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11101

General Software Discussion / Tabbloid service lets you create your own newsletter from RSS feeds

« Last post by 40hz on November 07, 2008, 12:48 PM »

Found on: ghacks.com An interesting free service that allows you to create your own customized newsletter out of RSS newsfeeds.

Get Magazine Style RSS News Feeds Delivered To Your Inbox
Posted by Martin in Online Services 

RSS Feeds are probably the best way of receiving updates from favorite websites and services. They are however still more of a thing for the technical inclined Internet users and largely ignored by the average users. They do have a few other limitations like only being viewable in applications that support RSS News Feeds.

One option that has become popular in recent months is to create pdf documents out of RSS News Feeds which solves the accessibility problem. Tabbloid is a relatively new Internet service that can turn RSS News Feeds into pdf documents and send those news digest right to the user’s inbox.

This is done by pasting RSS News Feed urls into the form on the main Tabbloid website. The service will check the feed, display a preview of the last news items that have been posted and ask the user to accept or reject it. If the user accepts the feed it gets added to the list of feeds that will be processed.

It is possible to add multiple feeds which would then all be used to fill the pdf document. Options exist to generate the pdf right at the website or set delivery options to receive the pdf document in the inbox. The possible intervals are hourly, daily or weekly.

Link to article:
http://www.ghacks.ne...vered-to-your-inbox/


I've been experimenting with Tabbloid for a few days, and so far, it does exactly what it says it does. It might not be ideal for every newsfeed you subscribe to, so it will be a while before you can ditch your current feed reader. But for news sites that primarily do daily feature articles (BBC, NPR, etc.), it's pretty much ideal. Great for getting caught up on things when you can't boot a computer. I just have my system print out my custom 'newspaper' each morning and I'm set to go.

You can also create a one-off pdf of any feed (or feeds) if you don't want it generated on an ongoing basis. Great for those times when you just want to print-and-go.

Here's part of today's issue. What you're seeing is the first page with two articles gleaned from ArsTechnica's newsfeed.



Now I'm never caught without something to read at lunchtime; or when I'm on MetroNorth and heading into The Big Apple.

Like it!

11102

Living Room / Re: Things your kids will never know - old school tech!

« Last post by 40hz on November 07, 2008, 12:01 PM »

Anyone else remember getting high as a kid when the teacher handed out mimeographed copies of tests? I can still smell that ink. Maybe that's why I can't give up sniffing glue well into my 40s. 

-zridling (November 06, 2008, 02:06 PM)

Not to mention the buzz you'd get when your teacher was making heavy use of the old-style Magic Markers. Those were good for a headache that you could take home with you at the end of the school day. As I recall, we actually enjoyed that part.
 
I've been given to understand they've since changed the formula to something less toxic.

Speaking of school technology - how about those tubs of white paste that had the consistency of peanut butter, which got doled out in scoops of for various crap craft projects. Then along came "stickies" and "rub-ons," and those little  bits of low-tech ended the days of "paste projects."

11103

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Check the new FreewareUpdater

« Last post by 40hz on November 07, 2008, 10:51 AM »

I've been playing with it this morning. Very nice app. I especially liked the fact that links to the individual product homepages were included.

The only odd thing I noted was that Open Office, arguably the flagship open freeware project, was not listed under the Office Productivity category although Symphony was. Hmm...

I'm very impressed so far.

11104

General Software Discussion / Re: Should licensed Vista users get free upgrade to Windows 7?

« Last post by 40hz on November 06, 2008, 05:52 PM »

Licenced vista users should just install windows xp.  I just did that this weekend on my wife`s laptop and her laptop runs twice as fast and I do not need to spend another 100 bux to run it smoothly.

-kartal (November 06, 2008, 04:53 PM)

Spot on. 

11105

Living Room / Re: Old workhorse C64 breaking new barriers...

« Last post by 40hz on November 05, 2008, 02:33 PM »

http://www.c64web.com/


Specs - Ram: 64k. - CPU: MOS-Technology 8bit 6510 - Clock Speed: 1Mhz
This Web Page Is Hosted On A Commodore 64 Built In 1982

-kartal (November 05, 2008, 01:02 PM)

OMG! What an awesome find! And here I was thinking how cool it would be if I resurrected my 386-20 and loaded Wildcat BBS on it. Looks like I've been trumped before I even started.

These guys bring back memories of the old Transactor crowd that were doing all kinds of amazing stuff in assembler with C64s way back when.

Thanks kartal!

11106

Living Room / Re: Old workhorse C64 breaking new barriers...

« Last post by 40hz on November 05, 2008, 02:27 PM »

Heh. That reminded me about few thousands of SID files which I removed from my HDD recently (because of gathering the dust). Now I wish I didn't

-fenixproductions (November 05, 2008, 02:10 PM)

That's a shame. There are SID emulators that can play them. Oh well...what's gone is gone.

11107

Living Room / Re: Old workhorse C64 breaking new barriers...

« Last post by 40hz on November 05, 2008, 09:41 AM »

I still have mine, and it still kicks some serious butt with the Kawasaki Synth loaded!

The SID chip was born to do Techno. Run the output through a little studio processing to get rid of some of the hiss and add a little delay and you're right up there with the best of the neo-industrial post wave.

Also  lot less expensive than trying to hunt down vintage Korg stuff.

Thanks for the link.

11108

Living Room / Re: Apologies

« Last post by 40hz on November 05, 2008, 09:39 AM »

Carol! Awesome design. I want one.

11109

Living Room / Re: My computer is older than YOUR computer!

« Last post by 40hz on November 04, 2008, 11:02 PM »

BTW: Very good link on Classic Computing over at the Retro Thing website, Check it out:

http://www.retrothin...m/classic_computing/

 

11110

Living Room / Re: My computer is older than YOUR computer!

« Last post by 40hz on November 04, 2008, 10:53 PM »

Does anybody have one of these? I got mine as a Christmas present way back when I was a kid. It's called a Digicomp and it was sold by a terrific company (now long defunct) called Edmund Scientific.

It's not really a computer per sce. It's actually a set of mechanical flip-flops that could be programmed and initialized in various ways using little plastic programming lugs (they were one-inch pieces of drinking straw) such that some rudimentary logic circuits could be set up and played with. The most interesting part of it was the "clock" which consisted of your hand pushing a plastic plate back and forth to create the "clock cycles" that drove your "logic circuits."

One of the most intellectually satisfying things that ever happened to me was when I was able to set it up as a count-up register device - and more importantly, understood why it worked! That experience was what initially got me hooked on the whole "computer thing."

Here's what it looks like:



There's a great article on this clever little device:

http://www.eetasia.c...9495_NT_8a9f370a.HTM

I wonder if they still make toys like this anymore?

11111

General Software Discussion / Re: Why does every program crash when I try to cut a wmv file?

« Last post by 40hz on November 04, 2008, 10:14 PM »

Bravo! I'm a big fan of Super. Despite it's oddball interface and general clunky look, it handles just about everything I've ever thrown at it.

Hats off to your Dad too!

11112

Living Room / Re: Ubuntu appears to be getting slower

« Last post by 40hz on November 04, 2008, 10:08 PM »

I'm a little leery of performance claims based on benchmark testing. But I must admit that my experiences with the 8.10 Ibex release have left me disappointed with overall performance, and frustrated over several hardware issues.

The general feeling I got from 8.10 was a certain sluggishness not felt in 8.04.

Kubuntu seemed marginally better with regards to speed, but it also introduced a lot of hardware issues that were real show-stoppers for me. I think a lot of it has to do with the NVIDIA chipset on my mobo, but many of these hardware  problems weren't there when I was running the standard Ubuntu version. Jockey and KMix in particular were very problematic. Both apps would often crash without regard to whatever else I was doing.

A couple of other issues:

The Kubu Aptitude package manager seems to be a lot more cumbersome than it used to be.

DVD playback of movies is very touch and go. Totem is virtually useless since it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. MPlayer is not much better. Also - if the DVD language selection  is set to automatic, Ubuntu now defaults to Spanish even though it implies that English is the default. The only way I could get consistent playback and listenable sound levels was if I used VLC for my media player.

Sound - don't get me started on the whole PulseAudio debate. (IMHO Pulse sucks.) Suffice to say sound is a major problem for me with the Ibex (Gnome and KDE) release. Once I'm fully booted to the desktop, my speakers start emitting an obnoxious low hum (around 80hz) that sounds like a ground loop. No amount of tinkering with various system settings fixes this annoyance. This problem doesn't occur when booting up under 8.04.

Overall impression - sluggish and buggy.
                                                                          nope..nope..nope..nope..

Not even close. I think you'd be better off giving this release a month or so for the updates to catch up with the problems.

I'll be keeping 8.04 as my production environment until things get better sorted out. As things stand, I'm thinking I'll just skip Intrepid Ibex completely, and wait for the next (Juvenile Jackass?)** release.

That's the same strategy I'm using with WinXP and Vista!


** Note: Sorry. But I'm one of those people who think the whole Ubuntu naming schema is asinine. It was cute way back when it was Dapper Drake. It's gotten less and less amusing to me with each subsequent release.

11113

General Software Discussion / Re: Why does every program crash when I try to cut a wmv file?

« Last post by 40hz on November 04, 2008, 03:10 PM »

Don't know how large your file is, but you might try to convert it to something other than wmv and try to edit that.

You could always convert back to wmv once you get your clip if you need it in that format.

Luck!

11114

Living Room / Re: Apologies

« Last post by 40hz on November 04, 2008, 11:25 AM »

She's a diagnosed nymphomaniac and a dead ringer for Scarlett Johansson.  Her idea of romance is shouting 'You.  Bedroom.  Now!'  She owns a Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7) gaming rig loaded with 'educational' movies and a library of first person shooters & real time strategy games.  She's self-supporting, enjoys long walks on the beach, and is a proud 'naturist' around the house.  But...well, I guess she isn't for everybody; so, anyone else?   

-gpetrant (November 03, 2008, 07:39 AM)

I'm sure there's a 'frisky' 15-year old out there that has an appreciation of WYSIWYG type ladies (along with a natural loathing for subtlety) that could be persuaded to render 'service' in the name of a worthy cause.

Saw this guy hanging out a the beach with a bag of candy:



Pretty dapper dresser. Think he's her type? 

11115

Found Deals and Discounts / 30% price reduction on Microsoft home server

« Last post by 40hz on November 03, 2008, 02:03 PM »

Good news if you're thinking about getting a copy of Windows Home Server

This reported via the AppScout website:

Link: http://www.appscout....ce_drop_for_wind.php

Friday October 31, 2008
30 Percent Price Drop for Windows Home Server Software
What's the best way to recover from a Halloween sugar coma? A 30 percent discount on Windows Home Server software, of course.

"Beginning this Saturday, November 1, the System Builder SKU for Windows Home Server will retail at $100-110 - down from the current price range of around $150-160," Microsoft announced Friday.

The software will be available from online retailers like Amazon and Newegg.

WHS is a consumer version of Windows Server 2003 designed for homes with multiple PCs that made its debut in late 2007.

"Microsoft is reducing the price of the System Builder version of Windows Home Server to provide additional value to the system builder community and further promote the home server category," the company said.

 

11116

Living Room / Re: Help me build my new Home Theater PC

« Last post by 40hz on November 02, 2008, 12:10 PM »

Not too much to suggest other than to get the best quality RAM you can afford. Most of the really oddball problems you will encounter will ultimately be traced back to a bad stick of RAM.

I've had very good luck with the Crucial and Kingston brands. They are what I use in most of the server-build projects I'm involved with. I have never had any problems with either brand.

http://www.crucial.c...tore/drammemory.aspx

http://www.kingston.com/

 

11117

General Software Discussion / Re: Codeweavers - no good deed goes unpunished

« Last post by 40hz on November 02, 2008, 11:55 AM »

Will they offer a full support package?

-nontroppo (November 02, 2008, 07:48 AM)

Yes. The download is fully licensed, and support is available once you register your copy's serial code

Sounds to me like another person/group/entity who lies and doesn't keep their word.

The world won't miss this company.

-Deozaan (November 02, 2008, 01:24 AM)

.

I'm not sure why you felt they didn't keep their word, but OK.

We'll have to disagree on the rest of your comment. Many of us Linux users will miss them if they disappear.

This isn't really a direct economic hit of  $52,462,500 right? The financial strain is in terms of the server punishment for downloads and possibly higher support requests, but they haven't had to pay for goods sent to people.

-nontroppo (November 02, 2008, 07:48 AM)

No, you are correct. The $52M represents what an economist would call an opportunity cost, as in forfeited future revenue. I'm sure (as I stated earlier) that there were no where near 750K people that you could say with certainty would have become actual customers. But I wouldn't be surprised if they lost a very real 30-50,000 sales units over the life of this release. At $70 bucks a pop, that's still not small change.

And I shudder to think what it's going to do to their support costs since this is one of those applications that new users have a lot of questions about.

As I see it they have lots of new users who even if 5% of them upgrade when the next major version is out, then they are in a financially great position.

Agree. But the question remains what it's 5% of. Will it be in the tens or the hundreds of thousands?

Anyway, it's all over now except for the shouting and the video. I'm sure it will be talked about for a long time to come.
 

11118

General Software Discussion / Re: Codeweavers - no good deed goes unpunished

« Last post by 40hz on November 01, 2008, 04:16 PM »

I may well buy a copy to support them. Hope others do the same...

-Darwin (November 01, 2008, 04:04 PM)

I've purchased several along with upgrades over the years.

We have a small taxi company where I live. There are maybe something like five cars in their whole 'fleet'.
They have a slogan painted on the back of each cab. It says: Use us or lose us.

Truer words were never spoken.

11119

Living Room / Re: Why social networks are a threat to life as some know it

« Last post by 40hz on November 01, 2008, 04:00 PM »

I already had groupwares and some form of social networks on my web server years before any of this jib jab.  I am aware of various technologies.

-kartal (November 01, 2008, 03:15 PM)

I'm not saying you weren't.

I am just observing that if there's something that needs to be done right, you'll very often need to do it yourself.

The only other intent of my post was to share some info with the rest of forum about a nice piece of OSS. 

BTW: One person's "jib jab" is another person's woo-hoo!

11120

General Software Discussion / Codeweavers - no good deed goes unpunished

« Last post by 40hz on November 01, 2008, 03:37 PM »

Did you grab your copy of CrossOver when you had the chance last week? If you own a Mac or Linux computer, you would have been foolish not to.

Especially if you  followed this earlier post ( https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=15505.0 ) about Codweavers offering their CrossOver product line free of charge on October 28th.

The giveaway was part of Codeweavers Great American Presidential Lame Duck Challenge, which posted several political and economic 'challenges' to the Bush Administration as it was heading for its final days. If any of the challenge goals were met, Codeweavers agreed to give away fully-licensed copies of their well respected CrossOver Pro and Game applications to anyone who wanted them.

The challenges were wide ranging, and although a few of them looked reachable (gas below $2.79/gal) most were so far out (get out of Iraq) that we thought it was little more than a bit of clever marketing that poked some fun at major U.S. election issues.

(For those of you who don't know CrossOver is a product based on the Open Source WINE application that allows Windows software to be used on Macintosh and Linux computers. Pro retails for about $70 and Games will set you back $40.)

But on October 28th, the unthinkable happened when gasoline prices in the Twin Cities area dipped below $2.79 - and Codeweavers opened the floodgates! It must have felt something like the City of Atlantis felt that fateful afternoon.

The following blog entry at Codeweavers says it all:

2008.10.28 - We Came! We Saw! We Burned to the Waterline!

Well, as many of you know, we gave away our software all day on Tuesday, Oct. 28th. The giveaway, despite some technical glitches, went splendidly. For the record, we project that we gave away at least 750,000 product registrations during Oct. 28th. That's a lot of software. We're thrilled that that many people became aware of CodeWeavers. And we're thrilled that that many more people will be able to run their Windows software without Windows.

That said, yes, some of you may have noticed that our server was down during periods of the past 24 hours. In fact, it melted into a tiny little pool of slag. However, through the monumental efforts of our sysadmin, Jeremy Newman, we were able to stay afloat, and at least field an interim solution that would let people put in their requests for serial codes. Our heads are above water. And we will honor our commitments to ensure that everyone who sent in their email during the offer period receives a serial code as rapidly as possible.

Finally, given the overwhelming response to our giveaway, we have decided that it is only responsible that we wind down the Challenge. After all, it's clear in retrospect that our Challenge was responsible for the implosion of the world economy that resulted in the collapse of oil prices, that in turn led to the lowering of gasoline prices here in the U.S. Frankly, realizing the sort of clout we wield, we fear to flaunt that power. One of our goals has to do with milk prices. Who knows what might happen: we might destroy the U.S. dairy industry or something. Or crush the housing market even worse. We can't have that. And so, it is with a heavy heart that the CodeWeavers Management Team(tm) has decided to declare victory in our Challenge, and move ahead. We thank you, the people, for making it fun.

Sincerely,

Jon Parshall
COO
CodeWeavers

Codeweavers originally planned to give away software each time one of the challenges was met. But with their ranks of registered customers now standing at a reported 400% of what they were before the giveaway, financial prudence and practicalities prevailed and the Lame Duck Challenge is now officially over.

And talk about a damage report! If all 750K requested serial codes are registered, it represents a potential hit of $52,462,500 to their coffers.

I'm guessing CodeWeavers has effectively torpedoed their current product. With luck, they will survive long enough to make it to the next major release.  I'm sure that many of the people who downloaded CrossOver probably never had any intention of buying it, or possibly even using it. But within that 750,000 population, I'm sure there were also thousands of actual customers (like me!) that happily took advantage of one of the best deals to ever hit the Linux and Mac camps.

Hopefully, all that happiness will translate into gratitude; and the gratitude will translate into future business for Codeweavers.

If not, Codeweavers runs the very real chance of going the way of so many other companies that held a gun to their own heads. Still, their credit, I'm pretty sure Codeweavers was the only one that ever wound up in that position because of a dumb joke backfiring.

Only time will tell how The Presidential Lame Duck Challenge will play out. It could turn out to be one of the most brilliant pieces of contra-marketing ever seen. It could also go down as one of the most bizarre ways anybody ever came up with to kill a business. Either way, it's one for the books.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to run off and enjoy these lower gas prices ($2.69 this morning when I filled up ), content in the knowledge that Dreamweaver CS (thanks to my recently downloaded copy of CrossOver Pro) is running like a charm under Intrepid Ibex.

For some of us...Life is good!

11121

Living Room / Re: Why social networks are a threat to life as some know it

« Last post by 40hz on November 01, 2008, 01:29 PM »

I would actually pay for a social site(as long as they have a very clear protective privacy policy), I am just not interested in any of those free online services.

-kartal (November 01, 2008, 11:12 AM)

Well...you could always go and start your own.

Roll custom social networking sites with Elgg 1.0
By Mayank Sharma on September 23, 2008 (7:00:00 PM)

Elgg is an open source application for rolling out a social network. It installs like any Web-based software, but instead of a blog or a wiki, it gives you all the components of a social networking site -- your own MySpace! It's popular with educational institutes and used by several universities across the world, in addition to powering social networks of companies such as Swatch. The new Elgg 1.0, released last month, is modular in design, making it easier for developers to build social networks around the platform.

Link to full article: http://www.linux.com/feature/148188

It's licensed under GPLv2 so all you'd need is a host. Might be a fun free project if you can find somebody that has spare space on their LAMP/WAMP and some extra bandwidth for you to piggyback on. (I did a quick google and there are also Elgg-friendly hosting sites available for less than $10/mo!)

If you're into the social networking thang, why settle for just your own forum or blog?

11122

Living Room / Re: Creating backup buisness. NAS or normal hard drive?

« Last post by 40hz on November 01, 2008, 01:02 PM »

Many of them do. Most don't require you to pay anything to become a partner, although they usually want some assurance that you are going to take their partnering programs seriously. Usually that requires you to be able to send them some sort of registration document showing you can legally conduct business activities (i.e. acting as a sales representative) where you live.

In the U.S. that usually means you need a Tax Certificate - which goes by various names since these are issued by the individual State taxation authorities. In my home state of Connecticut, we use something called a Sales & Use Tax Resale Certificate.

As far as recommendations, I'd suggest you Google "remote backup" and have a look around for what might work best for you based on where you live and what they're offering.

Get copies of partnership agreements and read them carefully. Be very wary of any business opportunity that claims to "sell itself" as the saying goes. Nothing ever does. If it did, they wouldn't be needing to recruit you. And be forewarned, selling something is always a lot harder than it looks.

The only partner programs you should even consider are those that just pay a straight commission on what you sell.

Be wary of any commission schedules that have sales quotas. Usually these offer you minuscule commissions until you reach a certain sales volume. The reason the less legitimate companies do this is because they know your first sales calls are going to be to your friends and family. Those will be the easiest sales you will ever make. After that, things will get considerably harder and most people will give up. Industry statistics indicate that about 90% of the people who enter sales programs will drop out after the first year. The dodgy companies know that, so they take advantage of it by paying you as little as possible while you are hitting all the people you know for business. Basically they are exploiting you for your personal connections.

If a company offers you free training or sales materials, that's a point in their favor. But be sure to avoid anything that requires you to pay for something as a condition of getting into the program. That is almost always the mark of a "get rich quick" scam.

I'd also strongly suggest you get some legal advice before you sign anything.

To be successful in sales will require (like everything) an investment of time and effort on your part - time and effort that might be better spent in furthering your education at this stage in your life. So think things through before you make your move.

And that's my hastily written tuppence!

Best luck!

11123

General Software Discussion / Re: best compilation of programming tips ever

« Last post by 40hz on November 01, 2008, 11:40 AM »

Excellent post. I notice it contains a link to an article entitled: 21 Laws of Computer Programming

http://www.devtopics...omputer-programming/

This article has been one of the most valuable things I ever read. I keep a printout of the 21 Laws taped to the wall next to my monitor. Beneath the dry humor lurks true wisdom about technology, with implications that extend far beyond your next programming project.

Read these laws and learn them. Because like it or not, you're gonna live 'em.

11124

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

« Last post by 40hz on November 01, 2008, 11:06 AM »

Interesting article in the NY Times for those of us that support business and network users:

10 best features in Windows 7 for IT professionals
By JONATHAN HASSELL, IDG

Link:
http://www.nytimes.c...tml?pagewanted=print

I'd like to quote a few things from it, but my reading of their terms of use makes me think I'm not allowed to. Guess you'll have to follow the link if you want to read more!

11125

Living Room / Re: Why social networks are a threat to life as some know it

« Last post by 40hz on November 01, 2008, 10:55 AM »

Yeah, you can see it as a downward slope of increasing acceptance (or ignorance) of datamining in general.

-f0dder (November 01, 2008, 06:09 AM)

Seriously, is there any other way that trend could be taken? The time to take a stand on privacy is not the day after there isn't any.

I don't see kartal arguing against the whole notion of social networking. I think he/she is raising concerns about the many so-called "social" sites that are really little more than fronts for other business endeavors - endeavors which they try to camouflage as much as possible.