Recent Posts

476

Living Room / MyHomePoint: The Calendar for your Entire Family

« Last post by KenR on January 17, 2007, 06:25 AM »

So, is it worth $6/month to organize your family?

Introducing MyHomePoint
There are lots of web-based calendar solutions, but almost all are geared toward the individual user. Why should every household member have to register on a website, sign up for an account, then manually share that account to other family members before you have even the most basic workable family calendar? Now they don't have to.

With MyHomePoint, you create one account for your entire family, add your family members to your account, and then everyone can immediately begin using all of the site's features. It's as simple as that!

Not Just "Another Web Calendar"
Actually, we offer MUCH more than just a calendar. In fact, we provide an entire SUITE of family and home organization tools to help you and your family stay connected. Here is a sampling of our current features, and there are many more still planned!

A calendar that the entire family can share
Shared and private task lists
Birthdays and anniversaries
Shared and private notes
Home inventory tracking
Pets can be included in the family!
Grocery and other shopping lists [coming soon]

Gift lists and personal wish lists [coming soon]

and much, much more... view our complete feature list

http://www.myhomepoint.com/

from http://www.gadgetopia.com/

477

General Software Discussion / Audio Cutter: Free, Open Source mp3 File Splitter

« Last post by KenR on January 16, 2007, 07:17 PM »

Here's a free, open source mp3 file splitter you can use for segmenting audio you record.

Audiobook Cutter is an easy-to-use tool which splits large MP3 audiobook files into smaller ones without re-encoding. The split points are determined automatically based on silence detection. Because of this feature, long audiobook recordings can be cut into manageable albums with just a few clicks. The cutter is applicable for all kind of spoken content.

The main purpose of this MP3 splitter is to make audiobooks, analog recordings of speech or long podcasts more manageable in a user-friendly way: The split files can easily be used on mobile MP3 players because of their small-size and their duration allows smooth navigation through the book. Additionally the application is good accessible for visually impaired users. Audiobook Cutter supports screen readers and screen magnifiers...

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Audiobook_Cutter

from http://www.all4you.d...ewareWorld/links.php

478

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Seven rules for maximizing your creativity

« Last post by KenR on January 16, 2007, 07:03 PM »

Some useful ideas for stimulating your creativity ...

After my last article on experiencing creativity, there was a question in the resulting forum discussion about how to enter this highly creative flow state, the state where you lose all sense of time, your ego vanishes, and you become one with the task in front of you.  Is this peak creative state a rare chance event, or can it be achieved consistently?

For me the creative flow state is a common occurrence.  I usually enter this state several times a week, staying with it for hours at a time.  I’m able to routinely enjoy the flow state as long as I ensure the right conditions, which I’ll share with you in a moment.

My first memories of habitually entering this flow state date back to the early 80s when I was learning BASIC programming.  After school I’d rush through my homework in order to spend hours in front of my Atari 800 writing, testing, and tweaking programs just to see what the machine could do.  Sometime around 8pm I’d notice my hunger, realize that the family had already eaten dinner, and ask my mom, “Why didn’t you call me when dinner was ready?  I’m starving!”  She’d invariably claim to have called me 3-4 times, usually with me verbally acknowledging, “I’ll be there in a minute.”  Either I had no recollection of this happening, or it was like trying to recall a fuzzy dream memory.  Did she really call me, or did I imagine it?  I was so engrossed in my creative hobby that I became oblivious to what was going on around me.  If I did acknowledge my mom, it must have been an unconscious reaction.

http://www.stevepavl...our-creative-output/

from www.lifehacker.com

479

Living Room / WikiSeek, the new long-tailed search engine

« Last post by KenR on January 16, 2007, 04:59 PM »

Ok, as of 1 hour ago, WikiSeek is up and running. The official annoucement is to come tomorrow, but you should be able to use it now.

Palo Alto based startup SearchMe has kept a low profile since being founded in March 2005. The company, which has 17 employees and raised $5 million from Sequoia Capital over two rounds, will launch a number of what founder Randy Adams calls “long tail search engines” in the near future. The first product they are launching is WikiSeek, which went live about an hour ago and will be officially announced on Wednesday.

WikiSeek is a search engine that has indexed only Wikipedia sites, plus sites that are linked to from Wikipedia. It serves two purposes. First, it is a much better Wikipedia search engine than the one on Wikipedia (and has been built with Wikipedia’s assistance and permission). Second, the fact that it also indexes sites that are linked to from Wikipedia means that, presumably, it will return only very high quality results and very little spam. It won’t show every relevant result to a query, but it will certainly give a good overview of a subject without all the mess.

The search results also include a tag cloud which contains Wikipedia categories containing the search term. Results can be quickly filtered by clicking on one of those categories (see screen shot, click for larger view). The first three results of a query are always Wikipedia content (unless there are not three results) and are shaded blue. The remaining results are below the shaded area...

http://www.techcrunc...e-wikiseek-launches/

480

Living Room / Spam Conceptual Map

« Last post by KenR on January 16, 2007, 09:28 AM »

Ok, this guy's creative - I'll give him that. On the othe hand, he has waaaaaay to much free time!

It's long been known that spammers sell victims' addresses to each other. Keep that in mind as you look at the map... and remember that — despite their cries of "Permission Marketing Works!" — I have not given my email address to a single one of the companies that appear on the Spamdemic Map, nor have I given them permission to send me email... yet nearly all of them seem to have one or more of my addresses, and most are spamming me. Items in black on the map indicate entities that have spammed me or are involved in supporting the spammer; grey indicates companies that haven't spammed me, but may now have my address, due to their relationships with the spammers; green indicates ownership; dashed lines indicate tentative connections. First, take a gander at the Preview Image. Then brace yourself, and step into the Full-Size Version. (Don't forget your waders.) I'll soon have a more in-depth explanation of what's going on... I also hope to try to track the actual flow of each of the spammed addresses amongst the spamhausen. But right now, I need some sleep. Have fun... and don't say I didn't warn you! BTW— Due to popular demand, I've made the Spamdemic Map available as an EPS file for the sake of printing (see links above). The map measures about 62" x 41", with the smallest type at 8.8pt. If enough requests come in, I may consider selling prints, since few people are able to print at or even near that size. Have fun! ...

http://www.cluelessm...ilers.org/spamdemic/

from www.stumbleupon.com

481

Official Announcements / Re: JANUARY 2007 SOFTWARE DRAWING RESULTS POSTED

« Last post by KenR on January 16, 2007, 07:53 AM »

To all the Winners...


Congratulations!

-Farmsteader (January 15, 2007, 04:06 AM)

Wonderful post Farmsteader!

482

Developer's Corner / How long should a software time trial be?

« Last post by KenR on January 16, 2007, 06:56 AM »

This is an interesting question to me. I usually know within minutes to hours if I am going to buy something. I think the longest I have ever gone without buying something I eventually did was a week. I'm curious to see what others think. KR

Every once in a while, one of the forums dedicated to the business of software spits up a question regarding the proper duration for a time trial. It has become somewhat commonplace to expect a 30-day duration from a trial version. Some software shops package that up with functional limitations, some don't, but the time trial has proven to be the goto guy for use in a demo release. 

But the question remains — how long should the time trial be? Is 30 days something that is used because it has a proven track record, because it's what customers expect, or because developers, after focusing for months or years on building the actual product, simply decide to stick with the norm without giving the business side of their business a second thought?

I'm tempted to say the last one would pull the most weight. Such as the case with user interfaces, payment processing, pricing structure (don't get me started), and even customer support, thought given to the time trial seems to take a back seat…especially with shops releasing their first application.

http://www.antair.co...oftware-time-trials/

from http://microisvjournal.wordpress.com/

483

General Software Discussion / Re: Singing the anti-spam blues

« Last post by KenR on January 16, 2007, 06:23 AM »

I have been using AntiSpam Sniper for the Bat http://www.antispamsniper.com/ and love it. very configurable, lots of options. near perfect results.

Let me know if you want/need any additional info.

Ken

484

Living Room / Another Google Hole Uncovered

« Last post by KenR on January 15, 2007, 11:01 PM »

Vulnerabilties identified in Google software!

Hard to believe but true: there’s another vulnerability currently live on Google’s servers, allowing a malicious hacker to point you to a (long) Google.com URL... and then receive your cookie data, with which the hacker can access and modify your Google docs and spreadsheets, and view your email subjects & first words, your search history (if enabled) and much more... similar to the previous vulnerability.

I was able to reproduce the cross-site scripting problem here on Firefox 2, latest stable, and all it took for me was to write a 3-line PHP script, upload it to my server, and adjust the Google URL in question. Then I tested this using two different computers, with different IPs, and was able to steal the cookie and login to Google...

http://blog.outer-co.../2007-01-16-n24.html

485

Living Room / Bang Howdy - Free Strategic Multiplayer Game

« Last post by KenR on January 15, 2007, 10:53 PM »

Here's a very cool, free multiplayer strategy game discovered on ghacks.net:

The original game featured four game modes and the first add-on features three more. It would take to long to describe each possible scenario but I would like to write about one to explain the game mechanics.

In the Claim Jumping scenario players try to bring gold nuggets that they find in the level or steal from the enemies gold mine to their own to receive points. Your units have to defend the own gold mine to prevent the theft of gold nuggets from it and use some units to find or steal gold units and bring them back to the own mine.

Dead units will respawn after some time next to their own base. Bonus items appear from time to time on the map and have several positive effects if a unit walks over them. This could range from healing to bonus cards that do area damage.

Players earn scrip after each scenario which can be exchanged to gold to buy bonus cards or unlock special units. Badges are given out to players when they complete special tasks which can also unlock units or add options to customize the game further.

http://www.ghacks.ne...ic-multiplayer-game/

486

Living Room / Drupal CMS System Releases Version 5, Their Latest Revision

« Last post by KenR on January 15, 2007, 10:27 PM »

Drupal, one of the more innovative CMS systems, has announced the release of version 5 today

After 8 months of development we are ready to release Drupal 5.0 to the world. Today is also Drupal's 6th birthday, so the timing could not be more perfect. Drupal 4.0 was released in 2002 and finally we feel confident to increase the major version number from 4 to 5.

Drupal powers sites across the web, ranging from the personal weblog of Tim Berners-Lee, podcast sites like TWIT.tv, community driven sites like SpreadFireFox.com, artist communities like Terminus 1525 to large media sites like TheOnion.com, MTV and even sites for NASA.

There have been over 492 contributors to the Drupal 5.0 release submitting 1173 patches, which is 150 more people than our previous record with Drupal 4.7. These new contributions are seen in the major usability improvements, a new Drupal core theme, a web-based installer, and expansion of the Drupal development framework that will afford themers and contributing developers even greater flexibility and power.

http://drupal.org/drupal-5.0

from http://mashable.com/

487

Living Room / Now Our Newspapers are Writing Stories to Pander to Search Engine Algorithms

« Last post by KenR on January 15, 2007, 04:46 PM »

Depressing story about how content in newspapers is now being modified to please the search engine optimization tricks

Last April, I wrote about how reporters and editors are beginning to craft headlines with an eye to scoring highly in search results. "Where does it end?" I asked. "Certainly not with headlines. Search engines don't stop there, so why should journalists? Why not stuff the first couple of paragraphs with search-engine-friendly terms? Hell, why not just gin up your own algorithm for giving stories an SEO tweak before they run?"

Needless to say, it's happening. And quickly. Jimmy Guterman points to an article in today's Wall Street Journal about how search-engine optimization is increasingly influencing what newspapers publish and how reporters write. After describing how British newspapers are buying AdWords keywords to promote particular articles. the author, Aaron Patrick, writes...

http://www.roughtype.../writing_for_the.php

488

Developer's Corner / Zinc 2.5 Review

« Last post by KenR on January 15, 2007, 04:21 PM »

If you have trouble seeing this, try looking at the site with Firefox

Flash has also become a dominant platform for web-based games. Flash's combination tools for drawing, animation, and scripting makes prototyping and deploying games easy. But can Flash be used as an environment for standalone games? In this review, we'll be exploring that as well as working with Multidmedia Zinc, a tool that facilitates the process of making first-class Flash-based games...

http://www.gamedev.n...ew.asp?productid=613

489

General Software Discussion / VirtualBox: VM software for home and enterprise use

« Last post by KenR on January 15, 2007, 04:11 PM »

New Open Source Virtual PC Tool

InnoTek VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU Public License (GPL). See "About VirtualBox" for an introduction; see "InnoTek" for more about our company.

Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows and Linux 32-bit hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), and OpenBSD...

http://www.virtualbox.org/

from http://www.all4you.d....php?action=newlinks

490

General Software Discussion / Web Accessibility Toolbar

« Last post by KenR on January 15, 2007, 12:04 PM »

Here is a project that you might want to consider supporting ...

The Web Accessibility Toolbar is provided by the Accessible Information Solutions (AIS) team of Vision Australia. Please read the Terms of Use before downloading and installing the Web Accessibility Toolbar.

The Web Accessibility Toolbar has been developed to aid manual examination of web pages for a variety of aspects of accessibility. It consists of a range of functions that:

- identify components of a web page
- facilitate the use of 3rd party online applications
- simulate user experiences
- provide links to references and additional resources

We value all feedback received. Please contact us about any functionality that may not work or other suggestions for improvement...

http://www.visionaus....org.au/ais/toolbar/

from http://shellcity.net/

491

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Why I Stopped Using Five Strategies for Getting Things Done

« Last post by KenR on January 15, 2007, 11:21 AM »

Here's a cool acticle about why several productivity strategies weren't working.

One of the biggest reasons why especially IT-people, bloggers and geeks are drawn to GTD is it's possibility to tweak and play with the system. For some reason, the 5 phases of GTD invite to find, install and play with all sorts of online and offline applications. Because it is mainly build around lists, contexts and the notion that you have those lists with you, mobile applications talk with desktop applications, online web 2.0-esque startups built around lists and the likes.

But over the last two years I am into GTD, I must say I have yet to find the perfect system. And you know what? I don't think I will ever find. If I were a very literate person, I would insert some smart Buddha quote here about the journey and the destiny, but forget that. I want to talk about five systems I have tried myself and why I stopped or will stop using them...

http://www.whatsthen...taction.com/archive/...

from http://slackermanager.com/

492

General Software Discussion / Areca Backup - Now there's no excuse!

« Last post by KenR on January 13, 2007, 05:10 PM »

Backing up drives is one of the topics that's often posted about. Here is an open source, very nice looking backup program that might meet your needs in this area.

Backup Engine Features :
    * Archives compression (Zip format)
    * Archives encryption (Triple DES & AES encryption algorithm)
    * Source file filters (by extension, subdirectory, regular expression, size, date, status, usage)
    * Incremental / Full backup support ...

Graphical User Interface :
    * Archives content explorer
    * Archive description : A manifest is associated to each archive, which contains various informations such as author, title, date, description, and some technical data.
    * File history explorer : Areca keeps track of your file's history (creation / modifications / deletion) over your archives.
    * Backup simulation : useful to check wether a backup is necessary ...

Command-Line Interface :
    * Areca comes with a command-line interface which can be used for backup automation..

http://areca.sourceforge.net/

from http://www.all4you.dk/FreewareWorld

493

General Software Discussion / C'mon Man, Get a Life

« Last post by KenR on January 13, 2007, 04:54 PM »

Here is a story about a truly remarkable man.

On April 9, at a remote launchpad on the plains of Kazakhstan, a ground controller will finish his countdown; a Soyuz rocket will fire; and Charles Simonyi--Microsoft's former chief architect, the tutelary genius behind its most famous applications, the inventor of the method of writing code that the company's programmers have used for 25 years, and now the proponent of an ambitious project to reprogram software--will begin his ascent into space.

Snug in a Russian space suit, feeling four Gs pressing him down into a form-fitting molded seat liner, the 58-year-old billionaire will become the fifth space tourist to visit the International Space Station. The journey, which will cost Simonyi around $20 million, will fulfill his dream of becoming a "nerd in space" (to borrow one name he chose for the website that documents his extraterrestrial adventure: www.nerdinspace.com). It will also give him an opportunity to view our planet from above and beyond.

This has always been Simonyi's preferred vantage. In a career spanning four decades, every time he has confronted some intractable problem in software or life, he has tried to solve it by stepping outside or above it. He even has a name for his favorite gambit: he calls it "going meta." In his youth in 1960s Hungary...

http://technologyrev....com/Infotech/18047/

from http://www.balloon-juice.com/

494

General Software Discussion / Thunderbird 2 vs. Outlook 2007: Which Will Win?

« Last post by KenR on January 13, 2007, 04:51 PM »

With experience, feedback, and increasing popularity of their software, is Thunderbird ready to edge Outlook out of 1st Place?

With the consumer release of Office 2007 nearly two-weeks away, there are some details that are emerging that might keep you away from using the popular email client that has been around for a long time: Outlook. The newest version is fancied up to look pretty and I have actually been playing around with the last Beta release for a few weeks now. There are a lot of really nice features that it has, especially since everything is in such a tightly integrated package. However, there is also something that I didn’t realize.

Campaign Monitor has pointed out that Outlook 2007 switched from using Internet Explorer as its rendering engine to using Microsoft Word. Anyone that has used Microsoft Word for the simplest HTML tasks knows how bad it is at generating HTML…it is really one of the ugliest things a Web developer will ever see. Application’s like Dreamweaver even have built-in tools to help clean-up the Microsoft Word HTML, which demonstrates just how bad it really is.

http://tech.cybernet...will-wear-the-crown/

495

Living Room / Sonic Bomb Alarm Clock

« Last post by KenR on January 13, 2007, 04:44 PM »

Continuing our series of posts on clock gadgets, here's a new one...

Sonic Bomb Alarm Clock
Exciting Features of the Sonic Bomb Alarm Clock SBB500SS
    *      Powerful 12V bed shaker
    *      Pulsating flash alert lights
    *      Hi/Low dimmer switch
    *      Extra loud 113dB audio alarm with adjustable tone and volume control
    *      Sound and vibration notification only
    *      Battery backup maintains time and alarm settings in the event of a power failure
Also known as "The Bomb", the Sonic Bomb Alarm clock from Sonic Alert has been designed for guys of all ages.
Designed with a stealth gray color and red controls, it also dimmer switch for seeing the display at night and pulsating alert lights.
The Sonic Bomb comes complete with powerful super-charged bed shaker and has a turbo-charged 113dB extra loud audio alarm.

http://www.marilynel...00ss-sonic-alert.htm

from http://crave.cnet.com/

496

Living Room / Build your own robot

« Last post by KenR on January 13, 2007, 04:37 PM »

Although it might be nice to have a robot that would pick up my socks, I'd much rather have one that would paint my house, wash my car, or make money.

What can robots do? Fetch beer, pick up socks and empower rodents.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, iRobot will publicly release its latest product, the iRobot Create, a programmable robot for entertainment and education. The base of the Create is similar to the Scooba, the company's floor-mopping robot, and the carpet-vacuuming Roomba. It comes with wheels, motors for movement, and sensors that prevent it from tumbling downstairs or getting mired in corners.
iRobot Create

The brushes and fluid tanks, however, have been removed. Instead, the Create comes with a series of connectors that let users attach reticulating arms, cameras and other devices. The idea is that people will devise their own tasks and write their own programs. Some add-ons can be purchased, but the company also expects that people will craft their own peripherals.

"This isn't a toy or a plug-and-chug thing," iRobot co-founder Helen Grenier said in an interview. "It is a programmable robot for students and robot enthusiasts." ...

http://news.com.com/...3.html?tag=nefd.lede

497

Living Room / Soap Bubble 2: Flash Game of the Day

« Last post by KenR on January 13, 2007, 03:09 PM »

Here's another fun game from MiniClip.com. Play this game and you'll find out it's not so easy being a soap bubble and just maybe, try to stay clean from now on.

http://www.miniclip....es/soap-bubble-2/de/

from http://flash.plasticthinking.org/

498

Living Room / The Novint Falcon - What is It?

« Last post by KenR on January 13, 2007, 02:56 PM »

Answer: A 3d game controller (input device) that also provides force feedback based on what is happening in the game.

THE AWARD WINNING NOVINT FALCON
"Novint Technologies opened our eyes to what it's like to actually feel a game.  The Falcon is a first-of-its-kind PC peripheral that makes use of force feedback to allow users to experience artificial 3D-touch "Haptic" sensitivity of virtual objects.  Three articulated arms attach to a center grip that can control games just like a mouse, and highly-developed algorithms apply appropriate forces of resistance to create realistic impressions of weight, recoil, and shock.  We demoed the Falcon with Half-Life 2 and were blown away.  Shotgun blasts produced hard, lurching recoil, while automatic machine gun fire was fast and light with an upward pull on the handle, simulating the barrel-rise effect of automatic fire.  Lifting a box put weight on the handle, and taking damage from the side jerked the controller appropriately as our character stumbled away.  We were blown away..."     ~IGN, Best of E3:  Gear

http://www.novint.com/novintfalcon.htm

499

General Software Discussion / Beta Version of Vista Start Menu Emulator

« Last post by KenR on January 12, 2007, 02:40 PM »

Here's a freeware Beta version of the oft seen Vista Start Menu for those want the new menu and old operating system.

Short description

This project has been started to all of you who’d still like to use Windows XP SP2 but also want to see the Start menu of Windows Vista...

Plans
    * The final release is planned to be released on the 11th of November
    * Updates are planned into the next version, like Windows XP styled Start button and panel, also with Vista style, so you can chose then...

http://vseproject.extra.hu/index.htm

from http://shellcity.net/

500

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Friday, January 12: ClipMate @ Bits du Jour

« Last post by KenR on January 12, 2007, 01:09 PM »

So, ClipMate is a real good program?

-mrainey (January 12, 2007, 08:53 AM)

Nothing against CHS. I use ClipMate because I bought it and started with it. Those issues aside, it's a fantastic program. I use it many times every day. It has a wealth of features. Take a look at it. I have also added a screen shot so you can see the UI.

Ken