Recent Posts

3451

Living Room / Re: Simple Desktop Wallpaper

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 15, 2010, 09:53 PM »

ha, nice, cheers 

3452

Living Room / Re: Low-cost laptop in February 2010. Comments anyone?

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 15, 2010, 07:48 PM »

Well...erm...i think with thouse specs your gonna be able to do pretty much what you need to do lol, thats not a bad price at all, id pay that just for that much RAM and that gfx card in a laptop haha...the 250GB HDD and the cpu/screen are just a big bonus

also, on a side note, when i upgraded from XP to Win7, It was pretty smooth, very few problems (just basic driver upgrades) required.

3453

General Software Discussion / Re: Battle of the Free Online Storages

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 15, 2010, 07:32 PM »

lol sorry about that, i always forget DC puts in the Http:// for me - anyway, its sorted now, should load from click ^_^ 

   

3454

Living Room / Re: Be careful with your credit cards!

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 15, 2010, 04:55 PM »

This happened to a good friend of mine, but instead of a Magazine Subscription it was to pay a brokerage firm to arrange a personal loan.  The fee quoted was £49.95 but they had £128.50 taken from their account, when asked why, they refused to answer and upon looking into it he found that there where several forums dedicated to people who had lost money to the same firm and received no results.  The banks will not do anything if you paid via credit card, but will reverse the payment if you use Direct Debit.

3455

General Software Discussion / Re: Battle of the Free Online Storages

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 15, 2010, 04:41 PM »

www.mediafire.com ... they been around forever and they are ultra reliable, their free storage is more than sufficient for most people and they offer a paid service (cant remember the price) for those who want to do huge file uploads.

The great thing is, is it lets you share the files you have (by means of giving people the links) and also tracks how many downloads each item has had.  You can also set passwords for each download and make hidden, private or public!

3456

Site/Forum Features / Re: Topic Subscription.

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 15, 2010, 02:02 PM »

How did I miss that? haha, what about mobile subscriptions? that possible/.

3457

Living Room / Re: Buzzzzzzzzinggggg - Google Buzz - Gmail with facebook features

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 14, 2010, 11:07 PM »

That 'buzz' you hear is the hive in a grumpy mood...

-Edvard (February 14, 2010, 06:32 AM)

HA!

3458

Site/Forum Features / Topic Subscription.

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 14, 2010, 11:06 PM »

This is a request for a feature I like to have on my most used forums.

Basically, on any topic, you should be able to choose whether to subscribe to the post and receive e-mails when any new replies have been posted, including the reply itself.

If this is possible it would be a great addition as when I'm out of the house, I check my e-mail using my mobile phone, and would love to see the updates in there.

Failing this, or in addition to, if it is even possible on SMF, maybe we could have SMS subscription, where updates are sent via SMS (including Private messages).  Very similar to what they have on Facebook and Twitter, and would also include a reply option (simply reply to the SMS with what you want to post and it automatically posts for you).

I don't know if anybody else would like these features but it would certainly be a useful addition to me at any rate.

 

3459

Site/Forum Features / Re: Should we experiment with google ads on the site for 1 month?

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 14, 2010, 10:51 PM »

Sorry if my mind speak caused shrugs and rolling eyes; but I really am an old disabled Vietnam Vet laughing at the fact that it took you all 45 years to begin to notice that head trauma and war have a pretty tight correlation coefficient. Hats off to the newly emerging patriotic vets coming home these days. It's still hell, no matter what the folks back home think, or feel.

-justfarley (February 14, 2010, 07:59 PM)

There was no requirement for that information, but I am very sympathetic (I'm ex-RAF {UK}).  I merely questioned your post as I did not understand what you meant.

As a reply to (Stephen) Stephen66515, and to those who probably just ignored what I said, I'll try again:
1."Where's the simple yes/no vote clicker?"
How about inserting a small yes or no vote collector to count how folks respond when they are browsing through the question posed by the topic.

We don't use vote options as you don't get a true guage of why people have said what they have said.

2. "Experiment? YES."
Sure. Like all good science based enterprises we owe it to ourselves to try an experimental situation as the launch pad for change. Let's do an experiment - but please, it's incumbent upon us to do one mindfully; explicit hypotheses, propositions, determinants, et cetera

The decision has been made...it was a no.

3. "Label it so - CLEARLY. Along with the option out."
How about including a way to shut out the ad (and count when the selection is chosen), while at our site. And make the option BIG and easy to see. If that's against Google policy - again, a way to register a no vote for the enterprise.

No point due to above statement.

4."Let google promote its' ads in such a way that the users here want to see what they're up to (lol), or not."
Surely they would propose a set of coherently context dependent ads - not ones for "hot, sex starved " virtuals; but rather those concerned with our ethos -computer related ...  If they paid us to peruse interesting offers for stuff we would look at elsewhere, no harm, no foul - just American Money. These ads would NOT, by the way mean we're endorsing any of the products presented, but we could easily say so explicitly above our experimental package. Major Geek IMHO doesn't do a very good job at it; but they are a pretty good site with a lot to offer - just motivated by some obscure profit margin.

Google Ads on this website would need to be relevant, but in order to be relevant they would have to advertise other software companies.  This would obviously cause a problem with the fact, the users of Donation Coder promote FOSS (Free Open Source Software) and advertising such companies would be the complete opposite of what we are trying to achieve.

I am all for Donation Coder making a buck or two, but after much deliberation and thought, it is much better if Advertisements of such nature are kept well away from here.


If any type of advertising should be thought about, its specific, and targeted companies, which have been voted for by the Donation Coder team and forum community.


-Stephen

3460

Living Room / Stephens Weekly Tech News: Feb 14, 2010

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 14, 2010, 01:04 PM »

Seeing as Ehtyar is taking a sabbatical from providing you with your Weekly Tech News, I will be providing you with some interesting stories and news topics until he can return.  

Weekly Tech News

Microsoft plans antipiracy update for Windows 7

Microsoft said on Thursday that it is planning an update to Windows 7 that will close a number of loopholes that counterfeiters had used to thwart the operating system's built-in antipiracy measures.

The Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7, which will be released later this month, closes more than 70 "activation hacks," according to Joe Williams, general manager of Microsoft's Genuine Windows unit, responsible for anti-counterfeiting measures. The update will also...Read More...

Microsoft and Apple sued for patent infringement

Apple and Microsoft are being sued for patent infringement, according to a report on AppleInsider on Thursday.

The patent in question, entitled "Apparatus, method and a computer readable medium for generating media packets," was awarded to Emblaze, who filed for the patent in 2002.

The patent describes...Read More...


Google Buzz leaves privacy concerns ringing in ears

What’s that really annoying humming sound bothering your lugholes? Oh yes, Google Buzz. Bah.

And so it has come to pass - Mountain View’s sinister personal data grab has finally crept into the most sacred of all online communication tools. Gmail now has the ability to do social networking.

Google wants to out-Facebook Facebook, out-Twitter Twitter and out-Internet Explorer Internet Explorer and so and so and so, infinitum. But the...Read More...

Discuss in our forums...


Opera beta burns Chrome for top spot

Opera unleashed a beta version of its browser this morning, and 10.5 claims the lead over Google Chrome and Apple's Safari in the Javascript stakes. The speed improvement is down to a new Carakan ECMAScript engine.

The Rolls Royce of browsers has long been...Read More...

Discuss on our active forums...


Why every tech firm needs a tyrant at the top

Now the iPad hype/excitement [delete as applicable] has calmed down, it's a good time to look at Microsoft.

It's been pushing tablets for nearly a decade. What went wrong? How could a company with so many brilliant people be upstaged yet again?...Read More...

Discuss on our active forums...


7 of the best anti-virus apps for Linux

Pretty much every Linux user thinks they're immune to viruses, but they're wrong. Recently, malware was found hidden inside an innocuous looking Gnome theme from a reputable site.

Users who installed the theme also got...Read More


Toshiba outs new super-charged battery tech

Toshiba revealed a number of battery innovations at its press conference in London this week, with both SCiB and methanol fuel cell chargers getting their first airing in the UK.

First up was the company's fuel cell charger. Looking a bit like a DAB radio, the charger is...Read More...


Chip and PIN is broken, say researchers

Chip-and-PIN readers can be tricked into accepting transactions without a valid personal identification number, opening the door to fraud, researchers have found.

Researchers at Cambridge University have found a fundamental flaw in the EMV — Europay, MasterCard, Visa — protocol that underlies chip-and-PIN validation for debit and credit cards.

As a consequence...Read More...


Tailoring networking to the cloud

Ten-gigabit Ethernet network switch vendor Arista Networks has been something of an industry poster child since its inception five years ago. It took its time producing its first products, but is now expanding into the UK...Read More...


IBM announces 14 petabyte NAS array

IBM this week announced a network-attached storage array, aimed at medium and large enterprises, that is capable of scaling to more than 14 petabytes under a single name space.

The Scale Out Network Attached Storage (Sonas), announced on Tuesday, is a rack-sized array based on the company's General Parallel File System (GPFS), originally developed for supercomputers. While GPFS has been available for about 10 years, this is the first time it has...Read More...

Video of The Week

Well, Thats it for this week, hope you all enjoyed this week top news stories!

-Stephen

3461

Living Room / Re: You'Dont'Tube In Aussy

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 13, 2010, 06:19 PM »

Yes net filtering is bad, but in regards to who's responsibility it is to do it, is a reasonable question, and I was only using Google as an example, due to them being one of the worlds biggest search engines.  Obviously, it is ultimately the responsibility of the user, but some people cannot be trusted, so logging search terms such as 'child-porn' is a logical approach, but the problem is, will they honestly stop with only that subject, because if they start, will they ever stop?!

3462

General Software Discussion / Re: Bartels Media paranoia

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 13, 2010, 06:12 PM »

I am very sorry for all the rage. We just try to provide a useful software and never intended to upset anyone. This is a strange experience but I learned a lesson.

This includes that we will rethink our forum policy. We take your feedback serious. 

-BartelsMedia (February 13, 2010, 06:03 PM)

That was probably the best thing you could of said lol, great that you understand that some people are actually trying to help, but it can certainly get blown out of proportion (on both sides) and, to be honest, I think the best has come out of this in the end. 

3463

Living Room / Re: You'Dont'Tube In Aussy

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 13, 2010, 06:10 PM »

Looking at it in that light, I certainly agree, but we seem to have dived a little off topic, Ive always said that google should trace any searches made for such things, logging IP's and other data (some people forget to hide) and then submitting all that info to select agencies.  Obviously this logging should only be used for these extreme circumstances.

3464

General Software Discussion / Re: Bartels Media paranoia

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 13, 2010, 05:53 PM »

Agreed, but in some circumstances people need to know about bad companies, but I guess if there is some serious problem, people could just throw it into the Living Room for general discussion. 

3465

Living Room / Re: You'Dont'Tube In Aussy

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 13, 2010, 05:48 PM »

Can't see how claiming to be aiming to remove 'child porn' could be the correct way to go, especially when blocking Youtube videos, would this mean they will remove ALL the videos containing everybody under 18? if so, Youtube will have about 15 videos left on it...sounds like an interesting website...

I am fully understanding, and behind, removing all links to child porn from the internet, but the big-shots like google, say it is not possible, which is a blatant lie! it would actually be very simple if the correct people are given the correct tools under the correct supervision of the correct authorities (Hackers accross the world working in cahoots with the governments of the world) this way, any child porn, would be pretty much, instantly removed from all websites.

3466

Living Room / You'Dont'Tube In Aussy

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 13, 2010, 05:06 PM »

Well, it seems that hackers from around the globe have got a little bit annoyed with the Australian government, and it's decision to filter out web content, including, but not limited to, Youtube Video's, by means of DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service)

Obviously, here at DC, we do not condone these type of attacks but you cannot help but feel bad for the people of countries like Australia, who's government seem to want to halt freedom of information and speech by simply dis-allowing their users from viewing such info.

I dunno about anybody else, but I feel that certain governments are starting to follow Kim Jong-il's well known way of thinking "If I don't like it, they will never see it"

IMO freedom of speech and information should be now, and always, allowed on the Internet, because it is a free-nation, not governed by any specific person, group, or country (no matter how much some people claim they do).

**edit**

Whoops, forgot to put a source link on haha:

here you go: http://news.bbc.co.u...chnology/8513073.stm

3467

General Software Discussion / Re: Bartels Media paranoia

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 13, 2010, 04:43 PM »

BartelsMedia - Next time, edit your 1st post, rather than doubling up pointlessly please. k tnx

3468

Living Room / Re: Elegant Full Screen Weather Map Web Page

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 13, 2010, 03:48 PM »

It has wind speed & direction listed in the gray mini panel.

I grabbed their gadget to see how it compares to the one I'm currently using. Current gadget says 45f underground's says 38.5f - I'm thinking it feels about 38 outside (their predicting snow...).

-Stoic Joker (February 12, 2010, 09:26 PM)

seems like my browser is blocking the most of it lol

3469

Site/Forum Features / Re: Should we experiment with google ads on the site for 1 month?

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 13, 2010, 02:02 PM »

Just curious...why are the only ads being discussed in this thread about Google ads?
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've read the entire thread, and I didn't see anything that said the experiment was about displaying Google ads only.

-SKesselman (February 13, 2010, 12:08 PM)

Read post title..."Should we experiment with google ads on the site for 1 month?"

3470

Site/Forum Features / Re: Should we experiment with google ads on the site for 1 month?

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 12, 2010, 07:10 PM »

Said that also.

-justfarley (February 12, 2010, 12:19 AM)

Care to be a little more specific?

3471

Living Room / Re: Yea, I won't be getting an iPad anytime soon

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 12, 2010, 07:08 PM »

but I heard the next version will make coffee, though I'm sure they won't include a cup to serve it.

-CoderOmega (February 12, 2010, 07:04 PM)

 

3472

Living Room / Re: Elegant Full Screen Weather Map Web Page

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 12, 2010, 06:56 PM »

This would be awesome if it was a little bit more in depth.  Could do with specifics on what the cloud type is over specific areas, and perhaps even wind speeds and direction (Handy for deciding if its a nice enough day to go flying)

3473

Living Room / Re: Antivirus companies support virus writers?

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 12, 2010, 06:04 PM »

Although I agree with the fact it is highly unlikely, it is still technically possible that this happens and does go on in some circles.

As an example, there was a computer repair company who basically ran their entire operation on repeat calls, this was because when they fixed a clients computer, they also installed a piece of software onto the target machine which rendered it useless until the correct 'removal tool' was used.

The company DID get caught, but after about 2 years of operating like this.  I will try and find the official news story for this (it was a company local {about 40 miles} to myself).

Certainly proves that this does happen, but on what scale, is anybodies guess.

3474

Living Room / Re: Antivirus companies support virus writers?

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 12, 2010, 05:42 PM »

Ethically, it would be wrong to commission such software for your companies own benefit, but would you really put it past up and coming developers? Create an anti-virus suite, make your Google tags specifically designed to target the removal of a virus you are having released, then charging the end user to remove it, because you know you will be the only one (to start with) who can remove this effectively.

IMO this type of thing possibly does occur, but until real proof is given, I am happy sitting on the fence, watching both sides.

3475

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

« Last post by KynloStephen66515 on February 11, 2010, 10:27 PM »

Notepad++ is certainly a useful tool for developers of any web content (HTML, PHP etc...) due, but not limited to, its handy line numbering.  Great for when you get "Error on line 341894984984974987978" because in basic notepad...you just end up giving up counting lol