Newsletter for August 13th, 2010
"Heat Waving"
1. Newsletter EditorialIt's 96 degrees out here and time again for another DC newsletter. The heat seems to be getting to everyone because we've had a couple of arguments flair up on the forum lately, but things seem to be calming down now that the weekend is here.
If you have any interest in scanning software, the one thing you don't want to miss in this newsletter is the link to the giant review of VueScan written by a DC member last week, with some serious scanning tips. We're also giving away a few copies of VueScan this month to celebrate the review.
DC member skwire has also been up to his usual tricks and has released a bunch of new free utilities based on user requests that you can download. See the Coding Snacks section below for the new ones, including a cool context menu extension that lets you right-click on an image file and show it's geo-tagged location in your web browser. This edition of the newsletter also has a big section devoted to announcements from DC members about software projects and blogs that they are working on -- we love to highlight member projects so don't be shy about posting on the forum if you are working on something interesting.
I was also thinking we might take this newsletter as an opportunity to encourage people to check out some of the posts on the forum that have not yet had any replies, and see if any are worth commenting on. Check the link below for a list of all threads which have not yet had a reply posted.
And lastly, let me remind all coders and friends of coders, that we are approaching the final months of the year when our NANY (New Apps for the New Year) event is going to start kicking into high gear. Join us by pledging to create and release a new application on January 1st of the new year, and become one of the proud custom mug carrying few who have participated. We need more participants -- so spread the word to your coder friends, and and if you are a coder looking for a kick in the pants to get you to finally finish that project that's been sitting half completed on your hard drive, or to finally implement that idea you've been daydreaming about for years, now is the time!
2. User-to-User: Your Input RequestedWe welcome everyone's participation on the forum, regardless of 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. DC Stuff: Mini ReviewsNew member-written stuff since the last newsletter:
4. Coding SnacksOne of the best areas of our forum is the Coding Snacks section, where people can request small custom free utilities that get written by volunteer coders.
5. DC App Updates, Screencasts, Questions and AnswersA few minor updates this month, but also a few new screencast videos and some questions answered, as well as a nice found blog review of Find and Run Robot:
6. 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..
7. 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..
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 two 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. Announce Your Software or ServiceAlthough I don't often highlight it in the newsletter, we do have a section of the DC forum where we are happy to have shareware authors post about their latest creations. While we are always concerned about spam on the forum -- unlike many sites we welcome the participation of shareware authors on our forum, as long as they clearly identify themselves and their relation to the commercial software they are discussing. This section let's them openly tell us about their stuff and get some feedback.
11. Developer's CornerIf you're not a programmer, don't let the title of this section scare you off - there is definitely something of interest for everyone 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.
12. NANY 2011Don't be shy about helping us kick off the NANY (New Apps for the New Year) process early. If you're a coder, start thinking about some new program you can get working on. Or, stop by and look for ideas and collaborators and helpers. If you're not a coder, why not volunteer to help out in other ways, or try to reach out to other coders you know on other sites and see if you can't work together to come up with a great idea for a NANY application.
