Recent Posts

1676

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 20, 2013, 08:06 AM »

I'm actually a bit stunned how bad that article is. It's from Matthew O'Brien, a senior associate editor at The Atlantic covering business and economics. He doesnt even acknowledge that there are different schools of economic thought. I'm even wondering was the guy just trying to troll a bit, and upset as many Bitcoin fans as possible ...

-tomos (December 17, 2013, 03:45 PM)

Going sideways a bit, "trolls are trolls", but I don't want "senior associate editors at The Atlantic covering business and economics" ... doing the trolling.

I have enough trouble getting my news cleanly, with "known troll rags" out there muddying the picture, without what was supposed to be a Grade A source jumping in!

1677

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: NANY 2014 Pledge: Q-FlashCards for Android

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 20, 2013, 02:28 AM »

Well, apk is the thing you install on Android. I added some information about installing, but it varies from phone to phone.

-TPReal (December 20, 2013, 01:32 AM)

Heh well I don't have an Android phone, but at least I understand a little more!

1678

Living Room / Security in TV Shows

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 19, 2013, 07:50 PM »

Misc thread about how "Security" is treated in various TV shows before and after Sept11 and other stuff.

Some notable points:
1. Star Trek (Various)
A. NextGen had Worf and about four people. At least that's a bit more high profile than the Original Series. But there were still too many plots about getting past security... for the *24th Century*.
B. Deep Space 9 - Odo is chief of Security and gets around, but in the fewer episodes I saw, even his crew could be beaten by most double-attacks.

2. Seven Days
I'm doing some retro-marathons. Older TV shows and all that. Seven Days had a chief of Security written to be a caricature jerk. And just him and maybe a couple of guys. For a top secret installation. Still a bit thin.

3. Generic surprising lack of police
This one's more systemic. These days of "call if you have copied a song", cover up the era when the balance felt right, "call us when someone is in serious $hit". That used to be what police were for. It made sense. Now we have a serious over-reach of "police+NSA" etc.

But it's just fun to watch a "writer's impression of Security" 20-30 years ago.

1679

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 19, 2013, 07:39 PM »

How Halley's comet is linked to a famine 1,500 years ago

-Arizona Hot (December 19, 2013, 07:37 PM)

Aka circa 520 AD?!

1680

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: NANY 2014 Pledge: Q-FlashCards

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 19, 2013, 07:38 PM »

Please add a little advice for us non-programmers.

What's an Apk file? Will you compile it into something that "just works"?

1681

Living Room / Re: Micro-Fundraiser for the Official DonationCoder CodyMobile!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 19, 2013, 07:37 PM »

I have picked out the car model and year (not actual car) i will be purchasing for the codymobile in 2014:

Pontiac Vibe (used, circa 2005).
 (see attachment in previous post)

-mouser (December 19, 2013, 07:24 PM)

Counting your Cody's before they mate? : )

1682

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: NANY - Image Capture and Upload Program

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 19, 2013, 07:31 PM »

Hmm. 1.0.10.0 or such, seems to be crashing on me!

In general I see some new options, but it all crashes on me before I can test them!

I also don't see clearly the toggle between upload/don't upload and it crashed before I could test whether the captured image stayed on the clipboard.

1683

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: NANY - Image Capture and Upload Program

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 19, 2013, 01:22 PM »

GO AWAY!!....  

It already has what you are asking for... at least the most current version does v1.0.1.9.

1. On the history/settings window there is a toggle for copying to clipboard or not.
2. If you right click on the select area you will get a Copy to Clipboard menu item.
3. Once you have your annotated image you can open the history window and drag/drop the image onto that window and it will upload to imm.io.

Might want to read the help/website next time. LOL http://icup.pen.io/

-c.gingerich (December 19, 2013, 10:30 AM)

Heh no fair! I read almost all the thread, this stuff wasn't in there! And I missed the announcement for 1-0-1-9! I am about 3 versions back!

So let's see!

"Version   1.0.1.8 beta "

No Fair teasing about un-posted new versions!

1684

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: NANY - Image Capture and Upload Program

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 19, 2013, 09:54 AM »

Heh Chris I'm a bit known for my Scope Creep, so at worst tell me to go away!

But it just occurred to me there are like 3 things missing from making this the Ultra Tool for use cases like mine.

1. Option to toggle on/off posting to the web. Really, my screen capture needs are ultra simple. But they don't always involve posting to the web!

2. Toggle Capture Image vs Capture WebAddress When Posted.

This one will take a min to explain.

I do a ton of work with Tom Revell's Stickies. I capture images, paste them into stickies, draw annotations on it, then save the sticky into an image file. So not only does the initial version not leave me with a captured image, but then some "random wrong version" is the one posted.

Much faster would be if the tool captured the image, I paste it into my Sticky, annotate it, save it, and then pull your tool to "post to the web". At the end of all that, don't dump the address into my clipboard (thus wiping out whatever is there!) - Make a text file with the address on my comp. Because after all I'll want to save a note where my posted image went!

Whew! Does that sound like too much? It feels really simple. It's only about 3 more features. But for ex right now I only use exactly 1 feature out of Mouser's SC Captor. I'm a bit of a minimalist. With a bit of development fun I'd rather use your version! Efficiency and all that!

Further minor process notes to follow later if you feel like thrashing this stuff out.

Cheers,

--Tao

1685

General Software Discussion / Re: software recommendations - photo/graphics editors

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 19, 2013, 09:38 AM »

looking for recommendations for something to replace a corel paint shop pro (x2) install that has worn out it's welcome

On our W7x32 laptop it's hijacked most (all?) of the admin tools (ie control panel, devices and printers, etc) which has raised my ire so it's gotta go

This is my wifes machine and she's a very light (basic!!) user, mostly minor retouching of photos or scans, so photoshop is probably overkill (not to mention that I probably couldn't afford a copy even if I could justify it).

This really isn't a software genre that particularly interests me so while I'm aware of the major candidates, I have no idea about their relative merits...

what say you?

-Target (September 16, 2013, 07:38 PM)

I say, what about "Minor Candidates"?

1. I find venerable old MS Paint to be the surprising winner when all I want to do is an ugly hack of flip/stretch/zoom/paintbrush-fill one little corner/save new copy.

2. But when you actually want to do some "work", have you considered our own Vlastimil's Real World Paint? Maybe it's missing some killer feature you need from Corel p.s. Pro (the key word I picked up on was Pro!), but it looks solid.

But there's one more trick. The dev is here as part of Cody's Extended Family. So if you need one easy little mini-feature, chances are you can get it. (If it's not one of those Iceberg-Nightmares where it sounds simple and is darn near impossible!)

For example - what I picked up on for this thread - "This is my wifes machine and she's a very light (basic!!) user, mostly minor retouching of photos or scans, so photoshop is probably overkill"

Vlastimil and I already thrashed out some of this - he can make a toggle such that "only your favorite five features" are on the menu. I have basically the same problem as your wife - too much Awesomeness!

The original interface is this. I have NO idea what 90% of that does!



Instead, I asked for the "newbie version". So Vlastimil put in a toggle you can see at the top right. Ask your wife if she likes this version better:



Heh Tell her Tao sent you!

*Images posted by ChrisGingrich's new tool!

1686

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: MyInfo organizer 51% discount on December 19, 2013

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 19, 2013, 09:23 AM »

I'll also add that for me it is a bonus if you can contact the developer and get "snack features". The dev over at MyInfo is decent and is looking into one for me right now.

Heh disclaimers and all that, but I did a big survey of the note programs about two years ago and only three do a full export to a "turnkey" website. One looked ugly, one had a fatal database structure flaw ... and MyInfo won.   : )

1687

General Software Discussion / Re: Moving notes from Keynote to Evernote

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 19, 2013, 09:20 AM »

The solution was easy.

Evernote lets you set up a folder to monitor which will import anything you put there.

Keynote allowed me to export all my notes as rtf files into that folder.

Bada-bing-bada-boom and Bob's your uncle.

-vbmark (December 19, 2013, 06:13 AM)

At a bit of a broader level, this sounds like all your notes ended up exported "flat" - without structure. Or did the "monitored folder" also monitor all subfolders and retain structure?

I am a fairly interested participant in the Battle of the Notes. My eventual solution was MyInfo. Basically, I don't get too fancy with the data proper inside the notes - structure and export make or break it for me. (If I ever needed to, import is in the same theme.)

1688

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: MyInfo organizer 51% discount on December 19, 2013

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 18, 2013, 03:22 PM »

I am a satisfied customer of MyInfo! 

I recommend the Pro Edition.

1689

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 18, 2013, 06:53 AM »

Porsche Proves MPAA Wrong, Wants You to Download a Car

The Motion Picture Association’s “Piracy it’s a crime” video is without doubt the most iconic anti-piracy PSA ever made. The video includes the classic line “you wouldn’t download a car,” but within a decade Porsche is proving the movie industry wrong. The exclusive car manufacturer is offering freely downloadable blueprints of its Cayman S model, and evidence of the first printed cars is now surfacing left and right.

(see attachment in previous post)

-4wd (December 18, 2013, 05:58 AM)

I'm dying to see an interview with their executives describing this push to "generous" Intellectual Property ... from Porsche no less!

What is their angle?

1690

Living Room / Re: Post Your Year End Top 5/10 List Here

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 18, 2013, 05:57 AM »

Heh well since Mouser didn't specify "lists of what", I posted my "top three projects" over as Proto-Nany components!

1691

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Component 3: URL to PDF Generator

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 18, 2013, 05:20 AM »

PDF Generator

Here is another example of a StandAlone module that could theoretically be part of the Turbo Processor.

Suppose you are doing web research.

For background, MilesAhead wrote me a "Beta" version of his BBSS that creates paired lists of titles and URLs.

Here is Mouser's Newsletter:
https://www.donation....msg343854#msg343854

We have decided we want to look at the NANY section.


1. Open them all up in tabs in Firefox. (Note - there seems to be a bug and this doesn't work right in Pale Moon.)

2. MilesAhead's BBSS reads the tabs and creates a paired list of your research tabs as titles and URLs in ... wait for it ... text files! : )

3. My module reads the URL and then creates matching PDFs for each of those URLs.



Known bugs:

1. As I just found out in this run, there are some unclear problems with the filenames of the resulting PDFs.
2. We put a bit of thought into how Duplicate URLs in a list are handled. I think the file number in the first character is supposed to keep increasing because it was supposed to be line count equal to the number of original URLs. But this is why this is a component - this part needs work.
3. Misc "Look and Feel" bugs - for example if you're working with a "logged in system" such as email or Monster (my original use case) or other, you might get badly formatted PDFs because the app wouldn't have correct login permissions etc. There are others. That's why I have to sign off with this "only as a component".

4. The package is rather large - it uses QtWebKit I think, and that's more than the post limit here. If anyone wants this piece I'll find somewhere to upload it, maybe my private server.

Some info:
The BBSS thread from Miles is here:
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=30913.0

Attached is the sample title and URL list and a couple of sample output PDFs.

1692

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: N.A.N.Y. 2014 - New Apps for the New Year - Welcome Thread

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 18, 2013, 05:16 AM »

Looks like we gained 3 apps (2 by pyro, 1 by offe) but 1 was withdrawn (justice), for a net increase of 2. I make that 30 apps entered.

-kyrathaba (December 17, 2013, 08:53 PM)

Hehe maybe now it's "30.75"?


I posted some "components" : )

1693

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Component 2: "Turbo Processor"

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 18, 2013, 04:48 AM »

This is the grand overall fragment that led me to make this thread.

Before even this year's NANY pledges, but especially in light of them, I dreamed up the idea ... what if you merged a word processor but with custom power-user features?

Warning: This is Pre-Alpha mockup-concept level only! But since my programmer already whacked at it, at least it's half built into a shell that one of you might pick up and run with!

The idea in action:

1. I commissioned "modules" from third tier outsource programmers on simple stuff "that didn't matter if it had an obscure bug".

2. I gave the modules to my project design lead programmer to merge into this processor shell as a feature module. He had the leeway to clean up the initial module codes etc.

We tried to design a shell that you could just for ex drop "coding snacks and NANY's into all day long". So for example, the spawn utililities above "are what they are" ... but what if that was built right into the text reader app? So our proof of concept has a couple of different versions of that algorithm. (Footnote - I didn't burn time above posting the third version - those were enough for you to get the idea. It was Bassem Fawzy's that's in here but not posted standalone above.)

"So if you'll forgive the crudity of the model" (Doc Brown!) here we go!

This project was def at the "Coding Lunch" level, and then I ran out of funds to keep going, plus one feature no longer matters because it's obsolete now etc. (TreeDB into CssZenGarden - A lost interest and B I now use MyInfo and their dev might be able to fix the MyInfo code on his end to make things easier.) But the grand vision was something like merging *all* of your text and file NANY's and Snacks into "one shell to rule them all"! This would be the text Turbo Processor that did EVERYTHING!

1. The shell is based off the Scintilla project. We put a little work into finding "open licensed" source shells to drop into.

2. The first few menus are your typical word processor ones. For you programmers, it has Scintilla's pre-built highlighting support per language.

3. But the real power is in the menus like Data Control, Tools, and Options. Unfortunately the only module we had time to put in was the file spawner. But for ex if you didn't like how the spawn files came out, the app can nuke them too (or any other junk files you don't need after doing some test. )

So I hope this framework inspires someone!

"New Components for the New Year!"

1694

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Component 1: SpawnFile (Version2 by Thomas Voracek)

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 18, 2013, 04:18 AM »

This version has an option to name the files by date of processing.

The source and the app are in the same batch this time.

P.S. I also have a proof of concept awk script version 3, but I won't burn a whole other post unless someone wants it. These were the two main versions I commissioned.

I don't recall what bugs were left in this version but I signed off at the time as "good enough". : )

1695

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Component 1: SpawnFile (Version1 by DoNhuan)

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 18, 2013, 03:27 AM »

Spawn TextFile

Given a large-ish inbound source text file, this app prototype looks for a delimiter and then rips apart the inbound source and resaves several smaller files.





Tip #1: Some initial support was put in to deal with "rhetorical" annotation styles. So for example if the initial file was "separated" by a lot of dashes to show segments, the app is supposed to treat them all as one split point and not pound out 15 blank files.

Tip #2: Watch that there aren't accidental cases of the delimiter. So in my example text (borrowed from some Slashdot comments of mine) I used Asterisks * as an emphasis device! But this app will split at those points too! So before you run the splitter you may want to use a really crafty search&replace to make sure the delimiter between sections is something you never nomally use. For example I never use ^ so done right, the "emphasis" * marks would stay put and only the splitter ^ would kick in. On the same lines, if you for ex wanted to split at Dashes ------, then watch for Hyphenated words!

Included are what I believe is the (mostly) complete source code, a test run showing two split-sets from an example source file, thus showing two levels of analysis on the initial source for "different bosses", and the app.

Known Bug #1: There is a glitch in the file naming output that has different numbers of digits on the exported filenames.

(Pyrohacker, you were a major inspiration for me to remember I had this stuff! You said "This app will make it easier to analyze a chunk of text and see useful information. Its focus is analysis rather than manipulation." However, specifically with a large input file in mind, I found it useful to be able to yank out the parts of text you need!)

1696

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / "Good enough" and NANY proto-components!?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 18, 2013, 03:09 AM »

I like one of the trends of this year's nany towards "back to the basics" text processing. Merging some "innovative directions in nany" I thrashed out with Mouser a year or two ago, after thinking "gee, look at all the neat text apps under pledge", I suddenly thought to poke around my oDesk account.

Turns out I have some proto-components still in Alpha stages that aren't good enough yet to be legit nany by themselves. But maybe one of y'all could adapt them and/or the ideas into features of your own programs. They were parts of projects I was working on a couple of years ago until I ran out of development money!

The next couple of messages will rough out stuff as I poke around my archives and see what I have on tap. Sometimes I had a couple of different coders work on the same theme just to see different approaches, so sometimes if y'all don't care for a particular implementation, I might have a second version, and then you'd get the overall idea and can put it into your own versions.

These are all fragments that I custom commissioned and have not been released anywhere else.

1697

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: NANY 2014 Pledge: Text Analysis App

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 17, 2013, 09:13 PM »

Text Analysis App

This app will make it easier to analyze a chunk of text and see useful information. Its focus is analysis rather than manipulation.

I've been dealing with some rather large log files at work lately, and I find myself dissatisfied with my ability to extract useful information from large bodies of text. Crafting find-and-replace queries, importing to Excel, and visually scanning for data are all tedious processes that dance around the goal: gathering information and answering questions. This tool will be different. Somehow.

-pyrohacker (December 13, 2013, 09:15 PM)

I have a fondness for text manipulation apps. I'm trying to think if I have any killer use cases but nothing yet.

1698

General Software Discussion / "Epic Privacy Browser"

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 16, 2013, 06:50 PM »

After Slashdot had its take on it a while back, I installed "Epic Privacy Browser".

But some disturbing things emerged.

Slashdot (with a couple of notes from me) reported that in too many places it was a cheap copy of Google Chrome, and thus solved nothing.

But today's note is sparked by something else.

It *keeps* putting shortcuts onto my desktop.

It's not yet clear what the exact trigger is. But NO other program I have ever seen, out of 100+ I have played with, does this. THAT'S Bad News.

So I haven't used it for much. I poked at it on days 1-4. But the fact it keeps putting icons on my desktop REALLY scares me ... for what was advertised as a "privacy oriented browser".

1699

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 16, 2013, 02:37 PM »

NSA officials consider Edward Snowden amnesty in return for documents

...

-wraith808 (December 16, 2013, 12:25 PM)

they dont want him getting asylum in Germany maybe...
(could be a bit problematic)

-tomos (December 16, 2013, 01:42 PM)

I think all this is overlapping.

I don't know why Asylum in Germany is "worse" for them than him hanging out in Russia or China.

There are a few cautionary notes from Slashdot about how mysterious he has become, and whether this is all a Long Con etc.

1700

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: N.A.N.Y. 2014 Special: gaioNiBBLES, old DOS game

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on December 16, 2013, 02:33 PM »

New Apps for the New Year. Out with the old in with the new. New, new, new, all this focus on new .

As a counterweight (and because I didn't manage to come up with a good idea for this year, but don't tell mouser), I decided to release this little DOS 16-bit game, which I wrote roughly 15 years ago!

-Jibz (December 16, 2013, 10:42 AM)

That's a cute little game Jibz!

Old Apps unite! A couple years ago I released an old app for a nany.

I found "slow speed" harder because the "tail" seemed to grow far faster somehow.

I "just ran it"; there was no music.

But it's cute! Do you feel like making any mods to the code? I would appreciate a "laser lock mode". Being the blind old bat I am, I keep getting stuck being off by one line for eating the numbers, then I have to waste tons of space with the tail to fix it. It might be cute to know you "locked on". Even at the risk of changing the precise strategy, go one step further, and have a "lock on" feature that locks the path to the number for you, allowing you to concentrate more on high level playing. In other words, like all the scifi shows, you get close to approach, hit "lock on", and it doesn't miss. So you get your "number nibble", and can spend your strategy worrying about your tail, and not that you were one line off the whole time! Just a thought.

Maybe by next year I'll have enough funds to commission something else for nany.

P.s. the font use is hysterical! 15 years ago did you think that was Da Kewlness? Heh it's like my chess nany app, it showed the tail end of my adoration of the Matrix etc. Ah, I miss the Old Days when computing was fun!