Recent Posts

8076

Living Room / FULL MOON tonight (March 19) is the LARGEST in 18 Years

« Last post by Renegade on March 19, 2011, 05:18 AM »

Make sure to take time to have a look. While not particularly rare, you'll only ever have this opportunity a few times in your life.

That's tonight, March 19th.

BTW - It's beautiful!

8077

Developer's Corner / Robosoft from Ground Zero

« Last post by Renegade on March 19, 2011, 12:18 AM »

I'm about ready to launch a new site shortly, but along with the site launch, I'm going to be blogging about it at Cynic.me.

There are a bunch of things that I'm going to cover over the next few months.

One of the topics is going to be Robosoft. This is the first introductory post:

Using Robosoft from Ground Zero

...

I’ve gone on for years about how absolutely wicked amazing and mind-blowing Robosoft it and how it can catapult you in the search engines. I’ve threatened to write a book on it as well, and while I managed to start it, I never finished. Well, this is where that all stops. I’m going to blog it out here and show just how Robosoft and PAD work.

...

If you are looking to promote your software, I'd encourage you to read along over the next few months. I'm going to post a lot of information that only a very few people know.

One of my motivations is to show that it works and to silence the nay-sayers.

Now, back to work on actually doing it~!

8078

Living Room / Re: Software is Boring, Apps are Fun (Hint: Apple Discussion again)

« Last post by Renegade on March 18, 2011, 07:42 PM »

The fact that the released software lacks innovation and often uses features that are standard in your OS already.

That is an example of what comes out of your mouth when you've been drinking the mobile kewl aid.

If you ignore what's happening in desktop/traditional software and only look at what's happening in mobile software, I suppose you could say that. You'd still be wrong, but you could say it.

Please allow me to blow the author away in a single word:

Melodyne.

The level of technology, innovation, mathematics, physics, and pure coolness in that is simply unmatched by ANYTHING in the mobile world. NOTHING comes remotely close.

It is way farther ahead of any research or academic theory out there.

To deny it that recognition is to not understand the issues involved.

They can separate individual components from mixed music. That's the same thing as taking a cake then giving you neatly arranged piles of sugar, flour, water and whole eggs that you could either scramble for fry sunny side up!

CHALLENGE:

I will give anyone all of the credits in my DC account if they can give an example of anything in the mobile world that comes close to that level of innovation.


Mobile is cool, and there's a lot of great stuff in there, but the hyperbole it just way too much.

8079

General Software Discussion / Re: What the hell is OpenCandy?

« Last post by Renegade on March 18, 2011, 07:12 PM »

Ok - Here's the followup. OpenCandy was blistering fast and they've got my software tested, reviewed, and verified, so I now have access to the web-based OpenCandy control panel for software authors.

As such, this is all first-hand information. No speculation. No conjecture. No "a friend told me".

I'll walk through a bit about the installation process, then I'll go on to the control panel as everyone is already familiar with what installers do.

I should note beforehand that my OpenCandy control panel options are set to the default.

This is first running the installer:



Note that it is code signed in order to add a level of trust and accountability.

This is an offer made through the installer near the end of the installation:



Those are the default settings. Note that both radio buttons are unchecked. In order to proceed with the installation the user must select one of the two options: accept or decline.

I find that is an excellent balance there. I'm sure some others have a different opinion though.

Now, on to the control panel...

This section of the control panel lets you toggle automatic and manual modes. In manual mode you can change which programs can be offered through the installer, and you can also switch some, but not all, of the offers from opt-in to opt-out (more on that below):



In automatic mode, this is what the offers look like in the control panel:



Note that "Enable" is greyed out.

In manual mode, where you can disable some offers and switch some offers from opt-in to opt-out, this is what the same thing above looks like:



Note that for the IE9 offer you CANNOT set it to opt-out. To install IE9, users MUST specifically click the "yes" radio button. The offer below that can be set to opt-out though.

Now, to make sure that's clear, read the "Definition of 'Screen Type'":

Definition of 'Screen Type'

Some recommendations allow you to choose between opt-in and opt-out (others only support opt-in) by changing the 'Screen Type'.

Opt-in means the recommendation is not selected to be installed by default.

Opt-out means the recommendation is selected to be installed by default.

But that's all there really is to it. It's very simple with clear options.

Hopefully that sheds some light on that portion of the process and about what is going on.

8080

General Software Discussion / Re: Favorite ZIP/RAR application?

« Last post by Renegade on March 18, 2011, 04:06 AM »

I use 7-Zip, and also have the old but free WinRAR 3.80.

Including VAT, WinRAR 4 is $52.19!
Can we have a discounted offer, please?!   

-Curt (March 17, 2011, 03:43 PM)

It's telling me AU$ 30.77 or USD $29.00. Something is wonky there. 80% VAT?

8081

Living Room / Re: Leave me in the clouds

« Last post by Renegade on March 18, 2011, 12:36 AM »

It is fine, although its successor, the SGS2, is about to be released... 

-Tuxman (March 17, 2011, 10:34 PM)

There's no winning that game.

Actually, buying the latest release just before the Zombie Apocalypse hits lets you win that game. Too bad you're too busy scrambling for brains to use the phone though...

8082

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY MUGs

« Last post by Renegade on March 17, 2011, 10:18 PM »

Yes! Post pics! More pics from everyone~! 

8083

Living Room / Re: Leave me in the clouds

« Last post by Renegade on March 17, 2011, 10:16 PM »

It's not being paranoid or control freakish. It's just being prudent. I'm certain that I'm not the only one to get burned by "being in the cloud" and having a disaster there.

Syncing desktop and cloud data is a prerequisite for a safer computing experience. However, locking you into the cloud is better business... Catch-22.

Still, things are better now than they were in the past, so I'm planning on moving some things into the cloud as well.

I would like to see more software that helps to integrate things though. I'd love to be able to do some things that right now I would have to code them.

How do you like your Android phone?

8084

General Software Discussion / Re: Excel - pattern matching in cells

« Last post by Renegade on March 17, 2011, 06:02 AM »

Basic tutorial on using regular expressions in Excel VBA: http://www.tmehta.com/regexp/index.htm
Regular Expression guide (many languages): http://www.regular-expressions.info/
List of articles showing some other ways of using Regex in Excel VBA: http://excelicious.wordpress.com/category/regular-expressions/

-kfitting (March 17, 2011, 05:46 AM)

That's some good stuff there!

I'm still hoping that they add in pure .NET at some point as I don't really like VBA.

8085

Living Room / Re: Need a New Mouse

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 11:47 PM »

Heres a pretty cool mouse:
 

-Stephen66515 (March 16, 2011, 11:26 PM)

HAHAHAHAHA~!

That was excellent~!

8086

Living Room / Re: Dumbed Down Language Observation

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 11:21 PM »

Other than children, i have never heard a single person (except for in childish jest) utter that phrase.

-Stephen66515 (March 16, 2011, 11:13 PM)

Good. It's not just me then. My sanity is at least partially intact~! 

8087

Living Room / Dumbed Down Language Observation

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 11:07 PM »

I've noticed in the last while that a lot of (American/British) TV shows/movies use the phrase, "you're not the boss of me". In my experience, most people stop speaking like small children sometime around about or before puberty. (Which makes me wonder at what age children learn/use the "my X" vs. "X of me" structures.)

Does the phrase strike anyone as utterly childish? Do people actually speak like that in the US/UK?

It just seems to sit well with other phrases like, "nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah".

8088

Living Room / Re: Need a New Mouse

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 10:48 PM »

As for a dedicated charger, sigh... too many cables already.

Oddly enough it doesn't have to sit next to the computer, it could be in the lounge charging the remote batteries, it the kitchen, in the car, etc.

-4wd (March 16, 2011, 09:45 PM)

I hear you, but...

This place is a bit older (1960~80 I think) and not designed very well (1 phone jack). As such, electrical outlets aren't really positioned conveniently or in sufficient numbers. As such, other outlets suffer from the same sort of problems. Inconvenient locations leave some empty, while others have several appliances plugged in.

Oh, but to live in the 21st century...

Doosan E&C has some nice living space designs.

8089

General Software Discussion / Re: What the hell is OpenCandy?

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 07:49 PM »

I need to correct some things.

From what I saw in the SDK demo, it appeared that offers forced a user action. I was not able to find any further information in the SDK about that though.

That information is actually in the control panel at the OpenCandy partner site, which I have yet to get access to as the installer must be verified.

(I emailed OC about it, and they let me know that it's in the control panel.)

I'll post back about it once I know first hand.

At the moment, my current understanding is that the offers have a default of either opt-in or opt-out, and that it is up to the individual developer to select offers that are displayed in their installers, but that the developer can also override the opt-in/out behaviour.

But like I said, I do not have first hand knowledge of that yet. I will confirm things once I know for certain.

8090

General Software Discussion / Re: Bizarre Firefox Behaviour

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 07:41 PM »

Anyways, reported it here.

8091

General Software Discussion / Re: Bizarre Firefox Behaviour

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 07:24 PM »

Maybe FF renamed the file according to MIME-type?

-housetier (March 16, 2011, 11:15 AM)

Yes, but is that proper behavior? I think that's what Renegade is asking

-f0dder (March 16, 2011, 12:26 PM)

Exactly.

As far as I can see, it's simply flat out wrong. A file extension has no necessary connection to the content. e.g. DOCX, XSLX and PPTX files are all ZIP files!

Lots of files use ZIP compression as a container format. Renaming with a .zip extension breaks compatibility.

8092

Living Room / Re: Need a New Mouse

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 07:18 PM »

Yes. The mouse recharges through USB, which is very convenient.

Thanks for the link!

As for a dedicated charger, sigh... too many cables already.

3 monitors = 3 power cables & 3 video cables
2 computers
1 laptop
printers, keyboards, mice, speakers, microphone, volume cables, external storage devices... it's nuts. I hate wires (see above).

I'm at the point where I'll do just about anything to eliminate cables.

8093

General Software Discussion / Re: Excel - pattern matching in cells

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 07:10 PM »

You're likely best off looking into VBA and macros. Excel functions are limited and don't really have any good text processing. The lack of regular expression support in Office is quite frankly astounding.

8094

General Software Discussion / Re: A LOUDER Internet

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 08:14 AM »

If I'm visiting a band site, I kind of expect it to go with the territory. That I don't mind so much. It's a music site after all.

-Renegade (March 15, 2011, 07:26 PM)

It's still drop-dead annoying if I'm just looking for some information about release or tour dates - music should be opt-in.

The reason I'm hating so much on auto-music is probably that I have my stereo amplifier hooked up to my PC, and that I'm blasting music away quite a lot of the time... very unpleasant when something unwanted mixes in with whatever I'm listening to.

-f0dder (March 16, 2011, 08:04 AM)

That doesn't tick me too much.

What really pisses me off is that the entire state of audio is still so horribly primitive. Phones still have crap quality. It's only been 100 years or so... But the real thing that irks me is volume.

All volumes are relative, and there is no base-line for anything. Put in one song and the volume is great. Put in another, your ears are blasted out. 3rd song and you can't hear anything. Same for audio in videos.

Volume *SHOULD* be in actual dB or SPL with a standard like STP (standard temperature and pressure). e.g. X dB @ STP and a distance of 2 meters.

Sigh... Some things are just hopeless...

(But it gives me a great idea for a product that I don't have the money to fund... Sigh... more frustration...)

8095

Living Room / Re: Need a New Mouse

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 08:08 AM »

Jury is in...

Not happy with the battery life. It doesn't last a day.

Being as I'm using it on my desktop, I should have gone with the wired one.

Other than that, it's good. The battery life just isn't there though. But that's a common problem across all devices.

Verdict: Good mouse. Batteries suck. All batteries suck.

-Renegade (December 26, 2010, 03:38 AM)

New Verdict: Good mouse. Good battery.

I ran out of regular alkaline batteries, and stuck in the rechargeable battery.

It was very odd. Before the battery died very quickly. Now, I get days out of it. Not sure how long as I've not been really counting, but it's damn good.

I think the battery needed the charge to completely drain or something funky. God knows. But it works now.

If anyone knows how modern rechargeable batteries work, do you have any hints as to what happened?

In any event... Just wanted to set that straight.

8096

General Software Discussion / Bizarre Firefox Behaviour

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 07:10 AM »

I wrote this a short while ago:

http://cynic.me/2011...-this-internet-site/

Internet Explorer 7/8 throws an error when you pop a download through a meta refresh or iframe. The error message looks like this (I’ve blurred the domain as it’s not public yet):

Internet Explorer - Unable to open this Internet site

Searching around didn’t reveal anything of any particular use. Most “solutions” were for clients, which when you’re running a server, doesn’t help much.

Anyways, I decided to go back to basics, and try something really simple… Change the MIME type.

While the MIME type should be “application/octet-stream” for a binary setup file (program installer). However, simply changing it to “application/zip” fixes the problem in Internet Explorer, and popping meta refresh downloads then works.

Well, it was working properly... However, today I noticed that Firefox downloads it then adds a ".zip" extension. WTF? That's very odd. (It didn't before.)

Anyways, I fixed it to be a conditional download, but it just seems wrong that a browser would take it upon itself to rename files.

Is it just me, or is that odd?

8097

General Software Discussion / Re: Lyx is the answer

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2011, 07:05 AM »

I'm pretty excited about it, actually.

-superboyac (March 15, 2011, 03:48 PM)

Hell! You've got me excited about it~!

Sounds fantastic. Checking it out now...

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The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / Re: Looking for Suggestions for Name of New Blog that Will be Abandoned

« Last post by Renegade on March 15, 2011, 07:27 PM »

Have you got any names/concepts that you are thinking of yet?

8099

General Software Discussion / Re: A LOUDER Internet

« Last post by Renegade on March 15, 2011, 07:26 PM »

I see someone has a strong opinion on the subject~!

-Renegade (March 15, 2011, 06:30 PM)

Strong opinion? I moderated myself quite a bit while typing that

-f0dder (March 15, 2011, 06:31 PM)

Don't you hate toning it down sometimes?

If I'm visiting a band site, I kind of expect it to go with the territory. That I don't mind so much. It's a music site after all.

8100

General Software Discussion / Re: A LOUDER Internet

« Last post by Renegade on March 15, 2011, 06:30 PM »

And people who do audio in advertisements should have their guts removed with rusty spoons.

-f0dder (March 15, 2011, 06:22 PM)

Hahahaha~!

I see someone has a strong opinion on the subject~!