Recent Posts

1526

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: mute PC on incoming mobile phone calls (or at least notify on calls/SMS)

« Last post by brotherS on December 22, 2005, 11:31 AM »

I'm pretty sure it HAS to be somehow possible to do that, if I could only find the hardware necessary...

1527

Living Room / Re: google holiday images

« Last post by brotherS on December 22, 2005, 10:00 AM »

The REAL real question is: how did mouser get Google to use something mouser-related?!?

1528

Living Room / Re: google holiday images

« Last post by brotherS on December 22, 2005, 09:53 AM »

Nice! 

1529

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Progress meter which track upload speed

« Last post by brotherS on December 22, 2005, 07:42 AM »

There are many free file hosting websites which don't provide upload status and for uploading a big file, I would very much like to know my uploading progress.  A software which can provide a progress meter which track upload speed and time required would be nice.   

-shh34 (December 22, 2005, 07:37 AM)

I suggest you just use NetMeter, more details on http://fileforum.bet...etMeter/1058844763/1 and http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=534 (yes, it's USB stick friendly )

1530

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: pandora.com - Internet radio for EVERY taste! FREE!

« Last post by brotherS on December 22, 2005, 06:45 AM »

Nice! Since we are all early adaptors here it would be great if they would offer that to all DC members

1531

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: pandora.com - Internet radio for EVERY taste! FREE!

« Last post by brotherS on December 22, 2005, 06:18 AM »

Yeah, the ads are not too bad. But I think you are right, they may need to offer more benefits than just "no ads" to get users to be willing to pay for that service. Maybe a less-than-perfect audio quality for free, and a great quality if you sign up?

1532

Living Room / Re: Nominations for DonationCoder's Top 10 New Programs & Websites of the Year.

« Last post by brotherS on December 22, 2005, 05:24 AM »

Website:  pandora.com --> https://www.donation...0;topicseen#msg12707 (great idea, great implementation)
[debut: ~4th quarter 2005]

1533

Living Room / Re: nudone's new pc

« Last post by brotherS on December 22, 2005, 04:46 AM »

i was wondering about whether to keep the two 19" crt monitors i've already got or buy a new LCD 21" widescreen or maybe even buy two 19" LCDs instead.

i've solved the problem - just ordered one of these 'Eizo s2410w 24" widescreen LCD monitor' http://www.eizo.com/...lcd/S2410W/index.asp.

-nudone (December 22, 2005, 04:27 AM)

Nice!

1534

Mini-Reviews by Members / pandora.com - Internet radio for EVERY taste! FREE!

« Last post by brotherS on December 22, 2005, 04:32 AM »

Thanks to ydrAh in https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=1849.0 I discovered http://www.pandora.com/

WOW!!! This really IS Internet radio for EVERY taste!

Based on "The Music Genome Project" (read http://www.pandora.com/mgp.shtml for more details) you will choose one artist you like and will be presented with similar artists.

There were several services that gave you a list of similar artists before, but pandora.com is way better: it automatically creates your own personal radio station(s)! Check the screenshots:



On the first screenshot, (1) brings you to the "Favorite Songs" page I'll discuss further down. (2) allows you to 'move' the player out of the browser (works in IE and Firefox) - scroll images to the very right if you use a low resolution:

On the next screenshot, you see the player now in an external window:
(1) Your stations - you can just click "Create a New Station" to do so
(2) Showing "thumbs up" - meaning that I rated the tune (explanation further below)
(3) Showing album covers (if available)
(4) Here you can set the volume, pause the playing stream (try that with a regular station!) and skip to the next title
(5) The "Guide Us" button will be explained further below

The "Guide Us" button will show you the following, where you are able to influence the tunes that will be played by rating them (thumb up or down), you also can get info about "why is this song playing" and add more kinds of music to that station:

When you not click the "Guide Us" button but instead left-click one of the displayed album covers, you'll get to see the following menu, where you - among other things - also can rate the tune:

One more screenshot - this one shows you the "Favorite Songs" page I mentioned at the first screenshot:
(1) Clicking on an artist name here will bring you to the famous http://www.allmusic.com site, which has LOTS of info about virtually every artist
(2) Link to the album @ Amazon
(3) Link to buy the song @ iTunes

Convinced? Visit http://www.pandora.com/ yourself! Remember, it's free!

Not convinced? Please reply, tell me why not.

Disclaimer: No, I'm neither related to pandora nor do I benefit when you sign up there. I just like great sotware and services! By the way, did you read https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=1167.0 yet?

1535

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Registry Cleaning Software

« Last post by brotherS on December 21, 2005, 02:23 PM »

My own take is that a registry defragmenter is useful, but really, cleaning the registry?
Any stat on how much room in kb is being saved? And, without a reg defrag, the space is still allocated, just has no entry. I wouldn't expect that would speed anything up as the tree is still X size.

-GHammer (December 20, 2005, 08:43 PM)

I can't explain it, I can just say that I saw benefits after registry cleaning and before ever running a registry defrag tool

1536

Official Announcements / Re: Change to Official License Key Policy

« Last post by brotherS on December 21, 2005, 02:19 PM »

I won't throw the existing system away just because some people don't like it. When it would be "just freeware" many, many folks would just download and install it, they won't even have a look into the forum and won't sign up to the newsletter, nor would they donate since they are not forced to think about the concept of this site.

1537

Screenshot Captor / Re: @artists: clipart missing

« Last post by brotherS on December 21, 2005, 10:30 AM »

You don't need an artist but PhotoFiltre, its easy to do.
If you need help, just ask. (hmmm, i could provide a lill step by step tut  )

-Stefan (December 21, 2005, 09:08 AM)

Yeah, a tiny tutorial (in the wiki?!) would be nice!

So you get your A-Z pics quicker and you get it like you want it.
Into the keyboard-keys folder should be an template clip you could use for this issue too.

For the round zero number clips... there should be an "blank" clip in each folder.
Just open them in an graphic programm (or Captor) and add an zero as text.

There aren't always empty templates Also, it would look better if they all look the same, don't you think?

1538

Screenshot Captor / @artists: clipart missing

« Last post by brotherS on December 21, 2005, 06:12 AM »

Hi Stefan and others that might have contributed clipart objects to Screenshot Captor

I really miss a simple "A" to "Z" set, maybe with a black/white and a blue/black layout. Doesn't need to be round objects, little squares would be perfectly fine!

Also, could all existing number sets please get the "0"? Some have it, but not all.

@mouser: did you think about splitting the DC download into a "DC" and a "DC clipart" package?

1539

General Software Discussion / Re: great apps to put on your USB stick

« Last post by brotherS on December 21, 2005, 05:43 AM »

don't forget this site : http://portablefreeware.com/

-mouser (December 21, 2005, 05:10 AM)

Ah, thanks. The site looks a bit outdated but the content is great! 

1540

General Software Discussion / great apps to put on your USB stick

« Last post by brotherS on December 21, 2005, 04:48 AM »

Lets start this, but please add only apps you do USE yourself, so you can answer questions.
Also, please add the size the app needs on the USB stick!

So far, I use these on my USB stick:

name: Portable Firefox
size: ~18 MB
URL: http://fileforum.bet...Firefox/1100800989/1

name: Miranda IM (ICQ, AIM, IRC etc.!)
size: ~1 to ~5 MB (depending on how much features and networks you want/need)
URL: http://fileforum.bet...m/detail/957048618/1

name: win32pad (Editor)
size: ~100 KB
URL: http://fileforum.bet...m/detail/944076528/1

name:
size: ~
URL:

1541

Site/Forum Features / Re: RSS Feeds for DonationCoder.com and this Forum

« Last post by brotherS on December 21, 2005, 04:23 AM »

I really like RSS feeds, I use them in the great Google Sidebar: http://desktop.google.com/en/

1542

Older Newsletters / Re: Newsletter 2005-12-20 - Codename "brotherS gets it going"

« Last post by brotherS on December 21, 2005, 03:23 AM »

I'm glad that you all seem to like it, thanks for the feedback!

1543

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: "Stop Me From Closing It" - prevent easy closing of a program

« Last post by brotherS on December 21, 2005, 03:19 AM »

I didn't know that, but I prefer plugins/extensions anyway 

1544

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: "Stop Me From Closing It" - prevent easy closing of a program

« Last post by brotherS on December 20, 2005, 01:48 PM »

Or even use Maxthon - which gives you the option of starting up with all the tabs from the last session.

-Carol Haynes (December 20, 2005, 04:57 AM)

Exactly that is what the SessionSaver extension for Firefox does

1545

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Startup Delayer

« Last post by brotherS on December 20, 2005, 10:54 AM »

These programs need 2 B able 2 incorporate all the features of startup selector programs but they still seem 2 B considered 2 seperate functions.

-skywalka (December 20, 2005, 10:47 AM)

Please no SMS-speak in the forum. Always remember, there are folks from all over the planet reading the forum, not everyone speaks English perfectly.

Consider to get this for your other chats:

1546

Older Newsletters / Newsletter for December 20, 2005 - Codename 'brotherS gets it going'

« Last post by brotherS on December 20, 2005, 09:17 AM »

Newsletter for December 20, 2005

01) New moderators joined the forum!

That's right, Carol Haynes and me (brotherS) are new moderators to help mouser in the forum! mouser was so kind to let me write this newsletter, I hope you like my style


02) Major updates for Flipbook Printer and URL Snooper

Check out the latest beta release of Flipbook Printer which has some major new features designed to make printing and binding easier, especially when printing multiple books. You can also now use custom images and cover and back pages:
https://www.donation...?topic=1540.0?ref=nl

URL Snooper now has a quick way to type in URLs directly into the main form:
https://www.donation...?topic=1772.0?ref=nl


03) New app - "Dr.Windows"

Have some fun during the holidays by playing a harmless prank on your relatives with this cute tool that pops up official looking windows dialogs:
https://www.donation...ws/index.html?ref=nl

And take a look at the sample dialogs created by members on the forum:
https://www.donation...?topic=1760.0?ref=nl


04) New Coding Snacks / new apps by skrommel

Skrommel is at it again with some wonderful new tools coded in response to requests in the coding snacks section of our forum. For more info about WinStep, TransOther, SingleApp, UrlHistory, DelEmpty, etc., visit: https://www.donation...el/index.html?ref=nl

If you want to learn more about how skrommel makes these tools, read about the great AutoHotkey and its scripting abilities here: https://www.donation...?topic=1167.0?ref=nl


05) O User, Where Art Thou?

In November, 4471 new users signed up. Wow! Hard to believe, huh? So all the great programs on the site are getting at least SOME attention. I just think it's sad that I only saw about 30 fresh faces at most being active in the forum, so there are 4441 left that need to take some action. Yes, I'm talking about YOU!.

On a side note, the "Male to Female Ratio" in the forum now is 16.6:1. So, if you have any friends that use their PC more than once a day, forward this newsletter to them, especially female friends.

A good way (but of course no must) to get started is to choose a nice avatar image in your forum profile:
https://www.donation...file;sa=forumProfile
Or you might like to post a little bit about who you are and where you're from on these threads:
https://www.donation...p?topic=124.0?ref=nl
https://www.donation...p?topic=797.0?ref=nl


06) Hot forum threads

• Startup Delayer - most read mini-review in months. While I really like Startup Delayer, I was a bit surprised to find this thread was the most read mini-review in months! Maybe there is a need? https://www.donation...?topic=1399.0?ref=nl
• Samorost2 - the latest version of an amazingly beautiful flash-based puzzle. Wow! https://www.donation...hp?topic=1806?ref=nl
• The Godfather - a powerful mp3 tag editor. See for yourself how it looks, discuss its options etc. https://www.donation...hp?topic=1492?ref=nl

07) New changes to license key policy

In response to user suggestions, we have modified the license key policy as follows:

• programs will no longer stop working after the license period. They will only show startup reminder nags when a freeware license "expires."
• non-donators can generate a 6-month license key twice. After that period (1 year), they can visit the page and generate permanent non-expiring license keys that will never require them to generate another key or see another nage.
• there is also now an option for people who do not wish to sign up at the forum to download license keys

For more details and discussion on the changes:
https://www.donation...?topic=1784.0?ref=nl


08) December Software Drawing and Discounts!

Again, there's great software waiting for you - and if you win, you can't beat the price (0.00)! Also, there are lots of discounts waiting for you, available this month: Direct Folders, Filebox Extender, XFilesDialog (also XDesk and SysTrayX), File-Ex, Quick Folders, Copernic Tracker, Double Killer Pro, Surfulater, and more:
https://www.donation...?topic=1727.0?ref=nl


09) Our member web-hosting project is going great - join us!

The upgrade to a new faster server has been a huge success, and we're teaming up with members to pay for it. If you're interested in some super cheap, lightweight web-hosting for your web pages, visit the forum and read about the project, and contact us for a test account and help learning how to make your first web pages:
https://www.donation...?topic=1261.0?ref=nl


10) Vote in this month's poll
In an effort to get more feedback from users, we're going to try to introduce a new poll to accompany each newsletter. Make your voices heard by voting in the most recent poll:
https://www.donation...?topic=1852.0?ref=nl


Regards
brotherS (your guest newsletter author)

If you have a good idea about how to improve the newsletter or just want to share some feelings about it or the site itself send an email to [email protected] or just reply.

More links:

• Donate: https://www.donation...te/index.html?ref=nl
• Forums: https://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/
• Wiki: https://www.donation.../index.php/Main_Page
• BugTracker: https://www.donation...acking/main_page.php

1547

General Software Discussion / Re: How fast is Microsoft? (Re: Has any one held off on upgrading to Firefox 1.5

« Last post by brotherS on December 20, 2005, 08:24 AM »

[...]I can see myself shifting back to IE7.  The one thing, that I really kept an eye out for is Memory!  If anyone on this forum disagree's with me, then  you haven't paid attention to the amount of RAM that FF sucks up.  FireFox is absolutely horrible at memory management.  I'm tired of looking at my processes to see that FF is consuming well in excess of 125mb of ram.  IE7 thus far has NOT had this problem. And because of this, and other more minor features, I will definately switch to IE7.  IE7 has the same features as FF, imo.

-jazper (December 20, 2005, 07:50 AM)

You are right that Firefox sometimes has RAM issues, but keep in mind that it's still only 1.x

Microsoft had SO many guys coding IE in comparison... lets wait for Firefox 2.x to judge it

I highly doubt that IE7 will have the same features as FF - or will they really open it up for extensions? THAT is one of the greatest FF benefits. And, btw, that's one reason while I'm using Miranda IM for IRC, ICQ, AIM etc. - it's just much more flexible.

1548

Older Newsletters / Re: newsletter poll

« Last post by brotherS on December 20, 2005, 08:15 AM »

Hehe Sure, not everyone like that, but there are millions who love to tell others about good stuff and even more folks who love being told about good stuff

1549

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: "Stop Me From Closing It" - prevent easy closing of a program

« Last post by brotherS on December 20, 2005, 04:55 AM »

Here's the/a solution: use Firefox and install the SessionSaver and undoclosetab extensions! 

1550

General Software Discussion / Re: How fast is Microsoft? (Re: Has any one held off on upgrading to Firefox 1.5

« Last post by brotherS on December 20, 2005, 04:52 AM »

We are talking about product quality, not anything else.

-db90h (December 20, 2005, 12:05 AM)

You think people buy Microsoft products because of quality? I doubt that... Especially in a business environment you are often *forced* to have Office installed since many third-party software is based on Office components. Sad, but true.

I'm not saying Microsoft is all evil and that they can't code anything good, my main concern is just that they are using their monopoly a bit too much and are SLOW.

If Microsoft would have a monopoly manufacturing USB sticks, they wouldn't be the tiny, light-weight, often great looking sticks available now, but more looking like this: