Recent Posts

676

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Powerpoint shrinker

« Last post by Darwin on April 08, 2010, 08:45 AM »

PPTMinimizer is on Giveawayoftheday today (8 April 2010), if anyone who posted in this thread is still interested...

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

677

Living Room / Re: How do *you* tell when your OS is booted/ready?

« Last post by Darwin on April 08, 2010, 08:35 AM »

Hm-m-m ... no one seems concerned about when the autostart apps are finished..  Granted, I don't wait, either, but some of the apps I autostart are for security purposes, and are not truly functional until they have finished starting - ?!? - and thus are not functional when interactive usage is implemented.

-barney (April 07, 2010, 09:25 AM)

That's my "rule #1", above... I just didn't word it very well  

1. When all apps in my startup folder are running

-Darwin (April 06, 2010, 12:39 PM)

EDIT: FWIW, I use Winpatrol's Delay start feature as well, though I only use it for applications that conflict with others as they load. Currently, there are only two apps managed by WP: Feeddemon and VueMinder Calendar Pro. They've both been updated since they were "sent" there, so any conflicts may be a thing of the past...

678

Living Room / Re: First iPad Reviews Are In

« Last post by Darwin on April 07, 2010, 01:29 PM »

OK - my last hijacking of this thread. Aluratek Libre is a keeper - it's (relatively) inexpensive and it does everything that I need it to do - I just had to get used to it, I guess. I can't see trading up to a Sony for another $130... so, I'll keep this and upgrade in a couple or more years.

Now, back on topic: how abou those iPads, eh? Cripes!

679

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is it so hard to find a decent image organizer?

« Last post by Darwin on April 07, 2010, 11:32 AM »

A browser, sorter, tagger is like a file explorer taking in details of all the files, allowing you to browse them and add tags, ratings etc.
that's a good description of Exif Pro then
(but I'm not sure of it's RAW capabilities)

-tomos (April 07, 2010, 03:36 AM)

Exif Pro is only just moving on to working with some RAW files. I've never used it myself. And it doesn't have the reputation for workflow speed that PM has. But then it doesn't have the price either.

-Dormouse (April 07, 2010, 09:29 AM)

I love the idea of exifPro, and bought a license. However, as I've noted elsewhere, it generates HUGE index files (almost 2GB) and two deal breakers for me:

1. If, while indexing, it encounters an error, it sits and waits for user input to keep going SO you can't leave it running for an hour or two and come back to find all of your photos catalogued.

2. There is no way to add new photos to a catalog - you have to create a new catalog. Cumbersome.

EDIT: just to note, the 2GB catalog created covered 37.4 GB of photos! So, perhaps not so bad... Having said that, when I was able to use and compare exifPro, Zoner, Ashampoo, and PhotoCollector back to back, exifPro's catalogues were the biggest of the bunch by a fair margin. Granted this was two years ago.

680

Living Room / Re: First iPad Reviews Are In

« Last post by Darwin on April 07, 2010, 11:28 AM »

I'm amazed at the number of young people who read books on their iPhones -- a 25 year-old relative whom I've never known to be interested in literature was reading "Pride and Prejudice" on his when I visited his parents home at Christmas. Can't argue with that.

-xtabber (April 07, 2010, 08:55 AM)

No! You certainly can't. That's kind of impressive, actually, and a perspective that had not occurred to me before: this new technology *may* be exposing literature to kids who would not otherwise bother to crack a musty old book.

681

Living Room / Re: First iPad Reviews Are In

« Last post by Darwin on April 07, 2010, 09:25 AM »

Ha! We're on the same page! I'd pay $250 for the Sony PRS-600 but am not comfortable with the $299 that it's selling for here (note: this is the sale price, regular is $349, though Future Shop - Best Buy Canada - has it on as a an on-going sale). Strange, really - I can't explain why. The Aluratek that I mentioned purchasing above features decent build quality and works fine. However, I don't love it... I can see myself returning it while I can and either springing for the Sony now or waiting for the next round of sales/new products to hit the shelves. The nook looks nice, but its not an option here. The Kindle IS available though Amazon.ca, but the lack of expandable memory is a deal breaker AND other Canadians have reported that while the 3G features work, and are free, there are limitations on what you can download outside of the US. For example, you can download US newspapers and magazines, but not their graphics...

682

Living Room / Re: First iPad Reviews Are In

« Last post by Darwin on April 07, 2010, 09:02 AM »

And for people that read voraciously and consume written material at the rate that some do, the price of the kindle/nook (especially considering they include 3G- note that I don't say 'free' as I consider it part of the premium) is reasonable.

-wraith808 (April 07, 2010, 08:43 AM)

Heh, heh - I do read voraciously. Still, I don't think that $300+ is reasonable. Having said that, perhaps I'm wrong for two reasons. First, it would not be unreasonable to pay that kind of money for bookshelving and second the various iPod and Archos offerings are premium priced in the media player segment and people queue up to buy them (particularly the iPod).

I guess what I'm really waiting for (WRT ebook readers) is the market to open up - more options at the lower end of the price spectrum without having to sacrifice (too much) quiality. Now, I *did* purchase an Aluratek Libre yesterday and am playing with it.

Finally, I take your point about buying the iPad solely for its ebook reading abilities - that is more or less what I was getting at, though, as xtabber notes, if you read the web/news you will see it mooted as an ebook reader. Indeed, when it was first announced it was a toss up whether the hyberbole related to it as the arrival of the tablet (and the implication that Steven Jobs had just invented it) or the arrival of the ebook reader (and the implication that Steven Jobs had just invented it).

683

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: O&O DiskStat 2 Pro (Easter promo)

« Last post by Darwin on April 07, 2010, 08:17 AM »

Hah, hah - good point, Carol. Hadn't considered that... Makes you think!

684

General Software Discussion / Re: Software for planning wood bookcases/cabinets/tables etc?

« Last post by Darwin on April 07, 2010, 06:30 AM »

Heh, heh - we have a recirculating hood and it's not much use at all... (though, to be fair, it IS better than no hood at all.

685

Living Room / Re: How do *you* tell when your OS is booted/ready?

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 10:29 PM »

Reading my post quoted in Innuendo's post above, I feel it rather unfortunate that I chose to refer to the booting scenarios as being either #1 or #2. It was silly of me and I apologize.

686

Living Room / Re: First iPad Reviews Are In

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 10:28 PM »

Here's a useful review of the iPad that concentrates on using it for reading (as opposed to playing games or other fanboi activities): http://www.the-ebook....com/apple-ipad.html . If you are interested in ebooks and ebook readers in general, this is a good site to explore.

-xtabber (April 06, 2010, 09:47 PM)

IMNHO, the Sony eBook Readers and the Kindles et al. are already overpriced. Buying the iPad as a book reader would be ridiculous. Of course, I don't think that is what you were suggesting, and the review certainly isn't either, but I've heard/seen it suggested enough to feel compelled to comment.

687

General Software Discussion / Re: Software for planning wood bookcases/cabinets/tables etc?

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 10:18 PM »

Would you be haning a range hood/extractor fan over the cooktop? Just wondering...

688

Living Room / Re: Giving away a copy of Camtasia Studio 7

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 07:08 PM »

Nah... I'm a family man. I'd like a Mazda 5 with the Sport package please. And don't be stingy with the options!

689

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: O&O DiskStat 2 Pro (Easter promo)

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 04:02 PM »

The point is, as I understand it .. you cannot be sure of removing the earlier Nets.  Unpredicatable results will occur, you cannot trust if a program designed for 1.5 will work under 3.0 etc.   If this is wrong, share away.

-Steven Avery (April 06, 2010, 03:10 PM)

Ah - I see your point. It is adviseable to have ALL versions of .net installed lest some application or another insist on it... I dunno, my harddrive - even on my notebook - is vast and I don't sweat that anymore, either... Though I do like to run my computer with (relatively) few applications installed these days.

690

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: O&O DiskStat 2 Pro (Easter promo)

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 01:54 PM »

Dang! Thanks for letting us know that, Carol. It used to drive me nuts, to the point where I've been skipping upgrades so that I can avoid the uninstallation hoop-jumping. Guess I should do my due diligence before I fire from the hip, eh?!

Anyway, more on topic, I don't have a problem with .Net, either. It used to irk me because it seemed very resource intensive years back, but I don't notice it's there anymore...

691

Living Room / Re: Let the Raptor show *you* how to be a man....

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 01:47 PM »

there is no point, it was an april fool's day parody made by a company that makes real training videos for a living.

-mouser (April 06, 2010, 12:56 PM)

Ah... that makes sense now. I get it

692

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: O&O DiskStat 2 Pro (Easter promo)

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 01:45 PM »

Well... try updating Java and see what happens! You have to go into Programs and Features/Add-Remove Programs and manually delete previous versions. Cumbersome. Not saying MS is perfect or anything... Just playing Devil's Advocate.

693

Living Room / Re: First iPad Reviews Are In

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 12:47 PM »

Looks interesting, Oshyan. The more I think I'm following the technology and keeping up with it all, the more unrealistic that goal seems to be! I'm getting ready to go look at the Aluratek Libre - $169 locally - because I'll be old a grey before I get to read an ebook on a portable device otherwise! If the Aluratek doesn't "do it" for me, I may just jump at the Sony Touch Reader, which is on sale for $299. I'm fed up of waiting - I have literally 100's of unread books on my computer because I simply can't read them that way. Never mind the academic papers - 10's of 1000's of them... Of course, now that I've ditched my PhD, does it really matter? Oddly, it does, for reasons I can't give voice to...

694

Living Room / Re: How do *you* tell when your OS is booted/ready?

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 12:39 PM »

Alright, smart-aleck remarks aside, I have two ways of reckoning whether or not my OS is booted:

1. When all apps in my startup folder are running
2. When I can interact with my computer

Starting with Vista, but magnified significantly with 7, #2 is achieved surprisingly quickly following the appearance of the desktop. Windows 7 REALLY shines in that number 1 is achieved quite quickly after that.

695

Living Room / Re: How do *you* tell when your OS is booted/ready?

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 12:07 PM »

When my foot is stuck in the monitor?

696

Living Room / Re: Let the Raptor show *you* how to be a man....

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 12:06 PM »

Hmm... retro... but what's the point?

NB I get that it's a parody and it's recent, but I still don't get the point... 

697

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is it so hard to find a decent image organizer?

« Last post by Darwin on April 06, 2010, 07:03 AM »

My photos are organized just by folders and files.  I'm actually amazed that nobody has recommended a clear cut favorite in this thread...it's been a while!  In my experiences, I've found that the applications that can do this well are really really slow.  Like Lightroom.

-superboyac (April 05, 2010, 08:55 AM)

Mine as well. Just to add, not only are the apps that do this well slow, they are also EXPENSIVE. Like Lightroom... $300  

I loaded the trial and then uninstalled it almost immediately. I couldn't afford the possiblity of deciding that I wanted might actually want it!

698

Living Room / Re: First iPad Reviews Are In

« Last post by Darwin on April 05, 2010, 11:21 PM »

Oh yeah, I was so glad to see Will It Blend is still on the ball. I wasn't sure what he was going to do with it at first since it doesn't fit, so what came next was a bit of a shock, but oddly satisfying.

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (April 05, 2010, 10:48 PM)

Indeed...

699

Living Room / Re: Should I swtich from w7 32 bit to w7 64 bit?

« Last post by Darwin on April 05, 2010, 11:13 PM »

I had the above issue on my current notebook with an Ati Radeon graphics card and both Vista and Windows 64-bit, but a driver update has fixed it 

700

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is it so hard to find a decent image organizer?

« Last post by Darwin on April 05, 2010, 03:09 PM »

Can't argue with any of the comments in response to my last couple of posts! Overall, I am pretty sure that I'll wind up doing what I've been doing - keeping things organized in DOpus. What is nice about PSP X3 is that it doesn't actually do anything with the pictures that I can see. By this I mean that it doesn't index them or create a catalog. It simply reads the tags/exif info and displays pictures filtered accrordingly. The advantage over DOpus is that I can also tag my images. So... I'll use DOpus to move stuff around and to import pics onto my computer and PSP X3 if I feel the need to tag my stuff.

Jim - PSP X2 worked fine on my system (both under Vista and 7 - both 64 bit). I gave up worrying about their protection system after I could no longer get the Protexis removal hacks to work under Vista. They've changed it under X3 - it's now called the psiservice. On my system, it gobbles up about 23MB of working set RAM/1 MB of private working set memory. With 4GB of RAM on tap, I don't care about it anymore. However, when I think too hard about ti, I do get a bit PO'd about the principle of it, but c'est la vie. Lots of other apps are running similar nonsese on my system. MacDrive, for example.