Recent Posts

17026

General Software Discussion / Re: SliderDock seeking beta testers

« Last post by mouser on February 12, 2010, 06:42 PM »

Hi CO, glad to have you posting.

One of the best things about DC is when software users and authors can discuss ides and test software and discuss ways to improve it.

I think it would help to give people a link to the web page where they can learn about the program, not just a download link!

The web page is: http://sliderdock.wikidot.com/

The web page has videos as well as screenshots, here's one to get an idea:


The program is similar to Circle Dock (a project written by other DC members) and Ciano Dock, also discussed on the forums.  Perhaps DC needs to have a special area devoted to discussion of RDP, aka Round Dock Phenomena

Let's demonstrate the DC spirit and give some feedback to the author to help him improve it!

17027

Living Room / Re: Yea, I won't be getting an iPad anytime soon

« Last post by mouser on February 12, 2010, 06:08 PM »

Nice find wraith 

17028

Living Room / Elegant Full Screen Weather Map Web Page

« Last post by mouser on February 12, 2010, 06:04 PM »

From lifehacker comes news of this very elegant full screen, clutterless display of weather in your area from the weather underground website.  Would be nice to use this in a screensaver that auto-refreshed it (anyone know of such a screensaver?)

http://fullscreenweather.com/

from http://lifehacker.co...o+frills-weather-map

17029

Find And Run Robot / Re: weird "no disk" error

« Last post by mouser on February 12, 2010, 05:19 PM »

i can solve this little mystery.

it happens when there is an item in your previous launch history that was on a drive that is now missing.

i will be adding a fix for this, but for now -- go to your launch history tab in options, find the offender and delete it (or clear all items in launch history).

let me know if it works.

17030

Find And Run Robot / Re: Suggestion: arrow keys to scroll result list

« Last post by mouser on February 12, 2010, 07:24 AM »

i'll try to add *something* for this this weekend, at least to get us started -- i have a big backlog of stuff to do for farr and need to get a new version out asap.

17031

General Software Discussion / MOVED: .NET Framework 4 RC

« Last post by mouser on February 12, 2010, 03:11 AM »

This topic has been moved to Developer's Corner.

https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=21714.0

17032

Living Room / The Blog of Michael Mindes: Ramblings of a Board Game Publisher

« Last post by mouser on February 11, 2010, 07:05 PM »

I have a real fascination with board game design (i remember distinctly visiting my father's university office as a little kid and seeing the board games his students had created as part of some project).  In the last few years my interest has been rekindled a bit for a variety of reasons, including the effort of a close friend to have his game (Crumble) published.

So i keep my eye open for good resources about inventing and publishing games.  Here's a nice blog with tons of nice commentary from an indie publisher.

It has been a little over a month since I have really gotten into using Google Reader.  Since that time, I have shared a number of different posts that I have read that I felt were interesting, important, and/or funny.  I thought I would like to share with you the various links and provide some commentary on each.

http://michaelmindes.com/

from http://www.boardgamenews.com

17033

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: FARR Plugin: TimeZone [Update version 1.3.2]

« Last post by mouser on February 11, 2010, 06:14 PM »

i think your analysis of the crash is exactly right.

17034

General Software Discussion / Feb 9, 2010: Windows Patch Leaves Many XP Users With Blue Screens?

« Last post by mouser on February 11, 2010, 06:08 PM »

Via Slashdot comes this report that people are experiencing blue screen crashes after applying Windows XP updates on tuesday:

"Tuesday's security updates from Microsoft have crippled Windows XP PCs with the notorious Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), users have reported on the company's support forum. Complaints began early yesterday, and gained momentum throughout the day."

http://www.computerw...e_screen_users_claim

from http://tech.slashdot...rs-With-Blue-Screens

17035

Living Room / Re: Flattr: New Micropayment System - Gets the Model Right

« Last post by mouser on February 11, 2010, 05:36 PM »

The only thing that bugs me is that monthly plan. I don't feel like donating every month.

i think that's a good point -- and it means that you don't have much control over how much you give to any one site.  the user gives up a lot of control, in exchange for a much simpler process that doesn't require much thinking or risk.

one thing that would be interesting is if flattr decided to charge a flat fee for their services rather than a percentage of money passing through the system.. if they did do that they would be the only example of such a model i've seen, and that in itself would be quite interesting.  can't wait to see some more details.

17036

Screenshot Captor / Re: can't change Save As default file type

« Last post by mouser on February 11, 2010, 02:39 PM »

I take it the setting I changed is for the internal format, not for the file save?

yes.

I use FARR dozens of times per day and every time I am just a little happier than I was right before I launched it!

that makes me happy to hear

17037

Screenshot Captor / Re: 2.78. Error On W7

« Last post by mouser on February 11, 2010, 02:26 PM »

Hmm.. that's a big clue -- anyone know a little more about what particularly Symantec might not be liking about Screenshot Captor?
Incredible, does it happen when you launch SC, or when you try to install it, or when?

17038

Screenshot Captor / Re: can't change Save As default file type

« Last post by mouser on February 11, 2010, 01:57 PM »

i'll see if i can't have save as REMEMBER the last save as file type.. that would address your needs wouldn't it?

17039

Living Room / Re: Flattr: New Micropayment System - Gets the Model Right

« Last post by mouser on February 11, 2010, 05:31 AM »

Yeah we need to see more details to figure out how much they take for themselves and if there are any other charges to recipients, etc.

17040

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: SliderDock an application launcher focused on an easier access to your icons

« Last post by mouser on February 10, 2010, 10:17 PM »

Welcome to the site Coder, and thanks for letting us know about your app  

17041

Living Room / Re: Flattr: New Micropayment System - Gets the Model Right

« Last post by mouser on February 10, 2010, 10:15 PM »

We should point out the Kachingle is also trying a similar approach: http://www.kachingle.com/

17042

Living Room / Flattr: New Micropayment System - Gets the Model Right?

« Last post by mouser on February 10, 2010, 05:29 PM »

Flattr is a new micropayment system that is still in early beta stage.  I have no idea if it will survive -- i think that will be determined by many factors that have nothing to do with the quality of the idea or implementation, and more to do with marketing and business.

But this is the first implementation of an idea i wrote about a couple of years ago on DC as an idea for paying for unlimited music downloads (and i'm sure others have as well).

The idea is that users pay some flat fee into their central account, and then whenever they want to support a site or some content producer on the web, they simply click a button on that web page (or download a song, etc.).

Then at the end of the month, your flat monthly fee is divided up among all of the places you chose to support that month.

So if you pay $10 a month into your account, and clicked to support 10 people that month, each would get $1.  If you only supported 2 people, they would each get $5.

To me this is EXACTLY the right model for a donation-based voluntary support system.  It lets people decide how much they can afford to give, and makes it super easy (even fun) for them to divide up their gifts.

I really hope something like this takes off -- if not Flattr then someone else.  It breaks my heart that the real companies that could make this work because of their reach in the market (like Google) wouldn't go near it with a 10 foot pole since it would have such a negative impact on their business model..  And i worry that the ad companies like google are going to be actively trying to prevent something like this from taking hold.

Anyway, go Flattr!  

EDIT April 2nd, 2010: As more details emerge of the Flattr.com plan, there are some things i'm not thrilled with.  According to their FAQ: when you set a monthly amount, it will be taken from your account even if you don't click to flattr anyone in a given month and "given to charity"; this strikes me as wrong -- it should stay in your account.  And secondly, flattr plans to take 10% of all money you put into it -- i think that's too high.
 

http://flattr.com

from http://boingboing.net

17043

Find And Run Robot / Re: Make web search in current opened browser

« Last post by mouser on February 10, 2010, 04:08 PM »

A keyword system to use a specific app to open the result of a search.

this exists.

in the help file look up the section: "Advanced Use -> Using Alias Action Keywords"

17044

LaunchBar Commander / Re: Using LBC to make Windows 7 usable

« Last post by mouser on February 10, 2010, 04:06 PM »

It's on my todo list -- I've just been slow getting to items.. I'll have this done soon.

17045

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple Machines Forum Organization in Chaos

« Last post by mouser on February 10, 2010, 03:46 PM »

It's just rock solid, and dead easy

Yeah i pretty much agree with you there.. so no panic or rush to leave it on my part.

17046

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple Machines Forum Organization in Chaos

« Last post by mouser on February 10, 2010, 03:34 PM »

I don't think it does -- except to the extent that there are benefits from using software that has active developers improving it and fixing bugs and providing support.

17047

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

« Last post by mouser on February 10, 2010, 03:28 PM »

By the way i should say that i raised this question more out of curiosity -- i didn't mean to spark a big conversation about raising money for DC.

We do have our occasional fundraisers which have been doing fine and i think we need to focus on creating more content rather than raising money or getting more members, etc.

I think the last fundraiser went really well.. and maybe if there is any area where we might talk of improving funding and membership in DC, we might be well advised to focus on making the fundraisers more appealing and get the word out about them better.  The fundraisers also just "feel" better to me in terms of raising money -- they stick with the idea of asking people to support the site voluntarily to help create more stuff that they like.

17048

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

« Last post by mouser on February 10, 2010, 03:23 PM »

that goes against all terms of google ads and they would react to that very negatively.

also i think it addresses wrong issue. people who want to donate but can't, are always the people who end up contributing in other ways -- they contribute their time or good karma, etc.  there are always ways to help dc without involving money, and i don't think we need to worry about trying to find new ways for people who *want* to help dc.

the reason ads are taking over the entire web and seem to be underwriting and paying for almost every website in existence, is that they are a way to make money from people completely passively without relying on any good will or intention of the visitor.  it's not a very pleasant concept but it works, largely because it's so simple and requires no action on the part of anyone, and because the annoyance factor is arguably less than most other methods.

17049

General Software Discussion / Simple Machines Forum Organization in Chaos

« Last post by mouser on February 10, 2010, 12:42 PM »

Since the start of DonationCoder in 2005, we have always used and been happy with the free "Simple Machines" (SMF) forum software.  Like all software it has its pros and cons, but it's always worked well for us.

Recently it seems that the SimpleMachines organization has been thrown into some chaos and infighting among founders,owners, developers, users, etc... I don't really have a good grasp of what's going on, only that everyone seems pretty broken up and distressed about it.

Some links:

• http://www.lewisonline.ca/?p=426
• http://www.smf-frien...ndex.php?topic=573.0
• http://www.smf-frien...ndex.php?topic=267.0
• http://www.simplemac...x.php?topic=362862.0

I don't think there is any real impact on DC at this point, and I don't have a position on these issues since I don't know all of the facts (yet).

Anyone have any thoughts?

17050

General Software Discussion / OpenSTV - Serious Software for Holding Votes

« Last post by mouser on February 10, 2010, 06:03 AM »

Came across this on stackoverflow.com, where they were having a community vote for moderators..  Looks like a nice piece of software.

OpenSTV is open-source software for implementing the single transferable vote and other voting methods such as instant runoff voting, Condorcet voting, and approval voting. OpenSTV is the only open-source software that implements the single transferable vote exactly as used by governments, including Scotland and the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts. These methods have been extensively verified against other software and/or actual election results.

Organizations can use OpenSTV to implement their own elections. First, the organization must adopt a voting method. Second, the organization must conduct the vote, and this will most likely be done with paper ballots. Third, the ballots must be entered into the OpenSTV program. Finally, you can use OpenSTV to count the votes and determine the winners of the election.

OpenSTV will run on MS Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

http://www.openstv.org/

from http://stackoverflow.com/