Recent Posts

1351

General Software Discussion / Re: e-readers -- not quite the death of paper

« Last post by Dormouse on January 06, 2010, 06:33 PM »

I don't think the Sony in the picture is the Touch, is it?

I agree that he really doesn't seem to have done his research. The Touch has a fair number of advantages, but contrast is not one of them - it is (slightly?) less good than many ebooks (including the other Sonys)  because of the extra coating the screen needs to make Touch work, so, if he needs better contrast, he should try a different reader.

How much you can read on a page really depends on your eyesight as well as the image; if your eyesight is really good close up, then you can read quite a lot on one of these. PDFs are a known problem area, but there shouldn't be any difficulty in changing the properties of a PDF (even if you do it by printing it into a PDF virtual printer).

1352

Site/Forum Features / Re: Should we experiment with google ads on the site for 1 month?

« Last post by Dormouse on January 04, 2010, 07:59 AM »

Google ads don't bother me per se, but I do always think it amusing when they are advertising a direct competitor to a website's product; having them certainly says something not so hot about a site's status.

About the shop. I can go along completely with what Mouser and Carol said. It seems to me that having a basic range, and a super extra-good price range can simply enhance the perceived value of the prize range as there is greater general attention to the products. Might also increase site visibility a little.

1353

General Software Discussion / Re: Quasi Post-It note utility?

« Last post by Dormouse on December 31, 2009, 09:29 AM »

Both Stickies and NoteZilla work well and do what they say; both can be used as portable progs. Both have pretty responsive developers, so you can always approach them with suggestions. It's just a question of checking which you prefer, whether Notezilla is worth the cost if you do prefer it.

1354

General Software Discussion / Re: Search with Bing

« Last post by Dormouse on December 30, 2009, 02:10 PM »

Google seems to find very recent comments when I use it. There might be a question about how the search is done.

1355

Living Room / Re: Has SEO ruined the web?

« Last post by Dormouse on December 30, 2009, 02:01 PM »

it may not just be SEO, but I'm using that word to represent all the things related to artificially promoting things so that they show up in web searches.

-superboyac (December 30, 2009, 01:44 PM)

It's just normal human behaviour I'm afraid. People trying to take advantage of the situation to increase their personal profit, even if it is to someone else's disadvantage. That it what some advertising is all about too. If it fouls net search up completely, then people will stop using it and everyone will lose. Just using Google as an example, their problem is to deliver Searches that find what people are looking for, while still pulling in the advertising dollars. They know that there is only a certain number of ad related stuff people will find acceptable and try to stay within that limit and do their best to get rid of all the artificial SEO stuff as much as they can (after all, they make no money at all from this distortion). Targetting search results and ads on the basis of search histories is one idea of fine tuning this - giving people ads they might be interested in with the search results they want and still giving advertisers value (ie the ads going to people who might be interested in them) - but it does raise all the privacy issues that irritate a number of very vocal protestors.

Apart from different strategies like that, it will be a continual fight between the black masters of SEO and the Search Engines trying to stop them distorting their results.

1356

General Review Discussion / Re: Free PDF tools review?

« Last post by Dormouse on December 30, 2009, 12:18 PM »

2grapeshot
I may have bad impression from your post but I doubt your "IT guys" bought licences for it. So I advise to replace this viewer with something free for commercial use…

-fenixproductions (December 30, 2009, 11:27 AM)

I thought that doPDF and PDF-Xchange Viewer were both free for commercial use.

1357

General Software Discussion / Re: Must-have Windows Programs

« Last post by Dormouse on December 29, 2009, 09:16 PM »

Curt: just use windows' built-in "safely remove" feature,

-f0dder (December 29, 2009, 06:07 PM)

Whilst that certainly works, it is so much less convenient and functional than the extra app in question

1358

General Software Discussion / Re: Must-have Windows Programs

« Last post by Dormouse on December 29, 2009, 05:55 PM »

You get away with it for 95%, or even 99%, of the time, so it is easy to think that a safe removal is an unnecessary inconvenience. But sooner or later it will get you unless you are VERY VERY LUCKY.

USB Safely Remove does seem to have lots of free offers (usually for a limited period of use) and discounts. I started off with a free period, but then paid up when a decent discount came round. I would have felt bad not to have paid for something I found so useful and which is so reasonably priced even without a discount.

1359

General Software Discussion / Re: Must-have Windows Programs

« Last post by Dormouse on December 29, 2009, 05:28 PM »

Programs can be in the middle of writing to the stick. If they are, then the info on the stick can be corrupted.

1360

General Software Discussion / Re: Must-have Windows Programs

« Last post by Dormouse on December 29, 2009, 04:02 PM »

I have some difficulty with the concept of a 'must have' prog since I nearly always two or more alternatives in every genre of software I use.

USB Safely Remove is one I always use and would miss. I haven't seen an alternative that I would use instead. Works simply, saves me time.

Most of my digital music is from CDs that I have ripped, but I haven't bought that many since I started to use Spotify. I know most readers won't be able to access it and invites to the free version are also less available than they were, but I'm sure that will change in the near future. For me, it works better than the alternative streamers I have tried. I don't know if this sort of service is the future of music, but there's a lot more development possible, and it is much better than the previous options. The big risk is the music I like disappearing - but then what disappears can only be what I didn't have in the first place. I don't have quite so much control or searchability as on my own music - but then I have a lot more music I can try. I use Spider for music I have as mp3s or flacs and do listen to internet radio too when I'm in the mood to hear the unexpected. I also use Replay Music as a way of time shifting streams or getting details of what was played (when I don't want to interrupt what I'm doing to look), but most of the time now I just listen via Spotify.

I also use TrueCrypt and Hashcalc fairly constantly too. And Lastpass and RoboForm.

I still use Calimanjaro for my calendar - mostly because of its 1year + year planner. I do not understand why digital calendar programs mostly can't show their data in a year or 2 year view; how can you plan if you can't see over that sort of period?
Out of the vast number of text editors/word processor/note making programs I have (or have tried), I use TreeDBnotes virtually all the time for writing and note keeping. I also use AbstractSpoon's ToDoList2 as my main ToDoList; and ListPro as my main instant list (frequently shopping list) type prog - partly because it syncs so well with my mobile phone.

1361

General Software Discussion / Re: Must-have Windows Programs

« Last post by Dormouse on December 29, 2009, 07:49 AM »

I've never understood all the references to the desktop, desktop icons and programs to manage them.
I practically never see my desktop; even on startup, autostarting progs cover it up.
Makes me feel that my usage must be very different to other people's.

1362

General Software Discussion / Re: Evernote alternative that has an online interface?

« Last post by Dormouse on December 28, 2009, 09:40 PM »

I think that if I didn't have Evernote, I would probably try setting up a clipper, with the database kept in a folder that was syncd to the net (such as Dropbox). I use Clipmate and Snagit extensively and I'm pretty sure I could get a system like that working well. What wouldn't be quite so convenient would be that atm my use of Evernote is on the basis that I know that everything in it will be saved to the net. I don't want everything I use Clipmate or Snagit for saved to the net and wouldn't want to change the settings to stop it. Could probably set up another clipper (eg Ditto), just for that use though.

Better controls for clipping; not so good controls for making notes.

1363

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TeraCopy Pro only $11 (50% off at BDJ)

« Last post by Dormouse on December 28, 2009, 05:05 PM »

The comments on the BdJ site.

1364

General Software Discussion / Re: Evernote alternative that has an online interface?

« Last post by Dormouse on December 28, 2009, 05:05 PM »

"What is precisely being looked for" is in the first post. OP doesn't want to use Evernote, for whatever reason, and asked for an alternative that allows web clipping and is available "on the web". While UR isn't available as a web app it can be viewed on other computers via Dropbox.

That's all; just an alternative. Pretty clear what was asked IMO.

-J-Mac (December 28, 2009, 01:41 PM)

Well, I can't see that's really correct.

The second post by the OP added the need for a desktop client; and the third post added the need for compatibility with Opera/Chrome. The second post also said that there was no need for all the features of Evernote, so long as there was clipping and note-taking.

Seems to me that Evernote actually meets this combination of needs better than most of the suggested alternatives (the ones I know anyway), which leaves me with the question of what precisely is being looked for. I'm assuming that there is a problem with Evernote, but, given the set of posted requirements, it seems easier to see what is wrong with the alternatives.

I certainly see most of Snail02's POV. I too use Opera, with Chrome as my preferred backup. I too have tried FF and find it just does not work for me, though I can see the attraction of the extensions. I also enjoy having access to some info over the web, but also having everything available through desktop clients and local storage. For me, EN does OK for this, so I wonder what the problem is for Snail02.

1365

General Software Discussion / Re: Evernote alternative that has an online interface?

« Last post by Dormouse on December 28, 2009, 11:32 AM »

I didn't know EPIM had a webclipper now.

Skydrive does give a lot of space. Surprised you'd consider it if you dislike .Net.

I have a lot of progs that run on .Net, so it makes little difference to me if something requires it.

1366

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TeraCopy Pro only $11 (50% off at BDJ)

« Last post by Dormouse on December 28, 2009, 11:01 AM »

The one thing that strikes me about it is that the tone of the comments seems pretty negative. Put me off last time it was there too.

1367

General Software Discussion / Re: Evernote alternative that has an online interface?

« Last post by Dormouse on December 28, 2009, 09:00 AM »

I've read and reread the thread, and I'm not really clear what precisely is being looked for (or why).

I mostly use Opera. Evernote works very well with it.

I also use Ultra Recall . It does seem to work fine with Dropbox (and other similar services). But, I prefer to use it for structured info - so I would never think of it as a program for clipping notes from web pages, although it does do this, unless the clipping is to do with specific projects.

I tend to use Evernote for unstructured info - or stuff where I'm still to decide on how to organise it - and for stuff I want OCRd (eg text on the web as an image rather than text). It does it pretty well. It's not obvious to me that I would achieve the same with a Ultra Recall and Dropbox combo.

1368

Living Room / Re: 74% of the world, Google's Chrome OS is not for you

« Last post by Dormouse on December 03, 2009, 12:02 PM »

I can't imagine myself ever having an OS that relies on the net for most uses.
That doesn't mean I see the need to have any concern about the existence of one that does.
I can see a fair number of users that it would suit very well, and an even bigger number of users who might be suited by one some of the time.
There's always the option of having more than one OS on a machine and different OSs on different machines.
This one seems very targeted at netbooks, and I really don't see why there should be a problem with a netbook which requires access to the net for most of its functionality.

1369

General Software Discussion / Re: Drupal is f*cked

« Last post by Dormouse on December 03, 2009, 11:49 AM »

today i'm back to loathing drupal.. there is a lot good about it but there is so much bad, sometimes its unbearable.

-mouser (December 03, 2009, 11:28 AM)

I've never loathed Drupal.
I've never chosen to use it. 

1370

Living Room / Re: Open Source Proves Elusive as a Business Model

« Last post by Dormouse on December 01, 2009, 06:09 PM »

Most coders get into FOSS in order to do what they love on something they care about. And many are professionals who want to avoid the whole code review and approval process they live with at work. Unfortunately, one big side effect of going that route is that the code tends to get a little sloppy and exhibit some sprawl.

The same goes for the relative absence of quality documentation. Most coders HATE to write documentation - and FOSS projects are dominated by coders. So if serious documentation does get written, it's often because somebody (usually a satisfied user with a technical writing background) nominated themselves to do it and put the time in.

-40hz (December 01, 2009, 04:13 PM)

I think there are a lot of issues in this topic, but the freedom of coders in FOSS (especially their own projects is one of them). Firstly, it's what provides the incentive for them to do it in the first place. But, secondly, as 40hz says, it gives the freedom not to do lots of things that have to be done on successful commercial projects: review, quality control, internal documentation, user documentation, making the product easy to use, making it pretty, support, website maintenance, responding to user requests, sustaining a long-term approach to marketing and developing the product.

Many developers are good at some of these, but very few at all. Users are mostly looking for a mostly complete package with maybe only a few areas of significant weakness. That is true for free as well as commercial products, but it is mostly the commercial entities that enforce a discipline to try to do the lot.

By and large coders take inspiration from within themselves (and seem to just want to code). The people who are just wanting to make money take inspiration from those who might pay them the money (and try to give them what they want and will pay most for, at least cost to themselves).

If you want to make enough money to live off from donations, you do have to take a commercial perspective in terms of giving customers what they want. And that is on top of having a good idea and implementing it well. And shareware authors are (nearly?) as likely not to do all the above as freeware authors.

One other thing I would mention. People like to know what the price/donation should be. They also like a discount. Trying to decide how much to donate, even if they're able to come to the point of deciding that they want to, is just too much; no-one wants to seem a skinflint, but no-one wants to overpay either.

I have vast amounts of free software. Most of it I never use, or use extremely rarely. I'm more likely to persist with software I have paid for (or donated to) and less likely to chase around all the alternatives (though there's a fair bit of commercial software I don't use as much as I expected too) - and this initial commitment is as important to freeware as it is to commercial.

1371

Living Room / Re: 74% of the world, Google's Chrome OS is not for you

« Last post by Dormouse on December 01, 2009, 02:52 PM »

Sounds better than a cheap computer they could really use but is useless because Chrome OS is on it and they have no internet.

-app103 (December 01, 2009, 02:30 PM)

I don't understand the problem with Chrome. It's easy enough to dual boot Linux/Chrome or just install Linux, if that's what is needed.
Chrome's current plan/incarnation is designed for a particular usage. So what?

1372

General Software Discussion / Re: ghacks christmas 2009 giveaways

« Last post by Dormouse on December 01, 2009, 02:01 PM »

Actually it's not a real giveaway, it's a kind of lottery:

We have ten Winzip 14 Pro licenses for you. If you want to win one of the licenses reply to this thread and let us know why you’d like to win the license.

-yksyks (December 01, 2009, 05:09 AM)

It's neither a lottery (everyone in the pot, winner(s) chosen by lot) nor a giveaway (stuff given away for free), it's a competition. There's a requirement to say 'why you'd like to win the license'. Definitely a competition.

1373

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AudialsOne on offer

« Last post by Dormouse on November 28, 2009, 07:06 AM »

I think DRM removal is extremely important. I don't have any DRM protected files (always removed it when I inadvertently got them), and have never had many; I won't buy them and have no way of getting them free, so it's never been a big issue. If I was in your situation where I got DRM protected files free, then it would be a big issue for me too.

I agree that the good thing about streaming is hearing music I'd not come across before. It's just that I'm not interested in having any now at a lower rate than 192kbps and few streams are at that level. And, even if they were, there would be no point in me trying to record them because the quality of my connection means that nearly everything I got would be incomplete.

1374

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AudialsOne on offer

« Last post by Dormouse on November 27, 2009, 08:25 PM »

I tried this program out and found it completely disabled my sound. Major problem for other people too, and lots of posts on their forums about it. Disappointing to still find it was a problem given that the original reports were quite a few years ago, and disappointing that there never seemed to be any response from the company. I noticed on my system, the mute button on volume control was effectively disabled. Given the reports and the lack of an obvious solution, I didn't waste time trying to solve this (though I did have a look at what the program does and how it does it), I just did a system restore and returned to normal.

I do wonder whether there is a solution to my problem, and I expect that it works fine on most computers.

And I do think it is cheap at the offer price for what it does.

It seems to be able to do a good job searching, recording and tagging from streams. But do I want that? Well, probably not really. There's a lot of streams it covers (30k+) - but most are very poor quality and very few are good quality. OKish to listen to, but I wouldn't want to record from them. And I do have progs that can do it a bit anyway, though not so well, and I've never done it.

It seems to have a reasonable format converter. I have progs that do this anyway, and all I ever want to do is to get stuff into flac format for archiving and mp3 for playing. I do have some progs for video converting, but never use them; I don't collect many video files, though I can see that I might start doing it more in the future with all the tutorials etc around now.

The DRM removal does look a good feature. And I do remember removing DRM at some point in the past (I think I didn't put a tick in the right box when I ripped from a CD), so I must already have a prog that does it. Not so well I'm sure, but it isn't something I ever do. I generally rip from CDs; I never buy DRM protected tracks. Though I can imagine I would do this more if I ever get an ebook reader. Again, it looks good for video, but again it's not something I do; I don't rip from DVDs, though I can quite well enough with software I already have.

Managing the music I already have isn't something I'd use it for.

But, I'm still slightly attracted to the offer price; it seems as if it is something I might use on a different computer if I ever do start collecting videos. But, in the circumstances, I do find it rather odd that I feel slightly attracted rather than totally repelled.

1375

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for recommendations of RAW photo processor

« Last post by Dormouse on November 25, 2009, 04:21 PM »

What works best will depend on your camera. It's not a one size fits all situation really. I don't use ACR because it is awful on my cameras.

I've used them all at one time or another. The 'professional' apps are generally better for dealing with large number of images, tweaking, running automatically and workflow generally. I use DxO. Quality good. Default settings usually extremely good on most cameras. Have been fearsome glitches sometimes with new versions (especially when they recoded completely for v5), but they get it sorted in the end. v6 actually seems OK, but I've not had much time with it yet. Would need to check whether it has modules for your camera and lenses (makes automatic adjustments much easier). Quite a lot of complaints from time to time about their install of a system to avoid theft, but it has never bothered me.

That's for the Raw processing. What you choose might also be affected by what other features come included that you want to use. They all vary on that.

I agree that Picasa and Helicon Filter are pretty good for free. As is RawTherapee.

The free progs are good, but they do take time (and you might have to do it on every photo) or there's a limit to how much you can achieve. The 'professional' apps are much better for speed and ease, and if you have a lot of photos to process they might well be worth their high price to you. For free and automatic and easy, you can do a lot worse than Picasa.