Recent Posts

32576

Living Room / Re: Who has made the best house for their pet?

« Last post by mouser on March 11, 2006, 10:18 AM »

my entry - my latest modifications include a little dining out window where treats can be placed,
and most importantly, the addition of a water bottle.

it took the cat a few days to figure out how to use the water bottle but now it absolultely LOVES it.

32577

Living Room / Who has made the best house for their pet?

« Last post by mouser on March 11, 2006, 10:16 AM »

Ok it's time for another contest - who has made the best house for their creature .
sponsored by Cody our Mascot - prize and deadline unknown.

Post your pictures and descriptions!

32578

General Software Discussion / free anything to pdf printer

« Last post by mouser on March 11, 2006, 09:58 AM »

http://www.primopdf.com/

Convert to PDF from any application by simply 'printing' to the PrimoPDF® printer - it couldn't be easier! Within minutes, you can create high-quality PDFs by converting from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and virtually any other printable file type.
FREE PDF Converter - not a trial version.
Print to PDF from virtually any application.
Create PDF output optmized for print, screen, ebook, or prepress.
No annoying pop-up ads, no registration requirement - no catch!
High-quality, easy to use PDF creator for all users.

free for home use; pay for developer or enterprise us.

from http://riccardo.raneri.it/blog/eng/

32579

Living Room / The Universe Within - very cool flash image zooms from galaxy to atoms

« Last post by mouser on March 11, 2006, 09:53 AM »

http://micro.magnet....owersof10/index.html

View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.

from The Athanasius Kircher Society

32580

Screenshot Captor / Re: Startup on task bar and sys tray bug

« Last post by mouser on March 11, 2006, 09:22 AM »

there is an option in screenshot captor preferences dialog to start with windows.
use that instead of your own /autorun and you should be ok, yes?

32581

Living Room / flow - extremely cool flash game that has touches of "spore" in it

« Last post by mouser on March 11, 2006, 09:20 AM »

http://jenovachen.co...ns/flowing/core.html

32582

Skrommel's Software / Re: Wow! Thanks for all the cool applications!

« Last post by mouser on March 11, 2006, 12:43 AM »

you should donate directly to skrommel.
just click the link on the left side of his page: http://skrommel.donationcoder.com/

we're going to soon make it much easier to donate both to general site and individual authors, but in this case skrommel is the one deserving your support.  and thank you for supporting the programmers on this site.

32583

Screenshot Captor / Re: AutoPrint: Not doing its job

« Last post by mouser on March 11, 2006, 12:28 AM »

looks like i need to add the direct print feature then if people seem to really want it.

32584

General Software Discussion / Gamer Dad website

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 08:07 PM »

http://www.gamerdad.com/index.cfm

Two and a half years ago I launched GamerDad.com into an industry that didn't seem ready for it. I knew I was a parent, I "gamed with children," and I knew other people did too. But the conventional wisdom said that it wasn't a phenomenon....

32585

Living Room / a brilliant idea for a card came: 5-card nancy

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 11:32 AM »

http://www.scottmccl...ons/nancy/nancy.html

someone needs to make some computer versions of this.

32586

Living Room / Re: Spore spurred your thoughts? Have a look at Apple's multi touch screen movie!

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 10:29 AM »

very cool - most of these new kinds of user interfaces i am extremely skeptical (like the 3d user interfaces which i find just silly)-
but the main impression you get from this is how powerful have TWO to FOUR (thumb and index of each hand) manipulators are, and how they open up all kinds of new possibilities for manipulating objects.

32587

General Software Discussion / Cody is staring in a video game now!?!?

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 09:28 AM »

Seems that during his recent vacation to space our mascot Cody was involved in an interstellar alternate reality event:

http://www.gothic.dcmembers.com/

I think it's safe to say that Space Duck will be technologically superior to Spore (and if i'm wrong i'll eat a hat-shaped donut).

32588

Living Room / Re: Updating the forum software to 1.1RC2

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 09:17 AM »

i think this is wise advice.

we should also add another important fact:
tabbed browsers all have an option to open a link in a new tab.
but the opposite is not true - so opening in same page by default is not so hard for users who want things in new tabs to work around, while the opposite may not be the case.

i guess you've mostly convinced me to disable this feature of the forum..

however i still feel like when you are in a forum it's a bit different - because the workflow normall dictates that you are usually going to want to continue browsing in the forum - and losing your place is an expensive waste of time if you have to try to find your way back..

32589

Living Room / Re: Hope you don't mind me stealing a few words :)

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 06:07 AM »

i was going to mention editpad pro but i didn't want to deprive allen of the fun of it.
i've promised to give editpad pro a good long look when the next version comes out to see if it can dethrone ultraedit.

32590

Living Room / Re: Read blog from the guy behind the viral marketing of microsofts origami

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 06:06 AM »

http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Viral_marketing

Viral marketing is sometimes used to describe some sorts of Internet-based stealth marketing campaigns, including the use of blogs, seemingly amateur web sites, and other forms of astroturfing to create word of mouth for a new product or service. Often the ultimate goal of viral marketing campaigns is to generate media coverage via "offbeat" stories worth many times more than the campaigning company's advertising budget.

32591

Living Room / instructables.com - cool multistep tutorial blog

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 06:03 AM »

http://www.instructables.com/

Welcome to Instructables: step-by-step collaboration
Instructables is a venue for showing what you make and how others can make it.
Making things is part of being human. Whether you make bikes, kites, food, clothing, protocols for biology research, or hack consumer electronics, good instructions are critical.
Instructables is a step-by-step collaboration system that helps you record and share your projects with a mixture of images, text, ingredient lists, CAD files, and more. We hope to make documentation simple and fast. Show your colleagues how to operate a machine, show your friends how to build a kayak, show the world how to make cool stuff.

a little picture will go a long way to showing you why this is cool:

32592

Best Music Service / Re: Napster not good for casual music purchasers.

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 05:39 AM »

when we started our reviews a year ago they were much more "here is the best one", but we are trying to move more torwards comparative reviews rather than just focusing on one program we think is best.

32593

Living Room / Re: Updating the forum software to 1.1RC2

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 05:36 AM »

yes it wouldnt be hard for me to write it into the forum - the issue i have is some of us like having it open on a new tab, so id like to have it as an option, either using a firefox addin options, or forum options for each user.

i dont actually see it in user options but i could add the option if its impossible to do via firefox addin.

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Living Room / Re: Updating the forum software to 1.1RC2

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 03:47 AM »

ill look into the option - i would only change it if users could select it as an option as i need to  have external links open in new windows or ill get lost.

i wonder if tabmix or another ff tab extension has an option that lets you say, for a specific site (say donationcoder.com) , open all links in current page.  that would be very nice and solve your problem, and i wouldn't be surprised if it did.  anyone know?

32595

Best Music Service / Re: Napster not good for casual music purchasers.

« Last post by mouser on March 10, 2006, 01:23 AM »

excellent and well thought out post!

it's been almost a year since the napster review and i would have to say that i would be more cautious now as well recommending napster.

i personally find the pay-per-song approach of itunes unacceptable for my needs, so itunes is not a viable contender for my attentions.  i also dont go to such a music site to buy specific songs.  i'm old fashioned i guess and i like to buy a whole album if i'm going to buy music, usually the real cd/record.

but i do like to explore music with these services, and i love the idea of a monthly fee which lets you download as many full songs as you want.

the one very real addition i would make to the review is the one you made, that there are now some really excellent alternative ways of exploring music, like pandora and also one you didn't mention, lastfm: https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=1880.0

such sites may be more satisfying (and free) ways to discover new music, and your conclusion may be a very good one that bears repeating:

If you're looking to buy music, stick with iTunes. If you want to explore new music you haven't heard of before, then perhaps Napster is for you. But as a casual music purchaser with a very limited income, try http://www.pandora.com/ or http://www.mercora.com/ (both free) to find new music you'd like, then purchase it with iTunes. Your experience should be much less stressful that way. If you can't find it in iTunes, you probably won't find it in Napster.

however, until itunes comes out with a flat monthly fee thing for unlimited non-drm'd downloads ill keep looking for the perfect service.

32596

Find And Run Robot / Re: License Key is Invalid

« Last post by mouser on March 09, 2006, 09:23 PM »

you do not need to donate again!

and this is same program reported by others having trouble - there must be a bug in how it's saving the key.
i'll have to check into it this weekend and release an update.

until then here is your solution.  this will work:

here is how you can save the license key manually in the meantime:

0. exit Find and Run Robot from the system tray.
1. create a text file with the following name:
   DonationCoder_findrunrobot_Key.dat
2. put your license key (which will be several lines long and
   start with *r1; into that file.
3. save the file in the Find and Run Robot directory
  (usually C:\Program Files\Find and Run Robot)

note that this license key can be moved between machines, etc. and it's presence will register the program so you don't have to manually enter the key when installing it on a new computer.

again, sorry for the troubles - i will try to find the problem and release an update asap.

32597

General Software Discussion / Re: be careful downloading free screensavers

« Last post by mouser on March 09, 2006, 07:49 PM »

btw lanux if you want to its very easy to attach images to posts themselves instead of uploading to a site like imageshack (if you want to).  and you can even use thumbnails.

for more info see https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=1996.0

32598

Living Room / Re: Hope you don't mind me stealing a few words :)

« Last post by mouser on March 09, 2006, 07:36 PM »

of course! everyone is welcome to excerpt anything on our site as long as attribution is provided.

32599

Living Room / Re: Unable to find or download license keys!!!

« Last post by mouser on March 09, 2006, 07:31 PM »

sometimes its hard to see the forest for the trees - we apologize for the frustration and we're always looking for ways to make things simpler.

you can download a free license key from this page:
https://www.donation...r.com/Keys/index.php

youll find the link to that page all over the site, looking like this:


and on the flipbook printer page itself like this:


and also on the "Links and Info" page on the top navigation bar:


actually now that i see that i think we should add the picture-based one to the software pages as well.

we're always open to suggestions on how we can make it easier to find this page, since i know it causes some consternation for some people.

32600

General Software Discussion / Re: MAME arcade emulator on your ipod(!)

« Last post by mouser on March 09, 2006, 07:18 PM »

by the way, that forum linked above is all about running linux on your ipod and developing software for it, etc.
gotta love their logo: