Recent Posts

7251

Post New Requests Here / Re: Seemingly simple media player request

« Last post by mouser on September 09, 2014, 09:24 AM »

There are video players that have playlists and that handle stills (so that would handle most of what you want).
I expect the difficulty you might have is finding one that will let you pause for a specific time on the stills.

Another alternative would be to have someone make a simple tool that could send commands to a separate video player, and thus queue up the stills and videos and tell the video player to play them.
This would have the advantage of letting you have a nice playlist on one screen while the video player ran full screen on another monitor, and being able to set times for the image stills, etc.
A tricky part of coding that would be finding a video player that could report when a video was done playing, etc..

7252

Post New Requests Here / Re: Seemingly simple media player request

« Last post by mouser on September 09, 2014, 09:20 AM »

I can definitely see the value of a tool like you are requesting.
You might be able to do what you want using a presentation tool (Powerpoint?).

The other alternative is to actually combine the movies and stills into one new video, using one of the free "movie maker" tools; that would give you a final avi/mpg file to just play as one big movie.

7253

N.A.N.Y. 2015 / Prelim NANY 2015 thread

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2014, 05:00 PM »

NANY 2015 Pre-released can go in this section

7254

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Release: PDFInfoGUI

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2014, 04:39 PM »

Holy crap this app is good.

7255

Developer's Corner / Re: Markdown (and what do you do when a community outgrows your contribution)

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2014, 04:33 PM »

The good thing that should come out of all of this is that developers should run, not walk, to CommonMark -- and abandon Markdown as rapidly as possible.

7256

Developer's Corner / Re: Markdown (and what do you do when a community outgrows your contribution)

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2014, 03:46 PM »

They've been trying for the whole two years that they worked on it.

I didn't quite get that impression.  I noted that there is a mention of talking with him when they started (2 years ago) -- not clear how serious that attempt to talk was -- and then 2 weeks before release.. But I couldn't tell if they had talked to him any time in between.

Essentially I think we are on the same page -- that when something like this is released as open source, the natural interpretation is that it's going to be a project that the community can improve and evolve forward -- either led by the original creator, or by others entrusted by the community.

And I've already made clear that I believe standardization -- especially in the form it was done here -- is a good and important thing.

So the only real question in my mind is what you do when the original inventor becomes an obstacle to the continuing use and development of the project.

And I think my position is that when this happens, and attempts to convince the original inventor to join the team fails, that perhaps the best solution is to make a clean break from the original name of the invention and come up with a clearly different name -- even though that could lead to some (initial or continuing) confusion for users.

7257

Developer's Corner / Re: Markdown (and what do you do when a community outgrows your contribution)

« Last post by mouser on September 08, 2014, 09:01 AM »

So I finally had a chance to read through the comments in the second codinghorror/stackoverflow post (here), and I guess I can see part of the argument being made on behalf of Gruber, which I interpret something like this: "There is a person who clearly invented this thing called Markdown, and you can't just publish something that you name in a way that makes it sound like the official standard version of it, against the will of the creator, even if that person is being an asshole.  You should have tried harder and earlier to contact the original inventor, and you certainly shouldn't have tried to be cheeky on day 2 by changing the name from 'standard markdown' to 'common markdown' and act like that was the end of the issue."

As someone who thinks the original creator is entitled to some real deference, and as someone who has always been uncomfortable about the possibility of forks of opensource projects being used to take control away from the creator of a project, even if they are unreasonable bastards, I have some natural sympathy for the position of the original author..

Anyway, I think the lessons are pretty clear for the rest of us:

• Work harder to get the original author to be part of your project.
• At the very least, determine if the original author is going to be a jerk about improving their creation, or is against your idea.
• If the original author is going to make it impossible for you to use the name of their project, for whatever reason, find another starting point and let go of the idea of using that product as a starting point.

7258

Developer's Corner / Re: If programming languages were weapons

« Last post by mouser on September 07, 2014, 11:15 AM »

Ha! Nice find.

7259

Living Room / Re: An ode to my failed disk drive

« Last post by mouser on September 06, 2014, 08:40 PM »

 
on a more serious note, it sounds like it might still be under warranty?

7260

Living Room / Re: Animal Friends thread

« Last post by mouser on September 06, 2014, 06:04 PM »

A cat and her doll:

7261

Living Room / Re: Tech/Science News + Some Other Things (From Around The Web)

« Last post by mouser on September 06, 2014, 05:17 PM »

Excellent tech news edition! 

7262

Screenshot Captor / Re: by the time I got to this forum

« Last post by mouser on September 06, 2014, 05:16 PM »

folkcafe,

Thank you for taking the time to post -- I apologize for the frustration.
techsupportalert is arguably the best freeware website on the planet, so it's particularly painful to hear about your bad experience.

Can I just quickly say, that you don't actually need to sign up and get a key to use the program -- you will get that little "box" on startup asking you to visit our website and get a key, but even if you don't do that the program will run fine with full features and never expire and only ever show that box when you start it.

And that if you wanted to remove that "nag" box on startup you could download a license key from our website with or without signing up at our forum, and without donating.

And lastly, that I am always happy to send a non-expiring license key to anyone who emails and lets me know that they've considered donating but will not be doing so.


Over the almost 10 years that DonationCoder has been operating, we've been trying to do things a little differently, and keep to our principles, but one of the things that has suffered somewhat is that the procedure for getting the license keys has become a bit confusing and is often misunderstood -- or understood but resented for its complexity.  And for that I apologize and I think we do need to find a way to do better.

Anyway, long story short -- if you do decide to try our software again, don't hesitate to contact us or post with further feedback or to ask for assistance.  We are a friendly little family here and we try to make up for our other weaknesses by being helpful here on the forum

7263

Dr.Windows / Re: Dr.Windows web-based version

« Last post by mouser on September 06, 2014, 05:08 PM »

Fun!  
Thanks for sharing. 

7264

Developer's Corner / Re: Markdown (and what do you do when a community outgrows your contribution)

« Last post by mouser on September 05, 2014, 07:36 PM »

They seem to be bending over backwards to respect the wishes of Gruber, and naming it "CommonMark" seems like a nice thing to do.

I do think, as an outsider, this episode would be sufficient for me to decide to move to CommonMark and to completely switch away from any other form of markdown other than CommonMark.  By nature I begin by deferring to the original authors (in this case Gruber) in terms of who I think should get the benefit of deference when it comes to establishing a standard.  And if this was a case of COMPETING standards, I would no doubt line up behind Gruber in terms of opposing the efforts of other groups to establish an alternative standard using the name "Markdown".

But if the choice is between two well-meaning groups, one attempting to define a standard to solve the very real problem of incompatible and inconsistent variants and the lack of a specification and standard, and the other resisting such efforts -- I'm going to line up behind those trying to establish a standard.

7265

Developer's Corner / Re: Markdown (and what do you do when a community outgrows your contribution)

« Last post by mouser on September 05, 2014, 01:24 PM »

Seems like having a common standard is a good idea to me, and it seems pretty obvious to me that having an unambiguous specification is a good thing.
I can understand people vying for different versions of what should be the standard, but i can't see a good argument for not having one.

7266

Post New Requests Here / Re: window region to full-screen mode

« Last post by mouser on September 05, 2014, 10:13 AM »

The original request is really not a bad idea at all -- surely there are some existing magnify tools for visually imparied that do just this, right?  I mean we know there are zoom/magnify tools -- the post is just asking for one that will do a nice job of magnifying to a full screen.

7267

Living Room / Your favorite podcasts?

« Last post by mouser on September 04, 2014, 05:23 PM »

I have seen Marc Maron on tv a few times and have never been a fan, but a friend recently turned me on to his podcast around the time that Robin Williams died (he had a pretty heavy interview with Robin Williams).

He has now done more than 500 podcasts -- which are 30-60 minutes in length and are mostly just one on one interviews with someone in comedy or music business.  I've been really impressed with them -- they are adult discussions, at times funny, sad, vulnerable, deep, etc.

Most of the podcasts are surprisingly deep and frank discussions with comedians, moving between discussions of personal struggles, work ethic, and the theory of comedy.  Really fascinating stuff.



http://www.wtfpod.com/

Highly recommended.  What other podcasts do you guys listen to?

7268

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« Last post by mouser on September 04, 2014, 10:51 AM »

I know this is my own pet peeve, but if you've already posted a few times to a thread like this, maybe it would be appropriate to hang back and let the time between posts get long enough to encourage some new posters.

7269

Easy Screencast Recorder / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - Easy Screencast Recorder - v1.12.01 - Apr 22, 2015

« Last post by mouser on September 03, 2014, 06:35 PM »

Anyone else?

7270

Living Room / Re: My cat needs your thoughts | RIP Saffron my dearest cat

« Last post by mouser on September 03, 2014, 02:43 PM »

keep your senses alert for signs of Saffron.

While I don't believe in such things, two days ago while walking through town a very youthful cat on a lawn ran to me to be petted.  There were no people around.  He seemed happy and super friendly and care free.  But when I tried to pick him up he was determined to be put back down, after which he was happy again to be petted.

I decided to interpret this as a message from Saffron that she still remembers me but that her spirit is happy and renewed and glad to be set free from and not be bound any more by her earthly shackles.


As I said, I do not believe in ghosts or things like that -- it's that I am choosing to interpret this event in a way that gives me some peace of mind.

7271

Living Room / Re: Animal Friends thread

« Last post by mouser on September 03, 2014, 12:07 PM »

Loyal Dog Goes 15 Days without Food Guarding His Teenage Master’s Grave

Bhaskar was a construction worker who loved dogs dearly – he had adopted Tommy five years ago and the pair of them quickly became inseparable. When Bhaskar became victim to a terrible road collision, Tommy was heartbroken. The dog simply refused to part with his master and mourned by his graveside for 15 days.

http://www.odditycen...e-masters-grave.html

7272

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« Last post by mouser on September 03, 2014, 08:18 AM »

Asparagus

7273

Living Room / Re: Sponsor me! 100 miles in 10 Days for Charity

« Last post by mouser on September 02, 2014, 09:46 PM »

10 miles x 10 days in a row?
That sounds crazy.  I'm going to donate but i'd still feel better if you didn't try to complete it if it risks injury.

7274

Living Room / Interesting study comparing reading on paper vs tablets

« Last post by mouser on September 01, 2014, 09:13 AM »

Interesting study comparing reading on paper vs tablets:

In most respects, there was no significant difference between the Kindle readers and the paper readers: the emotional measures were roughly the same, and both groups of readers responded almost equally to questions dealing with the setting of the story, the characters and other plot details. But, the Kindle readers scored significantly lower on questions about when events in the story occurred.

Article: http://www.nytimes.c...onvenience.html?_r=0

Found on http://gadgetopia.com/post/9125

7275

Post New Requests Here / Re: Finding the path of a file on your computer

« Last post by mouser on September 01, 2014, 08:35 AM »

I still like the idea of the original poster's request -- a (tray) utility (or FARR plugin) that showed a menu of the most recently used PATHS, and would open the folder on click.  It's slightly different functionality than being able to open the file itself.