Recent Posts

551

Living Room / Re: Phone Interview with Microsoft!

« Last post by iphigenie on April 30, 2008, 03:03 AM »

I know it's scary. I'm debating sending my cv to google (even though they are evil  they are a great company to work for) because they advertise a senior job that would be right up my alley. Then I think about the candidates they must receive and I just feel like theres no chance...

I have hard to find experience but its all in smb's - i bet they get people who wrote 6 major open source projects and worked on 100 million projects applying for the same job... 

I'll say to you what my soon-to-be-ex-team say to me "dont be silly comparing yourself to others they probably feel the same looking at you, go for it else we will kick your ***"

552

General Software Discussion / Re: User friendly . . .

« Last post by iphigenie on April 30, 2008, 02:58 AM »

72photos are still finding their way, things change every other day.
For example sometimes clicking on a picture opens a larger version with a flash zoomer, and sometimes straight the original, and sometimes it just moves on to the next image.

I have been told I ought to put my pics somewhere else as well so people can see them bigger with all flaws - any suggestions?
Wary of flickr, so many people use it to nick your images and i dont like the idea (except for the ones i creative commone'd)
Id love smugmug but having just lost my job I must be thrifty, make sure the payout lasts so i have time to try something, and smugmug and lightzone (which i really planned to buy) might just have to wait
Might try 73 photos or dare deviantart or photo.net (but i'd be so amateurish next to theirs!)

Or maybe I host my own

Or maybe I wait for the promised fixes

Who is using what?

553

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: A nice creative challenge and a near perfect 1 task website: blipfoto.com

« Last post by iphigenie on April 30, 2008, 02:32 AM »

22 days straight and not missed one - although it takes a bit of courage when you havent had time to do much and just have to make do with what you snapped on the way to the station
And not one grumpy or unencouraging comment - i can confirm this is a great site to try something like this even if you think your photos are average - some people post slightly blurry pics every day and they will still get nice comments on the subject or composition or what they said. Its about expression not talent.
If you want to be pushed and challenged on your photo then you need photo.net or pbase but i wouldnt dare go near there - my pics are often a bit off. I was much better with film, I think digital makes me sloppy...

I only lured 2 people to it so far, and they are having a blast. Only bring people with the right mindset there

I promised some screenies of how easy it is:

554

Living Room / Re: Knock, Knock, It's the FBI

« Last post by iphigenie on April 28, 2008, 02:50 PM »

and you pursuing it yourself like you did would get you into serious trouble nowadays!

555

Living Room / Re: Knock, Knock, It's the FBI

« Last post by iphigenie on April 28, 2008, 02:20 AM »

Well a security agency needs to justify its existence and increasing budgets, and for that they need to show more and more threats/crimes

There is a very murky side when you have entrapment/honeypots, especially if they are very wide open and someone could innocently wander in. In IT Honeypots were actually invented as a security mechanism (distraction) not as a way to catch anyone and pursue...

Anyway, I think I made the point once that everyone should use stuff like TOR - not because they have anything to hide but because you never know when something innocuous will suddenly become somthing to hide, and because the mass of users adds to the anonymity of the system

556

Living Room / Re: Help me build my shot glass collection - Receive a small trinket from overseas

« Last post by iphigenie on April 27, 2008, 10:57 AM »

This is a sweet idea - next time i am in a place with a funny name I will try to see if i can find out 

I have a loosely similar weird project which is to try to walk between places with related names - my first one is Rye to Sandwich (best I could find so far that makes sense). I need to walk some to warm my legs for the 4 days of Nijlmegen this summer, and since I cannot quite convince enough people to walk with me I have to find something to give me ideas... else I just wont do it (alone is just less fun)

Sandwich... I might have you shot glass right there!

Question: swiss white wine glasses, slightly bigger than shot glasses, would that be ok too? I'm swiss so I can easily get one next time I go visit my mum

557

General Software Discussion / Re: Xara Xtreme 4 and Pro 4 released

« Last post by iphigenie on April 26, 2008, 03:26 AM »

Yes, I too cannot get around with Illustrator. I was very cross when Adobe bought Macromedia, as I figured it was the end of Freehand... There are several Macromedia products I mourn, Xres (was fauve before iirc?), Fontographer and now Freehand...

I have Xara X1, Canvas (for a certain kind of illustration) and I guess I often will use the drawing tools in zoner, photoimpact or paint shop pro (yes, i accumulated a lot and since i have multiple computers - laptop, 2 homes and 1 office!! - I spread them around so I have 1 tool of each kind on each computer) and yet I still reinstall Freehand 9 and use it, cause I know it and have lots of files in it...

This new xara goes the photoimpact/paint shop pro route by adding more and more image manipulation (non destructive!) to illustration ( the others came at it from the other side, PI had this mix early, PSP added it recently)

558

Image Manager Shootout / Re: Xnview vs. IrfanView - integrity issue examined

« Last post by iphigenie on April 26, 2008, 03:06 AM »

I understand that in certain fields, dialoge/controls ideas can be a competitive advantage (I can do things in certain tools in acdsee and lightzone or lightroom that i cannot achieve in the more traditional setting systems), but actually not as much. I did not buy acdsee because of that one dialogue/tool, i bought because the whole package was put together in a way that suited what i needed to do.

It is true that if you spend time thinking about a particular task long enough to work out a better way (you think) you might feel cheated. It happened to me several times that both writing and features (it was in ecommerce and cmses at the time) you come up with ideas noone else has done yet - then they end up somewhere else, exact copy down to the help text... Especially if these others manage to be more successful than you it does feel really unfair.

It is also true than most times if you are honest with yourself you can imagine that any smart person spending the same amount of time as you thinking about this has a high chance of coming up with a similar idea. I am not sure how many ways there are to do batch operations, for example, although I do remember irfan being great for this about 10 years ago.

Very rarely does someone come up with something that others couldnt come up with. Rarely is there an idea that is so unique and new and fresh - but those ought to be protected some. How you protect these without allowing all the i-m-just-the-first-person-to-spend-10-minutes-thinking-about-this pointless patents, alas, is near impossible in the software field.

Imagine if when writing messages you had to consult some database to make sure your wording is different from every app out there? or if you had to do a file/open in a different way from everyone's? Ugh!

But you still feel cheated when someone lifts and idea from you and they make more success than you with it - that's the bit that rankles and upsets.

559

General Software Discussion / Re: Carbonite Online Backup

« Last post by iphigenie on April 25, 2008, 01:29 AM »

I'm waiting for the day where it is possible to backup large amounts online.

My backup drives are 500Gb NAS (about 300Gb used) and a 160GB pocket drive (full) - that includes mp3s, photos, email backup, documents, image of the c: partition for all PCs, app configs from all pcs, install files and code for all my registered software, images of my games DVDs, all my code from past and present websites - including 5 cmses going back to 2002 - and other coding attempts and a small collection of purchased or free stock photography, graphics and fonts.

Now apart maybe from the pc and game images most of that I would like to backup - but I dont think it is practical just yet . The cheapest solution might be a cheap dedicated server indeed.

PS: Incidentally I suspect I am quite typical, and with 1Tb costing $100 nowadays it will get worse. Which makes file management an industry where there will be a lot of opportunity for a clever product (to me the clever product is the one that makes it quick and easy to review/sift/sort then move/rename via patterns, as automagically as possible - things image and music managers are better at than file managers, but i would prefer on tool that can cope with all kinds)

560

Living Room / Re: How many people work from home?

« Last post by iphigenie on April 23, 2008, 07:01 PM »

Well it seems I might get to consider getting clients again, since i just found out my company cant afford to keep me on. Cant blame them and i'll be all right, but have to ask do i really want to work for someone else again or go back to my company.

I always have too many ideas and projects anyway

561

Living Room / Re: Searchme - another visual search attempt

« Last post by iphigenie on April 23, 2008, 01:56 AM »

As someone involved in search lately, I was quite sceptical that this was a gimmick.

But the visual angle does help spot that pages are not what you want - and you can indentify spammy sites right away.
It is still slower than skimming text but it certainly could have a place in the search toolbox

562

General Software Discussion / Re: Small Apps

« Last post by iphigenie on April 23, 2008, 01:50 AM »

oh these could be quite useful indeed when wanting to quickly share a photo over im - a hassle for me at the moment

563

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: PowerDesk 7 Pro for $9.5

« Last post by iphigenie on April 20, 2008, 11:08 AM »

Actually I think avanquest at the moment have a 50% off anything offer. Works for powerdesk and all others

I got 2 emails one with code NEWAQ50 and the other NEWVC50

Both to celebrate the new avanquest website

564

General Software Discussion / Re: Super Flexible File Synchronizer Pro says Zaine

« Last post by iphigenie on April 20, 2008, 10:58 AM »

I considered creating a separate topic but I'll revive this one first.

I did win SSFS here ( ) but one thing I noticed is that for synchronising photos and mp3s (i sync between a NAS and an USB portable drive to have 2 copies of my files, and might work on one or the other) it takes a lot of time the way I set it up.

This is because if i go through and tag things, as I am doing as I am trying to clean up/organise things, then SSFS will copy all the images or MP3s back.

So this brings 2 questions
- would the partial sync work in this case? Anyone use it that way?
- if not, is there a sync option that could be "meta information only", or some specialised tools for images or mp3s?

EDIT: doesnt seem that the SFSS partial sync can work in my setup since it seems to require something installed in the remote computer and i just have 2 drives from one computer, one usb the other over the network

565

General Software Discussion / Re: Carbonite Online Backup

« Last post by iphigenie on April 20, 2008, 09:58 AM »

I'm interested if anyone has experience with any of the new ones which use amazon s3 as their storage.
I tried an open source one, s3drive i think it was called, which just installed a virtual drive on your pc so you could use other software to backup/sync to it, but it caused problems on my machine (i think access to my network drive still is slower since i installed it, and i have uninstalled it. could be in my head). It was beta of course so these things are to be expected.

Anyone use jungledisk or any of the other similar tools?

To clarify I like the idea of an S3 based one because then it is my S3 account, and therefore the data still belongs to me and is under my direct control.
I am a bit wary of the free ones since I think if it is free then i have no right to demand quality or security - I like to pay, have a proper agreement in place which gives me some guarantees and sla (same reason why i would pay for image storage, mail services etc.)

566

Living Room / Re: If you get angry about frivolous lawsuits by big company bullies you'll love..

« Last post by iphigenie on April 18, 2008, 07:26 AM »

French is my mother tongue and I agree it is bad - complicated grammar, nothing is pronounced or written as you think it ought to... it could never take over the world, because the world certainly couldnt be bothered. The last time french dominated the world was when it was the language of an aristocratic elite, and the complexity *helped* it in that.

It's still the best language to talk at length without saying anything though.

567

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: A nice creative challenge and a near perfect 1 task website: blipfoto.com

« Last post by iphigenie on April 18, 2008, 02:33 AM »

oh, it moved to mini-reviews? I guess I feel compelled to post some pics now - will get some of the upload process tonight

This is also a site where the search *works*, so to prove I have used it: http://www.blipfoto...._mode=Perform+search

I must have taken over 100 photos in a week, many which i uploaded to my 72photos gallery cause I didnt want them to waste. It just manages to get your photography juices flowing, the ones you'd forgotten you had...

568

Mini-Reviews by Members / A nice creative challenge and a near perfect 1 task website: blipfoto.com

« Last post by iphigenie on April 16, 2008, 10:23 AM »

I try so many sites as part of my work, and most of the time I find them lacking - I have registered to literally hundreds at one time or another and I haven't gotten stuck and participated in any of them the way I do in forums or newsgroups.

Until last weekend. This little one is clearly a labour of love and well suited to its planned purpose, and as a web application it is near perfect in delivering what it wants to deliver and nothing more.

http://www.blipfoto.com/

What is it
it is a simple, no frills, 1-a-day photoblog type service.

Sign up - human checked - upload one photo a day (which goes up for the day you took it, thats the one rule), put a bit of text with it. Receive nice welcome comments. Go around and get amused, impressed and probably inspired by all the weird and wonderful things other people have come up with that day. Want to go out and take yet more pictures.

The challenge is to try to do something daily. It's easy and yet it is fun, and because it is so minimalistic it doens't feel as self centered as the classic blog/diary thing.

I mentioned it elsewhere https://www.donation....msg109694#msg109694 with screenshots, but I thought that some people in DC might enjoy that little creative challenge every day so I would point it out again.

Why it works
- it is easy. the site is easy to use, upload takes 2 steps and no time at all... and we're talking 1 pic a day
- it feels accessible - most of the pictures are nice but normal. some frome expensive kit, some from mobile phone cameras. The community is all about positive pats on the back
- the design enhances the message - it is simple and keeps the images to a small size, which reinforces the message that it is about seeing and capturing life in its variety rather than a contest of impressive images.
- it is inspiring - I was very surprised that something so simple can get the creative juices flowing, i just love checking the site at random in the evenings
- it is a bit of a challenge, but one that you can achieve (besides there is no problem in not posting every day, many don't).
- there is no pressure. you dont have to be technically great, or original, to get a bit of feedback and recognition
- there is nothing unneccessary (a big thing for me, i have trouble with websites with too much stuff)

What it is not
- you wont get improve-your-photography criticism
- theres no competition
- not the best place to show off your best pictures

What could be better (for me)
- i would love a way to mark/remember specific pics i liked, to find them easily later
- it would be nice to have some form of conversation support across comments
but i suspect these might take away some of the simplicity of the concept and break some of the magic, and I dont really miss it that much.

What it did to me in one week:

Now I have always carried a pocket camera around, with the intention of taking more pictures, but I often didn't. This has managed to give me the little kick to try - snap something...  Take more risks (I come from film, I just didnt snap like mad) I just try to actually extract something out of whatever pictures I manage to take that day.

This week I have taken pictures of bits of plants, even though I thought my camera probably wouldnt cope (it did, better than i would have thought). I have taken pictures of my coworkers (who never want to) using the excuse that I am trying to get more photos for that photoblog challenge (and they let me get away with it). I have had people chat with me on the street because they saw me take a photo of a flower/brick/bit of sidewalk and tell me how they try to take pictures and how fun it is now that you can fix it on the computer and I have just made them think they will take their camera with them tomorrow...

I have had a blast offline and online 

569

Living Room / Re: A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder - How Crammed Closets, Cluttered

« Last post by iphigenie on April 16, 2008, 09:33 AM »

Some chaos is good for creativity - too much structure and too much time spent reorganising all the time sure aren't helping. Overplanning is certainly not helping anyone and its a major pain when someone imposes it on us.

On the other hand clutter tends to sap some of my energy and productivity - there's always so much visible to do, makes it hard to actually do anything or stick with one thing long enough to finish it.

570

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by iphigenie on April 16, 2008, 09:28 AM »

Another thing in the homeserver versus NAS is of course power consumption.

I used to have a routing gateway/mail server/backup built on a pc, but I decided it was silly to have something like that running all the time. Even though it was using a low powered epia chip it was still more power than the single purpose mini boxes use.

571

General Software Discussion / Re: User friendly . . .

« Last post by iphigenie on April 16, 2008, 09:20 AM »

I need to check how 72photos privacy works (or not), it might come in handy when visiting the family

They put one of my pics on their homepage, bless them  I know it is a small site but it still is flattering

572

Living Room / Re: If you get angry about frivolous lawsuits by big company bullies you'll love..

« Last post by iphigenie on April 16, 2008, 09:16 AM »

Oh, I must save that one - could reuse some stylistic bits next time I receive another one of those "you (...) domain infringes our US trademark on (...), hand it over or else" letters.

Thankfully I know enough to be able to respond "your trademark is in the wrong country and besides it is only registered for the ... market and there is absolutely no overlap and confusion with this domain of mine" but still...

I'd buy this guy many virtual drinks 

573

General Software Discussion / Re: My favorite software! What's yours?

« Last post by iphigenie on April 15, 2008, 09:32 AM »

F0dder - I did smile, and that's why i replied as a joke too - there *is* more to english culture than boiled food, I think, there's.... there's.... 

 

And you are right about unicode being a right pain from a technical point of view. I cant count the issues unicode has caused me in web development, but it was a lot of wasted hours and half my 20 white hairs come from it.

574

General Software Discussion / Re: Vista Aero vs. Linux Compiz

« Last post by iphigenie on April 15, 2008, 04:30 AM »

I agree with Carol

Yes the interface cleverness is important, but it is the applications that matter - else we would all be using next or OS/2

I regularly try linux/bsd on the desktop, and what stops me is not the window manager, it is the thought of having to relearn how to use a whole bunch of applications. Finding what to use to reproduce the tools and shortcuts that I use.

It's not really the big apps - I can imagine learning to use any of the linux photo software over time, and I havent had years of training and use in one piece of software to unlearn (which would be very hard - although there is a gimp add on which makes it more like photoshop in the interface and keyboard shortcuts, i am told). It is all the utilities, the email client, website archive, and all the little interface tweaks. It's 10 years of trying stuff and keeping the best and building a toolbox that fits me.

Comfort and habit with the tools is a good thing for productivity.

Even Vista irritates me, I am so used to XP

575

General Software Discussion / Re: My favorite software! What's yours?

« Last post by iphigenie on April 15, 2008, 04:18 AM »

I'm not sure about the idea of the english culture being the only one in the world... especially if all the other cultures had disappeared before they improved the english one a bit 

The whole world would be eating boiled food and living in a caste culture