its continued existence is in question. Some people have ethical concerns with using the service since no money makes its way back to the artists or labels.
-TechCrunch

More AllofMP3 discussion

382
emusic ... ' ... s ... music:cr*p ratio is ... high compared to the others ...
One point for allofmp3 is that you can hear COMPLETE tracks before you buy - a seriously good thing.

Yeah, that's sadly true. And without being able to hear the whole track, it's sometimes hard to filter the good from the bad.

I'm personally into getting whole albums, I don't judge an artist by individual songs as much as whole albums. I'd say I get 1 good album a month for my $10, the other ~2 albums are usually decient but with a few bad tracks.

383
General Software Discussion / Re: what kind of keyboard you use?
« on: April 08, 2006, 08:55 AM »
Need illuminated keys? Prolly nobody. I'm not a gamer, but I like them flashy lights! My monitor has a little light behind the power button too, even though it's probably not necessary. It just looks better and is easier to see.

384
First let me say: don't get me started on iTunes.

Nice article, short and to the point. I definately agree, AllOfMP3.com is the best. Cheapest and most compatible, if they have what you want, why would you get it anywhere else?

I'm disipointed that they opted to leave emusic out of the running. To me, it's the second best, for a few very simple reasons:
1. They sell .MP3s (not .WMAs, .AACs, .M4As, .MPAs(?), or any other wanna-be, DRM infested, .BS3 file format). And remember; MP3s are "iPod compatible" (and also EVERYTHING ELSE compatible). Sure, under a microscope, or stethescope as it were, their audio quality may not be as good as the newer formats, but I've yet to meet someone who both clames they can tell, and clames they care. Also, emusic uses the LAME "alt preset standard" VBR format for their compression, which many agree is the best.

2. They don't think getting LESS in a more convienient venue should cost MORE! Lets see, average CD: 17 tracks. Download technically inferior quality music, no disc, no cover art, no liner notes, no case jacket, no extras, nothing to put on your shelf, and very little overhead for the distributer: $17. Buy the CD at BestBuy (who has tons of overhead): $12... emusic's lowest price subscription comes out to $0.25 per song. Or if a marketing dude gets a-hold of it "4 songs for the price of 1."

3. They'll give you something like 40 or 50 free downloads just for checking them out. I bet the other services have a trial period too, but it's probably not as good. If you'd like to check out emusic, send me a message and I'll send you a referral link. (Or e-mail me at MY SCREENNAME@earthlink.net - make the subject something like: "emusic referral")
Note: Using my link doesn't get you anything special, BUT it does give me 50 free downloads if you stay.
I bet the other services don't give you free stuff if you refer other people.

4. If you're like me; you like underground rap and emusic probably has the BEST sellection. I don't think 50 Cent is on there, but Copywrite and Jedi Mind Tricks are.

Did I mention that I hate iPods and that I REALLY hate iTunes? Here's why: it's propriatary bullshit! OK, you buy an iPod (because you don't care that they are expensive and brake constantly). Now you want some music for it. But where to get it? Nobody sells MP3s anymore (except emusic and allofmp3), so you're forced to use iTunes. You buy some music from iTunes at their outragious prices and you're happy. Oops, you dropped your iPod, well shucks, there goes $300! Maybe an HDD audio player isn't the right way to go! Lets check the market for players that will play your expensive iTunes music... oh, only iPods play iTunes .BS3s. Now make a choice, buy one of the 6 new models of iPod that have been released in the last 3 weeks, or throw your financial investment in iTunes music in the toilet....
As a mere audio player, they're ok, as long as you don't want the now standard features like audio recorder, replacable batteries, and FM tuner that are available on almost every other .MP3 audio player on the market, and you don't plan to use 6 of the biggest online audio distributers. Oh, and as long as you don't mind it loosing it's sexy shinnyness at the lightest touch. Compressed digital audio was suppose to SOLVE our scratch problems, not create new ones.

So, what do I think is a good portable audio player? I like my SanDisc m250! 2 gigs of space, takes 1 AAA battery (for ~19 hours of use), is small enough, shows up as removable storage when plugged into a windows computer (which means you can take music OFF the player if you chose to), and is about $120.

(edited to get iTunes rant out of numbered list)

385
Living Room / Re: More secure passwords... New/Old thoughts
« on: April 08, 2006, 06:47 AM »
Heck yeah, coming up with a wacky password that you can actually remember is half the battle... GI JOE!!!!

Something I have done for passwords is turn a normal word, say... "Live" and rotate it 180* to "a^!7" (no, I don't use that password for anything)

Works well. I can even write the original word on a piece of paper and leave it right next to my computer. It would take a very clever person to figure it out.

386
I'm sure most of you have already seen this, but if you haven't; do yourself a favor and check out the Honda Cog comercial. I'ts amazing.



Long story short: it's a 2 minutes long real Rube Goldberg using a bunch of honda car/parts to release a banner. It took 606 'takes' to make it right!

ebaums world link
ebaums world flash file (because their video window is so small)
And an article about the comercial

388
Living Room / Re: Firm pitches $2,800 64GB USB Flash disk
« on: April 07, 2006, 06:49 AM »
Good lord!

I'd be afraid to leave my house with it!

Luckly it looks like it would be the perfect size: just small enough to fit in my tightly clenched fist, what better way to NEVER loose it....

389
General Software Discussion / Re: what kind of keyboard you use?
« on: April 07, 2006, 06:14 AM »
The G15 has the blue glowing letters too...

The screen is what really sets this one apart though. There is already a large home-brew coding community behind it too. Check out the G15 Forums.

PS, this may be of particular interest to brotherS

390
Here's another one:

Maybe some kind of donation matching system. Mouser or a moderator could propose a project that needs to be done and what percentage of donationcredits DC is willing to "match" (maybe something like 20%). Then as people donate, DonationCoder throws in 20% to sweeten the pot.

391
Here's an idea: not ground shattering mind you, but it would be nice.

Have an easy way to donate to everyone who has partisipated in a topic. It would be like the "search for a specific user" feature, but would list all the members that posted at once. Then you could go down the list and give as you see fit.

392
Wow cool! Capitalism works!

Skrommel, BlockInput worked perfectly! Thank you!

As you didn't describe what it was supposed to do, i did my best to comply to your needs, since there is no way to exclusivelly block the mouse in AHK (one can only block all the input, both mouse and keyboard, like skrommel proposed).
-jgpaiva
Yeah, I realised that I haden't described my needs in the first post after I tried stopmouse...

I figure for this one, you both get the reward.

noth(a)nk.you, I think this might be something I'll use too...

DONATIONCREDITS for everyone!

393
Try StopMouse.ahk (or StopMouse.exe). It uses the f8 hotkey to toggle mouse movement and right and left click.

Thanks! But it actually isn't working exactly like I need it to. The curser kindof pulsates around where it's frozen.

394
      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.

395
Living Room / Re: Money Origami
« on: April 06, 2006, 03:37 AM »
Yeah, I found the second url shortly after the first. I figured it would be too obvious if I made a new topic for it.

396
I personally like the 101$0010$11010$10$110. I see the 'binary' pattern so many different places I tune it out. The dollar signs aren't immediately aparrent to me.

To me, a good logo can't have a standard font in it. The letters have to look more like they were sculpted than made with cookie cutters.
...
I guess the only letters that actually repeat are "o" and "n," so it probably wouldn't be too hard to 'tweek' those letters for the final version.

Just my two cents...

397
How does everyone feel about donationcredit rewards?

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


Personally, I'm for it!

By the way, to get it started, the above is real. Click here to discuss further.

398
Should we add jGpaiva to this test? (Programming language inventer or serial killer?)

399
Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Batch command screensaver
« on: April 03, 2006, 09:28 AM »
Welp, I've been messing with this for a while now. I can create the exe easy enough with AHK, and renaming it to ahk.scr is fine, manually running the scr file works fine, but once I select it in the display properties it activates(?). I mean, I select it in the list and it starts... I never hit "OK" or "Apply" or "Preview." It has a mind of it's own.

400
Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Batch command screensaver
« on: April 03, 2006, 07:41 AM »
Yeah, that's a good idea!
brotherS, I'll see if I can get an AHK script put together that does the couple things I want (doesn't seem like it should be too hard). Then do like you say, jgpaiva, and rename the exe to an scr.

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