Recent Posts

601

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on January 29, 2018, 12:55 PM »

If you are somebody's headache and you take aspirin, do you disappear?
If you give someone else a headache and they take aspirin, do you get it back?

-Arizona Hot (January 28, 2018, 03:50 PM)

Good philosophical questions!
Right up there with "the sound of one hand clapping", and "whether the tree falling unobserved in the forest makes a noise", or something.   

602

Living Room / Terms of Service; Didn't Read” (short: ToS;DR)

« Last post by IainB on January 29, 2018, 04:44 AM »

Terms of Service - How good are they?
By "How good?", I of course intend to mean, "To what extent are they in the user's/consumer's favour?".

For the first time that I was aware of, someone has shone the hard light of scrutiny on the ToS of various well-known software and service providers.
I am referring to ToS;DR

Turns out that this has actually been going as a project since 2012 (first occurs on Wayback in 2013), but I don't recall having come across it before. I didn't recollect whether ToS;DR had been mentioned before on DC Forum, so I did a search, and came up with this from 2014: Nobody reads Software licenses...not even the people who made my router it seems
There, the link is given to the project website: Terms of Service; Didn't Read

Worth a look from a consumer information perspective, but worrying when you look at the Privacy/Control issues. The vendor basically seems to dictate the Terms.

Spot your "favourite" (or recommend it) there.
Their blog is also linked to, and is worth a read: http://blog.tosdr.org/

EDIT 2018-02-14: I improved the content of this post as it seemed a bit disjointed the way I had originally written it. (Apologies.)

603

Living Room / Re: Help - not sure what happened but windows seems to be hosed

« Last post by IainB on January 28, 2018, 11:14 PM »

@mouser:

Yikes!
Yeah martin at ghacks reports on the malware bytes issue: https://www.ghacks.n...uses-high-ram-usage/

-mouser (January 28, 2018, 10:41 PM)

Classic. Very droll. Yeah. like nobody could have predicted that... 

604

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2.4.3 build 471 Display Properties throws error

« Last post by IainB on January 28, 2018, 10:55 PM »

@WhiteTigX:
Thanx anyway. I was  unaffected but still appreciate the upgrade.

605

Living Room / Re: Animal Friends thread

« Last post by IainB on January 27, 2018, 08:20 PM »

Well, well, well, That is a brilliant discovery. Seems like it's something new about cat behaviour.
I had always thought that cats were hardwired to bring in their trophies/kills (dead mice, rabbits, rats, birds) as a proud display of their prowess, or something.
I never for once imagined that they might think that that was what their owners liked/wanted. If the story is true, then this particular cat appears to have figured it out by a sort of trial-and-error process - "Let's see if he/she likes this...".
If one cat can do it, then it may well speak for all cats. So, positive reinforcement for the cat that brings in a "wanted" trophy, and negative reinforcement for the one that brings in an "unwanted" trophy.

Of course, a simpler explanation just might be that dead leaves may also be fun to chase and catch, because they flip about in the wind so temptingly, and as one gets older and slower, they could seem an easier catch than mice, birds, etc.

606

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by IainB on January 26, 2018, 09:31 PM »

@Stoic Joker: Maybe you should alter the spelling of that rude word there, to put (say) a "#" in place of the "u".
Otherwise, you might risk potentially disturbing the virtuous equanimity of this "family-friendly" forum.
Or maybe you shouldn't bother. I just asked my 7 y/o son to read what you wrote, and he recognised the "rude F-word". I wrote it out but with the "u" replaced with a "#" and asked him if he recognized it now. "Yes. It's just a bit different.", he said.

607

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by IainB on January 26, 2018, 05:49 PM »

@Stoic Joker: OIC. Yes, I saw the point as in "...the mad dog off its leash...we are so screwed", but perceived the "...they're finally being honest enough to admit their complete lack of honesty..." as simply bleak humour in a true statement.

This thing they have done - the changes to their website - I could be wrong, of course, but, whatever one calls it, it would seem to be a clear, deliberate and calculated move - seemingly a fundamental shift in formalized policy - motivated by what American citizens can only guess at, since the adjustment to the website has apparently deliberately been neither publicised nor explained, but merely slipped in whilst people were sleeping, with an offhand, dismissive - almost insulting - response, when the change was queried.
These would not seem to be the actions of a pukka civil servant per se, but rather the actions of the master, so secure in its position that it can overtly demonstrate a boorish/arrogant indifference to any public opinion/objection.

Maybe it's a first step in a process of desensitization of citizens towards a creeping erosion of rights and/or civil liberties - in the hope that, eventually, protest fatigue may set in and apathy take over.
Or maybe it's jumping the gun a bit? Speaking of which, at least in the US, the citizens still have the ability to ultimately protect themselves from the State in a worst case scenario, via the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution (i.e., the right to keep and bear arms), despite the seemingly ceaseless assault by the State, on those rights, at every opportunity.
Other Western democracies don't seem to have anything like that.

608

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by IainB on January 26, 2018, 09:10 AM »

...Then again we could at least try to appreciate they're finally being honest enough to admit their complete lack of honesty.. 

-Stoic Joker (January 25, 2018, 07:11 AM)

Well, yes, that would seem to be true, yet, though that is an amusing comment, the implications could be quite frightening: It would seem that the gloves are off and the intrusive spying is brazenly admitted to. It's an in-your-face middle digit sort of "How do you like them apples, buddy!?" to the American people at large (never mind the rest of the world).
This would effectively seem to be the State giving the finger to the American people, and others. No longer any attempt at concealment or diversion, it's an almost brazen insult - a fait accompli. - #SuckItUp.

609

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by IainB on January 25, 2018, 04:30 AM »

At first, I wasn't sure whether to put this under "Snowdengate" or "silly humour", then I figured it actually wasn't very funny.

NSA DELETES “HONESTY” AND “OPENNESS” FROM CORE VALUES
<https://theintercept.com/2018/01/24/nsa-core-values-honesty-deleted/>
Jean Marc Manach
January 25 2018, 1:29

THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY maintains a page on its website that outlines its mission statement. But earlier this month, the agency made a discreet change: It removed “honesty” as its top priority.

Since at least May 2016, the surveillance agency had featured honesty as the first of four “core values” listed on NSA.gov, alongside “respect for the law,” “integrity,” and “transparency.” The agency vowed on the site to “be truthful with each other.”

On January 12, however, the NSA removed the mission statement page – which can still be viewed through the Internet Archive – and replaced it with a new version. Now, the parts about honesty and the pledge to be truthful have been deleted. The agency’s new top value is “commitment to service,” which it says means “excellence in the pursuit of our critical mission.”

Those are not the only striking alterations. In its old core values, the NSA explained that it would strive to be deserving of the “great trust” placed in it by national leaders and American citizens. It said that it would “honor the public’s need for openness.” But those phrases are now gone; all references to “trust,” “honor,” and “openness” have disappeared.

The agency previously stated on its website that it embraced transparency and claimed that all of its activities were aimed at “ensuring the safety, security, and liberty of our fellow citizens.” That has also been discarded. The agency still says it is committed to transparency on the updated website, but the transparency is now described as being for the benefit of “those who authorize and oversee NSA’s work on behalf of the American people.” The definition of “integrity” has been edited, too. The agency formerly said its commitment to integrity meant it would “behave honorably and apply good judgment.” The phrase “behave honorably” has now been dropped in favor of “communicating honestly and directly, acting ethically and fairly and carrying out our mission efficiently and effectively.”

The new list of values includes the additions “respect for people” and “accountability.” But the section on respecting people is a reference to diversity within the NSA workforce, not a general commitment to members of the public. Accountability is defined as taking “responsibility for our decisions.” The one core value that remains essentially unchanged is “respect for the law,” which the agency says means it is “grounded in our adherence to the U.S. Constitution and compliance with the U.S. laws, regulations and policies that govern our activities.”

In response to questions from The Intercept on Tuesday, the NSA played down the alterations. Thomas Groves, a spokesperson for the agency, said: “It’s nothing more than a website update, that’s all it is.”

Copied from: NSA Deletes “Honesty” and “Openness” From Core Values - <https://theintercept.com/2018/01/24/nsa-core-values-honesty-deleted/>

Some people (not me, you understand) might say that "The USA would seem to be unequivocally "stuffed", but I couldn't possibly comment.

610

Official Announcements / Re: New DonationCoder, New Ideas

« Last post by IainB on January 25, 2018, 04:02 AM »

@mouser: Well, after defining the target audience, I guess a methodical approach might be to figure out what specific things or presentation methods you probably need to use to encourage their engagement (in whatever activity you want them to engage). Then implement those things or presentation methods and test whether that achieves what was expected. If not, then redefine target audience, or change method a bit, or something, and repeat. Sort of suck-it-and-see by trial-and-error.

An interesting challenge.

611

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - EXIF+IPTC search/index standards

« Last post by IainB on January 25, 2018, 12:26 AM »

Picasa - EXIF+IPTC  search/index standards
Cross-posted from: Re: Feature Request: Search text notes in screenshots
« Reply #2 on: 2013-03-14, 23:04:24 »
(NB: Note that using Picasa Tags causes the Tagname used to be written to the the .JPG file's IPTC Keywords field.)
_________________________________________

This is something I've been trying to work out for some time. With mouser's new new captions features it's starting to make it easier.
cmpm found & posted a solution here: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=34092.msg320268#msg320268

-bob99 (March 14, 2013, 11:02 AM)

Doing a search with Agent Ransack works for finding captions.
In the results will be the Screenshot with caption.
http://www.mythicsof...ansack&page=home

-cmpm (March 09, 2013, 06:49 PM)

Thank you for this. I've read about Agent Ransack before but hadn't tried it. Just did and it found every caption search test I threw at it. And with the export to clipboard or file I can generate about any type of listing I want. Very nice.

-bob99 (March 10, 2013, 10:20 AM)

When I started to play about with them, it surprised me how tremendously useful the data-carrying potential for JPG/JPEG files was/is.
JPG image files seem to have lots of places to insert data/text.

For example, in the IPTC info there are tabs for:

• Description (you can put data in here)
• Keywords/Categories (you can put data in here)
• Credits/Origin (you can put data in here)
• Options

Of these, Description has 8 or 9 subfields for you to insert data/text:
   1. Title
   2. Artist
   3. Byline Title.
   4. Copyright
   5. Caption
   6. Caption Writer
   7. Headline
   8. Instructions
   9. JPEG Comment (Not really an an IPTC field?)

In the EXIF info:
There are various Tag fields, not so easily changed by the User.
(Filename is a Tag, so if you change the filename, then you change that Tag's contents also.)

Google Picasa can see all these filenames and fields (all this data) and automatically indexes it all, including the file path.
So you get an instant response when you search for any of it in Picasa. You can thus sort your images/data in multifold ways using various text strings.
There is a function called "Tags" in Picasa, which enables you to use unique linear tags (i.e., not Tags in a hierarchical tree) to categorize your images.
It's really easy to use Tags from the Tags Panel. You can Tag images individually (one by one), or en masse (in large groups).
You can have multiple (different) Tags for any given image.

This is interesting and rather useful:
If you put the word (say) "Sausage" in the IPTC Keywords/Categories Keywords field for a JPG file, then it appears in Picasa with the Tag "Sausage", and vice versa if you put the Tag "Sausage" as a Picasa Tag for that image.

In the Picasa menu, if you select Tools | Experimental |Show tag as album, you can select the Tag "Sausage" and that then becomes a logical album for all the images with the Tag "Sausage". This is in addition to the usual Album category function, which is comprised of an assortment of your selected images or groups of images from your database of images.
Using Picasa you can then send all or some members of an album (whether a category or a Tag album) online to a web-based album in Picasa.

In addition to this, if you have some images with text in them - e.g., (say), a picture of a receipt) - and if you save those images as TIF/TIFF files, then Windows 7 Search/Index can be set to automatically OCR scan these images and index any text found in the image. So you can search for that text from the Start menu.
Refer: Search for TIFF documents based on text content

If you have any images in OneNote Notebooks, then OneNote can be set to automatically OCR scan these images for text, and that text gets indexed, together with ordinary text in the Notebooks, and all of it is integrated in the Windows 7 Search/Index, so it can be searched for either just from within OneNote, or from the Start menu.
_________________________________________

612

Official Announcements / Re: New DonationCoder, New Ideas

« Last post by IainB on January 24, 2018, 04:51 PM »

Coincidentally, re posting frequency/discipline:

In the 12 years I've been blogging, I don't think I've ever gone two weeks without posting something new, but today's post is the first in almost a month, the first this year. The break wasn't intentional... I just haven't felt like writing, I guess. But today I visited a cafe with coffee so unique — I'd never had anything like it — that it deserved to roust me from my blogging lethargy.

 - Copied from: Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » Kafe Kosen: Quite the Unique (and Delicious) Coffee Experience in Kyoto - <http://regex.info/blog/2018-01-22/2845>

613

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks

« Last post by IainB on January 24, 2018, 04:17 PM »

Interesting comment by @Dormouse (taken from the DC Forum discussion thread Notetaking software), , regarding experiences with using OneNote:

...I find OneNote pretty good across platforms. The functionality of each program is not the same, and only desktop has all features, but everything that has been done on a note is visible and editable on all platforms (or has been so far). Sufficient for me atm.

I do have worries about it though. All my previous attempts at major use floundered on huge, unanticipated glitches (eg tables). However, I have a number of those on my map now and the advantages are enough to make set off into the wilderness again.  My current/almost immediate future project is being done on OneNote. Taken quite a bit of time getting the program set up to do what I want. Had considered Scrivener, but no Android and 3 only in beta on Windows. Had considered, and started, a more convoluted system using Simplenote for the main cross platform use, but convoluted and switching all the time was a real drag; wouldn't have been so bad if my mind stuck to one path, but it doesn't - it always wants to follow multiple paths at the same time.

One big advantage of OneNote is being able to write/draw directly into any page. I'm almost purely on Samsung Notes (tablets and phones) and Surface now just because of that. Occasional use of older Windows/Linux machines and I have a specialist program that requires iPads. I hadn't intended to upgrade to the Note8, finally persuaded the free Dex offer and kids telling me that phone prices (£) seemed to be going up not down. However, it has transformed my pen use. Not sure why, because it isn't that different to Note 4, but it has. Now choose to write/draw a lot whereas before I would write/draw when it seemed necessary.

PS I do like the concept of paper. Have accumulated reams of notebooks and diaries over the years. All mostly blank. Just have to accept that I'm an old fashioned digital guy

-Dormouse (December 01, 2017, 03:50 AM)

614

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Mini-Review and anchor-point

« Last post by IainB on January 24, 2018, 02:43 PM »

EDIT: Updated section 7.0 How it compares to similar products: of the Mini-Review to include some more details/discussion and a general link about alternatives to Picasa3.

615

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Mini-Review and anchor-point

« Last post by IainB on January 24, 2018, 01:58 PM »

@tomos:

just for the record:
it does not read the 'Comment' field (as seen below in Windows Explorer) -- I dont know if other apps do read that field (but seems like one that should be read).
It does read the 'Subject' field.

-tomos (January 24, 2018, 05:41 AM)

The reason it doesn't read the Windows Explorer "Comment" field is probably because that is an editable field in the NTFS ADS (Alternate Data Stream) - which is a bit like "a special data file linked to a normal data file". Picasa doesn't seem to rely on or use the ADS. This is probably because the usefulness of the ADS is constrained by the fact that it is risky - i.e., somewhat unreliable as a data field, for many/most user purposes - because it is not necessarily persistent.  That is, it is typically stripped off/deleted by default, during certain file move/copy operations to non-NTFS storage (e.g., on backup devices).
I find it amusing that you say "...but seems like one that should be read...", because it is a moot point. I mean, it seems that any such legitimate user requirement - potential or otherwise - may have been far from the minds of the Microsoft designers of the NTFS ADS. Otherwise, I suspect that they would probably not have left it as constrained as it is.   
The Picasa designers' workaround to the potential ADS data persistence risk would thus seem to have been (probably quite correctly) to avoid it altogether.

I don't know about the "Subject" field per se, but it is probably one of several fields that are filled/overwritten by the (very reliable and persistent) data contained in the EXIF and IPTC fields in the JPG file. I'm not sure whether such fields form part of the ADS, but that would be kinda irrelevant since the contents of the .JPG file would always take precedence and overwrite that field on a copy/move to another NTFS device.

The issue is really about persistence of user metadata attached to, or associated with image files - and .JPG format images in particular, as other formats (different standards) do not seem to carry the EXIF or IPTC fields that a .JPG file can contain.
In case you might have missed it, and for completeness, it is worth repeating a quote from earlier in this thread, as it points out the insufficiency/impermanence of database-specific metadata about images, and the resultant need for the user to use and rely on the persistent metadata in the EXIF or IPTC fields that a .JPG file expressly can contain.

Using Tags in Picasa:

If you are already using Picasa, then you can use Tools-->Experimental-->Show tag as album.
I use that in Picasa quite a bit, and find it very handy.

The trouble with tags is that they are usually data attributes within a photo-management database, and if you get a wrecked/corrupt database (as has happened to me once with ACDSee and twice with Picasa), then you can lose hours of work invested in building the data in the database. They are not usually easy to recover intact. So don't rely on the resilience of the database, because they are probably not all that resilient.

My workaround: Instead rely on the data you can store within the image file. If you have mostly .JPG files then you can have EXIF data for any camera-related data, and IPTC info. for any freeform data you might want to attach to the image. When you add a caption in Picasa, it goes into the IPTC info, and is immediately searchable. So you can put in or duplicate your "tag words" into the IPTC info, and then never worry if you lose their external tags if your database gets corrupted (because you can easily recreate the tags and tagged photos using a sort).
I therefore recommend the principle of having the photo records contain their own meta-data not only as a good data-security measure, but also because it reduces your dependence on the idiosyncrasies of any particular database system. So you can use Picasa, ACDSee, Irfanview, or whatever, to utilise the meta-data.

-IainB (July 02, 2012, 07:07 AM)

616

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Moving On From Picasa (Picasa Blog post)

« Last post by IainB on January 24, 2018, 01:08 AM »

Copy of the Googlr Picasa Blog post about the shutdown of Picasa:
(Text copied to spoiler below image.)

Spoiler

Moving on from Picasa
Friday, February 12, 2016 10:00 AM
Since the launch of Google Photos, we’ve had a lot of questions around what this means for the future of Picasa. After much thought and consideration, we’ve decided to retire Picasa over the coming months in order to focus entirely on a single photo service in Google Photos. We believe we can create a much better experience by focusing on one service that provides more functionality and works across mobile and desktop, rather than divide our efforts across two different products.

We know for many of you, a great deal of care has gone into managing your photos and videos using Picasa—including the hours you’ve invested and the most precious moments you’ve trusted us with. So we will take some time in order to do this right and provide you with options and easy ways to access your content. We’ve outlined below some of the changes you can expect.

Picasa Web Albums
If you have photos or videos in a Picasa Web Album today, the easiest way to still access, modify and share most of that content is to log in to Google Photos, and all your photos and videos will already be there. Using Google Photos, you can continue to upload and organize your memories, as well as enjoy other great benefits like better ways to search and share your images.

However, for those of you who don’t want to use Google Photos or who still want to be able to view specific content, such as tags, captions or comments, we will be creating a new place for you to access your Picasa Web Albums data. That way, you will still be able to view, download, or delete your Picasa Web Albums, you just won’t be able to create, organize or edit albums (you would now do this in Google Photos).

One thing to make clear is that none of this is happening today—if you have a Picasa Web Album you can keep using it as normal. We’ll start rolling out these changes on May 1, 2016.

Desktop application
As of March 15, 2016, we will no longer be supporting the Picasa desktop application. For those who have already downloaded this—or choose to do so before this date—it will continue to work as it does today, but we will not be developing it further, and there will be no future updates. If you choose to switch to Google Photos, you can continue to upload photos and videos using the desktop uploader at photos.google.com/apps.

Finally for developers, we will also be retiring some functions of the Picasa API. Developers can learn more here.

Again, none of these changes are happening today, and we’ll continue to update you along the way. We apologize for any inconvenience this transition causes, but we want to assure you that we are doing this with the aim of providing the best photos experience possible. Google Photos is a new and smarter product, that offers a better platform for us to build amazing experiences and features for you in the future.

Posted by Anil Sabharwal, Head of Google Photos
Permalink Links to this post

From <http://googlephotos.blogspot.co.nz/>

617

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Using Tags in Picasa

« Last post by IainB on January 23, 2018, 11:01 PM »

Using Tags in Picasa:

If you are already using Picasa, then you can use Tools-->Experimental-->Show tag as album.
I use that in Picasa quite a bit, and find it very handy.

The trouble with tags is that they are usually data attributes within a photo-management database, and if you get a wrecked/corrupt database (as has happened to me once with ACDSee and twice with Picasa), then you can lose hours of work invested in building the data in the database. They are not usually easy to recover intact. So don't rely on the resilience of the database, because they are probably not all that resilient.

My workaround: Instead rely on the data you can store within the image file. If you have mostly .JPG files then you can have EXIF data for any camera-related data, and IPTC info. for any freeform data you might want to attach to the image. When you add a caption in Picasa, it goes into the IPTC info, and is immediately searchable. So you can put in or duplicate your "tag words" into the IPTC info, and then never worry if you lose their external tags if your database gets corrupted (because you can easily recreate the tags and tagged photos using a sort).
I therefore recommend the principle of having the photo records contain their own meta-data not only as a good data-security measure, but also because it reduces your dependence on the idiosyncrasies of any particular database system. So you can use Picasa, ACDSee, Irfanview, or whatever, to utilise the meta-data.

Hopes this all makes sense or is of use.

-IainB (July 02, 2012, 07:07 AM)

618

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Mini-Review and anchor-point

« Last post by IainB on January 23, 2018, 10:57 PM »

BLANK on purpose (Reserved).

619

Living Room / Re: Google Photo: Query/s re related info

« Last post by IainB on January 23, 2018, 10:21 PM »

Prompted by this and some other related discussions, I have just posted: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Mini-Review and anchor-point - which has some information and links to further information regarding the last released version of Google Picasa3 ("Sunset" version, as I call it) and switching/migrating to Google Photos.

There is quite a lot that probably needs to be said regarding Picasa3's extensive use of metadata, and that already has been said elsewhere on the DC Forum, so I shall try and pull it together under the "anchor-point" Picasa3 review.
It would be helpful if members with experience/information to contribute could independently add to that discussion thread as well as this one (simply cross-posting it would probably do the trick). Thanks.

Apologies. I could have done this ages ago, but did not get a round tuit.
Hope it all helps or is of use to someone, anyway.

620

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Index/Links

« Last post by IainB on January 23, 2018, 09:57 PM »

Originally posted:	2018-01-24
Last updated:	2018-04-07

Copied from: Modify message - DonationCoder.com - <https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=post;msg=416459;topic=44983.0>
Building an Index of cross-references here... please help!
General references:

• The Image Management Tool Shootout(Archives - Informative and excellent review, though arguably dated by now.)

Switching/Migrating from Picasa to Google Photos:

• Moving On From Picasa (Google Picasa Blog post 2016-02-12)

Tags, Keywords, Indexing:

• EXIF+IPTC search/index standards in Picasa
• Freeware Image Organizer (Especially Tags/Keywords)?
• keywords and image management thoughts
• Using Tags in Picasa.  Can be used as a very powerful tool for creating persistent "virtual albums" by tagging random images to create a subject-specific album. (NB: Has to be tried to be appreciated.)
• Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Picasa Tags and creation of virtual albums

621

Mini-Reviews by Members / Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Mini-Review and anchor-point

« Last post by IainB on January 23, 2018, 09:57 PM »

Originally posted:	2018-01-24
Last updated:	2018-10-24

Basic Info

App/Service Name	Picasa3 "Sunset"
Thumbs-Up Rating
Download URL	picasa39-setup - v3.9 Build 141.259 (2015-10-14) Sunset version.exe MD5 hash: F5E535745F0E2140C31623DF8F9AD746
App Version Reviewed	"Sunset" v3.9 Build 141.259 (2015-10-14).
Test System Specs	Windows XP and upwards.
Supported OSes	Windows XP and upwards.
Support Methods	Help web pages: https://support.goog...picasa#topic=6247471.
Upgrade Policy	No upgrades.
Trial Version Available?	N/A (free to trial or use)
Pricing Scheme	$FREE

1.0 Introduction and Background:
This Mini-Review is more of an anchor-point for people interested in exploring the features/functionality of Picasa3 and wanting to know where the now discontinued software can be downloaded from.
The version referred to is the Picasa3 "Sunset" (my name for it) version released by Google at the product end-of-development point.

The content of this Mini-Review follows on from my comment on DC Forum:
Re: Picasa to be 'phased out' (File link updated 2017-09-12)
« Reply #26 on: 2016-07-21, 06:33:42 »

Ghacks wrote:

… I suggest you download Picasa from the official website to have local access to the installer. While Google may keep it up after it shuts it down, you may want to have a backup of it at hand should you require one.

From <http://www.ghacks.net/2016/02/14/want-to-keep-running-picasa-you-can/>

The download source was (on Filehippo.com): Picasa  3.9 B 141.259 - http://filehippo.com/download_picasa/
This "Sunset" version was downloaded by me and saved as:  picasa39-setup - v3.9 Build 141.259 (2015-10-14) Sunset version.exe

The file is apparently still available from there: Picasa  3.9 B 141.259
_____________________________________
EDIT 2017-09-12:
The download source at Filehippo.com (above) apparently no longer hosts that Picasa file.
However one can still obtain it from the good link here, and it works just fine: picasa39-setup - v3.9 Build 141.259 (2015-10-14) Sunset version.exe

-IainB (July 21, 2016, 06:33 AM)

That good download link is to a Public file on my personal box.com account. I saved it there for posterity when I suspected that the file would become publicly unavailable (which it has, apparently). For posterity, it would be appreciated if DCF members could mirror that file, so that my site was not the only one. I am unsure as to whether Picasa3 "Sunset" (as I call it) is or will be available via Wayback or other public archiving service.
 

2.0 Overview:
There is a good overview in the Help web pages about Picasa3 "Sunset" at:
https://support.google.com/picasa/?ctx=picasa#topic=6247471

It covers these points:
Heading: Welcome to the Picasa and Picasa Web Albums Help Centre.
  Get started with Picasa & Picasa Web Albums.

• Selecting file types
           Photos
           Videos and audio
           RAW format images

  How to use Picasa & Picasa Web Albums

• Add photos to Picasa
• hotos in Picasa
• anise photos
• Email or export photos
• lideshows. photo collages & movies
• Do more with Picasa
• Uninstall Picasa

  Accounts, abuse and privacy

• What's happening to Picasa & Picasa Web Albums?
  (NB: This discusses switching/migrating to Google Photos)
• Use the Google album archive

3.0 Specific/Notable Functionality:
Tags:

• Using Tags in Picasa.  Can be used as a very powerful tool for creating persistent "virtual albums" by tagging random images to create a subject-specific album. (NB: Has to be tried to be appreciated.)
• Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Picasa Tags and creation of virtual albums.
  

Thumbnail caches:

• Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Treatment of thumbnail caches/databases.

3.0 Who this software is designed for:
Any PC user of Windows (probably from XP and upwards) who needs:

• an image media management tool which provides an extensive cataloguing database;
• an image database that caters for all/most image types and common video types;
• an image database that uses extensive metadata and facial/object/colour recognition, labelling, virtual album folders;
• an image database that incorporates comprehensive media editing and presentation tools.

4.0 The Good:

• An excellent (first-class) and stable image media management tool, with very good ergonomics in an intuitive GUI.
• Comprehensive Help file.
• Surprisingly fast and powerful in what it does..

5.0 Needs Improvement:
Have found nothing so far.


6.0 Why I think you should use this product/service:
Having used several different media image management tools, I have yet to come across one as good or as comprehensive as Picasa3.
It literally "set the standard" for other image media management tools to follow.


7.0 How it compares to similar products:
For some years previously, I had been a confirmed user of the excellent ACDSee, but I migrated to Picasa after trialling it and being blown away by its superb design and functionality. It was much more than I had thought I required, and this caused me to then accrete more/new "learned" requirements/expectations. Picasa "raised the bar", as it were.

Thus, to some extent, Picasa has spoiled me. There are apparently some similar/alternative tools to Picasa3, but none that I have come across so far actually seem able to meet my newer requirements set, or match Picasa3 for comprehensiveness or accurate face recognition and metadata cataloguing/searching.
A search of the web will no doubt turn up many perfectly good, alternative tools and reviews of same. For example, one on the DC Forum:
[url=https://www.donationcoder.com/legacy/Reviews/Archive/GraphicsViewer/index.html]The Image Management Tool Shootout(Archives - Informative and excellent review, though arguably dated by now.)


8.0 Conclusions:

• Very useful: An impressively solid and useful desktop program, which retains its ability to use uploading/downloading to the Cloud, even though Picasa Albums is defunct (now become Google Photos).
• Reliable: Stable. Never seems to give any trouble. I had two database crashes on earlier version(s), but not with this "Sunset" version (so far).

[/list]

622

Screenshot Captor / Re: how to grab and save with the key prt scn

« Last post by IainB on January 23, 2018, 05:54 PM »

...i succeeded once to scan the entire screen  and save with only pressing the key prt screen.
but this disapeared.
how can i set it it the program ?

-erze26 (January 23, 2018, 02:07 PM)

Despite its being in this thread, I suspect that the OP may not be a ScreenshotCaptor query per se.

@erze26 seems to be talking about the built-in Windows system PrtSc (PrintScreen) function. It does not require a third-party tool such as SC (ScreenshotCaptor) to do that.
The reason the screenshot "disappears" is probably that it just goes to Clipboard as a Copy operation, and is overwritten by the next text or image Copy to Clipboard. Thus, what's in the Clipboard is transient and seems to "disappear". I think the screenshot may also be saved to a default Windows directory, but this will be determined by system settings/preferences.

This is why I keep banging on about CHS (ClipboardHelp & Spell) as being an ideal image capture management tool, if users (and its author) only but realised it. The user can forget about worrying about image filenames or what directory the ruddy image is stored in or where it is.

It really does seem rather like a no-brainer, to me: If CHS is running, then every screenshot image that goes to Clipboard also is saved to the CHS image database folder [NB: together with any post-capture SC(ScreenshotCaptor} artefacts added at time of capture, if SC was being used to make the screenshot], from where the user can, at their leisure, view that image saved - just scroll through the images flagged in the CHS Grid display and view the image (with zooming) in the CHS Memo display. The user can at that point also trigger a separate image viewer (e.g., Irfanview) from the view button in the CHS Memo display, which will have previously been associated with images in the CHS settings. Any half-decent image viewer will also have a built-in image management tool and metadata editing tool. The latter would typically be an EXIF editor - e.g., Irfanview is very good in both regards.

If the user then wants to operate on (edit/change) that image, then they can invoke the third-party image editing tool (e.g., SC is very good) from the edit button in the CHS Memo display and which would have been associated with image editing in the CHS settings. (NB: This would require that SC or other image editor be installed first, of course.)

Done this way, the user:

• can forget about the image file (if/when needed, it's path and name are given in the Text tab in the CHS Memo display), and
• can forget about the viewer/editor applications (they are seamlessly integrated into CHS settings), and
• concentrate on the task at hand - namely the functionality that is required (e.g., image view and/or edit) regarding any particular screen capture or clip or other image selected in CHS.

All the above boils down to making the whole process of image capture management more effective/efficient. It's a useful time-saving approach, simply because it automates the integration of image application functionality. The user typically doesn't generally capture an image because they want to capture it per se, but because they want to do something with the image - or its file -  once it has been captured.

When seeking to improve a frequently-used and manually intensive process, the rule of thumb is generally to automate wherever possible/feasible and cost-effective to do so.
(As usually described in most/any Work Study practitioner's handbook.)

623

Official Announcements / Re: New DonationCoder, New Ideas

« Last post by IainB on January 23, 2018, 04:34 AM »

It's all very well setting a goal/target for oneself or committing to a target number of posts per day/week/month, or something, but one has to ask How? and Why?, because:

• Goals/targets/MBOs (Management By Objectives) are, by definition imaginary and irrational constructs, and, as statements, usually neatly sidestep the question as to how one will indubitably be able to deliver/perform (Deming).
• Having no basis in statistical veracity, they thus become a rod for one's own back.
• What tends to happen is that the individual, having made some kind of a commitment to (say) make so many blog posts per week, for a fee, finds that there are occasions when actually there simply is not much of any interest to write about.
• However, the writing must go on (or the fees will stop). So, in a sort of "Never mind the quality, feel the width"  approach, what the writer produces is something - anything - to fill the void, and mediocrity and dilution of quality of content is the result - e.g., "10 things you absolutely must do before committing suicide", or "The 5 things  every CIO needs to know about Cloud computing", or similar.
• So, the readers - most of whom are likely to be relatively sophisticated if they are reading stuff online - might read the vapid drivel once, but next time they see one of these supposedly attention-grabbing headlines, they will go "Uh-uh. I'm not going to fall for that again and waste time reading that sort of drivel.", and are gone in a mouseclick.

Some classic examples of this can arguably be found, typically, in Lifehacker, MakeUseOf, and arsTechnica, to name but three. They were very good once, but seem to have gradually gone to the dogs, with AT seemingly having gone all religio-political ideological and sometimes ramming their PC POV down the readers'  throats. However, apart from that difference, what they all seem to share in common is that they are become what are called "t#rd-eaters". For example, they may often pick up the same piece of current "hot" news from a news source, and they then seem to regurgitate it almost verbatim, with no particularly original input or added value - e.g., cogent, critical or investigative journalism - though they may sometimes imply that they are giving you the full beeswax, though, sadlement, this is more often than not likely to be self-aggrandizement BS rather than BW.

This (above) is really the other side of the coin to I what mentioned in another thread:

@Stephen66515: Well, if you are putting it like that in marketing terms, then I would generally look for a clear communications strategy, including, for example:

• What/who is defined as being the target market(s), and why ("everybody" or "anybody" would generally not seem to be a useful answer to that).
• What would be seen as the most desirable (for DCF) response/behaviour, required from the defined target market, and why.
• What specific and consistently articulated communications (from DCF, or third parties on DCF's behalf) ) would be necessary to be communicated to the target(s) that could be most likely to elicit those desirable responses/behaviours, and why.
• What communications media/channels would be most likely to enable the communication to effectively reach said target market(s), and why.
• When those messages would need to be sent via the media/channel(s) selected (co-ordinated message communications plan) for max effect, and why.
• Feedback + analysis: What the outcome of the communications plan was (measurement/statistics).
• Update/document the plan to include what needs to be done to improve the quality of the marketing plan for next time around.

This would be a deliberative method essentially following the Deming/Shewhart cycle for improvement of the marketing planning process.

(See image below)

Failure to take a methodical approach (i.e., no method) would generally tend to mean that the strategy was likely to be no more successful than the typical dog-eat-dog approach of most mediocre marketing efforts - refer book: Competing for the Future, by Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad (21 Mar 1996).

-IainB (January 14, 2018, 11:09 PM)

However, if this is all too hard/analytical or makes one's brain hurt just simply thinking about it, then one can always fall back on gut instinct, I suppose ... that would be Mr. Gumby's preferred approach, so I'm all for it.   
A quick search of eBay might throw up some good digitised Tyrolean text rendering guns - of the sort apparently used by Lifehacker - that might be able to do the job of automating posting to the DC forum/blog. Real "productivity" tools.   

624

Screenshot Captor / Re: Upload an image to google photos

« Last post by IainB on January 22, 2018, 09:15 AM »

Couple of suggestions that might be of use:
1. Google Picasa (use the "Sunset" version) uploads/downloads to/from Google Photos.
2. If you have a Google Photos folder on your client PC, and that is synced with Google Photos, then dropping an image file into that folder should sync it with Google Photos.

625

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by IainB on January 21, 2018, 07:32 PM »

VOLARE music video: I thought that was rather good - cleverly produced too.   
Catchy, yes. However, I never learned Italian, so I hadn't a clue as to what it was about.

Interestingly, the video's heavy use of sound synthesis rather gave the game away though as to the loss of tone of one or both of the singers' voices, but that's technology for you - one doesn't need to have a good voice, or even good range, to make a hit song - as seems to have been demonstrated by many current songsters. The earliest pronounced example that I recall being Cher some years ago, with her "Do you believe in life after love?" (or something) song.