topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Monday November 10, 2025, 3:55 pm
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Recent Posts

Pages: prev • 1 ... 12 13 14 15 16 [17] 18 19 20 21 22 ... 33 • next
401
Developer's Corner / Stratagus: A real-time strategy engine
« Last post by KenR on March 02, 2007, 09:07 AM »
Use this open source engine to build your own realtime online strategy games.

Stratagus is a free cross-platform real-time strategy gaming engine. It includes support for playing over the internet/LAN, or playing a computer opponent. The engine is configurable and can be used to create games with a wide-range of features specific to your needs. See the Games page for a list of current games using the Stratagus engine.


from http://www.all4you.dk/FreewareWorld
402
General Software Discussion / IRCLink: Relays information between channels/networks
« Last post by KenR on March 02, 2007, 09:00 AM »
This bot will connect to multiple networks and relay information between channels

About IRCLink
IRCLink is an IRC bot which connects to multiple networks and acts as a relay between channels on those networks.
Originally released as closed-source freeware, I have recently made the decision to reprogram it and re-release it as Open Source under the GPL License, I am hoping this will fill the full potential which IRCLink has.


from http://www.all4you.dk/FreewareWorld
403
General Software Discussion / LanguageIdentifier.com: Does just what you'd expect (probably)
« Last post by KenR on March 02, 2007, 08:45 AM »
This is a free service that tells you the language of a website.

Have you ever come across documents or websites and not known what language it is written in? The Lextek Language Identifier is capable of identifying not only what language it is written in but also its character encoding and what other languages are most similar. This will alleviate your wondering of what languages you are working with or looking at...


from http://www.freedownloadaday.com/
404
General Software Discussion / Tools to enable vitual teams to connect and collaborate
« Last post by KenR on March 02, 2007, 08:30 AM »
Interesting article on online office collaboration tools that allow virtual teams to work together despite being physically separated

It's 2007 and no longer do startup employees, or even those of medium-size and large companies, need to be located in the same place. Instead, more and more companies are going virtual. The answer to long commutes, inner city traffic, tapping into creative minds in other geographies and combating global warming is: a 'work from home' policy.
But in order for working from home to be effective, certain things need to be in place. The most critical is technology - a set of tools, along with the infrastructure, that can replace the traditional office...

405
General Software Discussion / Vista: Download Disaster?
« Last post by KenR on March 02, 2007, 02:08 AM »
A reportedly, increasingly common tale of the not-so-smooth switch over to Vista.

In the world of operating systems, Microsoft Windows Vista is just a baby. It's just now toddling along on new systems being sold throughout the U.S. And, like a small child being dropped by the stork to new parents, it's available to older desktop PCs via Microsoft's download-to-buy program.
Giving early adopters such easy, unfettered access to the somewhat untested OS was a bold move by Microsoft. The company had to know that people like those who work at PC Magazine would be among the first to test-drive this new installation option.


from http://www.osnews.com
406
Living Room / Extensive Description of Windows Services
« Last post by KenR on February 26, 2007, 01:49 PM »
While I have seen other descriptive information about the Windows services, none of the other presentations were nearly as comprehensive.

What are services? By definition, it's a program that runs invisibly in the background. But can't the same thing be said for a number of programs that run in the background such as anti-virus programs? Yes, but the real difference is that services load and start running whether or not anyone logs into the computer, unlike a program that is launched from the Startup Folder under All Programs.
There are two ways to view Services on your computer. The first is to use the MS Configuration Utility by typing msconfig.exe in the Run box accessed via the Start Menu, followed by clicking the Services tab. If you want a quick visual of which items are running or stopped, this is fine, but the information is limited. The preferred way to make changes to services is to launch services.msc from the Run option on the Start Menu. The Services window shown below will open.


from www.download.com
407
Living Room / Blog Essay: You Want a 10,000 RPM Boot Drive
« Last post by KenR on February 25, 2007, 12:32 PM »
Here's a fun essay to lighten your day.

You Want a 10,000 RPM Boot Drive
I don't go out of my way to recommend building your own computer. I do it, but I'm an OCD-addled, pain-loving masochist. You're usually better off buying whatever cut-rate OEM box Dell is hawking at the moment, particularly now that Intel has finally abandoned the awful Pentium 4 CPU series and is back in the saddle with its excellent Core Duo processor. PC parts are so good these days it's difficult to make a bad choice, no matter what you buy.
If you really must build your own computer, sites like Tech Report provide excellent advice in the form of their system guides. However, their guide sets the bar a little too low for my tastes. There are a few baseline requirements for any new computer build that aren't negotiable for me:
    * current dual core chip, such as the Core Duo 2 or Athlon 64 X2
    * minimum of 2 GB of memory
    * modern PCI express video card with 256mb or more of memory, such as the NVIDIA 7600GS, or the ATI Radeon X1650. Both of these cards can be found for about $100. Whatever you do, avoid on-board video, because it's universally crappy. The rule of thumb I use is this: if you're spending significantly less than $100 on your video card, you're making a terrible mistake...

408
General Software Discussion / Vista Start Menu Search gets more FARRified
« Last post by KenR on February 25, 2007, 12:11 PM »
Since FARR is probably the most important program in the world, this is likely the most significant improvement to Windows that's ever been made. :)

...you can assign both keyword searches that open in your default web browser, or you can have it open a program/file. The only catch is that right now there is no “Browse” command to browse for the program or file that you want to open. I also noticed that it doesn’t support spaces in the file path even if you put quotes around it, and looking through the comments I see that someone else was having a similar problem...

409
General Software Discussion / Empty Folder Nuker: A freeware program that will find and delete empty folders
« Last post by KenR on February 25, 2007, 11:46 AM »
Great easy tool to use. Have it find the empty folders from the base folder you specify and then have it delete them.

# Finds folders that contain only empty subfolders too
# Allows you to choose which empty folders to delete
# Uses the Recycle Bin where applicable
# Shell integration: right click on any folder in Windows Explorer and find empty folders within it
# No setup.exe: allows simple XCOPY-style deployment...


from http://www.all4you.dk/FreewareWorld
410
General Software Discussion / Documeron on Freeware Genius: A great free program and website!
« Last post by KenR on February 25, 2007, 11:32 AM »
Here's a website that reviews very nice software. The program that's listed, Documeron, is a free, sophisticated "My Recent Documents" type program. I would recommend looking at this program and taking a look at the other software on the site.

Documeron is a small memory-resident program that keeps track of all the files and documents you access at any time in order to enable you to find and/or locate these later on. It provides a number of functions such as filtering by date and type and tracking of deleted or moved documents....


from www.freewaregenius.com
411
Living Room / Hewitt: Adventure, flash game
« Last post by KenR on February 25, 2007, 10:55 AM »
Here is a long, good, flash adventure game.

... After having a foretelling dream of loneliness, Hewitt decides he needs to get his act together and find a gal to take to the school dance. Hewitt’s not exactly the popular type though, so he's going to need as much help as you can give him. Personally, if I had to go through as much trouble as Hewitt to find a date to the dance I’d probably think twice, but that’s just me. Use the arrow keys or [WASD] to move Hewitt around and the mouse to interact with the environment. You can examine, use, and combine the items in your inventory, but from there it’s all up to you to figure out just what you need to do...


from www.Jayisgames.com
412
Official Announcements / Re: wtfcody.com - Cody now has a home not just an address.
« Last post by KenR on February 21, 2007, 10:00 PM »
Cody you magnificient bird, you've finally got yourself a web page   :up: :up: :up:
And it really is a work of art too.  The best part, i think, is the free advice "ask cody" page.  I know i've been meaning to hire a professional psychologist but now that Cody's advice page is up hopefully i can save myself a few dollars.
-mouser (February 21, 2007, 09:54 PM)

That's a great idea. There's NEVER one around when you need one!
413
Screenshot Captor / Re: [Request] Some features after 2.30.04
« Last post by KenR on February 21, 2007, 11:49 AM »
Thank you those very nice words j1webb  :-*
It's really nice to hear that people are getting some use out of the emailer especially.

As for virtual printer.. it's such a completely different process that i think it's unlikely that i would add it, but really only because i think there are some good tools for this already (free virtual printer that lets you print from any app to an image file).  Maybe people can suggest some they know about?  It would be a nice thing to add to the SC help file.

Keep the suggestions coming though!
-mouser (February 21, 2007, 09:33 AM)

Hey I have an idea Mouser, why don't you add that feature to FARR. That could be your next plugin.

Ken
414
Developer's Corner / Software Development Team Issues
« Last post by KenR on February 21, 2007, 08:45 AM »
Here are some nice blog essays on small software team management. See if you agree with them.

Building a software team: Wrong! There I said it!
The development team that I managed the longest -- the one with the Gumby -- was a typical bunch: a group of people with varying strengths, interests and personalities. In different combinations they mostly liked, sometimes loved and occasionally hated each other. And after a couple of reasonably successful projects, I led them off a cliff.
I committed them to a schedule they could not keep, based on a technology that did not work. I made the call and it was wrong.

415
Living Room / Online Dictionary that visually shows relationships among words.
« Last post by KenR on February 21, 2007, 07:18 AM »
Here's a very cool graphical dictionary which shows word relationships in a node-link type chart.

Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary — Look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate.

Enter words into the search box to look them up or double-click a node.

    * Its a dictionary! Its a thesaurus!...


from alex3f
416
General Software Discussion / ZoneScreen: Expand your desktop on the network
« Last post by KenR on February 20, 2007, 11:22 AM »
Here's an interesting program that allows you to expand your desktop on networked machines.

Solution for extending your desktop display using displays of another computers (including Pocket PC), having network connection with main host. In some features it is similar to NetMeeting, Remote Desktop and VNC, allowing mirroring local desktop to another computer in the network. The main difference is that it also allows extend desktop, not only mirror it. Also, you could use ZoneScreen for Windows Mobile to extend/mirror your desktop to screen of your handheld.
All you need for ZoneScreen to work is...

417
Living Room / Google Releases Paper on Disk Reliability
« Last post by KenR on February 19, 2007, 08:01 PM »
Troubling news about the effectiveness of SMART

Despite this high correlation, we conclude that models based on SMART parameters alone are unlikely to be useful for predicting individual drive failures. Surprisingly, we found that temperature and activity levels were much less correlated with drive failures than previously reported...

418
Developer's Corner / Alternatives to Charging for Online Commerce
« Last post by KenR on February 19, 2007, 07:54 AM »
The authors discuss how encryption can be used instead of charging fees

Transaction fees for micropayments threaten the booming online and mobile economy. Changing how the e-commerce industry imposes online transaction fees can provide a quick fix to the micropayment problem—which occurs when processing fees on such widely purchased small items as iTunes and parking exceed the merchant's margins. However, that simple business approach will provide only a stopgap measure at best because it fails to address the fact that each transaction carries fixed costs.
Implementing applied-cryptography approaches is decidedly more difficult, but it provides a far superior long-term solution. The approaches range from aggregating payments and using tamper-resistant devices to delegating policy decisions and letting users generate payment tokens...

419
Living Room / Thoughts on why Digg failed
« Last post by KenR on February 16, 2007, 08:45 PM »
David Marcus thinks he knows why Digg failed. Do you agree with him. On the other hand, I'm just going to give him the benefit of the doubt since I didn't know it had failed. :P

As I write, the top story on Digg is "Transparency in Social News", a newspaper-as-blog item that the Digg community have used as a little self-congratulatory pat on the back. I understand why Digg's users feel like they deserve to toast themselves now and then -- after all, they've made the place one of the Web's Top 100 sites, and they've made Digg, Inc. upwards of $200 million.

420
Living Room / How Google Killed Search
« Last post by KenR on February 16, 2007, 01:54 PM »
This page has some very insightfull comments and suggestions on how to fix "the mess that google has created".

It's official. It is now completely impossible to find things on the web using a search engine. Try this out. Go to Google and see if you can find a cheap hotel in new york
What comes up? Any hotels? Not really. Just page after page of spammy affiliate sites that promise to find you great deals, but will really just send you off to other affiliate sites. Click along and you'll fall down this black hole of non-content and Google Ads with no hope of ever finding a real website where you can book a cheap hotel in New York.
I blame this phenomenon on Google's Pagerank algorithm and its reliance on link counts. The quickest way to get to the top of the rankings is to produce tons of empty pages all across the web, all linking back to your thing.

421
Developer's Corner / Yehuda: Winning is Incompatible with (Almost) Everything
« Last post by KenR on February 16, 2007, 12:44 PM »
This is an interesting article about the meaning and implications of winning.

To summarize some of my earlier thoughts, most games have scores which indicate relative success to other players, as well as relative success to our own previous scores. Yet, at the end of most games, we discard these scores and simply assign a "1" (for win) or a "0" (for loss) to all participants.
Or More Specifically
My goal is to separate "winning" from "goals" and "competition". Consider a game of Chess.
In the game of Chess, the goal is to checkmate your opponent. The game is competitive, in that one player works to thwart the other from doing so. The game is designed to end as soon as one player achieves their goal, thus preventing the other player from achieving theirs.

422
Developer's Corner / The Open Company Test
« Last post by KenR on February 15, 2007, 12:05 PM »
A brief essay on the type of "openness" in a software product.



After writing that last post damning Apple's lack of transparency, I thought it might be a good idea to actually come of with a list of questions with which we might identify an open software company. I don't think it's necessary that a company meet all of these criteria, but the more the better.
   1. Open Sourcecode: Do you have access to the sourcecode? True open source is great, but simple access to the source code, even if it's not under an open source license, is often enough.
   2. Open Data: Can you easily get your data into or out of the application, should the need arise?
   3. Open APIs: Can your other software interact with the application? The best applications provide different means of access: GUI, command-line, RSS, SOAP or REST, for example...

423
Living Room / Retro Remakes 2006 Competition: Game Overload of the Day
« Last post by KenR on February 15, 2007, 09:10 AM »
This competition to recreate games will let people play their favorites again or try popular old games for the first time.

Green Beret, Wings of Fury and Ghouls and Ghosts - if those names ring a bell you have come to the right place. Everyone else join us as we delve into a time where some of the greatest games of all time were produced. The motto of the 2006 Retro Remakes competition is “Good remakes of good games that anyone can play, regardless of their ability”. I think this is indeed a great opportunity for old folks like us to enjoy those games we played when we were young once again and for  young folks to play games that we probably never heard about before...

424
General Software Discussion / Stardock DeskScapes Extends the Vista DreamScene
« Last post by KenR on February 15, 2007, 09:03 AM »
Ok, now see if you can say that 3 times as fast as you can.

Yesterday Microsoft released the pre-release of DreamScene as part of the Ultimate Extras that Vista Ultimate users have the capability to use. It’s one of those “wow” factors that a lot of people will probably be impressed with. You could take it and use it for it’s face value, or you could dive in and try out DeskScapes which extends the Windows DreamScene and adds more capability.
DeskScapes was created by Stardock who was contracted by Microsoft to work with them on the animated wallpaper feature. Stardock were actually the ones that created the default wallpapers that you’ll find with the DreamScene. While they were at it, they created the program DreamScapes which is free, and supports the new .DREAM format (which supports dynamic content instead of video, generated dynamically). According to the official news release, the program extends the DreamScene to include dynamic/live content, and triggers...

425
General Software Discussion / DeskSave: Icon Layout Restore Tool
« Last post by KenR on February 14, 2007, 06:53 PM »
Here is a free tool to save and restore icon positions on the desktop

In Windows, when screen resolution changes, the order of the desktop icons very often gets mixed up. With DeskSave it is quite easy to recover a previously saved icon layout either manually or automatically. Software developers are given the opportunity to test their applications in different screen resolutions without disarranging the desktop icons...


from http://shellcity.net/
Pages: prev • 1 ... 12 13 14 15 16 [17] 18 19 20 21 22 ... 33 • next