Recent Posts

29851

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by mouser on September 09, 2006, 12:40 AM »

Congratulations to jgpaiva (and nudone for the original idea):
GridMove was mentioned on LifeHacker today.

29852

Living Room / Re: How Digg Gets Everything Backwards.. And How to Fix It

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 11:19 PM »

Someone has brought up slashdot and asked how my suggestions relate to slashdot.

First of all let me say, I'm not a fan of slashdot.  I think it's become irrelevant, slow, and displays in general bad judgement about what stories are good vs. bad.

Which is a bit distressing since slashdot uses a model quite close to what I'm proposing, i.e. a crowd-suggest , expert-filter model.

A key difference though is that slashdot has very little transparency.  It's not clear who is selecting which stories and why.  The biases and conflicts of interest of editors is hidden.

I suggest that having transparent accountability of the domain expert editors is very important.  Users should be able to see exactly who made what decisions about what stories.

The idea of a representative voting system for the experts means that users can vote on (or rate) experts in much the same way they currently rate stories has a number of benefits.  Voting on experts based on their long term editing choices seems more rational and likely to lead to considered decisions as opposed to instantaneous mass voting based on a glimpse at headline titles.

29853

Developer's Corner / HELP REQUEST: Finding Developer Related Sites that Accept Press Releases

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 11:08 PM »

I am so overworked that i'm going to have to start asking for some help with stuff around here..
I hope some of you will be willing to step up and take a more active role here..
By working together we can help find information for each other.

Ok for this request, I'm asking for help finding urls (or emails if no url available) of places that accept official "press releases" about developer news, for example (and most specifically) programming contests.

Press releases have a very specific form, and some sites accept and post them, and most dont.  So this is kind of a specific thing.

Here's an example of the kind of page im interested in:
http://codeproject.c...PressRelease/new.asp

29854

Living Room / Re: How Digg Gets Everything Backwards.. And How to Fix It

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 10:37 PM »

a game theoretic analysis:
http://www.shmula.com/197/digg-as-a-game

29855

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENT (SEP 5, 2006)

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 10:20 PM »

of course, anyone is welcome to jump in whenever they discover this.

29856

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Record Source Selector

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 07:29 PM »

great johi!

rather than post it on yousend it, may i suggest you attach it (upload it) to your post.  you should see an attach button at the bottom of your post when you edit it or post a new reply.

if you need a web page to host freeware/donationware you develop just ask.

29857

Living Room / Re: Hi

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 06:46 PM »

could someone give me a way to turn off the rich editor buttons when making message?

buy a piece of masking tape. 

Welcome back allen.  Cody was actually threatening to go on strike if you didn't come back soon.

29858

Living Room / Re: Cool Gadget: USB Phonograph for Converting Records to Digital

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 05:30 PM »

thanks Keilup..

29859

General Software Discussion / Re: keeping/saving cloned files

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 05:26 PM »

http://www.ajcsoft.com/AJCActBkTour.php
http://www.caddais.c.../BackupOnDemand.html

I'm sure there are more as well.

29860

Post New Requests Here / Re: Font Creator

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 05:18 PM »

I note we are actually running a discount/giveaway on a font creation program this month, Font Creator Pro:
http://www.high-logi...com/fontcreator.html

See discount and giveaway drawing form here (must be a donating member of site):
https://www.donation.../Specials/index.html

29861

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENT (SEP 5, 2006)

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 05:12 PM »

One thing I really want to emphasize:

To make the GTD approach work, you absolutely MUST write down EVERY task that you need to do.
That means keeping a pen and notes/paper near by at all times, so that when you think of a new obligation or idea you can write it down and file it away.

It's critically important that you never find yourself saying "ok i'll remember i have to do that.."  The whole point is to completely free yourself from having to remember to do anything.

29862

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENT (SEP 5, 2006)

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 03:58 PM »

How's everyone coming with this?

• Have you learned and understood the key ideas behind GTD?
• Have you figured out which details make sense to you and which ones don't?
• Have you put some or all of the principles to work?

The deadline for this assignment is September 14.

Please report in and report how you are doing and any observations you may have made about GTD..

29863

Screenshot Captor / Re: Redbox only captures only works on second monitor

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 03:53 PM »

it does help, i just have to think about why this might be happening - i personally have a dual monitor setup with secondary on left and it works fine.. may have something to do with the graphics driver.  maybe check to see if there is an update for your graphics driver?

29864

Living Room / Re: Morals, free market, and what you can expect when you pay for software

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 02:46 PM »

i also like to view things in terms of supporting good developers.  i have seen how hard it is for most software authors to get by and make a living.

so if you buy a good program, and then discover a slightly better one, just think of it as you gave a bit of funding to the company to finance the improvement of their program

29865

Living Room / Re: how tall is Cody?

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 12:47 PM »

 
I think this is why cody might be eating all the coins.. he thinks there is chocolate in them.

29866

General Software Discussion / Re: keeping/saving cloned files

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 11:19 AM »

there are a few good directory-watching tools that should do what you want and create versioned or non-versioned backups where you want.  i dont know the names off hand but i know they exist.

29867

Living Room / Re: How Digg Gets Everything Backwards.. And How to Fix It

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 11:09 AM »

With the recent announcement by digg that they are going to try to tweak the algorithm to catch and circumvent the action of manipulative digg groups, this article has some quotes which point out the folly of this approach:
http://wired.com/new...0.html?tw=wn_index_2

"If 30 or 20 or 50 or 90 people want to digg each other's stories, let them," Chrisek, a Digg user in the site's top 60, said via e-mail. "I digg my friend's stories. I also report my friends' stories as inaccurate or as spam when need be. Am I more prone to digg stories from my friends? Of course."

the problem is that this unwanted behavior of a group of people conspiring to inflate a story onto the front page is completely indistinguishable from friends and strangers digging stories they like.

and let's share some laughs at netscape:

Jason Calacanis, head of a rival social news service at Netscape.com, scolded Digg for punishing its core contributors. "Frankly I think Digg is tripping over itself here," he wrote on his blog. "The top users earned their spot and they should be rewarded for their contributions -- not penalized. One person, one vote -- that's the rule. You can't change that or you change the fundamental premise of democracy."

Forgive my cynicism but i doubt Jason has the slightest bit of interest in the fundamental premise of democracy at netscape or on any other website - his concern is the business model and scratching away whatever market share he can from digg. so spare me.

29868

General Software Discussion / Re: Need Virtual Desktop software recommendations

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 10:46 AM »

tomos you might also want to check out our own LaunchBar Commander, which is similar to QSel:
https://www.donation.../LaunchBarCommander/

29869

Coding Snacks / Re: New Coding Snacks listing page

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 10:44 AM »

note the point of this is NOT to spur competition in the coding snacks section at all.
perhaps its best not to have a set amount each month but simply say that we will make a bigger effort to reward coding snack authors from site fund, without using a fixed formula..

29870

Living Room / Re: Morals, free market, and what you can expect when you pay for software

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 10:35 AM »

yep, it happens, probably quite frequently.
and some people do more research than others when searching, so its more likely to happen to some people.

i try not to worry about it too much - this kind of stuff happens - don't obsess over having wasted the money is what i say.

btw, there is absolutely no question in my mind that paid market has a dramatic (perhaps dominant) effect on making a program popular.  the issue is scary, depressing, pervasive, and stubborn.

one of the things we can all do about it is use our voices to overcome marketing hype.  if you know of a superior program that can't afford marketing, tell your friends, post it here, post reviews on sites. let's make DC a place where people can come to find the best tool for the job and not get unduly influenced by marketing money.  we can be part of the chorus of voices that helps people cut through this stuff and find those rare gems in the software desert.

29871

General Software Discussion / Re: keeping/saving cloned files

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 10:28 AM »

i think there exist programs for this, i'm looking forward to hearing which programs people recommend.

29872

Coding Snacks / Re: New Coding Snacks listing page

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 10:25 AM »

i really am liking this idea more and more.

consider:

http://minireviews.donationcoder.com
http://blog.donationcoder.com

now there is:

http://codingsnacks.donationcoder.com

BUT

i think we can bring more attention to pending coding snacks and make it a more interesting thing for more coders.
so i was thinking a page of OPEN coding snacks, and set aside a little bit of money each month to automatically distribute as donationcredits to anyone doing substantial work on coding snacks, as a recognition of what they add to the site.  This wouldn't really be a bounty as much as it would be simply giving something from the site fund to support coding snack authors.

29873

Living Room / Re: How Digg Gets Everything Backwards.. And How to Fix It

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 03:25 AM »

Since I mentioned netscape I thought maybe i should comment a little on the things going on at netscape and how they fit in.

One of the principle ideas here at donationcoder.com is the idea of trying to find a fair way to reward those who create content on the site.

The netscape idea of paying their top users makes some sense to me, in that it is keeping with the idea of returning some of the money being made on the site from advertisements, back to the users responsible for the content which is generating this revenue.

One of the difficulties that sites like netscape have is in getting right the "incentive" issue.  If top users are determined and paid based on the traffic they generate, then the *incentive* for them is to create traffic, whether by hype or manipulation, is substantial.  This is part of the danger of paying people based on some metric - their is a strong incentive to play to that incentive.

(As an aside, this is one of the reasons we have tried to avoid any system on this site to reward people based on traffic, downloads, etc., but instead try to facilitate and encourage DIRECT user-to-user donations.  The hope is that the incentive will therefore be on creating content that users actually benefit from and appreciate. This approach is, like the others, not with it's own dangers, such as the possibility that content creators will be motivated to focus only on content which generates donations..)

29874

Living Room / Re: How Digg Gets Everything Backwards.. And How to Fix It

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 01:53 AM »

More essays on recent trouble in diggland:
http://www.roughtype.../09/undiggnified.php
http://insignificant...is-fed-up-after-all/
http://thevineofhob....king-and-the-economy

And an older thread here:
https://www.donation...10.msg35824#msg35824

29875

Living Room / Cool Gadget: USB Phonograph for Converting Records to Digital

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2006, 01:42 AM »

I must have a thousand lps, so i just my grab this..

This Plug 'n' Play USB turntable can digitize your treasured vinyl LP collection so you can listen to it on your computer. The turntable includes software to edit and cleanup your digitized audio files and it can be connected to your stereo system and used as a standard turntable as well. Includes felt slipmat, 45-rpm adapter, line level RCA cables, USB cable and recording software on CD-ROM. Requires Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP or Mac OS 9+. MP3 recording requires third-party encoder, not included.

http://www.x-tremege....asp?productID=12071

from www.popgadget.net