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1176

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MiniReview of Linkman URL Organizer and Search Tool

« Last post by J-Mac on March 09, 2010, 01:18 AM »

Can't you just offer the correct Firefox extension as a separate download, instead of requiring a reinstallation of the whole program?

Jim

1177

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MiniReview of Linkman URL Organizer and Search Tool

« Last post by J-Mac on March 09, 2010, 12:01 AM »

Um, the Main Toolbar buttons in Firefox are a mess. Not one button but a whole slew of about 20 or more buttons. All kind of jumbled together. Hopefully this is a bug and not what you intended. I attached an image below:

[attachthumb=#1][/attachthumb]

That is my Customize... pane in Firefox 3.6 on Windows 7 HP.

Thank you.

Jim

1178

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MiniReview of Linkman URL Organizer and Search Tool

« Last post by J-Mac on March 08, 2010, 11:40 PM »

Outertech,

Will existing installations auto-update?

Thank you.

Jim

1179

Official Announcements / Re: March 2010 Discounts and Giveaway Drawing

« Last post by J-Mac on March 08, 2010, 12:06 AM »

Thanks Stephen!

BTW, I just noticed that almost all of the discounts have gone away. Of the few that are left at least one - Evernote 2.1 - hasn’t been available to purchase for a year. What happened to the discounts for apps that are no longer showing, even on the "Expired" list?

Thanks!

Jim

1180

General Software Discussion / Re: have you tried mind maps?

« Last post by J-Mac on March 07, 2010, 11:58 PM »

I suppose some of my use of digital sticky notes (Notezilla) could be considered a more freeform style of mind mapping. I consider it the external hard drive and backup system for my brain.

I can sort them in columns, rows, stack them, overlap them, sort them into folders, color code them, insert links, images, etc.

What I really like about doing it with sticky notes is that they are very easy to rearrange and I am not locked into one way of doing it.

Best part is when working on tasks, I can pull one out, isolate it, slap it right on my desktop till I finish, then either archive it or trash it, as needed. I can change the color of the note to gray & transparent to indicate it's done.

To remind me to stay on schedule, I can set an alarm on a note and even set it to open a file or application I am going to need at that moment to do that task. Those alarms really help me get things done.

-app103 (March 01, 2010, 10:53 PM)

Bingo! I have a gazillion notes and other apps that have reminders but I also find that sticky notes (also using Notezilla) are the only thing that really grab my attention.

Thanks!

Jim

1181

Living Room / Re: Amazon.com == AMAZING!

« Last post by J-Mac on March 07, 2010, 01:00 PM »

I am an Amazon prime user as well. In general I like Amazon, but you need to pay attention when buying stuff as prime user because Amazon jacks up the prices to compensate for prime shipping. At least in some instances I have experienced it.

-kartal (March 07, 2010, 11:14 AM)

I have seen items where this does seem true. Could be coincidence though I don’t believe much in them.

Another frustrating thing is when Amazon sells a product at Prime but the product requires other parts like filters, vacuum bags, steam cleaner solution, etc. and that is only sold by other vendors there with sky high shipping costs.

Thanks!

Jim

1182

General Software Discussion / Re: Logipole Konvertor change of license for existing customers

« Last post by J-Mac on March 07, 2010, 12:44 AM »

Sadly this is more common than you would suspect. Most likely their Terms and Conditions state that they can change their policies at any time and if you don’t like it, tough doo-doo. Or words to that effect. Anal jerk that I am, I usually grab a copy of all sites' T&C's and Privacy Policies and run them through Eulayzer to get a quick hint of what suspect terms are in there and I see more and more clauses like this. You know, if you read the Terms for most web sites before you sign up or make a purchase you might stop using all internet sites that require signups!! Makes you paraniod as hell.

Jim

1183

Living Room / Re: Amazon.com == AMAZING!

« Last post by J-Mac on March 07, 2010, 12:38 AM »

I love Amazon and have shopped there since the start - my first purchase there was in 1997!! Being pretty much housebound virtually all my shopping is done online, and most of it is from Amazon. Overall they have done a pretty amazing job, but they have caused me a fair share of annoyances...  One of them being their horrible search feature. I relate one such instance that for some reason caused me to boil over. I sent an email about it to Amazon but first - as I try to always do when I'm a little spun up over something - I wrote it out in a note first and then cleaned it up and smoothed it out before sending it! Here is the "first blurt! I typed before editing. Well, I did edit this a little so I guess that makes it a "second blurt"! Language is a little off so mods - please whack away at will if needed.

Jim

Amazon's Fucked-up Search Function:

I searched for "indoor thermometer" at Amazon.com. First page shows 16 items. I want to sort by "Best Rating", but I can't; Amazon insists that I first select a department before I can sort at all. So I give up right there and go to look for the item at other web sites.

Why is selecting a department a problem? Here is a breakdown of the Amazon departments that contain the 16 items on that page:

Electronics - 3
Home & Garden -    4
Home Improvement - 1
Health & Personal Care - 1
Sports & Outdoors - 1
Books    - 1
Toys & Games - 1
Automotive - 1
Office Products & Supplies - 1
Jewelry - 1
Everything Else -1

All of the above departments have indoor thermometers? Jewelry? Toys?? Apparently Amazon allows the individual vendors to select what department they want a product to appear in. Also apparent is the fact that the individual vendors don't have a fucking clue!

How many shoppers do you think look for thermometers in Jewelry? Or Books? And yes - all results were actual thermometers. Oftentimes books will show up that are about the product but in this case the page actually shows a thermometer in the Books department. What marketing genius made that decision?

Amazon - get your act together!

1184

Living Room / Re: Play Media Files on my Network House-wide?

« Last post by J-Mac on March 03, 2010, 05:27 PM »

Let me know how it works for you, J-Mac. 

-3of0 (March 03, 2010, 04:04 PM)

It is no longer available there, since Roku stopped selling it. Here's what is on the web site:

The SoundBridge M1001 is no longer available for sale through our store. However, we will continue to sell accessories and provide support via the website.

Not sure what's up.

Jim

1185

Living Room / Re: Yelp Website Accused of Extortion -- More Examples of Corrupt Review Sites

« Last post by J-Mac on March 02, 2010, 10:22 PM »

Hehehe - You have apparently never run afoul of the IRS....  Or are too young to remember a couple decades back....

At one time - not so very long ago - the IRS was said to have more legal power to seize and arrest than any other regime in modern history. Seizures of all types of property were made without warrants from any court. BTW, this is still the law, however changes - I think back around 2003 or 2004 - require notice to be given; previously none was required at all. Meaning that the IRS could show up at your house, forcibly remove you and your family, and then take possession of all your belongings - including the house itself. This was nothing you could then reverse; once seized it was no longer yours. You couldn't pony up the cash owed and get it back.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the IRS had a policy of selecting a certain number of households - even with very minor tax law infractions - and completely ruining their lives. Their reasoning was that they couldn't possibly audit and prosecute all the tax cheats; too many of them and not nearly enough IRS agents. But to make examples of families in select areas would frighten many other taxpayers into being honest. I remember a news film showing IRS agents breaking  the driver's window in an old VW Beetle - with a woman sitting in the driver's seat! - and then dragging her out, sitting her in the street, and taking the car. Part of a seizure of all her property, sans warrant. (She had locked herself in thinking they wouldn’t do that.

The IRS of the period from about 1975 through 1990 was the most feared police agency in the free world!

Jim

1186

Living Room / Re: Yelp Website Accused of Extortion -- More Examples of Corrupt Review Sites

« Last post by J-Mac on March 02, 2010, 03:36 PM »

good point Jim, and let's not forget that this is one of the oldest games in business -- to hire aggressive sales people and let them loose to see how far they can bend the rules and use questionable practices while looking the other way.

-mouser (March 02, 2010, 03:23 PM)

Plus the blog article you linked to says that they never have employees write reviews; what they DO (or did) is to appoint Ambassadors and Scouts and instruct them to write reviews. And they were paid - not sure if they still are now. Revisionist history?

Thanks!

Jim

1187

Living Room / Re: Yelp Website Accused of Extortion -- More Examples of Corrupt Review Sites

« Last post by J-Mac on March 02, 2010, 03:11 PM »

Official reply from Yelp:

Given how many spammers and scammers are out there writing fake reviews, I do have some sympathy for their claim that they need to remove reviews aggressively if they suspect the reviews are planted.

-mouser (March 02, 2010, 01:36 PM)

True to a point, but it still looks a lot like Yelp does not have a handle on their advertising sales staff. Actually if they don’t stop the "review fixing" claims made by their sales people then they are as much to blame as the "rogue" sales reps.

At least IMO.

Thanks!

Jim

1188

General Software Discussion / Re: Tabbles on BDJ on Wednesday

« Last post by J-Mac on February 27, 2010, 01:24 AM »

But I'll take a look at it and post my findings here as soon as I get a chance.  Unfortunately, it probably won't be today as it's my wife's birthday.

-wraith808 (February 27, 2010, 01:19 AM)

Well darn! I hope you know your priorities well! Show your wife a wonderful birthday!

Thanks!

Jim

1189

General Software Discussion / Re: Tabbles on BDJ on Wednesday

« Last post by J-Mac on February 27, 2010, 01:16 AM »

No problem!  I actually purchased it on Bits this time- it seems to have improved a lot from comments from the users, and changed paradigms a bit.  I'll update the review with my new findings as soon as I get a chance.

-wraith808 (February 27, 2010, 12:33 AM)

Aha - so you have seen some changes then? Maybe I need to reconsider.

Do you know whether or not it plays well with 3rd party file managers? Like Directory Opus, XYPlorer, TC, etc.?

Thanks!

Jim

1190

General Software Discussion / Re: Tabbles on BDJ on Wednesday-and Saturday Feb 27,2010

« Last post by J-Mac on February 27, 2010, 12:00 AM »

wraith, we sure are getting some mileage from your mini review! I was reading the reviews at Bits and saw the link to your review here. Thanks for trying it out and posting this - saves me the effort as it doesn’t appear that I can use this either.

Thanks!

Jim

1191

General Software Discussion / Re: Word 2007: Styles with ridiculous spacing

« Last post by J-Mac on February 26, 2010, 06:03 PM »

I tried to create an outline the other day - doesn’t work with Roman numerals. The first line gets an "I", and then it boots you out of outline format! Searching around I find out that you have to create a style for this. Bunch of BS!!

Jim

1192

Living Room / Re: Pirate vs. Paying Customer illustrated

« Last post by J-Mac on February 25, 2010, 10:44 PM »

Not so funny when you see your applications pirated.

-mrainey (February 25, 2010, 09:53 AM)

Well, though you don’t have that problem from me - and I am definitely software-poor; the money I've spent on software that is no longer even installed would feed some third-world countries! - I can say that it certainly does not help to make things as difficult as possible for your paying customers while the pirates are easily and happily able to do what they want without a bit of difficulty.

Jim

1193

Living Room / Re: Yelp Website Accused of Extortion -- More Examples of Corrupt Review Sites

« Last post by J-Mac on February 25, 2010, 09:45 PM »

Similar accusations were rampant only a few months after Yelp appeared on the web. I have seen this several times IRL; no reason to think it wouldn’t be the same in cyberspace. Philadelphia Magazine did this to a friend who had opened a small eatery in a section of Philadelphia called Olde City - a run-down area that had been "reborn" and had several new establishments opening. They contacted her and asked her to purchase a standing quarter-page ad. She couldn't yet afford that - it was very expensive. The next month's issue had a "secret reviewer" type review that said the food was terrible. Then they contacted her again and she managed to negotiate a smaller ad purchase. A month later she got a follow-up review which said the previous one must have been an off-day and it praised everything about her shop - greatest shop ever!

This is common in most large cities. Online too, I guess.

Thanks!

Jim

PS - I was going to post a link to an early article about this but it turns out that mouser's first link above is the one - Feb 2009, less than a year after Yelp launched their east coast ops and suddenly jumped out ahead of CitySearch.

1194

General Software Discussion / Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 23, 2010, 10:28 PM »

What player is installing all these codecs *into the system*? Most of the ones discussed in this thread all have *internal* codecs, but they're not being registered in the system and so they should have little or no system impact and should be gone once you uninstall the player. *Codec packs* that come with players (e.g. CCCP-Project or KLite Codec PacK) are an entirely differeny matter of course.

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (February 23, 2010, 07:18 PM)

@Oshyan: I haven't tried any of the players here so I don’t know about them. I mentioned that one reason I like VLC is that it also doesn’t do that. But in the past I have installed the "latest great thing" in the way of video - and audio - players and got stuck with a lot of codecs replaced in my system. That's why I haven't tried any of those mentioned here: I don’t know if they do that and since VLC is doing the job to my satisfaction I don’t feel the need to try the others.   

@SuperboyAC: I agree that you have done a good job with your mini-reviews! And I wasn’t saying that you should write any shootout reviews; just mentioning that they were always very helpful to me. Also I wasn’t trying to hijack the thread and I hope you didn't see it that way. I kinda though I was staying on-topic by talking about trying various alternate video players - which is in the right ballpark I believe.

@Kamel:  I hope you didn't think I was saying that. I don’t believe that I mentioned any by name other than WMP and VLC. And actually your post is extremely on topic, relating to the speed of that video player!

Thanks all!

Jim

1195

General Software Discussion / Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 23, 2010, 03:00 PM »

Unfortunately this is one of those threads where a good question is asked but I'm not certain that there is any one answer that would satisfy the needs and/or wants of all. What one user likes about a given player might be unimportant or not liked by others.

This is a perfect topic for one of those Software Review Shootouts that were once fairly common here at DC. That way a group of video players could be reviewed and all features, all pros and cons could be spelled out clearly giving users good, solid info to help them find a video player that suits their own desires. It's a shame that they are so time consuming to write. I would give it a try but I'm afraid that like most I don’t really have the time to test/try out a lot of different players and then write detailed reviews of each. Sure, personal opinions probably shade some of those reviews but they are still a great resource for our readers!

All that said, I am still using VLC for watching videos on my computer. I can't really compare it to others because I haven't really tried many others; again, I don’t have time to line up a half dozen and test them. Since Windows Media Player - which is actually a very good player otherwise - often refuses to play some videos (and audio tracks for that matter) if it reads them as files that should have a license and can't find a license to load. It has done that here on a few occasions where the file has no DRM and should be able to play freely. That makes it "player-non-grata" to me! I downloaded VLC to see if it would play those files and it worked fine without a peep. Also it doesn’t install a boatload of codecs and I like that. Some players load so many darned codecs and then I CAN'T easily remove them if I uninstall the player. In some cases they replace needed codecs and removing them screws everything up. Real bad if you are not especially versed in what codecs Windows needs and where to get them.

So I'll probably keep using VLC until it stops working for me or until something comes along that I try because it is touted as "all that" by users here. That would most likely make me give it a try.

Anyway thanks for listening!  

Jim

1196

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is it so hard to find a decent image organizer?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 22, 2010, 02:37 PM »

OK, I decided to go with IDimager Pro. I used their "competitive upgrade" offer and paid a bit less: $118.15. Still a big bite though! Dormouse, I'll give it a good try; I currently have 20,700 files in a little under 700 folders. Organization is now by category. File naming is very hit or miss - I had different ideas at different times and did a lot of batch renaming in ACDSee. I really need to overhaul how I organize my photos! From directory structure right down to a consistent and effective file naming convention. Hopefully I will be able to comprehend IDimager and get it all under control with that.

Mike, if it turns out to be an upgrade free-for-all I would most likely just chalk another $118.15 up to experience, dump this, and start looking all over again!! Zoner really does look interesting but while reading through their forums I saw a few things that gave me pause. One was that the batch processing is missing some key capabilities. Looks like there are some problems working with tags/keywords as a batch. Maybe just isolated for some but that would be a complete killer for me.

I realize that IDimager won't do anything at all for me WRT editing and effects but I'll find another app for that. I was using Paint Shop Pro X for that but I read that the latest version, X3, is loaded once again with that Protexis crap and this time the usual hack to disable/remove it isn't working. I won't buy it because of that. On the other hand, I did read somewhere that folks are complaining mightily that X3 doesn’t play well at all in Windows 7, as was the problem with X2, but that my version, PSP X, apparently is working in Windows 7. Go figure. Maybe I'll give that a try or, failing that, buy a deeply discounted X2 Ultimate copy. First have to confirm that I will be able to use that on Win7.

Thanks!

Jim

1197

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is it so hard to find a decent image organizer?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 21, 2010, 03:38 PM »

I hadn't heard of Zoner Photo Studio Pro so I'm off to download it to try out. From the screenshots it looks good so I have high hopes. I just hope I can adapt from my ACDSee ways (used every version of ACDSee since v2.xx).

-Innuendo (February 21, 2010, 03:01 PM)

I haven't used ACDSee quite that long but I think my earliest version was 7; I definitely had version 8 and then the first Pro release. I don’t like the new Pro version. They changed the UI pretty drastically. Many panes that used to close with the top-right "X" now close the entire program - you have to hit the ESC key instead. A lot of folks aren't quite remembering that and keep closing the program. Funny, but I guess not if it's happening to you several times daily! 

Zoner looks like it has a lot of similar features but since I posted earlier today I decided to take one more look at the other candidates I considered.... and maybe I shouldn’t have because now I am undecided again! IDimager looks very enticing though some features I like are only in the Pro version, which costs $139.     However I did notice that IDimager offers a "competitive upgrade" if you prove you purchased certain other apps, and ACDSee is one of them. Requires you to send them a copy of the receipt/invoice. Discount is 15% which takes the Personal version down from $69 to $58.15 and the Professional version from $139 to $118.15. Still kinda pricey but I really like that they store data in SQLite databases.

Decisions, decisions...

Jim

1198

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is it so hard to find a decent image organizer?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 21, 2010, 01:48 AM »

Sorry for "necromancing" this thread but I think my own search for a new photo organizer/manager may be over. I have been looking for one since ACDSee Photo manager 2009 refused to cooperate on Windows 7. ACD Systems has apparently decided not to comment on their flagship app's inability to play nice with Windows 7's libraries and DPI display settings other than to say:

"Although Photo Manager 2009 has met Microsoft standards for compatibility and reliability on Windows 7 and has been verified Compatible with Windows 7, we have identified usability issues that some users may encounter related to Windows 7 Libraries and high DPI display settings.

As Photo Manager 2009 was not developed for use on Windows 7, this is not a supported operating system for the product."

It appears that they don’t intend to even attempt to fix the problems and instead release the next version, as is their usual MO. Not wanting to support this kind of non-support anymore, I set out to find a photo organizer program that is compatible with Windows 7.

So I have read all the threads I could find here at DC and elsewhere, looking for a good organizer that won't cost me too many of my body parts to purchase; I am an avid home user/hobbyist and don’t need many of the features that come with the $200 - $400 price range of programs, besides not being able to afford that anyway!

Believe it or not I am going to go with Zoner Photo Studio Pro, the same one that offered discounts of 90% a couple years ago. The fact that I purchased then allows me to upgrade now at $59.99 instead of the regular price of $99.99. Not the best discount but then again my version is three major upgrades behind the latest version. The main reason I am going to use Zoner is that its UI and feature set is very similar to the versions of ACDSee that I originally fell in love with. And so far it seems to work like ACDSee did so my workflow/habits don’t need to change much at all.

If anyone is using Zoner I would be interested in any comments about it. Always good to hear from users who have work-tested a program!

Thanks!

Jim

1199

General Software Discussion / Re: Trend Micro Security - oddly like malware...

« Last post by J-Mac on February 18, 2010, 09:10 PM »

One great option in dealing with the crap is the excellent program Decrapifier. It targets all of that crapware that come preinstalled on computers & eliminates it in one fell swoop.

-Innuendo (February 18, 2010, 08:25 PM)

I have read that sometimes it removes an app or two that you didn't want removed. True? Or are there safeguards against that? I would think there are but I haven't used it so I don’t know for sure.

Thanks!

Jim

1200

Living Room / Re: Nearly caught by spam.. [or 'Saved by Thunderbird']

« Last post by J-Mac on February 18, 2010, 09:07 PM »

Yeah, I do the same but I'm not so consistent as to where I store them. Next time I need them I'm searching all over the place. Just a big pain in my arse!!

Jim