Recent Posts

5101

Living Room / Re: Where Is Windows 8.1?

« Last post by tomos on January 12, 2013, 03:46 PM »

But really - it's only the charms thingy that's the real problem, but boy does it drive me nuts - I even tried a registry tweak to remove it - unsuccessful.

-tomos (December 07, 2012, 08:26 AM)

This one? http://betanews.com/...-panel-in-windows-8/

-Stoic Joker (December 07, 2012, 09:35 AM)

extermely belated response -
That tweak does seem to stop the charms bar appearing if the mouse goes into the corners - but it still appears on certain 'gestures' which happen to be the same as when you simply move the mouse from a to b - with mouse or trackpad.
I'm getting jaded and am considering sending the laptop back cause the trackpad isnt functioning well anyway.

I'm added some related minor edits to my previous post above in [square brackets]

5102

General Software Discussion / Re: Q: Java for Safari on iPhone4?

« Last post by tomos on January 12, 2013, 02:38 PM »

and each and every one of these services takes that the user has Java!

-Curt (January 12, 2013, 08:47 AM)

Sure it's not JavaScript they're requiring? (Java is not JavaScript and reverse)

-Ath (January 12, 2013, 09:01 AM)

f0dder has talked about needing Java - I think for online-banking - in dk. And complained heartily about it too...

5103

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Surface RT - I got one.

« Last post by tomos on January 12, 2013, 03:06 AM »

This review was extremely positive as well -
A month with my Surface RT

5104

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: --> DonationCoder.com NANY 2013 Roundup Summary

« Last post by tomos on January 11, 2013, 06:27 PM »

Thanks mouser and everyone

5105

DonationCoder.com Newsletters / Re: --> Special Edition Newsletter for Jan 11, 2013 - NANY 2013 Roundup

« Last post by tomos on January 11, 2013, 02:30 PM »

thanks mouser

and many thanks to wraith808 for organising the new discounts *and* checking all the older ones:

5106

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by tomos on January 11, 2013, 03:29 AM »

I have a couple of times been using Lazarus, but never became a fan of it; too many situations when it didn't save what I wanted it to save, because there was no crash but just me closing the page and changing my mind. Now I have found a better solution for my needs:

>Textarea Cache :: Add-ons for Firefox<

Save automatically the content in Textarea.

This means that a large amount of text is saved, but there are of course also options for auto-deleting the cache.

-Curt (January 10, 2013, 11:38 AM)

NOTE! they do say:

For people who need password protect:
"Lazarus: Form Recovery" is your better choice.

I presume that means that their's is not safe with passwords (?)

5107

Clipboard Help+Spell / Copy files and paste later [CH&S]

« Last post by tomos on January 11, 2013, 03:15 AM »

hi mouser
I presume you're aware of the dottech comparision between a few clipboard managers (dc thread)
It prompted me to ask:


I was wondering would you have any interest in implementing the functionality where you can copy files and paste them *after* having copied and/or pasted other clips. (The feature is apparently in ClipX, Ditto and CLCL - I'm not trying to make you competetive, honestly lol)

5108

General Software Discussion / Re: New cross-platform Vector app [looking for your support]

« Last post by tomos on January 10, 2013, 09:12 AM »

The comments on their progress link are very interesting

This one is harsh but thought-provoking:

Doc Pixel 10.01.13 @ 01:32 pm Random first thoughts after reading the comments here: Henry Ford on innovation: "“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Sorry to be so blunt, but re-creating Freehand as it "was"... is a dead end. As someone above this post mentioned, iDraw is an example of what future vector software will look like and be built upon. It is also software initiatives like this that pull in investors by the boat-load. Making business and software decisions by listening to people still declaring their hatred for social platforms: very short-sighted and they should be ignored. People declaring their hate and refusal to even try illustrator, leads me to believe that if StageStack deviates in the slightest way from Freehand... which these people know and have an undying love for... they will be the biggest complainers. In that regard, it's a good thing they are not socially connected... because no one will even hear their complaints. Other than probably their customers who will have to endure another round of whining and complaining why they can't get their projects done on budget and punctually. Design-software at this point NEEDS the tech-savvy social connected crowd. New innovative and inspiring tools for young ideas and people designing for themselves and their generation and shaping the world "today and tomorrow". Note: I just turned 50 a couple of days ago. I had these same discussions 25 years ago explaining why we don't need a GUI to $150k typesetting machines; we need NEW software that takes advantage of the new Macintosh and PC platforms of the future. People like Bob Sander-Cederlof delivered that way back then... can Quasada do that today? A 3rd Party plugin from Quasado to open old Freehand files will never ever see the light of day. Patents and copyrights held by Adobe, and the original API platform no longer being supported to get at the binary code makes it a "dead end project". The Rosetta PowerPC emulator code will never be reverse engineered so that Mac users will ever be able to install Freehand in current or future OS versions, similar to the resons above. More info: http://en.wikipedia....rg/wiki/QuickTransit. There is no need for a new Freehand unless it is built with future considerations like touch and pen input for the future, and RGB is the base design color model. Period. Because CMYK is also a dying (dead) technology. INFO: Last year ebooks broke the 50% mark of all books sold on Amazon. Newsprint and magazines have been on a downward spiral for the last 5 years, and it will continue at a pace never seen before. Within a short period of time, whatever is still "printed" like packaging, will surely be 100% "digitally" printed, where the RIP will be doing RGB conversions according to the inks in the system. This could very well be from 4-16 at a time and encompass a spectrum far exceeding that of any 4-16 color traditional printing press. Ask Heidelberg. I have. The statistics and trend in the traditional printing markets are scary bad. Add to the digital printing the fact that paper has become a very expensive commodity, to the point where traditional printing/publishing is becoming far too expensive to consider for old-school advertising, marketing and daily/monthly publishing. Ads in newspapers or magazines were mentioned above in a comment: I hope it was just being sarcastic(!) Should Quasada also deliver demos on diskettes and CD's? Besides the financial benefits of going digital, the added benefit is that it's FAR more ecological. A topic that the younger generation is becoming fully aware of in school. The consequences if they ignore conservation are more than evident. As far as I'm concerned, death to dead-tree publishing can't come soon enough. My Summary: 1) stop wasting your development money building a "better mousetrap" clone from yesterday. 2) reconsider your strategy and think where you want your software to take young designers and publishing in 1 year, 2 years, 5. 3) How can you leverage the young designer's energy and desire for "new" tools, learn them, and new ways of being productive; shining a light on THEIR world, not those of their parents, me or any other old folks commenting here. Social communication, interest and "tuned-in" investors are all but guaranteed when you find the right combination of must-have tools for the "Future Designer's Toolbox". Build that!

(I formatted the text)

5109

Living Room / Re: Lack of sleep...very tired...got creative...kinda

« Last post by tomos on January 10, 2013, 08:24 AM »

played both together - looked/sounded well.
Well, I moved on after a while but left them playing...

Nice background music btw - is it Brian Eno, or what is it?
And what did you use to create the images? Just curious (as usual)

5110

Living Room / Re: Fascinating dust

« Last post by tomos on January 10, 2013, 04:38 AM »

^ I've no idea myself.
It does say magnified 22 million times, which (is that possible - I dont think something can be magnified that much!?!) makes me think electron, but I know nothing about this kind of technology.

Related: do you remember those Nikon Small World competitions, let's see,
http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/
http://www.microscopyu.com/

5111

Living Room / Re: Show us a photo of your mutt or other creatures..

« Last post by tomos on January 10, 2013, 04:23 AM »

I'm very sorry to hear that CleverCat

We had 3 last wonderful weeks with her, and she enjoyed her last weeks with no suffering.......

-CleverCat (January 10, 2013, 02:51 AM)

that's good ...

5112

General Software Discussion / Re: New cross-platform Vector app [looking for your support]

« Last post by tomos on January 09, 2013, 02:22 PM »

What about Xara Designer Pro as a competitor to Illustrator?

Blindingly fast and easy to use with lots of native import options (including Freehand 3).

-Carol Haynes (January 09, 2013, 09:37 AM)

From what I've heard (about two years ago now though...), older versions only offered CMYK colour when exporting a file, i.e. one couldnt work with CMYK colours and see it in progress. I dont know if this is still the case(?) Otherwise it has a very good reputation, but pros seem to mainly avoid it so far (which doesnt mean anything much btw).
One thing that makes me wary is the fact it does so much! But obviously that wouldnt stop me trying it I'm not looking to buy anything at the moment, but I would certainly try Xara before moving to Illustrator (which I have but almost never use).

5113

General Software Discussion / Re: New cross-platform Vector app [looking for your support]

« Last post by tomos on January 09, 2013, 09:34 AM »

^ that's why I'm doing my little bit to promote this one - in the hopes that it will follow in Freehand's footsteps...

Quasado are looking for support for this project. Simply following or liking will be of benefit - impress the investors :-)
Donations are also welcome though ;-)

Follow on twitter http://twitter.com/
Like on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/quasado
or donate http://www.stagestack.com/

-tomos (January 09, 2013, 09:01 AM)

5114

General Software Discussion / Re: New cross-platform Vector app [looking for your support]

« Last post by tomos on January 09, 2013, 09:01 AM »

Added to original post:

Quasado are looking for support for this project. Simply following or liking will be of benefit - impress the investors :-)
Donations are also welcome though ;-)

Follow on twitter http://twitter.com/
Like on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/quasado
or donate http://www.stagestack.com/
for more info on current status see here (stagestack.com blog)

5115

General Software Discussion / Re: Smart Edit (for Novelists & Creative Writers)

« Last post by tomos on January 08, 2013, 11:38 AM »

- learned something new, thank you! (You can't google for pictures if you don't have some search term, now you gave me the search terms needed for finding!)

-helmut85 (January 07, 2013, 09:01 PM)

Now learn something "new": Go to Google Images, drag a copy of my picture and drop it on the search box, and without typing any search terms, you will instantly get this:
 (see attachment in previous post)

-Curt (January 07, 2013, 09:28 PM)

The strange thing is, it's not searching on the image.  I 'edited' my avatar from a different image.  Even though it has been edited (the face removed), it still shows the images for the original image- not the edited one, even though I use it on several sites.

-wraith808 (January 08, 2013, 09:22 AM)

You can get in trouble that way
I presume it's still got a thumbnail of the original in the file somewhere courtesy the editor. I dont remember exactly why that often doesnt get updated, or what the solution is. Was mentioned here on dc a while back (maybe by Shades?) but I wouldnt even begin to know where to look (here).

5116

General Software Discussion / Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)

« Last post by tomos on January 08, 2013, 11:18 AM »

^ I'm not sure why you're picking on 40hz -I know he's well able to talk for himself- but the way I see it, he's right and well, you're right too :p

Note - initially I was also thinking upgrades but forgot that Adobe doesnt offer upgrades once the software is a couple of numbers back, so, as said by various people above, the subscription model is really what's on offer.

I dislike hating - someone on dc lately said/quoted that it was like taking poison and hoping the other person would die. But when I think of Adobe's European pricing, I tend to hate - it's already expensive in the States. I dont know are they worse than other companies that way? For hardware you could argue that the market is much more fragmented. I suppose Adobe have to make websites in various languages (oh the strain) but not to the cost that they charge us poor beggars (well, we will be after purchase). But really we're rambling a bit here imo...

5117

Living Room / Re: Fascinating dust

« Last post by tomos on January 08, 2013, 08:07 AM »

@Stephen66515: What a superb picture. From an electron microscope, presumably.(?)

-IainB (January 08, 2013, 05:48 AM)

no, no:

PSYchr 532 points : 1 day ago reply
This image taken by a black and white security camera, then enhanced by advanced CSI technology. For real!

-http://imgur.com/gallery/1a3H2

5118

Living Room / Re: Chinese Laborer pleads for help in Halloween Decorations

« Last post by tomos on January 08, 2013, 07:53 AM »

Let's face it anyone reading this (including me) is probably using at least one component (probably a lot more) that is a product of a Chinese (or other Far Eastern) sweatshop in the computer(s), phone(s) or tablet(s) they use.

-Carol Haynes (January 08, 2013, 02:53 AM)

True. Definitely a lot more than one - me included. I was looking at the cleaning instructions for my newish winter coat today - made in China - conditions: no idea of course.

My point still stands - most people shrug and think along the lines what can I do (nothing...). 'Not much' is truer as it happens, but I still do what I can. That's mainly in the direction of food & drink where it's more possible e.g. it's relatively easy around here to get fair trade tea and coffee. The fair trade market is mostly a luxury niche market, used by many to think oh I've done my good for today and used by supermarkets to give a good image - look we've got two products where we guarantee that people are given a fair wage - with the rest it's pot-luck. I'm not convinced the fair trade mark and approach is the way to go. All of which bothers me -but I still buy it if I can, and if I can afford it of course.

5119

General Software Discussion / Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)

« Last post by tomos on January 08, 2013, 07:37 AM »

Why does a program have to be vilified simply because most people prefer using it rather than its competition?

-40hz (January 08, 2013, 04:24 AM)

I personally dislike Adobe for killing Macromedia Freehand - but really Macromedia is to blame there. It was possibly illegal for Adobe to buy and kill Freehand thereby giving themselves more or less a monopoly in the vector drawing market, but again, I have to admit that Freehand really failed -in spite of being the superior product- because of Macromedia.

5120

General Software Discussion / Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)

« Last post by tomos on January 08, 2013, 07:36 AM »

Whether it was a mistake or not, they can only really do what they are doing - anything else would be really bad PR.

As far as finding new customers, I don't think that's their motivation. CS is the de facto standard in print publishing - and a major player in e-pub, web, and media development. So it's not like they need to get a huge influx of users. Especially since their Creative Cloud offering brings any and all of their products within financial reach of just about anybody that actually needs them.

-40hz (January 07, 2013, 08:04 PM)

what corporation doesnt need/want more customers
I dont know the figures but I rekon Adobe have only gotten really huge with the advent of digital camera and the popularity of Photoshop amongst amatuer enthusiasts.

They've been promoting the Cloud lately (per email at least) - and this episode, whether intentional or not, has gotten them an awful lot of promotion for the server cost.

5121

Living Room / Re: The Internets makes me laugh

« Last post by tomos on January 08, 2013, 06:30 AM »

After a Christmas break, I'm still catching up here.
This thread gave me a good laugh this morning:

Poem, By Me

but I'd say the best laugh I've had in the last while has to have been the "Alan, Alan" series from the BBC - http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=XgvR3y5JCXg

5122

Living Room / Re: MS Blocks Ability in Windows 8

« Last post by tomos on January 07, 2013, 09:04 PM »

This has all been trashed out before...

I'm not sure why people get upset about people who are upset with 8 booting into metro.
I dont use metro, why should I boot into the thing?

Why should we be offered workarounds to replace the start menu? Why not leave the desktop easily usable for those of us who do not have and do not plan to have touch screens? (And for the mouse centric.)

I'm not at all anti-8. But I really do not understand a few basic things in 8 that bug me every time I use it...

Oh yeah:
the solution I used to boot to desktop seemed a bit scary to me initially as it required re-activating the OS - it was all done automatically though. If you're using a pre-installed copy, this will help you find the key.

I followed these instructions to boot directly to desktop and it works:

http://winaero.com/b...ny-third-party-tool/

-phitsc (November 23, 2012, 02:50 AM)

5123

General Software Discussion / Re: "We changed your language to German"

« Last post by tomos on January 07, 2013, 08:22 PM »

I tend to use the search box in FF - that way I can make sure it's exactly the site I want, .de or .com, be it bing or google or duckduckgo.
Youtube I'm usually logged into so that's not a problem for me either.

For 7, OEM or you, you need the more expensive versions ("prof" or something) in order to change languages,

-helmut85 (January 07, 2013, 07:58 PM)

Last time I checked, I could get a multi-language OEM 7 Ultimate on ebay.de for under €50. And it's fully legal for anyone to install -in Germany at any rate.

5124

Living Room / Re: To All My DC Friends!

« Last post by tomos on January 07, 2013, 08:11 PM »

I see I cant spell


I've been making you famous though:
https://www.donation....msg313384#msg313384

5125

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by tomos on January 07, 2013, 08:10 PM »

and another