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2176

Best E-mail Client / Re: E-mail client recommendations

« Last post by superboyac on December 28, 2011, 12:33 PM »

I have to ask, but what are some decent email clients available right now? I have been using thunderbird for years but have always felt something was missing. The Bat is stuck in the 20th century and feels unfinished in many ways. What does everyone recommend? Perhaps a shoot-out of current email clients would make for a great follow-up to this email client round-up?

-Josh (December 28, 2011, 10:28 AM)

Oh man...if you find anything, I would be totally interested.  Several years ago, I moved from Pegasus to the Bat.  The Bat is great for multiple accounts, so much better than anything else I've seen.  It's very powerful, but all that power is almost useless because there is absolutely zero documentation for any of those powerful features.  So it's powerful, but good luck figuring anything out.  There are also a few quirks about that really rub me the wrong way, especially with the Microed editor.

Anyway, I'd be interested, I'll keep my eye out as well.

2177

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by superboyac on December 28, 2011, 09:36 AM »

daddydave, yes, those orbitals (s,p,d,f) are fascinating!  I used to love that stuff, it really motivated me to learn more about chemistry and quantum physics, even though the actual work and math exercises (pain in the ass) took the fun out of it.  If I'm not mistaken, those orbital shapes were first described mathematically using the Schroedingers equations, and THEN it was observed physically.  Just amazing stuff.

2178

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: WS_FTP Professional 60%OFF (FTP client)

« Last post by superboyac on December 27, 2011, 10:47 PM »

>  Top Ten Reviews says..

Just a FYI that TTR is not a legit site, reviews and ad $$ are inter-twangled. So they are not particularly concerned about accuracy.  You can occasionally get some decent information out of them, or names of products, as long as you realize that their methodology is bogus.

Steven

-Steven Avery (December 27, 2011, 10:46 PM)

Exactly how I feel.

2179

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TreeProjects 40% off

« Last post by superboyac on December 24, 2011, 05:19 PM »

Steven, how does Swift compare with mylife organized?  The feature I'm looking for most in the todo list programs is printing.  None of them can print in a way that actually looks good enough to present to, say, management.  Mylife, as powerful as it is, has the most awful printouts.  Same with most of the other ones I've tried.  They all just stick in that standard IE-like print module sort of as an afterthought. 

2180

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TreeProjects 40% off

« Last post by superboyac on December 24, 2011, 04:09 PM »

man, yet another notetaking app.  How am I going to choose??  [...]  I was this close to purchasing rightnote, too.

-superboyac (December 23, 2011, 05:19 PM)

You sure said it    So many of them that my memory was faulty - I was confusing TreeProjects with RightNote!    There just doesn't seem to be a definitive best program in this category.

-rjbull (December 24, 2011, 02:39 PM)

Well, I've been playing around with it a little, and I think RightNote is still the best as far as I'm concerned.  Rightnote has a freaking amazing featureset, rivaling Mybase from years ago in terms of flexibility and options.  It's also extremely customer friendly: lightweight, fast, portable.  It has just about every note type you could want.

This TreeProjects can't rival Rightnote's compelte-ness right now.  But it has a couple of extremely interesting features.  First, it's more of a legit database, with all that goes along with that (vs a bunch of files put together in a tree view).  It has a cool folder and file linking option, as well as a cool idea in capturing webpages (that doesn't work very well, Evernote and Surfulater are the best at that).  It has VERY cool revision history tool, where you can see how a note has changed over time.  I don't think any program I've seen offers that.

But rightnote has really impressed me the last few weeks.  I haven't been this impressed by a notetaking program in years.

2181

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TreeProjects 40% off

« Last post by superboyac on December 23, 2011, 05:19 PM »

man, yet another notetaking app.  How am I going to choose??  This one has some very cool features also.  Geez.  I was this close to purchasing rightnote, too.

2182

General Software Discussion / Re: best font for html email?

« Last post by superboyac on December 22, 2011, 08:12 PM »

I actually prefer pure text for my own inbound email. But all my friends tell me I'm slowly turning into a dinosaur . . .

-40hz (December 22, 2011, 05:08 PM)

I too prefer pure text for my own inbound email.  Hmmm...guess I'm going to have to change my userid from cyberdiva to cyberdino. 

-cyberdiva (December 22, 2011, 07:55 PM)

2183

General Software Discussion / best font for html email?

« Last post by superboyac on December 22, 2011, 03:45 PM »

Hi everyone.  I've struggled with the Bat's antiquated text editor in email for years now.  I'm done with it.  I'm moving on to HTML mode.  As much as I'd like to keep email to text only, I feel that time has passed and anyone who can't process html email is a little out of it by now.

So, what's the best font to choose for html email?  I like Calibri, but I know that's not available everywhere.  My question is does it even matter?  Or is there a font that would be more of the "right" choice?  What about font size?  I have two large monitors and mine is set to 14pt, which is fairly large for most people.  So can we discuss this a little?  Thanks.

2184

General Software Discussion / Re: The Bat: Great program, terrible documentation and support

« Last post by superboyac on December 22, 2011, 02:13 PM »

I'm beginning to think the Bat folk will never improve their editor features.  This Microed thing drives me nuts.  It's the only editor option in the program that works well as far as the automatic formatting features (like the way quotes are displayed, etc.) but functionally for everything else it's a nightmare.  Word wrapping is horrendous, unintended tabs and line breaking nuisances.  And it's Microstar compatible?  Who cares?  Microstar isn't even around anymore, nobody gives two shits about Microstar.  But the other editor options like html just aren't very good as far as the formatting features.

Let me tell you, over the past several years, the developers have done very very little to improve the program.  It's not as bad as I make it seem; the program still works and everything.  But you would like to see it "catch up" just a little bit with the times.  And I'm sure they have their own economic troubles, etc.  But the program really hasn't made many changes over even 5 years, hardly anything.  Changes for the Bat that took them 3 years to do, I've seen coding snack developers on these forums do in a matter of hours or days.  That's how slow they are.

2185

General Software Discussion / Re: streaming audio (creating an internet radio station)

« Last post by superboyac on December 21, 2011, 10:21 PM »

You need "loopback" or "listen to this device" (Win 7). I only have Win7 to test on, so hopefully you're using that. Go to the settings for recording devices, click on the mic, go to Properties, there should be a "listen" tab, go there and enable "listen to this device". Warning: if you're using speakers and not headphones, you may get feedback.

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (December 21, 2011, 07:11 PM)

Thanks!  Yeah, I noticed the same thing today (yes I have win7).  I thought about this all day today.  I even put together a detailed diagram of my audio setup.  I have a really nice mixer (Mackie Big Knob) and all I need to do is route the wires properly.  Initially when I did it, I was just using whatever cables I had handy and got it to work.  But upon closer inspection, if I do it right and take advantage of the features, I can route everything that I'm asking for perfectly.  Furhtermore, the mixer allows me to turn on/off all the inputs with the dedicated buttons and everything, including the headphone connections.  It's fantastic.  So, in the end, my problem was doing a hack job with the wiring.

By the way, for any audiophiles out there, these "monitor stations" like the Big Knob and a couple of others are sooooo convenient.  It's one of my most favorite purchases, next to dual monitors and monitor arms.  For some reason, it makes the quality of my computing experience so much better.  It's hard to explain, but I couldn't live without it anymore.

2186

Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by superboyac on December 21, 2011, 10:22 AM »

Yeah...I didn't quite mean that seriously.  I was describing my knee-jerk paranoia.  I should have put one of these at the end:   

2187

General Software Discussion / Re: streaming audio (creating an internet radio station)

« Last post by superboyac on December 21, 2011, 10:19 AM »

Thanks app!  I tried that just now and it didn't seem to work.  I think I understand the settings you've shown, but I don't see how it routes the playback sound to an actual input.  Am I missing something?

2188

General Software Discussion / Re: streaming audio (creating an internet radio station)

« Last post by superboyac on December 20, 2011, 10:54 PM »

OK, now I understand the problem.

The icecast thing, it records the mic input because, well, it's an input device.  But when I play music on the computer, that's an output.  I need to somehow turn that output into an input, while still being able to listen to it...AND recording the mic while NOT hearing it live.  I guess that's why all the radio hosts have headphones, one of those inputs is playing in there (mic? or music?).  So I'm not sure how to do that yet.  I have all the equipment here, I think.  I have two sound cards (a normal, and a pro audio), I have a mixer...so I should be able to do this.

2189

Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by superboyac on December 20, 2011, 10:51 PM »

Just as many devices start to go without HDDs, more start to use them -- namely DVRs and all sorts of other multimedia and surveillance equipment. So, I'd relax, prices will stabilize pretty quickly.. The HDD remains an essential component. The competition in the HDD market remains fierce (when everyone is up at the plate). They aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Eventually SSDs will start to match their cost per MB value, then we'll see them fade away, and potentially increase in price. That is at least 5 years off, maybe 10.

-db90h (December 20, 2011, 09:51 PM)

Yes, but you see how those are not "normal" consumer items.  A regular joe doesn't go out to buy a hard drive for a DVR, it just comes with the DVR that the cable company gives them.  Surveillance equipment is not normal...that's totally corporate equipment.  I get your point, and you may be right.  I just am a tad suspicious, and a little more tad paranoid!  In my paranoia, I fear a time when this country approaches socialism, things like hard drives will not be available because of the possibilities they offer on a very low, fundamental level.  For me, the hard drive is the #1 piece of computing equipment.  It's the books in the library.  I love my library the way rich people in centuries past treasured their books in their libraries.

2190

General Software Discussion / Re: streaming audio (creating an internet radio station)

« Last post by superboyac on December 20, 2011, 09:21 PM »

Thanks guys!  I'm trying those suggestions out.

Today, i was messing around with icecast and "butt".  Here's what I've learned.  Icecast is the "server" that makes a radio station.  It doesn't really do anything other than set everything up for something else to provide the content.  That's where BUTT comes in.  BUTT is one of the few GUI hosts (or clients, I don't know) for windows I could find.  It's really pretty easy, although the fields to fill out have no real documentation.  This is expected with all this f-ing open source stuff.  Sorry, I have a love/hate relationship with all this.  Great software, but be prepared to spend hours reading majorly technical geek jargon.  Anyway...

I just put up a test setup.  I love it!  I can totally do what I'm imagining (sorry, secret for now).  I was able to speak into a mic and have it streamed.  I was also able to record the mic.  The only problem I'm having is RELATIVE volume control.  The mic sounds great, but it's a good stage mic and I'm using a mic preamp (same mic I used for our business).  The other pc sounds are BARELY audible in the recording, even though while it's playing it's plenty loud.  But I have all that going through my amplifier and speakers and what not.  So here's the problem:

While recording:
My talking into the mic doesn't play in the speaker, which is a good thing.  But I hear all the other stuff playing on my computer, like my music.

After recording, listening to the recorded file:
All you really hear is what I said in the mic.  The rest of the computer sounds don't get recorded other than what the mic picks up.  That's because it's not recording it off of the source, it's recording it playing through the speakers and being picked up by the mic.


So how can I mix it all up?  Be able to capture my computer sounds, AND record on the mic?  Maybe Airtime can help with that.

2191

Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by superboyac on December 20, 2011, 11:27 AM »

Yeah, so my fear is that this is not about the flood, but the start of phasing out the hard drive volume for normal consumers.  More smartphones, more cloud stuff = less need for hard drives = less consumer demand = hard drive prices become more "corporate" = more expensive.

2192

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Actual Tools 40-75% off

« Last post by superboyac on December 20, 2011, 10:38 AM »

Actual Window Manager is kind of like their 'suite' - it's the whole set of functionality.

Product comparison: http://www.actualtoo...products/comparison/

Note that if you want the Actual Window Manager package, there's a DC Member discount of 50% that's supposed to be non-expiring, so it would be worth while to check if that's still working.

-mwb1100 (December 20, 2011, 10:05 AM)

Sounds pretty good, actually.  This is exactly the sort of third party tools I love.

2193

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Actual Tools 40-75% off

« Last post by superboyac on December 20, 2011, 09:35 AM »

I don't get it...it seems like Actual Window Manager has overlapping features with the other stuff there.  Is that true?  For example, multiple monitors...that's in the actual window manager also, no?

2194

General Software Discussion / streaming audio (creating an internet radio station)

« Last post by superboyac on December 19, 2011, 11:32 PM »

I'd like to create a website or server (or both) that will stream audio just like a radio station.  I'm having trouble figuring out how it all gets configured together.  I've done my google searches, but I'm not figuring it out so I need help.  I know there are the expensive ($500-1000) packages like wirecast, but that's beyond what I'm trying to do.  There's also ustream software, which is ok, but I don't really want to use ustream right now.  There's Shoutcast which I'm familiar with from years ago, but I don't know how it has evolved or if it is still a popular option.

As you can see, I don't really have any direction right now, so I'm interested in hearing your thoughts and advice.  I'd like to be stream the audio on a website, but I'd also like it to be something accessible through other sources like smartphones.  That's why something like Shoutcast is interesting, it's a link that can be pasted into shoutcast players which then plays the stream.  So you don't need to play it through the browser.  So I'd like to be able to cover all the bases.

I've seen people with Android phones use these radio apps to search a bunch of stations, I'd like to broadcast to those as well.  So there are several components involved here.  It would be nice if one software covered them all, but I doubt it.  So I'm all ears.  What broadcasting tools do I need? What recording software?  server software?  If I record on my desktop, and the website is hosted on a separate server, will that work?  My desktop ISP connection doesn't have great upload speeds, but the server does...so how do I take advantage of that?

2195

Living Room / Re: Flood of server hammering after sending out an email. Suspicious?

« Last post by superboyac on December 18, 2011, 07:01 PM »

Is this FTP? If so, it is normal. There are thousands of probes daily on just about any service you can setup. My home FTP server gets hit daily by about 20-30 random attempts to login. I suggest securing access by locking down the max number of attempts per 30-60 seconds, max # of accesses/sessions per ip, etc.

-Josh (December 18, 2011, 07:00 PM)

Cool, thanks.

2196

Living Room / Flood of server hammering after sending out an email. Suspicious?

« Last post by superboyac on December 18, 2011, 06:47 PM »

So, check this out.  I set up a private file server.  Nobody knows the address or anything, it's just for me.  I created a user profile for someone, and I emailed him (using gmail pop access) the login information.  Right after that, a bunch of ip's have been trying to get into the server using all sorts of usernames and passwords.  None of them have worked, but I'm wondering...if you send an email, is that just open for the world's hackers to read?  These ip's are all in asia or europe (mostly asia).  Pretty interesting.

2197

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Listary Pro for $9.95 on 17 December

« Last post by superboyac on December 18, 2011, 06:17 PM »

Nice find!  I love tools like this.  I'd like to see how it compares to my current favorite, Direct Folders.

2198

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: StartSSL.com Certificate Provider: Mini-Review

« Last post by superboyac on December 18, 2011, 02:54 PM »

Thanks mouser!  If you approve, I'm in!  I'll start using this very soon.

2199

General Software Discussion / Best free SSL certificate?

« Last post by superboyac on December 18, 2011, 01:17 AM »

Can anyone recommend one?  I'm trying out some things here with my server, and all the browsers go nuts without signed certificates.

2200

General Software Discussion / Re: AdBlock Plus To Not Block All Ads

« Last post by superboyac on December 17, 2011, 05:46 PM »

Yeah, they've been making that yellow-ish color lighter and lighter.  Very sneaky.