News and Reviews > Older Newsletters
Newsletter for February 21st - Codename "Vertigo"
Darwin:
Newsletter for February 21st, 2008Codename "Vertigo"
"If you read nothing else on our site, read our BLOG"
(new rss feed with images)
1. Editorial
Greetings! Darwin here with another installment of the DC newsletter. I'd like to start with congratulations to DC member yksyks and a big welcome to his NEWBORN SON Nathaniel, who was dropped down his parents' chimney at about 2:50 am today (Prague time) by Cody, in a stork suit. Other than our best wishes, all we can say is sign him up at the forum!
We've enjoyed another busy period "on the boards" and will be pointing out some highlights below.
2. February 2008 Software Discounts
Congratulations to the February Giveaway Winners and a reminder that this month's discounts are active until February 28th, which means that you have one more week to take advantage of the 33% discounts on products from Metaproducts.com, who make a variety of truly excellent programs. Mouser feels that several of their programs are at the top of their respective classes, recommending Offline Explorer, Mass Downloader, and Startup Organizer, in particular.
Discounts end on February 28th:
* Flash and Media Capture, Inquiry Professional Edition, Inquiry Standard Edition, Offline Explorer Standard Edition, Offline Explorer Pro Edition, Portable Offline Browser, Mass Downloader, Picture Downloader, MetaProducts Web Studio, LightPad, Links Organizer, Disk Watchman, Startup Organizer, Net Activity Diagram, AutoDialogs, DeskTool, TrayIcon Pro
In addition, due to late posting in January, the following discounts are running through February:
* xplorer^2 (33%)
* SyncBackSE (25%)
* PerfectDisk Pro (20% discount)
Supporting Members can access the discount codes: Here (you must be a supporter of DonationCoder to access them).
3. Our Software: Find&Run Robot News
A very exciting thing has happened in the Find and Run Robot (FARR) section of our forum. New DC member czechboy has used ecaradec's Javascript SDK for FARR to create a ton of new and very cool plugins. Really wonderful stuff here... If you haven't tried out FARR version 2 yet, this may be just what you've been waiting for.
* Google Dictionary
* Google Calendar Quick Add
* New Script FARR Plugin: Clock
* Definr.com plugin
* Google Calculator
* Add launcher "keywords" to farr?
* Character Table
* The javascript SDK Fscript now support VBScript, Ruby, Python et Perl.
* Upload plugin - for developers
4. Other DC-Related-Software News
DC member Timns offers us two new puzzle games and damax presents a VBS script that will upload a file to an FTP server and put a link to it in your windows clipboard.
* FTP Uploader Script for Screenshot Captor
* New free Puzzle Game from DC Member: CluGrid
* Timns Sudoku Puzzle Game
5. Living Room
The Living Room is an area of the forum set aside for postings that don't quite fit neatly on the other boards. Thus, it attracts an esoteric assortment of posts, ranging from announcements about software releases ("Vista 64-bit - Service Pack 1 Arrived") to requests for help and advice on hardware choices or issues ("Should I get my new laptop with hard drive partitioned?"). Highlights from the past three weeks appear below.
* About to switch to a Widescreen LCD?
* Should I get my new laptop with hard drive partitioned?
* Getting more desktop for free
* Request from Blueberry for BB Flashback v2 Beta Testers
* It's time for NANY and GOE mug pictures!
* The Apple Headache
* Why is my computer hiccuping every 60 seconds? Solved.
* Monitor any topic across forums: boardreader.com
* Memory Secrets - Everything you always wanted to know about your computer memory
* Download Cheap software on http://softwarebackups.org, a Scam ?
* Vista 64-bit - Service Pack 1 Arrived
* Bluescreens and then reboots too quickly for me to read what it says
6. Fun and Games
Everyone needs to kick back and relax, even if it's only for ten minutes grabbed out of a busy day. Check out some of the links below for some interesting links to take your mind off work for a moment.
* Aquaria (An independetly developed game beneath the ocean)
* Weird Mozilla Firefox Page
* Would anyone want a free DonationCoder.com bumper sticker?
* Lets get organized so we can get gaming!
* Love - You have 4 minutes to choose your perfect mate
* Process Tamer.. The Drink
* Phun - 2D physics sandbox
7. Your Input Requested
We're just about 110,000 members strong and have a very dynamic forum. This can be a bit daunting for new and old members alike. All those posts, where does one begin reading and how can one possibly have anything to contribute? Well, below are a few threads in which we'd love to see your participation. There, point one is already taken care of! For the second, EVERYONE has something useful to contribute AND it's a forum - who said every posting has to be useful?
* Do You Purchase Software on Impulse?
* Best program to manage information collections?
* The Best Contact Management Software?
* What are the Best Forums for..
* What annoys you to no end?
8. General Software Discussion
The majority of the discussions on the forum are about software -- here's a few general threads from the last couple of weeks you might be interested in.
* Fifty nifty free tools
* Concatenating MP3s?
* Send link and/or webpage?
* Free PDA Software
* Spatial navigation or how to surf the web faster
* DNS Switching Tool for Windows?
* Looking for a good bartenders guide
* Unix utilities for Windows - book/manual
9. Specific Software Discussions
A number of interesting threads in the General Software Discussion highlighted specific applications. Read on for a few stand outs from the past three weeks. And don't miss the fact tht DC member Erwin has created a cool program that lets you create new fonts from your handwriting called "Scanahand". Erwin has also provided a 50% discount for DC members who want to try the new beta release.
* File Types Manager
* WordFlashReader: Open Source (Free) Utility to Help You Read Faster
* ScanFS: an alternative to locate? Free indexer, file previews and other niceties
* ImgBurn v2.4.0.0 supports audio CDs
* Firefox 3 beta 3 expected today
* Extend Firefox 2 Contest Winners Announced by Mozilla
* InstantStorm: Freeware to make Flash based screensavers
* ArsClip 3.1.0 released
* Minipad2
* Scanahand RC1 Released - with DC Member Discount
10. Mini-Reviews and Coding Snacks by DC Members
After a long and secretive vacation, Skrommel has come back with a vengeance and gone on a rampage writing new Coding Snacks. It's impossible to list them all, so stop by the Coding Snacks section of the forum and have a look, or post a new request for a small freeware utility you want to see created. CWuestefeld also weighs in with a mini-review of Media Monkey 3. If you have a favourite application that you would like to review, visit the mini-review board and check out the template. The template provides you with all the formatting that you need. If you're feeling more ambitious, and would like to write a comparative review (reserved for categories of software, rather than individual applications), visit the Reviews and Features page to see what has already been reviewed and for some ideas on how these are usually handled.
* Media Monkey 3 minireview
* RocketDock minireview
* DONE: Autopick custom icons for folders based on resources in folder
* DONE: Autoset audio volume on boot
* IDEA: (In-Progress): Mouse Instructional Helper
* DONE: port-apps launcher (auto-create shortcuts to exe's within a directory)
* DONE: App that removes button from dialogue box?
* IDEA: bigger screen area than monitor size - with quick scroll features
11. Developer's Corner
Some fun stuff to read in this edition of the newsletter if you are a programmer. A nice find is an article on how to earn income with an Open Source project, which mirrors some of our own findings about asking for donations and support. Also, find a good discussion on PHP IDEs, and a nice video from Richard Stallman on why GPL was designed the way it was.
* Guide: Earning income from a Free/Open Source project.
* PHP IDE recommendations
* GPLv3 explained
* The SSL certificate industry is a messy business
* Wordpress 2.3.3 Security Release Update (Tues Feb 5th)
* Downloading the .NET reference source code
* The DC Coders' Breakfast Club
* A good mini-cms like system for Skrommel Type Web Collection?
* Free Microsoft Commercial Developer Tools
12. Member Site Spotlight
This newsletter we're highlighting DC member Mark0s's File Extension Seeker site. File Extension Seeker is an on line tool that allows you to query a huge list of file extensions and their corresponding descriptions. So, if you ever run into a file extension on your computer that you are not familiar with, wander over to Mark0's site for some help.
* File Extension Seeker
Any member that has a website that they'd like to see highlighted in the newsletter, feel free to contact either mouser or myself.
13. In closing
That's a wrap on another newsletter. Thank you, every one, for your continued participation in the forum and providing the content for the newsletter!
tomos:
:up: well done Darwin :up:
:) :) :) :) :)
housetier:
I already subscribed to the feed for new forum topics, but the newsletters still show some that slipped by me. Thanks Darwin!
Darwin:
Thank you Tom and housetier! However, credit for the topic selection goes to Mouser, I just fiddled with the intros and the editorial and did a bit of fine tuning.
einstein999999:
Another great newsletter, thanks, Darwin and Mouser!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version