Recent Posts

3251

Living Room / Re: iPod - tell me why I should buy one

« Last post by superboyac on November 17, 2010, 03:29 PM »

OK, I'm very familiar with this subject.  Here's how I decided to get my player, which is a Sony player very similar to the model above, but the higher end one.  I got the Sony because the sound quality is what I made my priority.  Sony's sound quality is noticeably better than Apple's, something I was initially skeptical about.  Apple sounds muffled compared to Sony.  So that was a very strong priority for me.

The one thing that I would say Apple does way better than anyone is getting music onto the ipod.  With itunes and the ipod, it's easy to get songs on, whether you buy it from itunes, already have files on your computer, or just have cd's you want to put it on.  Apple does that with the least amount of hassle.  now, getting it OFF the player is a different story.  It's going to be a hassle trying to use your itune files on other computers, or getting it off of the player, or pretty much anything that doesn't involve the specific itunes/ipod combination that is your "homebase".  I hate that, so I'll never get an ipod because of that alone.

If you are willing to deal with a little bit of hassle of getting music on your player, which means downloading drivers, possibly using 3rd party tools, reading forums for troubleshooting, maybe spending a day figuring out the file transfer procedure...then you should get something other than Apple.  Because you will have better options regarding sound quality, interfaces, sharing files, using the device on other computers, drm issues, etc.

That's my advice.

3252

Living Room / Advice on portable dedicated GPS devices?

« Last post by superboyac on November 17, 2010, 12:48 PM »

Hi everyone, I'm looking into getting a portable GPS device.  I don't have a data plan on my cell phone (blackberry pearl), but I want GPS.  I was thinking of getting two things: the Garmin mobile app for my cell phone ($100), and a dedicated portable full size GPS device.  So I just wanted some advice on the devices available, what you guys think of them, which ones you prefer, etc.

My first point of confusion is regarding the Garmin high end and low end products.  The low end stuff is under $200.  The high end stuff is over $400.  What does the $400 really provide that is so much better?  I can't tell what that is.

Also, what is the verdict on Garmin vs. TomTom?  I don't want generalities.  I want specifics.  If there is some little feature that is particularly annoying, I want to know about it.  Those things usually make it or break it for me.  As usual, my primary focus is ease of use, speed (I hope these things aren't slow in response), nice interface.

Thanks!

3253

Living Room / Re: Nokia CEO admits that the cell phone industry is a gimmick.

« Last post by superboyac on November 17, 2010, 12:35 PM »

Why do phones have to be tied to carriers?  Why can't I just get whatever phone I want, and then choose whatever carrier I want?

-superboyac (September 21, 2010, 09:13 AM)

Google tried, but just as they were set to rollout this very thing in '07 with the Open Handset Alliance which included 78 hardware vendors and phone/data carriers. Then one-by-one they reconsidered when they saw that far more money could be made if, like Apple, they all separately built their own phones and tied them to their networks via long customer contracts. It's a TOTAL ripoff. It would have been dreamy to be able to buy an unlocked phone, and THEN let carriers vie for your business on it. But the capitalists who decide that the customer should always get screwed first, last, and at all points in between told Google they wouldn't participate.

The whole idea was over before it ever got started.

-zridling (November 17, 2010, 12:11 PM)

What a shame.  Which is why I'm still holding off on getting any data plan.  All I want is GPS, really.  I'm just going to get a dedicated portable GPS device.  Any recommendations?

3254

General Software Discussion / Re: My new favorite ftp client: Total Commander (yes, really)

« Last post by superboyac on November 17, 2010, 08:46 AM »

I use DOpus - it simply opens a pane in my two-pane UI and it works just like any other directory. Pretty sweet!

-J-Mac (November 16, 2010, 10:30 PM)

But I believe superboyac wants SFTP/SSH capability - with DOpus that costs an extra AU$10 per license.

-4wd (November 16, 2010, 11:12 PM)

Yes, I would need all that with Explicit something or other.  Most ftp clients I've encountered do not have this.  It's not clear if Dopus can do it either, since there's nothing about the details of its ftp features on the Dopus website.  I'd love it if it could, since I use DOpus primarily.  Has anyone here connected to the dc server using Dopus?

And 40hz is back again!  Welcome back!...hold on, I'm going to do my 40hz is back dance:
 

3255

General Software Discussion / My new favorite ftp client: Total Commander (yes, really)

« Last post by superboyac on November 16, 2010, 07:39 PM »

After years of not really having a preferred ftp client, I've realized that Total Commander is the best for me.  My ideal ftp client should act just like my regular file manager as much as possible.  I used to use Filezilla for the most part.  I liked Cuteftp for a while because it was feature rich.  The biggest obstacles are usually in the connection issues.  When the dc server was changed to a more secure kind of server a while back, not all ftp clients had the features to connect to it.  So it really limited the options available.  Surprisingly, TC was well equipped for it.  And I think we have someone here to thank for it (I forget who) but he made suggestions specifically for the dc server on the tc forums as well as the forum here.  Anyway, it works really well, and once connected, you pretty much can treat it like any other folder.  I love that.  DOpus also has ftp features, but I'm not sure if it can handle the security here.  And even if it does, I'd have to pay an extra few dollars for the added feature.  I should actually try that sometime, I know the standard ftp featureset can't do it.  But TC works really well.  Very cool!

3256

General Software Discussion / Re: Please recommend a good "shopping cart" website widget

« Last post by superboyac on November 16, 2010, 07:25 PM »

Thats the thing about it, even as a default theme, you can sit there and thing, "ill just change the products, logo and slideshow and leave things as they are" instead of some, like Zen, or osCommerce where you think "right, EVERYTHING needs to go...now HOW do I do it?" lol

I know when I first installed it I thought "Wow, I hardly have to touch it"


**edit**

I may review this...hmm...yeah...I think I will, keep a look-out on the reviews section, it will be there within 24 hours 

-Stephen66515 (November 16, 2010, 06:37 PM)

Thank you so much.  I would really appreciate the review.  I'm already pretty excited about it.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Please recommend a good "shopping cart" website widget

« Last post by superboyac on November 16, 2010, 05:41 PM »

Awesome, would certainly love to see the outcome.

If you need any help, gimme a shout, im not exactly a pro with it, but spent a fair few hours figuring out the admin side of things now

-Stephen66515 (November 16, 2010, 04:29 PM)

Thanks Stephen, I really appreciate that.  I'll definitely keep you in mind for when I run into issues...and I will.  I just love that it's completely open and free, and the shopping cart and website stuff is all in the same package.  Actually, what's more important is that it LOOKS like a nice, elegant website.  I'm very impressed so far.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Please recommend a good "shopping cart" website widget

« Last post by superboyac on November 16, 2010, 04:25 PM »

Thanks.  It really seems to be the best all-in-one solution so far.  Previously, the best solution I had was using wordpress with the Prophoto theme and a shopping cart plugin.  But this is better i think.  I will experiment this week.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Please recommend a good "shopping cart" website widget

« Last post by superboyac on November 16, 2010, 04:11 PM »

If you would rather use a fully featured, open source, free, ecommerce script, i would HIGHLY recommend www.tomatocart.com

The admin back-end of that is without competition and the slick design is so simple to modify even a person with very little knowledge of web-design could manage it in a click.

-Stephen66515 (November 16, 2010, 03:31 PM)

Stephen!  Thanks!  That looks so awesome.  i was dreading the deadline I've set because i wasn't sure if I could set up a good looking store in time.  And i didn't want to pay an hourly programmer's salary, nor did I want any of those monthly fee managed solutions.  This tomatocart looks really great.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Please recommend a good "shopping cart" website widget

« Last post by superboyac on November 16, 2010, 03:25 PM »

Curt, awesome find!  The application is very promising, especially for a free one.  I'm going to seriously play around with it.  It may not be be a website shopping cart plugin, but it may prove to be extremely useful for the simple accounting that I will need.  Maybe it will let me avoid using Quickbooks or Peachtree, both of which are overkill for my needs.

3261

General Software Discussion / Re: Return of the Son of the best *free* Windows Text Editor

« Last post by superboyac on November 16, 2010, 03:18 PM »

I don't mean to sound rude, but what is the big deal about Wordstar?

-superboyac (November 15, 2010, 11:39 PM)

This article, WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor by SF author Robert J. Sawyer is the the best explanation I've seen.

-rjbull (November 16, 2010, 03:09 PM)

Interesting.  I'm always a little fascinated and puzzled by how these old programs are held in such high esteem even long after the technology has advanced so much that the interface is very unfamiliar.  The article makes some great points about how it's difficult to write freely on a computer vs. a sheet of paper (which I prefer when I'm really sketching things out).  but I'm not convinced that Wordstar really offers something to the new user.  For people used to it, I get it...it's efficient.  But for a new user, what would they use?  I plan on writing more soon, so I purchased Liquid Story Binder, which I've always like the idea, but never really used yet.  I find nothing comes close to paper yet, for me.  But if a program can bridge that gap between what the author calls "serialness" of computer word processors and the freedom of paper.  I still can't even imagine something as good as paper, and I've looked, believe me.  Just recently, i even bought a spiral-bound notebook to jot my ideas down.  But even that was too restrictive.  I've settled on just loose leaf paper.  Nothing beats loose leaf paper for me.  My friend doesn't even know why I even bother looking for alternatives.  He might be right.

3262

General Software Discussion / Re: Return of the Son of the best *free* Windows Text Editor

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 11:39 PM »

I don't mean to sound rude, but what is the big deal about Wordstar?  I looked it up on Wikipedia and didn't get a feel for why people want these features.  Isn't it just a matter of having customizeable keyboard shortcuts?

3263

Living Room / Re: Hold on!! Superboy badge?!

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 05:59 PM »

Bahahaha.    Too funny.  No insult intended whatsoever, superboyac.  Mouser and I did it strictly for the lulz.   

-skwire (November 15, 2010, 05:26 PM)

i know, you guys are the best.  I like that you have fun with it.  It makes me feel better about asking for things.  I hate asking for help and making work for others.  The irony is that I do it all the time.

3264

AutoHotkey / Re: Can AHK cut/paste excel cells into fields of another program?

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 05:58 PM »

That's good to know.  Do you think it would be a very hard to do it for someone like me who has never used AHk before?  My background is that I'm familiar with the logic of programming.  I've had experience programming the TI calculators pretty extensively, and I was good with Lisp back in the day.  My point is, I understand the logic, just not the syntax.

3265

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 05:17 PM »

Duly noted.  Thanks Miles.

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General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 03:44 PM »

Ugh...I'm trying to avoid multi step, multi software things.  I'll stick with FAVC until I have issues, then I'll probably just give up.  I don't do this that often.
I'm just surprised there aren't better one-click solutions out there.  I figure this is a very common thing people run into.  I know people always have videos on their computer, and they'd love to watch it on their regular tv, so a one click solution would be great for that.  i really liked AShampoo's attempt, if it just worked.
More programs like MakeMkv should come out.  one click, no fuss solutions.

3267

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: For non-programmers: Editpad is the best text editor (for now!)

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 02:56 PM »

I take it you're talking about $ Pro, not free Lite?

You might be interested to note tranglos' comments on EditPad-Pro vs. EmEditor: Re: EditPad Pro discounted at Bits du Jour on December 18

-rjbull (November 15, 2010, 02:45 PM)

I see.  Tranglos always has good things to say.  Here's the part that hit home with me:

I use both EditPad Pro and EmEditor, depending on my mood and what I'm doing. My advice: if you need (or would like to play with) virtually unlimited scripting, or if you enjoy having mind-bogglingly extensive control over the look and behavior of the editor depending on file type, go for EmEditor. If scripting isn't a concern, then EditPad Pro is also a very polished and convenient, with some extreme serching power and good configurability.

3268

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 02:19 PM »

@superboyac: have you tried AVStoDVD as well? And if so, what do you think about it? I ask because AVStoDVD and FAVC are the two I use.

Unlike FAVC, AVStoDVD still has an active developer who remains receptive to user comments. 

-sajman99 (November 15, 2010, 02:17 PM)

I haven't tried it yet.  I just went off Miles' suggestion so far.  I'll give that a shot next time.  It sounds good also.

3269

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 12:49 PM »

It would be nice if I could get $5.  A lot of sites you can't even put your URL in your sig unless everything on the site for download is free. If you use the Paypal donation button on a lot of sites you may see it has an email associated with it with the ID of [email protected] because the person originally thought they would be able to sell the stuff.  When you find the barriers then you try to at least get a donation here and there.

It's tough to sell software on internet unless it's something that helps get other stuff free. Like a binary news reader.  Most categories there's so much freeware, unless you have some white knight backer, you can't compete. How can you charge when the other guy gives it away?

-MilesAhead (November 15, 2010, 12:27 PM)

Yeah, i don't know what the solution is.  It's one of my primary disagreements with the freeware community.  I understand that if you charge for it, people will turn to other free stuff.  But very very few people charge nominal fees like $5.  The lowest price for shareware, generally speaking, is about $30.  It's not expensive, but it's outside of the comfort range for most people.  If it was in the $10 range, people would just get it because it's like nothing.  And I feel it would go a long way to polish up these interfaces.  But the freeware community will fight this: not just the users, but the developers themselves.  There's a very strong belief among developers that this stuff SHOULD be free, on an ethical level.  Some of them do everything free, and also pay a lot of attention to polish and extras.  Mouser is very good example of this.  But most developers can't sustain that, and the software either dies, or remains in a raw, command-line kind of interface forever.  And users like me are tired of needing to learn cryptic commands all the time and read forums and geeky documentation just to do what feels like simple tasks.
Whoo...I'm going a little overboard here.  I need to get back to work.  I hope in a couple of years, i can think about these issues and be able to do something good about it.

3270

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 12:42 PM »

johnmarsh, I agree with Miles.  I tried all of those other programs.  Maybe not all, but a lot of them.  Nero had too many issues with the files, took too long to convert and burn without really telling you why.  It just felt very unsatisfying.
I also tried Ashampoo's offerings...their regular burning software, and the shrink n burn one.  I love Ashampoo's interface designs.  but the program was buggy and crashed a lot.  I can already see that most of the major companies have issues with a lot of the video file formats that we currently run into.  Dealing with video files, DVD stuff, codecs, etc. is a very complicated thing in the internet world.  The formats are really governed by what goes on in the pirating world.  So, whether companies like it or not, the right way to approach designing this kind of software, if you want it to work, is to be familiar with how the pirates are using it.  Hey, it's true.  By the way, this is EXACTLY why most dvd players today still do not support all of the different file types, or have very klunky support for them.  The industry does not want to make it easy to just stick in a data DVD with a bunch of avi files and play it easily.  By making it hard with all these conversion issues and complications, it makes it harder to quickly download a movie and play it on your tv.  Just FYI.
That's also probably why most of the good tools are all of these little command prompt stuff hidden away in forums.  Pirates are the ones using this stuff mostly.  But their little solutions are really effective and great.  I once tried to look into how the famous AXXO makes his videos, only to find out it's deliberatly shrouded in a mystery.  I wanted to convert my dvd's like he does because he gets really great quality with relatively small file sizes.  When i tried to convert my dvd's using default program options, my quality was horrible at similar file sizes, and I had to go to enormous file sizes to have the same quality as axxo.  So I never figured that out.  now I just copy my dvd's using makemkv, but they are uncompressed, which means I will soon need many more hard drives.
What else did I try?  Dvdlab...very nice program, but not a one-click solution.  I am keeping in mind for when I want to make some more customized dvd's.  But usually, I just want to grab some files and make a dvd quickly.  And it doesn't convert any videos, you ahve to do that before using it.
What else...TMPG stuff.  Very highly regarded for it's quality, but the program itself is pretty klunky.  Errors, bugs occur frequently.  To me, it was more of a pain than a convenience.
Anyway, I've tried dozens of programs related to all of this.  I have to say, video stuff is one of the most complicated things I've had to deal with as far as software.

3271

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 12:20 PM »

Hmmm...no I didn't check everything in the DVD, I just played it once and checked a couple of minutes of it.  The only thing I'd change about FAVC is just to polish it up a bit.  But I can say that for a lot of software.  The good thing is that it works.  The polished programs don't work as well.  That's my only gripe with freeware.  The motivation to polish things up is not there.  I still insist that all you freeware guys should charge some minimal fee for your stuff like $5-10 to help you sustain your motivation and support.  It's so little money, it's practically freeware anyway.  Anyway...off topic.

3272

Mini-Reviews by Members / For non-programmers: Editpad is the best text editor (for now!)

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 12:02 PM »

http://www.editpadpro.com/
Well, I've flirted with text editors for several years, but I didn't really delve into it like I normally do with software until recently.  After a few months of playing around with a lot of the editors out there, I've settled.  Editpad is the best text editor for me.

I'm not a programmer, so my needs are different from most of the people here who discuss their preferred text editors.  I've cycled through EmEditor, Notepad++, Editpad, and Ultraedit.  But in the end, Editpad wins out.  Let me just briefly mention my favorite things about it, and maybe later I'll have to create a nice article for it on my website.

Editpad's interface is awesome.  I love this programmer.  It's clear that close attention has been paid to every little aspect of the interface.  The icons are crisp, the dialogs are clear and intuitive.  He's really gone out of his way to make it look good: I think he has programmed the visual elements on his own, and he didn't use stock stuff that programmers use.  You can tell because things like the document tabs, icons, and certain dialogs are not "normal" looking.  Very nice.

A lot of the text editors make handling all the different types of syntaxes, fonts, and visual elements too complicated.  I know that it's a difficult thing to implement for programmers because there are so many things to consider.  So I'm not saying the other programs don't do a good job, I just like the way Editpad Pro has done it.  Simple.

I may not know programming, but i can tell when a programmer goes the extra distance.  This guy goes the extra distance.  It's like he won't stand for just the standard default stuff.  He WILL custom code things to get it just right.  I love that.  He's definitely in my short list of preferred programmers.

3273

AutoHotkey / Can AHK cut/paste excel cells into fields of another program?

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 10:51 AM »

I'm trying to automate a repetitive task I do at work.  I have an excel sheet with standard columns.  For each individual row, I need to cut and paste the cells into the fields of another application.  Can AHK automate such a thing?  I'm guessing it can, and I'm also assuming that i can figure out how to code it.  Some of the fields are drop-down boxes or fields with their own popup dialogs.  Is that possible to automate?  I just need to know up front before I start getting into it.

3274

Living Room / Re: Hold on!! Superboy badge?!

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 10:47 AM »

After reading the awesome alpha-sorting programmer discussion, i think he does!  That was hilarious.

3275

Living Room / Re: Hold on!! Superboy badge?!

« Last post by superboyac on November 15, 2010, 09:41 AM »

hehehehe 

it wasn't meant as any insult to you, was just a fun little joke and skwire and i wanted to see how long it took you to notice it 

-mouser (November 15, 2010, 09:38 AM)

So how long did it take me?  It couldn't have been more than a couple of weeks, I'm guessing it started with the List Numberer thing.  No?