Newsletter for April 10th, 2010
"Nesting Feathers"
1. Newsletter EditorialHi all, and welcome to another edition of the DonationCoder.com newsletter. April seems like a good month to get into the renewal spirit, wipe the sleep out of ones eyes, and get back in the spirit of living life to its fullest. Have you embarked on any new projects lately?
In addition to my software projects I've been experimenting again with making a board game or two.. The one thing that never ceases to surprise me is how often what seems like a good set of rules on paper does not translate into a fun game. I think it's just another example of the value of putting ideas into practice, and the importance of being humble when estimating your own ability to translate an idea into something real in one shot.
The bottom line is: Don't just sit in your room dreaming up with ideas -- pick one idea and follow it through to a complete implementation and evaluation. And then tell us about it on the forum!
2. User-to-User: Your Input RequestedWe welcome everyone's participation on the forum, no matter what your level of computer knowledge or how long you've been a DC member. If you're still waiting to make your first post, see the links below for some good places to jump in.
3. April DiscountsThis month we have a discount on the
VTrain vocabulary trainer, as well as copies of VTrain and the
Linkman Pro bookmark organizer to give away.
4. DC Member Software Updates and Mini-reviewsThis month a few new member-written mini-reviews were posted on the forum, as well as some new coding snack utilities and software updates.
5. Website Discoveries, Debates, and DiscussionsWhat's new on the world wide web? What fun new sites have forum members discovered? What's the current hot topic and debate? Let's find out..
6. Fun, Games and Amusements on the WebIf you've read the newsletter up to this point, take a break and check out some of the lighter fare from the forum - humour, videos, and games..
7. Hardware HelpWhile we talk a lot more about software than hardware on the DC forum -- that doesn't mean we don't have some pretty serious discussions about computer hardware and building custom computers. The last month has seen a bit more of this than usual, maybe because people are getting that new-year itch to build a new computer..
8. General Software DiscussionAlmost half the posts on the forum fall into the category of general software discussions, questions, recommendations, etc. This is one of the most active sections of the DC forum and a great resource if you're trying to solve a software or hardware related problem. We get so much traffic on this board that we've split the recent content into to sections in the newsletter - general software and specific software discussions.
9. Specific Software DiscussionThis section of the newsletter draws attention to some of the standout discussions about specific programs that have been started since the last newsletter.
10. Developer's CornerIf you're not a programmer, don't let the title of this section scare you away - there is likely something of interest to you here! It's more than just a forum for the discussion of software development, it's also where we discuss web design, entrepreneurial struggles, and general productivity issues. It's great to see that the section has been pretty active recently.
11. Authors Announce Their SoftwareWe don't often include it in the monthly newsletter, there is a section on the forum where shareware and other developers are welcome to post occasional announcements about new software they have been working on. Usually these are posts by non-regulars, and we require that the poster state clearly their relation to the company; we prefer if the author of the software is the one that posts.
12. News You Can UseDC Member Stephen66 has been filling in for Ehtyar in posting weekly summaries of interesting tech/computer/security news articles that he comes across on the web. He even forced me to create an archive page where you can browse through past editions.
