Recent Posts

7701

Living Room / Re: App Culture vs. Free Culture

« Last post by tomos on July 08, 2010, 02:39 PM »

Is 30% that bad when you consider it means you don't have to set up a store, actually handle credit card fees, or pay for the bandwidth? I'm seriously asking as it doesn't seem that bad to me. I dislike Apple's policies and the corporate attitude they project, but I'm not sure I see this 70-30 split being so outrageous.

-TheQwerty (July 07, 2010, 06:13 AM)

It's outrageously high, I think. You do 100% of the work and they take 30%! Why not 5%?

-zridling (July 07, 2010, 05:45 PM)

if you sell a product directly to a [real] shop, in my experience they usually put minimum 100% on top of your price i.e. a 50-50 split of the retail price.
70-30 is actually 42% on top of your selling price FWIW   [edit] I've no idea how this would normally work with online retailers [/edit]
 
I'm not trying to defend the system (or Apple :p) just throwing it out there.
Also, of course, what's quoted in the last two posts...

7702

Living Room / Re: ...and you thought your country had it tough

« Last post by tomos on July 08, 2010, 02:31 PM »

totally off-topic:

interesting to learn about Taglish at that link:

BOOM ako dun.. sabi ko baket ganito ito? then binuksan ko yung Kingston Flashdrive ko na 4gb to compare the components at puro chipsets lang ang nakita ko sa Kingston 4gb Flashdrive ko.

pero yung 2gb microSD na nakalagay dun sa flashdrive na CDRKING ko gumagana pa sa mga CP kaya hindi WASTED yung Memory nung flashdrive, only the reader itself lang.

nagkaroon pa ko ng 2gb microSD ng wala sa oras na pwede ko gamitin sa CP kaso generic lang ito for sure. hehehehe!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taglish [the Philippine language Tagalog ... infused with American English]

7703

Living Room / Re: The Fallacy of One Thing Leading to Another

« Last post by tomos on July 08, 2010, 03:44 AM »

There is surely lots of hypocrisy in this world.
But because 'shooting heads off and blowing up limbs' is "acceptable" doesnt mean that something else should be acceptable.

I'm maybe not a good guage of this - I'm no gamer. But, when I was growing up horror films were hugely popular. There's something there, some reason people want (need?) them. I'm not sure why. With the erotic stuff I reckon it's more straight forward:-
most societies distort and/or supress [ I dont even know what to call it - sexuality; the 'natural' course of events - whatever that is: most of us dont seem to know any more. I'm 46 yrs old and feel like I'm only starting to figure it out - YMWV ]. In fact I wouldnt be suprised if that's where the love of violence is coming from too..

So, while I think banning the symptoms of a problem are not a real solution, I think apologising for them is no solution either [edit] - although maybe no harm to get people thinking [/edit]

7704

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review of JungleDisk and ZumoDrive

« Last post by tomos on July 06, 2010, 08:31 AM »

thanks again for the 'continuing story' wraith 

I always thought using Jungle Disk with Amazon S3 would have the advantage of being able to read the files via other apps - e.g. Cloudberry, or possibly amazon's new online 'Console'. But this is not the case - it's a garbled bunch of folders (here at any rate - disclaimer: I was using an older version of Jungle Disk till lately)

Have only recently started using the new version 5 of Super Flexible File Synchronizer (SFFS) to backup directly to Amazon S3.
I can check the results using the above mentioned means

I previously mentioned SFFS/S3 here, and Amazon's Console here (also Cloudberry mentioned in both those threads)

7705

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by tomos on July 06, 2010, 08:11 AM »

Oh well... I didn't even realize it was my 1000th until Curt said something... then I accidentally replied to the post instead of editing, letting that moment slip by...
 (see attachment in previous post)

-wraith808 (July 06, 2010, 08:08 AM)

1001 has a nice symmetry though

(and thanks for the reviews )

7706

General Software Discussion / Re: Lifehacker's Guide to Ripping and Converting Flash Videos

« Last post by tomos on July 06, 2010, 03:07 AM »

I am trying to find some sites that do Mp4 conversion from Youtube. Any advice?

-Mikethomas (July 06, 2010, 12:39 AM)

I was using Dirpy.com for a while for converting to mp3 - downloads as mp4 as well but havent used it that way.
Lovely easy interface

7707

Best E-mail Client / Re: DreamMail

« Last post by tomos on July 05, 2010, 10:20 AM »

Hi kycochise,
do you know is there a page for DreamMail in English or maybe in another european language?
I could only find this (Japanese?):
http://www.dreammail.org/
this was no help:
http://www.dreammail.org/gb/

There is an older thread from 2007 - with same title, also in this section:
DreamMail
The programme seems to have been updated since that time**, so the problems reported there are hopefully no longer relevant. Personally I gave up my 'trial' of it at the time as keyboard shortcuts didnt work for me (with a german keyboard anyways), and also, more importantly:

I've realised two things -
1) I dont seem to be able to export my mail from Tbird/ import Tbird mail to DreamMail
2) it doesnt seem to be possible to export my mail from DreamMail

-tomos (December 07, 2006, 02:41 AM)

** page linked to above says DreamMail v3.0.0.5
- other sites e.g. Brothersoft, have DreamMail 4.6.6.0
- in 2007 I reported an update to DreamMail 4.4.0.0

7708

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Buzz Folders - Open/Save Dialog Box Extender ( + Free Version )

« Last post by tomos on July 01, 2010, 03:48 AM »

looks very nice

A couple queries:
1) How do you actually bring it up - does it show automatically, or do you use a shortcut, or does it add an icon to the dialogue?
2) Do I understand correctly that the Global tab shows recently accessed folders (from all apps) ?

I find the pricing system a bit top heavy - the extra options in the elite version cost another 18UK£ (making it double the cost of the next version) - to be honest I'm not even sure what some of those options are ('File list', some of the size/resizing options). Maybe some more details there might encourage some people to pay the extra.

7709

General Software Discussion / Re: Meet the new FOG! Same as the old FOG?

« Last post by tomos on June 22, 2010, 09:20 AM »

this should nearly be split to a new thread (?) [edit] on second thoughts probably not [/edit] -
I'd like to see a good discussion about Illustrator vs FreeHand vs ?? but I dont want to take over here...
I bought CS4, havent really used the damn thing yet (long story) & now CS5 is out with some (more) ideas taken from FreeHand (which is a good thing).  
Upgrade ONLY $199

Fontographer is aimed at pros, hence the high-ish price tag  - relatively cheap though compared to photoshop @ $700
If you're doing something every day all day it's worth chipping out for the programme that does it best and easiest - if you're lucky enough to find one that is both... I've never used this or any font creation programmes for that matter, I'll leave that to the pros


[edit] of course the question for anyone thinking of buying or upgrading, is, as your title Curt: "the new FOG! Same as the old FOG?" [/edit]

7710

Find And Run Robot / Re: What hotkey(s) do *you* use to trigger FARR?

« Last post by tomos on June 22, 2010, 09:00 AM »

Either WINDOWS key was held down. These keys are labeled with the Windows logo. Keyboard shortcuts that involve the WINDOWS key are reserved for use by the operating system.

from:

  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms646309%28VS.85%29.aspx

Am I not supposed to use the Windows key for my own shortcut key definitions?

-ewemoa (June 22, 2010, 07:53 AM)

I've read somewhere: the deal is 'reserved' - i.e. at some stage some one of your key definitions could be taken over by a new universal shortcut from MS

7711

General Software Discussion / Re: Meet the new FOG! Same as the old FOG?

« Last post by tomos on June 22, 2010, 07:23 AM »

I was wonder about this being a patched up version of a very old programme. But then most of the apps that do well & are continuously updated are just that.
As for interface, if it's good, keep it
An example (maybe of both points) being Illustrator, I jumped from version 8 (1999?) to CS4 & was appalled to often see the same unwieldy interface...

speaking of which:

Now if somebody would only resurrect Aldus Freehand    I'd be one happy camper!

-40hz (June 22, 2010, 06:57 AM)

would the macromedia version not do ?? (see my signature)

7712

General Software Discussion / Re: Cloudberry S3 Explorer and Bucket Explorer

« Last post by tomos on June 21, 2010, 01:20 PM »

Amazon S3 Console The AWS Management Console now provides a simple and intuitive web interface for managing your Amazon S3 resources. You can manage your existing Amazon S3 resources, as well as create new buckets and upload objects to your buckets using the console. The console simplifies managing your Amazon S3 resources by enabling you to:     * Access your Amazon S3 resources from anywhere using a web-based user interface. [...]     * Manage buckets with billions of objects. The console also works with folders and objects created using many popular third party tools.

_

I tried this out earlier - it hasnt worked yet for me (it is in beta). [...]

-tomos (June 11, 2010, 08:32 AM)

this has improved a lot - it like a basic one pane file manager (it just shows buckets on the 'tree' side).
you can:

• create new buckets, folders,
• to open, delete make public
• cut, copy, paste
• upload

it cannot handle drag & drop from file manager (to Opera at any rate).
If e.g. you simply want to check if a backup has worked, this if great

7713

Living Room / Re: (Old) Creativity is not Design - Taking the Andy Rutledge Test

« Last post by tomos on June 21, 2010, 08:22 AM »

thanks Paul !
this is very interesting - especially for someone who isn't trained in design but is dabbling
I about half way through it -
doing okay so far but will have to get a little clarification on some points from a friend who is a designer (I sent him the link: "well all that made perfect sense to me. So I must be some sort of designer" lol)

Too often I notice designers and non-designers alike equating creativity with design. I find this assumption disturbing because it is one of the many fallacies that allow unskilled but creative pretenders to consider themselves capable design professionals when they’re nothing of the sort.

let's see, I've done the same with photography, writing, and now with design...

7714

General Software Discussion / Re: Should we merge the complaints and compliments section into other section?

« Last post by tomos on June 20, 2010, 01:39 PM »

agreed

There's often posts in the living room or even the software section that could be moved here but it serves no real purpose (I think)

7715

General Software Discussion / Re: how they create such beautiful graphics?

« Last post by tomos on June 20, 2010, 01:37 PM »

Sorry, but the first one just looked awkward to me. 

It took me a few seconds to realise it was the serif typeface someone had used to add one of the labels 

-katykaty (June 20, 2010, 01:22 PM)

yes (it is a nice illustration) but very poorly labeled (even the sans-serif type)

7716

Living Room / Re: Shiny Disco Balls

« Last post by tomos on June 20, 2010, 11:51 AM »

The only things I found missing, were colors and LSD, and if there were LSD, the colors would have come out anyways.

I love trippy stuff.

-Renegade (June 19, 2010, 11:36 AM)

a bit of cross-posting:

Blockhead - The Music Scene

Really trippy video, I liked it immensely

-p3lb0x (June 20, 2010, 11:11 AM)

eeww I'm unraveling 
- definitely dont need any drugs for that one!

-tomos (June 20, 2010, 11:49 AM)

7717

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

« Last post by tomos on June 20, 2010, 11:49 AM »

Blockhead - The Music Scene

Really trippy video, I liked it immensely

-p3lb0x (June 20, 2010, 11:11 AM)

eeww I'm unraveling  
- definitely dont need any drugs for that one!

7718

Living Room / Re: When Social Media Users Hulk Up!

« Last post by tomos on June 20, 2010, 11:40 AM »

of course I forgot about the biggest group - those who might be ambiguous about it: be they supporters - maybe people who think they have no choice (supporting out of fear of what society could be like without it), or religious people who have the 'thou shalt not kill' commandment in mind; or be they people who simply haven't thought about it much.
They all would be upset I imagine about the casualness & presumptuousness of the tweet (presumptuous of approval & agreement) and for the reasons I mentioned above: basically, that it has confronted them with the reality of it all

7719

Living Room / Re: When Social Media Users Hulk Up!

« Last post by tomos on June 20, 2010, 09:01 AM »

EDIT: Sorry for the sarcasm. To clarify, it is just really hard to see the reaction to the tweet as anything more than the a reaction to the act itself.

-daddydave (June 20, 2010, 08:36 AM)

my interpretation:
The normal procedure would be to keep the whole process very formal. This distances people from the reality of what's happening. A tweet OTOH makes it something much more real - you start thinking about the reality of what is happening.
From a 'supporting the death penalty' point of view, the guy was foolish to make that tweet.
From an 'against the death penalty' point of view, as said above, he really brought it all home. I think that's why the reaction is so strong.

7720

Living Room / Re: When Social Media Users Hulk Up!

« Last post by tomos on June 20, 2010, 08:44 AM »

ironically the tweet could now be applied to Mark Shurtleff himself:
"May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims"

-tomos (June 20, 2010, 07:49 AM)

Yeah, it's not like there was a trial or anything. It was all Mark, seeking out his victim vigilante style.

-daddydave (June 20, 2010, 08:36 AM)

I think you make a fair point daddydave, but I did not say that ("It was all Mark, seeking out his victim vigilante style") nor did I imply it in any way.
Likewise I think my point is still valid (whether you support the death penalty or not - and I have no interest in debating that aspect of it)

7721

Living Room / Re: When Social Media Users Hulk Up!

« Last post by tomos on June 20, 2010, 07:49 AM »

True. It is pretty tacky/tasteless. I suppose I'm just rather apathetic. It's pretty bad when you're killing people anyways, so how much worse can the situation be? Being tasteless about it doesn't change the fact that you're about to kill someone. Dunno. Maybe I'm just too apathetic. It just seems like complaining about a scratch in the car paint when it doesn't have an engine or wheels. Y'know, there's an elephant in the room type of deal?

-Renegade (June 19, 2010, 10:50 PM)

+1

ironically the tweet could now be applied to Mark Shurtleff himself:
"May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims"

7722

Living Room / Re: Shiny Disco Balls

« Last post by tomos on June 19, 2010, 04:02 PM »

Do they make a pair of disco balls to hang from the rear view mirror?

-MilesAhead (June 19, 2010, 03:38 PM)

This one would make your car smell nice, too, I think. Not really sure about that "new dancing shoes" scent.
 (see attachment in previous post)
http://www.sesto-sen...ir-freshener6.html#2

-app103 (June 19, 2010, 03:44 PM)

"Dance floor sold separately" lol

7723

Living Room / Re: Shiny Disco Balls

« Last post by tomos on June 19, 2010, 12:18 PM »

loving ALL of this
two great versions of popcorn - I hadnt heard the original either
E2-E4 / Manuel Göttsching I could handle an hour of that :-)
Tangerine Dream - only knew some later stuff - there's lots of great tracks on youtube from the 70's (with dates)

Funnily enough I'm just after hearing a Brian Eno track (very unexpectedly) on the radio - very mellow, with very countryish sounding guitars (steel?)
Deep Blue Day
from 1983 according to
http://en.wikipedia....eres_and_Soundtracks

7724

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Super Flexible File Synchronizer Mini-Review

« Last post by tomos on June 19, 2010, 08:08 AM »

I installed Cloudberry and I set up SFFS to backup directly to Amazon S3,
and
it is all working a treat very easy to setup the online backup in Super Flexible - when you edit your 'profile' there's an internet button there, you just need your login details after that.

SFFS Pro, version: pre-5.00 Build 52

-tomos (June 18, 2010, 04:42 PM)

I stopped Jungle Disk completely now - it was acting up this morning repeatedly trying to move some file, it was fine on restart but I dont need it no more anyways...

7725

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Super Flexible File Synchronizer Mini-Review

« Last post by tomos on June 18, 2010, 04:42 PM »

I installed Cloudberry and I set up SFFS to backup directly to Amazon S3,
and
it is all working a treat very easy to setup the online backup in Super Flexible - when you edit your 'profile' there's an internet button there, you just need your login details after that.

SFFS Pro, version: pre-5.00 Build 52

For the record, this was prompted by two things:

• I realised that files backed up to S3 using JungleDisk's Network Drive, these files can only be easily recovered by JungleDisk (I am still using an older version so this may have changed). When I explore these via Cloudberry I just see a maze of folders with random numbers - I'd prefer to have the same file structure as what I'm backing up (or at least a logical one).
  
• Second, my backups weren't working the last couple of days - I had been using SFFS to backup my local backups onto JungleDisk's Network Drive. I presumed JungleDisk was at fault, but eventually (after setting up backups direct from SFFS to S3), I purely accidentally found out that the problem was with Amazon - for some reason they no longer recognised my credit card but they didnt think to inform me that they had a problem and simply stopped the service. I will be contacting them to ask WTF they thinking of! (Also I'll have to look at changing SFFS settings so as I get a warning message if backup fails. The Jungle Disk tray icon normally changes if the connection isnt working properly, but this time it didnt seem to recognise whatever Amazon did as a problem...)