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Recent Posts

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16576
N.A.N.Y. 2010 / Re: NANY 2010 Release: Twigatelle
« Last post by mouser on April 21, 2010, 10:07 PM »
i have an idea for a new special ball type.. when activated you have a certain amount of time when you can draw bumpers on the screen.
16577
DC Website Help and Extras / MOVED: Services
« Last post by mouser on April 21, 2010, 09:01 PM »
This topic has been moved to General Software Discussion.

https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=22512.0
16578
Living Room / Re: Free printable shopping lists - neat idea
« Last post by mouser on April 21, 2010, 04:18 PM »
One really nice thing about http://www.freeprintablegrocerylist.com/ is that you can download the lists in .doc format and they are really easy to edit and customize (if you have MS Word that is).  It's nice to make a custom grocery list of stuff you regularly shop for.
16579
Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!
« Last post by mouser on April 21, 2010, 04:02 PM »
I find this one mesmerizing -- it's a very laid back high quality remake (by a group called Dynamite Hack) of an old lo-fi NWA rap song, Boyz In The Hood

Warning: Adult language

16580
General Software Discussion / Here we go again with false positive antivirus actions bricking computers
« Last post by mouser on April 21, 2010, 03:17 PM »
Honestly when are these antivirus companies going to learn that this behavior is unacceptable?  You can't go around deleting people's core system files because your 1 day old untested new virus signatures "think" they found something suspicious.  Give me a break! How many times do we have to keep having this discussion?

McAfee pushed out a virus definition update, 5958, at 14:00 PDT that causes false positive identification of the critical Windows system file svchost.exe. Machines running Windows XP Service Pack 3 using the 5958 definitions will delete the file, causing many key Windows services to fail to start. The Windows file is being mistakenly detected as W32/wecorl.a. Failure to start svchost.exe causes Windows to automatically reboot, hindering repair efforts.


16581
Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini Review of SugarSync and DropBox
« Last post by mouser on April 21, 2010, 03:12 PM »
Welcome to the site Debbie and thanks for posting -- i think it speaks well of the company  :up:
16582
General Software Discussion / Re: Powerpoint sucks - what to use instead?
« Last post by mouser on April 21, 2010, 09:19 AM »
If people are having problems using and being consistent in Powerpoint I somehow doubt that moving to PhotoShop (or PSP) will make that any easier!

amen to that.

i understand JavaJones desire for consistency and it would be nice to hear if there is a solution to that, but i've found PowerPoint to be an excellent tool for presentations, and don't think you should even entertain the possibility of switching to a non-presentation-specific tool.

that's not to say that one of the powerpoint clones might not be better for your use, i can't speak to that.
16583
Developer's Corner / Atwood on configuring servers for sending email that doesn't get marked as spam
« Last post by mouser on April 21, 2010, 07:33 AM »
The issues involved in avoiding mail sent by a server from being marked as spam are incredibly frustrating and convoluted.  Here's Jeff Atwood from Coding Horror talking about some steps you can take on your server to make sure mail sent from it gets to it's destination.  Gothic, the DC server admin, has been through hell and back dealing with such issues:

Just because you send an email doesn't mean it will arrive. Not by a long shot. Bear in mind this is email we're talking about. It was never designed to survive a bitter onslaught of criminals and spam, not to mention the explosive, exponential growth it has seen over the last twenty years. Email is a well that has been truly and thoroughly poisoned -- the digital equivalent of a superfund cleanup site. The ecosystem around email is a dank miasma of half-implemented, incompletely supported anti-spam hacks and workarounds.

16584
Living Room / Book Mini-Review: The Design of Design - Essays from a Computer Scientist
« Last post by mouser on April 21, 2010, 12:56 AM »
This is a very quick mini-review of Frederick Brooks new book, The Design of Design (more reviews and opinions at that amazon.com link).

Screenshot - 4_21_2010 , 12_57_43 AM.png

Brooks is the author of "The Mythical Man-Month", a very influential book about the challenges of real-world, large scale computer (software) project management that was originally published in 1975 but was updated as recently as 1995.

I'm just going to give thoughts about his new book to help you decide if it's worth reading.

I guess the bottom line is that from a practical standpoint, "The Design of Design" can't really hold a candle to "The Mythical Man-Month" in terms of value and insight for a software engineer.  It's a much more self-indulgent and less ambitious book.

The first third of "The Design of Design" is actually highly readable, and highly valuable for anyone who doesn't already have a gut-level appreciation of the concepts it touches on.  For example, if you don't already have an immediate appreciation why having constraints (even arbitrary ones) is often helpful for a designer, then you would be well advised to read the first 150 or so pages of the book.  It's enjoyable reading, with some nice anecdotes, and the ideas are sound and well worth reinforcing.

The last two thirds of the book are easily skipped -- many of the chapters are sort of casual case studies in design based on the construction and remodeling of Fred Brook's house.  Even as some one interesting in architecture and remodeling, i found these chapters very thin on substance and entirely skipable.  I got the same feeling reading those chapters as one gets listening to a friend tell you about the fascinating dream they had the night before.  A few later chapters detailing Brooks' involvement in the creation of the legendary 1960's IBM System 360 computer series are mildly interesting for their anecdotes.

So.. thumbs up for the first 150 pages.. thumbs down for the the 250 pages that follow.  But it's an enjoyable and valuable (if not profound) first 150 pages, so if this is the kind of thing you like, it might be worth seeking out.
16585
Living Room / Re: Links page - suggestions wanted
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 08:26 PM »
I'm actually going to lock this thread and ask people to post links they want to recommend in the main forum sections.
16586
Living Room / Re: Links page - suggestions wanted
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 08:13 PM »
krebonsecurity.com looks good; and welcome to everyone on this thread..
16587
Developer's Corner / Re: Documentary on the Absurdity of Software Patents
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 05:46 PM »
28 minutes long, ends with classical music.
16588
Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini Review of SugarSync and DropBox
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 04:33 PM »
Extremely useful post -- thank you for taking the time to share this :Thmbsup:
16589
Living Room / Re: DC IRLDD Board Game Night - Sat May 22nd (or 29th), Champaign IL
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 03:22 PM »
might do this on the 29th instead of the 22nd, if it matters to anyone.

it will be the 22nd.
16590
Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Proto, another approach to file managing
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 03:14 PM »
Welcome to the site Miechu  :up:
16591
Living Room / Re: stackoverflow-like site for DC. Would it work? Now free
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 03:07 PM »
Nice find urlwolf -- fun article  :up:
16592
Developer's Corner / Documentary on the Absurdity of Software Patents
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 02:42 PM »
A new online film with interviews about the absurdity of software patents, a problem which is getting worse and is way out of control..

Patent Absurdity explores the case of software patents and the history of judicial activism that led to their rise, and the harm being done to software developers and the wider economy. The film is based on a series of interviews conducted during the Supreme Court's review of in re Bilski — a case that could have profound implications for the patenting of software. The Court's decision is due soon...


from http://www.osnews.com
16593
General Software Discussion / Re: Things We Could Do Without: Software Patents
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 02:40 PM »
New film about absurdity of software patents: http://patentabsurdity.com/index.html
16594
ProcessTamer / Re: Unreported bug in Process Tamer (v2.11.01)?
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 05:12 AM »
i think you are definitely onto the right track..

there are 2 ways to add exceptions to PT, one is by browsing for the exe in the main options tab, the other is by viewing the process list and choosing ignore.

have you tried both of these ways -- is the exe always named the same regardless of which way you do it?

if you look at the PT log when it says it lowered the process (or they tray balloon) -- does the case of the process name match the same as when you added the Ignore exception?
16595
ProcessTamer / Re: Unreported bug in Process Tamer (v2.11.01)?
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 03:45 AM »
That's a very good tip Ian.
16596
Developer's Corner / Re: Brightness control / OCX for notebook backlight
« Last post by mouser on April 20, 2010, 03:11 AM »
it's a good point, i've run into similar problems when upgrading a laptop OS.

for a starting point -- can you confirm that that msdn code works for you, or is it just a guess that it will?

lastly, would a simple small commandline utility to set and get backlight setting be sufficient, or do you need an ocx.
16597
Living Room / Re: stackoverflow-like site for DC. Would it work? Now free
« Last post by mouser on April 19, 2010, 11:54 PM »
what i think would be a nice compromise would be to not mess with visibility of stuff on the forum when browsing the forum.. but perhaps enhance the search system to use tags and votes and q&a lists to provide a better search facility.
16598
Site/Forum Features / Re: NANY 2011 :: A New Concept -- Have your say!
« Last post by mouser on April 19, 2010, 05:15 PM »
I hear ya.. though i guess what i had in mind was still preserving the mad dash for people to create new programs at the end of the year.. while still recognizing those who had created stuff earlier in the year, and celebrating them all at an end-of-year wrap-up.
16599
Living Room / Re: Stephen's Weekly Tech News - Edition 9
« Last post by mouser on April 19, 2010, 03:56 PM »
Excellent news this week -- thank you!

I would LOVE to get to that museum.  Maybe a good place for a dc gathering :)
16600
Site/Forum Features / Re: NANY 2011 :: A New Concept -- Have your say!
« Last post by mouser on April 19, 2010, 03:15 PM »
Let's not worry about driving traffic.. let's worry about making the event worthwhile for participants and potential users of the programs.

We could do 2 "contests" a year, one for nany, which is a no-winner thing, and one for larger applications where we have prizes for winners (as we have done in the past).  Nany is a regular thing, the other has been ad-hoc.  We could make it a more regular things once per year.

Or we could just have one contest celebrating all of the new applications released in the year, and give prize to the biggest and best..
Pages: prev • 1 ... 659 660 661 662 663 [664] 665 666 667 668 669 ... 1515 • next