Recent Posts

801

Living Room / Re: ALERT! FreewareBB shutting down. And with a warning from Marko?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 09, 2015, 10:19 AM »

Set 3
So going for Angry Birds goes here.
http://www.downloadp..._sub4=&aff_sub5=

I'm not sure what downloadpilot is, but it sounds "more legit" as a software tracked downloader, rather than anything this guy churned up himself. More pics:



Okay, now we get this:


So now we have a bit of a poker game going on. Is it a virus, or a tracked downloader?
On the theory that anything short of Cryptowall won't kill me, I have to push just a little further!

Next we get this. So okay, it's looking to install a bunch of junkware, but they look quasi familiar. Clicking "custom" doesn't always do everything, but let's try it.


Okay, the next section is stuff you gang already know (sort of? Aka presuming it actually did X and not Y!). It tries to install stuff, I just clicked "skip". (Sometime later I'll have to check to see if it shadow installed, but let's just say for now.)

Here's a completion screen of some kind (with another type of shaky ad!)

802

Living Room / Re: ALERT! FreewareBB shutting down. And with a warning from Marko?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 09, 2015, 09:45 AM »

Well, in the name of "Security Research", I decided to try getting us some more to work with.

And in the spirit of the Gemini twins of Confusion and Fair Game, the only "fair" Facebook address I could decide upon ... was themselves! (For varying definitions of "themselves".) Colored pills and rabbit holes, here we come!

(My numbering is a little arbitrary, I just think better when I can partition off stages of a project.)

Set 1
1a. Top level site:
http://www.freewarebb.com/
Formerly honorable site, now host to ... "stuff". This is a first attempt to look at what "stuff" is.

1b.
Then there's "this" graphic again. I have added a couple of notes.


Notice that in the instructional address to copy, Ms M's name is mis-spelled ... in that classic conundrum "who is smart enough to get the "you're" abbreviation right, then mis-spell a name in an instructional graphic?

Also, the graphic calls for "http://" and facebook pages run (sorta?) secure at https://

1c. So we decide to "click here to start hacking". Like I mentioned cross category about the archive.org new game libraries, we have an "emblazon" problem. This isn't some weird site like hackfacebookpass.net, is it? Oh wait, sorry for the spoiler, yes it is.

But the front end is a "quietly" famous site. So what owner is either going to leave that there for more than a week, or maybe our law enforcement types don't care about open source software, but maybe with a memo from the RIAA, since the *signature example the scammer could think of was a musician*, you'd think they'd like to at least have a beat officer call Ms. Minogue and ask her to have coffee and check if things are okay. It's where you don't know which of three things to do a double-facepalm over.  

1d. So clicking on that gives you the following excerpt of a page:


1e. So now we see that FreewareBB is now nothing but a 3-screen "jump page", likely to be discarded like a snake skin later. The "real" scam page is for now at http://www.hackfacebookpass.net/. So let's go over there.

Set 2. So what are the guts of this op?

2a. Putting in "themselves", we get this:


2b. Okay, so now it's squawking about an Auth code. The first time you try to go get one, it yells at you for having Adblock on. So I turned it off for this.

2c. "Click here to get an Auth code" leads you to this:
http://href.li/?http...nate.org/donate.html
.li is Lichtenstein. A somewhat newer player in the "country code for sale" business.
It resolves to this:
http://ossdonate.org/donate.html

2d. It brings up "complete an offer to get your code".


I don't need gift cards. But I feel so sad and left out I have not played the authentic (maybe?!) Angry Birds more than three times. So I will try to do that offer. And I'll resume next post, because by now we see this rabbit hole has a few warrens (but not Diane Warren) and at least a couple of rabbits in it! (But not Eddie Rabbitt.)

803

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 08, 2015, 11:30 PM »

(see attachment in previous post)
Intel’s Diminutive ‘Compute Stick’ Runs Windows 8.1, Costs $150

-Arizona Hot (January 07, 2015, 02:52 PM)

Supposing we let this brew into a "next generation", this might be a useful component for a fun (though slightly anachronistically mis-styled) project - "the computing helmet". (I know how Facebook did it, but how did Twitter overtake Johnny Mnemonic!?)

I haven't checked this year's CES, but the idea is that (maybe even coupled with the phone like the old days when arcades merged two entire separate computing sections for cutting edge power), if you have "computer goggles" that basically give you the computer screen in front of your eyes, then sound, let's say phone microphones, goggle-camera, and then you just have a wireless keyboard and mouse, you can wander into a cafe "typing into thin air". To me, why even have a laptop if you have a "quasi virtual" 24 inch screen size in your goggles?

As my early visual conceptions, I used a motorcycle helmet just because structurally you can brace all that stuff into a form factor that is sleek on the outside, aka you don't look like a Borg. Of course, you don't exactly want a Motorcycle helmet, they're designed for something else, but let's suggest for example a black Master Chief helmet.

So with one (or even a couple chained ones!?) of these compute sticks, wireless link to your phone in your pocket for the phone stuff, then it also gives you anchor room for decent headphones built in, in some alt universe I can forsee a new Starbucks crowd. Cops get grumpy about helmets, but I did manage to see an entire showing of the Watchmen in a theater wearing a motor helmet!

804

Living Room / Re: ALERT! FreewareBB shutting down. And with a warning from Marko?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 08, 2015, 11:26 PM »

Someone is responsible for the site itself but doesn't own the url? 

-rgdot (January 08, 2015, 11:19 PM)

Well, to me it sounded more like he retained a copy of the code, but someone bought the domain name, and now plans to shut the existing site and replace it with something scammy.

It sounds like it's brewing into a minor tragedy. :  (

805

Living Room / Re: ALERT! FreewareBB shutting down. And with a warning from Marko?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 08, 2015, 10:44 PM »

Latest Update from the Facebook Page:

Freewarebb
14 hrs ago (09:58GMT) ·
Please be aware that FreewareBB has been sold and unfortunately it appears the intentions of the new owners are extremely devious and they intend on potentially using the good name of the site to trick and scam people. If you have any questions or concerns, please address them here because the site itself will likely be taken offline shortly. I can only apologise for any inconvenience caused but I never imaged the site being used in this way. Regards, Marko

-Stephen66515 (January 08, 2015, 06:35 PM)

I guess it's an important case example.

This is why they drag lawyers into things! I can see other sites getting sales contracts where the sold name/other can't be used in certain ways.

806

Living Room / Re: If Only Once, If Only For A Little While - Comic about loss

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 08, 2015, 09:56 PM »

But I think it's always more difficult for those left behind (or maybe not).

-tomos (January 08, 2015, 05:06 PM)

Well, that's grazing THAT question again. So I think a lot of people know what side of it I am on.

807

Living Room / Re: Donating to EFF

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 08, 2015, 01:24 PM »

Speaking of donations, often when I check out at Publix they ask me if I wish to donate a dollar to help feed the homeless.  Sometimes I point out they could bypass the bureaucracy and just give me the money, since I am homeless.  The reaction is always pretty sour.  Never even a chuckle.  

-MilesAhead (January 08, 2015, 11:41 AM)

Ya know Miles, you've got a stub of a powerful little theme there. It could take a few tweaks to the script, but with "today's" modern "semi-costless" promotion techniques, if for example get a couple of college students to help out for free, then you slice it down to the Publix clerk "running the script" with the line "So, would you like to donate a dollar to help the homeless?", you reply with the short line "I'm homeless", and then capture the next seven seconds of response before they recover because you broke their manager's script in their head.

Then you edit about twenty of those ten second sets together with a couple extra capping words and you get a four minute viral piece. Besides the obvious shout out to the homeless, it also is a commentary on the mindless "4th person" charity questions at these big stores designed to make you feel guilty.

(Cynical) "Oh, sorry sir, we don't want to help a homeless *person*. We want to help "the homeless" ... you know, the *infrastructure*" (/Cynical)

Certain big companies have the correct accounting batch procedures to do the next level. "I'm homeless. Here's my dollar. Help us out." And then you get a big clout media journalist to help you, you "follow that dollar" and see where it goes. Watch only seven cents of it come back to a cup of soup after twelve "infrastructure people" get paid!

808

General Software Discussion / Re: convert wordpress site to an app, seamless connection.

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 08, 2015, 12:39 PM »

I wanted to try this experiment...take an existing wordpress site and package it as an app.  And from there, the app and site are synced.  There is this program:
http://reactor.apppresser.com/

Seems to do it for a couple hundred bucks.  Any other recommendations?

-superboyac (January 08, 2015, 12:28 PM)

It's a complicated sounding concept. How does the app on your phone know to pull updates and properly integrate the data?

809

Living Room / Re: Donating to EFF

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 08, 2015, 12:35 PM »

Recently, I got some good business, and earned more than my usual fare. OK I thought, a good time to donate here and there. One of the donations I made was 5 (five, the one with Lincoln) dollars to EFF (Electronic Frontier Thingie). And today I got a (transatlantic) letter from them, thanking me for my generosity (since when 5 bucks is called generous?). Anyway... The stamp on the letter cost $1.15. Think of the time and effort spent to send the letter as well...

I'm not sure I'll donate to EFF anymore. It's kind of them to send a dead tree thank you letter, but really... for 5 bucks, I feel like it's really wasteful.

btw, before anyone asks; I didn't ask for a letter for tax purposes.

-eleman (January 08, 2015, 09:24 AM)

I'll spin it the other way, and borrow that you feel $5 is indeed cheap vs the response you got. (Compare it to the other software thread, where a bug that demolishes data didn't even get answered!)

But, you just saw "non cash intangible value" at work.

It gives you confidence that even for a little $5 contribution, you got a really warm reply. So let's say, one day you get an incredible bonus for the best closed contract/job/client of the year in your work, and you give them next time $100, because you remembered how well they treated you.

Then *later*, some dumb troll gets you in his sights, and you need their real services. You know they "dot i's and send Eleman thank you letters", so when you need a $400,000 defense (and they make sure it has extra value like a precedent), then you might be able to relax in the six month defense and maybe not get ill from a stress heart attack!

810

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TreeDBNotes Pro - Christmas and New Year Discount: 50%

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 08, 2015, 11:02 AM »

As someone with some little experience of the outsourcing sites, I have *zero* respect for "black walls of silence". You can hire people for *$2 per hour* to just "say things" and do a "few other things". (Like copy and paste support questions into a file and give them back one of seven canned responses from their script). So even a "useless" reply would have at least sent the signal that someone was behind the wheel. Instead, we get the guy here who wants a new sale. *That's the disconnect*.

-TaoPhoenix (January 08, 2015, 10:40 AM)

I don't disagree, but then I have bought programs that were entirely defunct. If a program does what I want, I will use it and if it is the only one that does it the way I want if, I will go with it. Obviously for anything critical that I will rely on, I want rock solid support (not sure where we can be sure of getting that now) or get out methods, alternatives and backups. And preferably all of them.

I like using TreeDB myself, but I do find it hard to recommend to anyone else given the opacity of the situation.

-Dormouse (January 08, 2015, 10:57 AM)

Fair! Good luck getting a companion program for 2015 and Beyyyoooooond! (Cartoon voice!)

 

811

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TreeDBNotes Pro - Christmas and New Year Discount: 50%

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 08, 2015, 10:40 AM »

Then the warning bells went off when they didn't just "freeze" the forum, but *nuked it* and replaced it with this blind suspicious form that doesn't get answered.

But this big switch to a form that basically goes nowhere, was beyond a ref flag, it was like dumping a bucket of red paint on the bull, because there might not be anyone at all doing support, and some cheap marketing outfit might have a legacy program and is trying to squeeze a few more nickels out of new ... uh ... people.

-TaoPhoenix (January 08, 2015, 09:23 AM)

A lot of "mights"

So though I used to like them, if you then change owners and but the best plasma cannon Star Trek credits can buy and point it at your face, then ... well ... I have to pick a new program!

-TaoPhoenix (January 08, 2015, 09:23 AM)

And an "if".

I've no idea what happened, or whether it has changed hands, and never really expected to see another update - but there have been a few.

My impression was that the forum was closed because of all the criticism about the lack of development. I've noticed a few authors do that. When the forum becomes toxic then it usually doesn't last unless they delete threads and/or ban particular posters.

It happened at the same time a number of similar programs seemed to go into meltdown, so I assume sales went through the floor and didn't justify further investment of time. Ultra Recall announced no further development, but then did get updated.

And my impression was that support was always a bit limited although there was a certain amount of responsiveness in the forum.

-Dormouse (January 08, 2015, 10:25 AM)

This is the key phrase I would like to borrow.

I understand if support is *limited*. Though it's hard to know what bug could be worse than destroying your entire note structure, but hey, the warning bell went off when my bug report went completely black and this thread has seen three other people get no replies either.

Incidentally, you're somewhat right about updates, since I posted that bug at that time, at a little later time I did see a new version appear ... with the same bug! That was the final push to complete my program switchover, since I had hoped the new version would have quietly fixed the bug.

As someone with some little experience of the outsourcing sites, I have *zero* respect for "black walls of silence". You can hire people for *$2 per hour* to just "say things" and do a "few other things". (Like copy and paste support questions into a file and give them back one of seven canned responses from their script). So even a "useless" reply would have at least sent the signal that someone was behind the wheel. Instead, we get the guy here who wants a new sale. *That's the disconnect*.

812

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TreeDBNotes Pro - Christmas and New Year Discount: 50%

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 08, 2015, 09:30 AM »

Dormouse, I'm particularly interested in chatting with you a bit to see what it's doing for you, and I'm fascinated if you could peek at MyInfo because it became my "replacement winner" once TreeDB self destructed both structurally and with the forum. I found it to be surprisingly close and I think it could be a replacement for you, with a better overall experience if you, as you say, "just use it for writing".

Also the MyInfo dev also responds by email for specific questions, and according to my email, he just posted a new update on Dec 11. (Modest bugfix update, but apparently it can also now auto-lookup new versions...)

-TaoPhoenix (January 06, 2015, 10:31 AM)

Hi,

I briefly trialled MyInfo some time ago (6.17) and didn't take to it. I'll have another look when 7 eventually comes out, but I don't think it is likely to offer an environment that is comfortable for me to work in. Features and functionality are good, but I find, for writing, that comfort in the "environment" makes the most difference to productivity.

What I like about TreeDBNotes for writing is the very full toolbar (I have all options open - and the styles at the bottom), the extensive right click menu, and the ability to write/edit in a pop out without all the PIM clutter. This gives it a strong multipurpose value for me.

I have a very extensive collection of programs I use for writing - on all platforms. None are remotely ideal, and I tend to use the one that is best suited to the task and situation at the time. And I don't see much development anywhere.

-Dormouse (January 08, 2015, 05:48 AM)

Completely fair. Some of all that was the reason why it won my personal survey in the first place. But re-phrased from elsewhere in the thread, I want to warn you that the bug I ran into, was that suppose you make a note element in your writing, then you decide to move some of them around. TreeDB wasn't keeping the moved new structure, and instead dropping semi-random nodes back where they started, so just when you thought you had a new structure, it ends up a garbled mess!



So upon thus being absolutely forced to get a new program, it came down to features in the replacement. I absolutely had to have a certain web export, that only MyInfo (currently) has. But I agree if that's not your particular thing, other programs could come closer to your comfort type finesses you need.

813

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TreeDBNotes Pro - Christmas and New Year Discount: 50%

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 08, 2015, 09:23 AM »

I ran into a deadly bug that severely damaged the structure of the tree! [...] So I cannot recommend this program!

-TaoPhoenix (January 01, 2015, 12:59 AM)

What was their response when you reported the bug?

-rjbull (January 01, 2015, 03:48 PM)

None. [...]

-TaoPhoenix (January 06, 2015, 10:31 AM)

Ugh.  That gives me no confidence in the program.  One for shelfware at best.  Are they a one-man-band on a hobby project that didn't generate enough income to warrant, or enable, support?

-rjbull (January 07, 2015, 02:38 PM)

Well, I think unfortunately it's more complicated than that.

They *used to have* a decent forum that the dev (and users) could converse in, and the dev did answer questions with modest delays.

Then the warning bells went off when they didn't just "freeze" the forum, but *nuked it* and replaced it with this blind suspicious form that doesn't get answered.

See, you guys are programmers. If you were struggling with a project, you would have found any of several desperate ways to handle it, from "sorry, this forum is legacy and new updates will be very sparse", or in the form, "your bug note has been received, however, we have to cut back on our support resources" or something.

But this big switch to a form that basically goes nowhere, was beyond a ref flag, it was like dumping a bucket of red paint on the bull, because there might not be anyone at all doing support, and some cheap marketing outfit might have a legacy program and is trying to squeeze a few more nickels out of new ... uh ... people.

And it wasn't just an annoying little bug, it was a nuclear grade one that damaged the entire structure of the note tree!

 

So though I used to like them, if you then change owners and but the best plasma cannon Star Trek credits can buy and point it at your face, then ... well ... I have to pick a new program!

Let's try it this way:
This sad-rant started because Mr. Ennovy posted  "grade D ad" ... and never read the thread ever again.

814

N.A.N.Y. 2015 / Re: NANY 2015 Release: The OEMer

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 07, 2015, 07:33 AM »

also: preview doesnt work for images.

-mouser (January 07, 2015, 07:26 AM)

Yeah, because of this, I just post half of a comment, then modify it adding more text and the attachments.

815

Living Room / Re: For better security, maybe it's time to abandon e-mail?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 06, 2015, 07:58 PM »

Internet of Things makes me think of and want to write a couple stories about a "sideways singularity" - not that any one bot is "smarter" than people, but *everything* is a quarter as smart as an "average" person in a lopsided computer way.

So we'll treat it as just fine and ho-hum that my apartment plays a mean game of chess, manages my music and suggests new songs once in a while, has the hots for Stephen's garden shed, and is an active member of a charity that keeps up with pen pal printers in Ghana.

 

816

Living Room / Re: If Only Once, If Only For A Little While - Comic about loss

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 06, 2015, 04:36 PM »

Wrong on both counts... (1) the easier conceptually, which is my opinion.  (2) doesn't morph into anything else... well b/c♭ and f/e# want to have a talk with you.  

-wraith808 (January 06, 2015, 02:48 PM)

Heh well maybe we have Schrodinger cat meaning!

If you consider a key as "that key", and you start plunking it, you don't end up with anything other than "that note" and you can't get "that note" any other way except maybe truly strangely set up prototypes where you can change the pitch manually with a bar by hand while playing.

The nomenclature thing just reminds me of something like American/British English or maybe Parisian/Canadian French - just a little nomenclature memory and it can't go very far like the English units/ Metric conversions.

You don't get any/much of this stuff per 40hz:

Interestingly, the only accurate way to notate guitar music is with TAB. Going off a normal staff arrangement doesn't tell you which A, for example, you should be playing. Is it at the 17th fret of the E-string, the 12th fret on the A-string, the seventh fret on the D-string or the second fret on the G? Although technically the "same" note (at least on a staff), they each have a noticeably different timbral quality, a slightly different response time, and a significantly different sustain-decay ratio. That's due to the difference in string sounding-length, gauge, tension, and construction (i.e. wound vs unwound).

-40hz (January 06, 2015, 03:13 PM)

817

Living Room / Re: If Only Once, If Only For A Little While - Comic about loss

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 06, 2015, 01:50 PM »

There's some interesting things here.

I think I agree at a very broad level that piano theory is "easier conceptually" - a note is a note, and it doesn't show up anywhere else or morph into something else either.

Leaving aside reading music which I never really learned, just from playing my own arrangements of the few pieces I learned, the difficulty of piano is all in the manual version of "finger twisters" - you don't have any doubt (once past artistic elements) that you need to get to X key at X time, you just have to somehow not "trip over yourself" to get there and only there, and on time and only on time.

One of the fun/funny/exasperating low level tidbits of piano playing is the fingering and the muscle memory. When you play pieces with expansive ascending and descending sequences, or with just intricate local-key elements, it's fun/funny/exasperating to feel like you almost got there, up until like a game of twister you're missing a finger to hit G Flat!

     

And unlike C or even the keys with just one black key, things like G Flat minor feel bewildering because it feels like a big jumble at first!

818

Living Room / Re: Share your photos! Travel shots, photoblogs, etc.

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 06, 2015, 11:05 AM »

Haha! I normally am not a picture guy.

But once, for Thanksgiving 2012 before my life went sideways, I took a crazy roadtrip "just to drive". Starting from Cape Cod, Massachusetts USA, I just "started driving". I made it to Detroit Michigan!

 

And I ended up with some surprisingly good pictures of cars in GM World!

819

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 06, 2015, 10:55 AM »

...
All these 'store' has made rotten the concept of 'free'. In most cases the user is paying through his nose in mobile connection for ads or in-app purchase to get one more feature.

We programmers who have been releasing 'free' apps in pure literal sense, now have to face questions from the users. They bracket us in same league.
...
Regards,
Anand

-anandcoral (January 06, 2015, 02:32 AM)

Yes Anand, and sometime I would like to look at a link to see what the bandwidth of the ads is.

I'll add to your note that a lot of the devs making stuff for my iPhone are tapping into some kind of structured Apple ad banner service, and it's very hard to get rid of it (if at all). And it takes up some 15-20 % of the entire screen! And it's jammed next to a legit feature button, so you have no choice but to "click" it when your finger is off by a quarter of an inch for the feature. Then you waste 30 seconds getting dragged to the store to preview whatever it is before you can go back to what you were doing!



15% space in desktop ads would make users livid with anger!

820

Living Room / Re: If Only Once, If Only For A Little While - Comic about loss

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 06, 2015, 10:48 AM »

||: G♭min9 | G♭min | G♭min9 | G♭min :||  

-40hz (January 06, 2015, 07:43 AM)

Uh oh, that sounds like a complicated key!

I was always fascinated how certain keys had varying levels of difficulty on different instruments. G Flat Minor is one of the trickier ones on the piano! Instead, A minor is all the white keys! (The mirror minor pair to major key C.)

What's the difficulty level on a guitar? Or one of the string instruments?

821

General Software Discussion / Re: Warning: Buying new copy or upgrading to Genie Timeline Pro 2014

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 06, 2015, 10:43 AM »

...

3. Today I saw their Genie Timeline Pro 2014 promotion email, selling it at USD 9.95 instead of its original price USD 59.95

Man, it seems they are hunting one more round for more potential victims...

-tslim (January 05, 2015, 11:03 PM)

That's a rather sharp discount too! Anyone else seeing drops of that magnitude? I'm prob futzing the math but eyeballing it, that looks something like a 83% discount!

822

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TreeDBNotes Pro - Christmas and New Year Discount: 50%

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 06, 2015, 10:31 AM »

I ran into a deadly bug that severely damaged the structure of the tree! [...] So I cannot recommend this program!

-TaoPhoenix (January 01, 2015, 12:59 AM)

What was their response when you reported the bug?

-rjbull (January 01, 2015, 03:48 PM)

None.

This is a note I sent 1.5 years ago when both the forum vanished and it was my second attempt trying to report the bug.


------------------------------------------------------------
        me
        May 5, 2013

To

        [email protected]

CC

        [email protected]

Feedback form
Your Name:     TaoPhoenix
Your Email:     [email protected]
Subject:     Is TreeDBNotes still being developed?
Message:     Hello. The forum vanished, and I think I sent a bug report a while back. There's a nasty bug involving shifting the folder levels. Please reply to me at [email protected]
Security Code:     110283
Send Email OK.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Not counting other programs from my survey, TreeDB at the time was my winner, because of a certain web export feature on top of other basic features, and *at the time* it had a forum for support. Then the forum vanished, taking thousands of posts with it, into a very generic "web form", and I never heard from them again. So, other people are reporting in about the lack of responses.

Dormouse, I'm particularly interested in chatting with you a bit to see what it's doing for you, and I'm fascinated if you could peek at MyInfo because it became my "replacement winner" once TreeDB self destructed both structurally and with the forum. I found it to be surprisingly close and I think it could be a replacement for you, with a better overall experience if you, as you say, "just use it for writing".

Also the MyInfo dev also responds by email for specific questions, and according to my email, he just posted a new update on Dec 11. (Modest bugfix update, but apparently it can also now auto-lookup new versions...)

823

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 05, 2015, 04:30 PM »

ps.
I listed the apps on the google play store to purchase for 99 cents.  I decided to try that instead of listing them for free -- most of the time free in these app stores seems to mean covered in ads, so I thought 99 cents might be a cleaner approach.  But you can always download the apk's directly from the first post on this thread.

-mouser (January 05, 2015, 03:36 PM)

Elsewhere a few of us were talking about the state of the shareware culture ... and this is part of the problem! How/why did the "store" culture so completely ______ (your choice of words here) change what used to be a real "community" of shareware quality into the horrific ad infested stuff in the store? There's sociology paper material in there. We'd never stand for that on desktop software.

And it's even worse than "just charging 99 cents" - even those can get bastardized. You almost have to make it "free" (fake it with a crippled version) and then "pro", because now some X group of people Pavlovian-trained them so that to get "legit" software, you have to get the "pro" version!

824

Developer's Corner / Re: New EU VAT rules change the game for digital businesses

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 05, 2015, 03:42 PM »

Sales taxes are such a mess.

In the "meat world" the seller is responsible for sales taxes on all applicable "small items" and there's no requirement for consumers to report anything. You don't report that you bought a soda. The seller is supposed to charge *either* 1.0x as the marked up price, or if they want to use "convenient pricing" aka "it dollar" (dialect included), they're supposed to do the calculation backwards on some "real price" of 0.9x cents plus the tax.

However, if you look closely, you see a lot of the local little stores purposely under-ringing sales to sometimes astonishing degrees. There must be some deal with the cops - in one sense if the cops "really have better things to do", that's kinda a cool philosophy (until next week's facepalm incident shows up!).

Most digital purchases are small. So I'd think it normally is the seller's "responsibility" to ... "try" to collect the taxes. Now that's between an avalanche and a earthquake of pain, but it's not the consumer's duty to do anything fancy.

But with the insane cross-routing of jurisdictions, I'm pretty sure that's one reason the "temporary" reprieves have lasted this long - elsewhere people bitch about 99c being "too much to pay for software" ... ??! It's not. It's a "meme" that you're "not supposed to have to pay anything". And even at minimum wage, it could cost equivalent of $25 in research to figure out the correct sales tax to levy per country not counting extra software dev.

825

N.A.N.Y. 2015 / Re: NANY 2015 Release - Splat (Simple Program Launching and Termination)

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 05, 2015, 11:43 AM »

I love physics.  I'd enjoy working with one of those participle accelerators. 

-MilesAhead (January 05, 2015, 09:46 AM)

Oh! I know this one!
http://en.wikipedia....o_the_Future_Part_II