Recent Posts
In this series of posts I will walk through some of my accumulated knowledge and experience in building high-tech startups...
This series will focus on lessons learned from this entire cross-section of Silicon Valley startups -- so don't think that anything I am talking about is referring to one of my own companies: most likely when I talk about a scenario I have seen or something I have experienced, it is from some other startup that I am not naming but was involved with some other way than as a founder...
...Any child of the 1980s and 1990s will remember Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and Math Blaster Mystery: The Great Brain Robbery, games that promised to make skills acquisition fun. They'll also remember ditching Mavis Beacon for something with guns as soon as their parents' backs were turned. Making games educational is like dumping Velveeta on broccoli...
Ah, isn't that the inherent problem with forums — that guys like me don't pay attention to what's new and just dump everything into one of two sections?! ...-zridling (June 28, 2007, 02:42 PM)
I have trolls follow me around on and off for years at a time, just posting insults right after I post something. I work hard to ignore them, but sometimes you have to engage. I've found that more often than not, retaliating got ME banned. So for one particular jerk, I created my own page for him and whenever he posts another slam, I just follow it up with this link: Ouch, the stupid, it burns! (R-rated for rantly cursing)
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Ouch, the stupid, it hurts!-zridling (June 25, 2007, 08:09 AM)
LOVE YA Zaine!!!! So, keep that in mind the next time someone bashes you. Lovingly , KenEvery one of my favorite graphics programs has wound up getting bought out over the years... Probably a lesson for me in there somewhere-- maybe why I've given up not ever buying from companies I dislike. I've got & use P/Shop 7, and will eventually get around to upgrading to CS3, but only to preserve my ability to upgrade and pay the far lesser price... 7's the oldest version that qualifies I think, & probably won't for CS4.
-mikiem (June 23, 2007, 11:13 AM)
After trying PSP XI a little; I didn't notice any severe problems and am pretty impressed. I even created a cool CD image (which I'm pretty proud of) that I'm using for a couple icons in Directory Opus.
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I think PSP is one of the most intuitive paint programs out there (I haven't tried them all though, but I'm attempting to). But I must say that I was missing some of the features I managed to discover in The GIMP during it's 1 day on my computer. The most notable would be selection constraints in The GIMP. By holding Shift, Ctrl, and/or Alt you can force the selection tool to be constrained to different shapes/have different origin points. So, if you're using the 'Circle' selection tool, you can hold one key to make the cursor the center of the circle, by holding another you can force the selection to be a perfect circle, and by holding both you can do both. VERY handy IMO!-Hirudin (June 16, 2007, 11:42 AM)
) called my attention to this thread. I think you're right. It summed it up perfectely!Just out of curiosity, are any of these programs better than Acrobat? I have Acrobat v7 Standard, which I got with a scanner. Is there any reason I would WANT to use anything else to work with my PDF files?Ken,
Thanks, Ken-KenR (June 22, 2007, 05:06 PM)
Scansoft's PDF Converter Pro (Current version is 4, though I have version 3) is very good working with PDF files, when it works. But it is pretty buggy IMO. Actually quite a few users are having ... $300 is too much for me to pay for occasional home use only, so I sought less expensive alternatives.-J-Mac (June 22, 2007, 11:09 PM)
The answer to the first question may be a reluctant yes, but the answer to the second question is a resounding and definitive no. I was struck by this beautifully written piece which explains the dangers of programming alone:
Some folks have claimed that [working alone] presents a great opportunity to establish your own process. In my experience, there is no process in a team of one. There's nothing in place to hold off the torrents of work that come your way. There's no one to correct you when the urge to gold-plate the code comes along. There's no one to review your code. There's no one to ensure that your code is checked in on time, labeled properly, unit tested regularly. There's no one to ensure that you're following a coding standard...
Have you looked at Serif's DRAW PLUS 8? Not sure it's in the same league as the tools mentioned above, but I've enjoyed Serif software for many years. Url is http://www.serif.com.../drawplus8/index.asp
Chuck-brotman (June 19, 2007, 04:09 PM)
...–Normal Sleep Mode–
With normal sleep mode a computer will go into standby, which is a state your computer can quickly resume from. It basically keeps power flowing through your memory, but just about everything else is shutdown...
...–Hybrid Sleep Mode–
But what about desktop computers? If you put your computer into standby, and then a little bit later your power goes out, everything will be lost. The desktop has no time to put the computer into hibernation like a laptop would, so you’re left with nothing.
Well, not with the new hybrid sleep mode. With this enabled your computer will store the contents of your memory immediately when entering sleep mode.
The troll comes to the door of a new forum and sets down his bag of tricks. If he has a grudge against the people inside discussing and debating their passions with a certain degree of amicability, peacability and decorum, he does not show them. He has the cracked, stoic smile of Robin Goodfellow, a Puck with the simple desire to disrupt peace itself. He loves chaos; his bag is full of golden apples he can lob to set the masses squabbling. He has also many masks, smoke bombs, straw men, cloaks, puppets, matches, ethanol, knives, dust, sand, and magicks of the most arcane sort. He knows what he is about - causing trouble. Why?...
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In addition, I am offering the 50% discount for Professional version of Check&Get till the release of 'final' version 3.
Here is the link:
http://secure.emetri...p;DC=beta50&CUR=
...-dis (May 15, 2006, 08:31 AM)
Well, I would recommend you to check out Newzie...-Dirhael (May 29, 2007, 06:23 PM)
What's this all about?
Every songwriter I know keeps a record of the songs they've written. Whether it be in a notebook or on the PC, these songs are usually accompanied by other information like chord progressions, tabs, and sometimes a simple mp3 file.
I wanted a way to organize this information myself, and figured there would be a lot of people in my exact situation. With that, the idea for JamJunky was born.