Recent Posts

6876

Developer's Corner / Re: Experimenting with Other Programming Languages

« Last post by mouser on November 28, 2014, 08:22 AM »

Finally making some good progress on Android coding..

One day I love it, the next I hate it.  Rinse and repeat.

For better or worse, it seems to me that mobile/tablet coding is mostly user interface coding.. Which I'd really like to get away from, and go back to my roots of academic/simulation coding where the UI plays a minor role.

6877

Living Room / Re: Watercolorbot - $300 watercolor painting printer

« Last post by mouser on November 28, 2014, 12:14 AM »

What would be nice is to give this thing a video camera so it can see what it is painting and adjust based on that.

6878

Living Room / Watercolorbot - $300 watercolor painting printer

« Last post by mouser on November 27, 2014, 02:18 PM »

This looks pretty amazing to me:

"Starting with vector artwork on your computer — or following along as you sketch in real time — the WaterColorBot dips its brush in water, goes and gets the right color of paint, and paints before your eyes... While earlier versions of the WaterColorBot came as a kit (with some assembly required), the WaterColorBot 2.0 comes assembled, tested, and ready to use. It also comes with a starter set of watercolor paints, paper, and a brush. Please see the FAQ below for a more detailed list of the kit contents."


http://shop.evilmads...com/productsmenu/605

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Living Room / Happy Thanksgiving to DonationCoder folks

« Last post by mouser on November 27, 2014, 02:11 PM »

Just wanted to say I'm thankfull to know all of you and be able to share some time with you all.


Anyone spending the holiday with their family?

6880

N.A.N.Y. 2015 / Re: NANY 2015 Pledge: Installer Crapware Wrapper Detection DLL

« Last post by mouser on November 26, 2014, 04:01 PM »

The unchecky thing is fine for half of this problem, but the dll is still very much needed.

6881

Living Room / Re: 2014-2015: Best tablet specs for ebook reading

« Last post by mouser on November 25, 2014, 04:34 PM »

Wraith reminds me that I forgot to state a very important aspect here.

I shouldn't just say that I'm looking for a tablet for e-book reading.  What I should say is that I'm looking for a tablet to read full-page-at-a-time textbooks and 8.x5x11 pdf journal articles.

If one is reading a novel, the size of the screen is not very significant -- it doesn't matter how much info fits on a page and it's not important for the physical book pages correspond to ebook pages.

But I am interested in a device for reading pdf papers which can show and let you comfortably read a page at a time from a pdf article, without scrolling.

6882

Find And Run Robot / Re: Installation switches?

« Last post by mouser on November 24, 2014, 11:47 PM »

I see your point.. I could fix that..
Another option would be to give you a license key you could install that didn't make noise until several months had passed.

6883

Living Room / Re: 2014-2015: Best tablet specs for ebook reading

« Last post by mouser on November 24, 2014, 11:12 PM »

Well, in fairness, it's a very good question -- i suppose it partly depends on the person -- some people are more sensitive to such things.
It's a good question about whether 1200x800 on a 13.3 inch screen held 12-15 inches from the eye will be unpleasantly pixely...
At that price point it may indeed be acceptable.

6884

Living Room / Re: 2014-2015: Best tablet specs for ebook reading

« Last post by mouser on November 24, 2014, 10:26 PM »

well i think it's a quality of life issue -- if you are trying to replace physical books, you don't want to be seeing jagged pixels in your fonts.

6885

Living Room / Re: 2014-2015: Best tablet specs for ebook reading

« Last post by mouser on November 24, 2014, 10:03 PM »

This 13.3 android tablet, Azpen 1320, and can be had for $170:

http://www.amazon.co...9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i4

The only downside is, as I mentioned before, the low-resolution (1200x800).

6886

Living Room / 2014-2015: Best tablet specs for ebook reading

« Last post by mouser on November 24, 2014, 09:51 PM »

Back in 2010 we had a discussion about large format ebook readers..  Around then I picked up the since-discontinued Kindle DX which has a 9.7 screen.

It's almost 2015 and I think it's time to revisit the issue.  The easy-on-the-eyes e-ink approach seems to have lost out to the more general purpose led screens.

While the e-ink displays are easier on the eyes, the reality is simply that e-ink is dead for now.

The great news is that it looks like there are some non-name full page sized android tablets available for a couple hundred bucks if one is willing to give up cutting edge performance, etc..

I still find it a strugle to transition from physical books to ebooks, but every few years i try to do it again because of the numerous advantages of ebooks.

So, what I'm thinking of now is an android tablet that has a screen size of at least 13.3 inches (which is about a full size 8.5x11 page).

Several of these exist for a couple hundred dollars, and seem worthy candidates and affordable enough to be dedicated ebook readers.

The one issue that seems lacking in these 13.3 tablets that I've seen is that the only ones i can find are relatively low resolution (1200x800) which i think is a deal breaker.

Ideally I'd love to see a cheap 13.3 android tablet with a 1600x1080 resolution, or higher.

Any thoughts?  Anyone else looking forward to making the full switch to full-size ebook reading?

6887

Living Room / Re: New square monitor (27" 1920x1920)

« Last post by mouser on November 24, 2014, 01:11 PM »

I'd rather swivel my head side-to-side than nod my head up and down all day long.

it's really true -- moving the head/eyes vertically is *MUCH* more uncomfortable than horizontal movement.

6888

N.A.N.Y. 2015 / Re: NANY 2015 Pledge: Installer Crapware Wrapper Detection DLL

« Last post by mouser on November 23, 2014, 01:06 PM »

I think the detection should certainly trigger before the wrapper does anything;

This is almost certainly not realistic/practical.
The wrapper is going to do its own thing, and then unpack and launch your original pristine installer after it has offered up its bundled adware, etc.

If you wanted to physically stop the wrappers from running, the only solution is to have some other software already running (like an antivirus) that detected it and stopped it.  And if you are the kind of person who would run such a tool constantly in the background, you are also the kind of person who won't get bit by these wrapped installers in the first place.


However, I believe that the solution with the dll preventing your program from installing from a wrapper and telling the user why will accomplish the same goals.

The most likely result of having this dll prevent the wrapper from completing its installation, is that it will never be wrapped in the first place.

First, it's quite likely that the automated wrapper creation tool will abandon trying to wrap your program, meaning you will stop this problem before it ever gets to the user.  Second, if it they do try to distribute your wrapped program, it won't be long before they get enough complaints from users that downloaded it that they will remove the wrapper and put back your original.

6889

N.A.N.Y. 2015 / Re: NANY 2015 Pledge: Installer Crapware Wrapper Detection DLL

« Last post by mouser on November 23, 2014, 12:28 PM »

I sent you a link to a zip with some wrapped installers, check your pm.

6890

Living Room / New square monitor (27" 1920x1920)

« Last post by mouser on November 22, 2014, 09:43 PM »

Slashdot reports that monitor maker Eizo will be releases a 1:1 aspect ratio monitor (square) next year.  It's 1920x1920 resolution:


http://hexus.net/tec...-inch-square-monitor

I think this is a wonderful idea!  I'm getting really tired of the super-wide monitors.

6891

N.A.N.Y. 2015 / Re: NANY 2015 Pledge: Installer Crapware Wrapper Detection DLL

« Last post by mouser on November 22, 2014, 08:47 PM »

I think the DLL is really the way to go..

The dll should export a callable function that returns TRUE if the installer is being run inside a 3rd party "wrapper".
It would be nice if there were options for displaying a (text customizable) alert box if so, and providing a button to visit a specific webpage.

As far as detecting whether the installer is being run via a 3rd party wrapper, the ideal case would be if you could detect the parent launching process and easily detect all wrappers.  A less ideal solution if that is impossible would be to detect specific company wrappers.

By my way of thinking, it's not important if this detection happens before or after the wrapper tries to install any adware or bundled crap.  The point of this DLL is not to prevent the wrapper from running -- it's to let your installer detect this case and decide what to do.  Some coders may decide that the best thing to do is warn the user, exit, and send the user to the REAL program web page.  Other coders may decide that the best thing to do is let the install complete but warn the user.

Ideally just the use of this dll will be enough to trigger these websites automatic wrapping tool to give up and not wrap the program.

6892

Find And Run Robot / Re: Tooltip for a setting inaccurate

« Last post by mouser on November 22, 2014, 04:05 PM »

Thank you, will fix. 

6893

UrlSnooper / Re: URL Not Being Revealed

« Last post by mouser on November 22, 2014, 03:17 PM »

when i run url snooper, it does comes up with "rtmp://cp269617.edgefcs.net/ondemand"
the rest of the text does not seem to be part of that packet.. if you look at the raw packets you will see intervening text.. if you add ".mp4" in the "Also Find" box you will also get:

• 264713/mm/flvmedia/2448/w/s/b/wsb5e47e_ftfn1f46_h264_996K.mp4?cid=2448&aid=2393893&afid=4631041
• 264713/mm/flvmedia/2448/w/s/b/wsb5e47e_ftfn1f46_h264_996K.mp4

You have given me a good idea though -- perhaps an option to tell URL Snooper that WHENEVER it finds a multimedia url, it should automatically record the next 2-3 packets in the result window for human analysis.  I think this would be extremely useful because it's often the case that a streaming url is found and you want to see what the communication immediately following it was.  Sometimes it is a snippet of a filename, etc. that is useful.

Thoughts?

6894

N.A.N.Y. 2015 / Re: Ideas Wanted!

« Last post by mouser on November 22, 2014, 12:33 PM »

Welcome pillbug!

Please do start a new thread on it, and i think it would be wonderful if you took on this task.

In preparation for doing this I downloaded a few examples of "wrapped" installers, but that's all i've done so far, and I'd be happy to provide you with those.
I found wrapped examples from cnet, brothersoft and softonic.

I have some ideas about what the dll should do and how it should react, which we can talk about after you start the new thread.

6895

General Software Discussion / Re: Can anyone advise this developer on commercial licensing?

« Last post by mouser on November 22, 2014, 03:22 AM »

Welcome to the site, mmike  

I have written in the past about my experience with an unscrupulous individual who tried to claim i infringed on a software patent that he applied for (and was actually inexplicably eventually awarded).  This despite the fact that I had publicly released my fully working software years before he claimed to have had the idea.  I did eventually prevail against the bully who was after me, but in researching software patent law I was disgusted and terrified by what I read...  There is no real way to protect yourself from a worst-case irrational person with money to burn who thinks you are cutting into his profit margins.

My eventual conclusion was this:  If you are the kind of person who is troubled by worst-case scenarios, you will be paralyzed by the possibility of being sued and will never engage in any activity except as an employee of a large corporation.
There is simply no way to protect yourself against the worst-case scenario of being sued.  Neither logic, facts, nor understanding of the law can prevent someone from trying to ruin your life with a lawsuit.

The good news is that, as with most things in life, the worst-case scenarios are exceedingly rare.

Honestly the best advice I can give you is to not let the fear of a worst case maniac trying to sue you stop you from living a full life and moving ahead with your software.  Living otherwise would be like never going outside for fear you will get hit by a truck full of sharks.

6896

Find And Run Robot / Re: Being a bit nitpicky, but... icon image missing in toolbar for a shortcut

« Last post by mouser on November 22, 2014, 02:21 AM »

Thanks for the bug report mindstormer -- I should be able to fix that fairly easily. 
As for replacing windows explorer -- there are so many good and powerful explorer replacements, i don't think i could do it justice.

6897

N.A.N.Y. 2015 / NANY 2015 Release: WhenLast (Android app)

« Last post by mouser on November 22, 2014, 12:40 AM »

I decided to combine my recent experiments with alternative programming languages/platforms with NANY this year, and release an Android app for NANY 2015.

My first Android App is tentatively called "When Last".

DOWNLOAD: https://www.donation...whenlast-release.apk

It's a simple app that helps you keep track of the last time(s) you performed some activity (like changed the batteries on your smoke detector).
This is actually an idea that I think was discussed on the forum in the context of a desktop app several years ago -- and it may have actually been coded as one at that time?

Screenshots:

6898

General Software Discussion / Re: windows services manager. such a thing?

« Last post by mouser on November 21, 2014, 03:03 AM »

However, that does make me think that it might not be a bad idea for one of the profile "actions" to be the launching of another profile.  I'll give it some thought.

Yep, 4wd's idea is a good one.

6899

Living Room / Re: Google Contributor: A New (not so new) way to fund the web

« Last post by mouser on November 21, 2014, 12:33 AM »

According to this:

http://www.wired.com.../google-contributor/

In exchange for your support, you’ll see “thank you” messages where ads used to be—at least on the websites that participate in the program.

So let me get this straight, Google is going to be pushing you to cover your site in their ads, and then give people a way to throw some pennies at you in order to turn the ads into thank you images, and they take a cut of the money in the process?

This seems like an extremely cynical way to corrupt more sites into getting onto the google ad serving bandwagon, and just another step further down the road of ensuring that everyone is monetizing everything.
"Want people to be able to support your site? First cover it in ads, then we'll talk."

6900

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Sorting - latest copy on top

« Last post by mouser on November 21, 2014, 12:12 AM »

I think the conclusion is that CHS always sorts to the bottom when you start up, and I have to try to fix that.