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Newsletter for November 2nd, 2010 - "MegaLetter"

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mouser:
Newsletter for November 2nd, 2010"MegaLetter"



1. Newsletter Editorial - NANY 2011: The Home Stretch

Despite my intention to get us back onto a schedule of sending out a DC newsletter every two weeks, it's actually been over 6 weeks since the last newsletter.  For that I apologize, and pledge to do better going forward.  Grab yourself a soda and settle in for a super-sized newsletter, it's the biggest newsletter we've had in years.

So, let's talk about the big event taking place on the website: NANY 2011.  For those who aren't acquainted with it yet, NANY is an acronym for "New Apps for the New Year", and it's where we invite every coder who hangs out at the DonationCoder forum to release some brand new freeware/donationware to the public on the first of the year.  It's a non-competitive event, in which coders of all skill levels are invited to submit something, and in which everyone who enters wins a rare and infinitely invaluable DonationCoder coffee mug starring our cute mascot Cody the bird.

In many ways NANY represents the best of DonationCoder -- it brings together professional coders with amateur dabblers and a large community of users filled with encouragement, ideas and feature requests.  And it's just plain fun for everyone.  But as we enter the final two months of the challenge, we need your help!  We don't have an advertising budget and we suck at self-promotion.  So we rely on people like you to help spread the word.  Please tell your friends about the NANY event; if you have a blog or a website, please tell your readers -- especially if any of them might be coders.  Don't just sit there -- the more coders we have participating the better!

Calling All Coders!

If you are a coder, stop being so shy! It doesn't matter if you've never posted on our forum before -- just jump in and introduce yourself -- and if you can't think of an idea to code, ask for suggestions!

NANY 2011 has always been a team effort, but DC member Perry Mowbray has been the driving force behind organizing the participants and keeping everyone on track.  In the coming weeks you'll be hearing a lot more from him on the forum, where you can read his progress reports and check out his cool graphs of project activity.

NANY Updates:

* Perry Mowbray's Official NANY Update Report
* Response to Question: Can shareware be released in the NANY event?
* NANY 2011 TaskDaddy Missing/Future Features Poll
* NANY 2011 Help Request Idea - DcUpdater Tutorial
New NANY Pledges:

* NANY 2011 Pledge: Bard - Organise your audio library
* NANY 2011 Pledge: ProtoCards
* NANY 2011 Pledge: Backup Verification Utility
* NANY 2011 Pledge: Reliable File Watcher Batcher Robot
* NANY 2011 Pledge: Dominion Rules Character Creator
* NANY 2011 Pledge: LogFileParser
* NANY 2011 Teaser: Scion Character Manager - Alpha 1

2. User-to-User: Your Input Requested

We welcome everyone to participate on the forum, regardless of their level of computer knowledge or how long they've been a DC member. If you're still waiting to make your first post, see the links below for some good places to get started.


* Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
* Am I the only one who finds the new Apps-based world boring?
* Anyone have any experiences (good or bad) with Wireless USB?
* How much soda (pop) do you drink?
* App103: I have a very hard announcement to make
* Postcard to our past selves
* Build/upgrade or buy/build a new one?
* I'm thinking about learning how to program
* Help me come up with a Windows XP-->Windows 7 transition strategy.
* Email Security - Common mistakes
* Two broadband connections at the same time?

3. DC Community Mini Reviews

We love it when readers post new mini-reviews.. and are thrilled that quite a few new ones have been posted since the last newsletter:


* LogMeIn Hamachi
* Bvckup (Beta) :: A first look review.
* Wibiya: Website Toolbar Utility (Web Review)
* Quick Comparison of Flickr/ipernity/PicassaWeb
* Backup/Syncing performance -- a few software compared

4. Announce Your Software or Service

Although 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 that they are discussing.

This last month in particular has seen some of the best and most interesting discussion threads with authors about their software:


* Bvckup
* Free Text Filter Software - search and filter text files with ease
* Focuth - time management tool for IT people
* Ripple open decentralized payment system
* I want to recommend you about my new software, it is called LangOver version 5.
* Capture .NET Free v2 10.9.3935
* VueMinder Calendar Pro 75% Discount

5. Coding Snacks, and DC Member Software Threads

One of the best areas of our forum is the Coding Snacks section, where people can request small, free, custom-utilities to be written by volunteer coders.  For this newsletter I've also put the list of dc software updates here, along with a few other related discussion threads.


* Screenshot Captor v2.88.01
* LaunchBar Commander 1.116.01
* InstaPlay - instant sound player
* Quickly autonumber text lists
* Ten Timer - 10 times at once
* BrowsterTraySwitch v2.06.01 beta released (oct 22, 2010)
* Add video panels to MultiPhotoQuotes?
* Move to Parent - quick file mover
* Jiggle Mouse - keep screen from sleeping
* Transpose -  flip character order in editor
* SrtStrip - remove tags from subtitle files

6. Website Discoveries, Debates, and Discussions

What's new in cyberspace? What exciting new sites have been discovered by forum members?  What's the current hot topic and debate? Read on to find out..


* Was Stuxnet Worm Built to Attack Iran's Nuclear Program?
* Random Digilante Interview - Spam Fighter on a Mission
* Why Trying to be Productive is a Huge Waste of Time
* Blekko Search Engine: Adding a Human Touch to Eliminate Spam from Search Results
* New image format for the web
* Desktop Linux: The dream is dead
* Limewire shutdown, permanently
* Diffen.com: Wiki-based Website where you compare things
* Windows Shortcut Key Article
* Software Evolution Storylines
* AllMyApps.com - build silent installers online
* Search for images by sample image, rather than keyword?
* And So The Exodus Begins - 33 Developers Leave OpenOffice

7. Fun, Humour and Amusements on the Web

If you've read the newsletter up to this point, take a break and check out the lighter side of the forum - humour, videos, and games..


* If historical events had Facebook status updates...
* Flowchart for Choosing a Typeface
* Zen Magnets vs Buckyballs Comparison/Voicemail-Reply Video
* Tom Vassel Begins his YouTube Series: Top 100 Board Games of all Time
* Head in the Clouds web comic by DC member -- a new favorite
* OMFG! Beauty of the Web...
* The Internet by 2020?
* Nokia CEO admits that the cell phone industry is a gimmick.
* Awesome photos of 1940s America (in color!)

8. General Software Discussion

Almost half the posts on the DC forum take the form of general software discussions, questions, recommendations, etc. These posts wind up in the General Software Discussion section and make it one of the most active sections of the DC forum. This is 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 split the recent content into two sections in the newsletter - general software and specific software discussions.


* How to make a list of fonts you have
* Software for creating animated/flash graphs
* Software to draw gears
* Software to scan a map and then color it
* Software to create algorithm graphs
* Looking for a calculator that can easily calculate different shaped volumes
* Windows Mobile 7 Review
* How to remove objects from photos
* Prevent my kids from downloading files from the Internet?

9. Specific Software Discussion

Here you'll find some of the standout discussions about specific programs that have been started since the last newsletter.


* jEdit is worth a closer look, too, meanwhile
* Goodbye OpenOffice, Hello LibreOffice
* True Launch Bar v5.0
* Another reason to drop Kaspersky?
* Microsoft finally allows small business use of Security Essentials for free
* MeediOS: A promising HTPC frontend.
* FlatPress blogging platform: flat text file stored, open source, freeware
* EditPad Pro 7-BETA
* Opera to support extensions in V11
* How to uninstall MS Office plugins
* Soluto: Slash your windows boot time
* Crashplan backup software
* Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat)
* ResophNotes programmer needs a bit of help
* ObjectDock 2.0 (Stardock)
* Dutch Type Library OTMaster

10. Discounts and Giveaways

Members of our forum frequently reach out to shareware companies and arrange software discounts and give-aways.  In addition, forum members are always on the lookout for discounts that they find on the web and they love to share with the rest of us.


* Found Deals and Discounts Section
* E2 text editor discount and giveaway for November 2010
* PIM Giveaway - All My Notes Organizer (previous version)

11. Developer's Corner

The title of this section shouldn't scare you off - there is definitely something of interest for everyone here! It's more than just a section for the discussion of software development, it's also where we discuss web design, entrepreneurial ideas, and general productivity issues.  It's great to see that the section has been pretty active recently.


* What path to take for learning Web Development?
* Choosing Free Licenses for Software, Hardware, and Aesthetic works - Flowchart
* Check Gmail using C#
* My experience with developing a freemium browser add-on
* Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years
* Font Survey: 42 of the Best Monospaced Programming Fonts
* Web Debate: Give Us Simplicity So We Can Ignore You
* Programming Ennui, Anyone?
* The Fear of Programming
* Kodingen.com - Free PHP web hosting with your own domain name and much more!
* EtherCodes Collaborative Online Code Editing Pad
* Dot Net complaints
* Open Icon Library
* Please recommend a good "shopping cart" website widget

12. Hardware Hideout

We tend to focus on websites and software on the forum, but that doesn't mean that DC forum members aren't always on the lookout for cool new gadgets and information on maximizing their computer's performance.


* Glowing web review of Logitech G930 wireless headset
* Axsotic 3D Spherical "Mouse" Ball
* Laptop choice: better CPU or more RAM ?
* PDAdb.net's PDA Chooser
* The Monitor is a Limiting Form Factor
* Where have all the trackballs gone!

13. DC Gamer Club

The hardcore gamers hanging out on our forum have been getting more vocal about discovering and discussing new games.  Even for those of us who don't often play computer games, it can be fun to read about them.


* Pixelprospector blog is awesome!
* Ludum Dare - Game Programming Challenges
* JayIsGames.Com Casual Gameplay Design Competition #9 - November deadline
* Game On 2010 - Mozilla's web games contest
* Minecraft - An Incredible Indie Game
* The Ball - Portal-like game with a err.. ball

mouser:
Thanks to Darwin and Perry for helping me prepare this edition of the newsletter, we hope you like it!

lanux128:
fantastic! love the bumper-sized newsletter. :)

nice work, mouser, Darwin and Perry.. :up:

doctorfrog:
Always enjoy your newsletters, mouser! :Thmbsup:

Perry Mowbray:
Thanks to mouser for ALL his hard work (and understanding  :-[)  :Thmbsup:

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