Super-sized Newsletter for Sep 18, 2016 - Codename: Catching Up with Cody

[mouser]

Super-sized Newsletter for September 18, 2016

"Codename: Catching Up with Cody"

1. Newsletter Editorial

Greetings!  It's been just over a year since the last DonationCoder newsletter -- way way too long (if you check in the user-to-user section below you'll read about one of the reasons why).  As usual, you'll find below a selection of some of the top recent threads from our discussion forum, along with a sprinkling of news about the website.  You'll also see a very belated section devoted to last year's NANY (New Apps for the New Year) 2016 event, and since this newsletter was so long in coming, you'll also see an item about the upcoming 2017 NANY event.  I promise the next newsletter will not be so long in coming.


2. NANY (New Apps for the New Year) Event Roundup

For the last 10 years on the DonationCoder.com site we run a friendly event called "NANY" (New Apps for the New Year), where invite forum visitors to release a new free program on the first of the new year, to celebrate the new year.  We typically get a variety of entries -- some are genuinely useful tools designed to be shared widely, and some are programming exercises for new users.

• Roundup of all NANY 2016 entries
• Read about the Upcoming NANY 2017

3. Skwire Empire Software Updates and New Releases

DC member skwire is one of the more prolific coders of utilities on our site -- he roams the coding snack request section and pounces like a jaguar when he finds something that catches his eye. He's released a ton of updates to his software since the last newsletter, including some updates and a few brand new releases:

• Anuran v1.1.2
• Frameless v1.1.8
• Media Player Hotkeys (MPH) v1.1.3
• PDFInfoGUI v1.1.0
• SFV Ninja v1.3.5
• SigcheckGUI v1.1.2
• sPlaylistMaker v1.1.0
• Squeaky Mouse v1.0.3
• sTray v1.0.0
• sWeather v1.6.8

4. Mouser's Software Updates and Discussions

I've uploaded some updates to many of my large applications since the last newsletter. As always, you can find the list of what's new both in the online help pages (linked from each program homepage) or in the forum thread about the application (also linked from each program homepage).

• Screenshot Captor #1 at TechRadar's Article on Best Screen Capture Software 2016
• Launchbar Commander v.147
• Clipboard Help+Spell v2.34
• Screenshot Captor v4.16
• Minicap v1.36
• Find and Run Robot 2.226.1
• MultiPhotoQuotes v2.06
• Popup Wisdom v1.09
• URL Snooper v2.39
• Reviving Roku Radio Snooper
• NANY 2017 Pledge: Android Score/Event Counter/Tracker

5. User-to-User: Your Input Requested

We love nothing more than having interesting discussions on our forum -- and we love when new people participate in the discussions. In each newsletter we try to highlight a few topics that we think might interest casual readers and that are good candidates for making your first post.

• NANY 2017 ideas thread
• Goodbye to my father
• Better battery life out of a laptop?
• Japanese character readers - please tell me what my sake mug set says!
• Anybody on DC own an RV/Campervan, or completed a conversion?
• Best portable device to read pdf and research web?
• In-Car Emergency Kit - Your Recommendations?
• What other forums do you participate in?
• Share your academic research thread.
• Mail Art anyone?
• Trying to remember quote about design and beauty
• Any photoshoppers feel like trying to hauntify a house photo

6. DC Member Projects

We love to keep up with projects that our members are working on, and hearing what our forum members think of software they use. If you're working on something interesting -- let us know!

• T-clock reviews
• Cubiq - Beta Testers Wanted
• Collection of (9) Freewares by Ego.Bizzin
• [Linux] Monster Hunter Armour Creator / Searcher
• Diskovery
• FARRCloneWithDatestamp -- FARR helper tool to make datestamped copy of a file
• FARRCloseSelProc -- FARR helper tool closes process matching selected filename
• NANY 2017: [Pre-Release] - DonationCoder Quick Links (Beta) - ANDROID
• blogcpp: Static blogging in C++17
• PixivUtilAssit - For the Pixiv Obsessed
• Open-sourcing fSekrit
• BingThing 1.6.1.0 guilty pleasure

7. Coding Snacks

One of the more popular sections on our forum is the Coding Snacks section.  There, people can posts requests for small utilities that are needed.  Coders who find an idea they like write the utility and post it as freeware for all.

• Skrommel reviews at ILoveFreeSoftware.com
• Everything Efu Explorer -- helper tool to browse folders in .efu files
• 30SecondSilencer - add silence every 30 seconds to an mp3 file
• Drag and drop folder icon replacer
• Mouse Squeaker
• Transform list of url links to copies of the actual web pages
• Drop Zone for Web Images
• Batch merge many pdf

8. Mini-reviews by Members

We love to keep up with projects that our members are working on, and hearing what our forum members think of software they use. If you're working on something interesting -- let us know!

• BrowserSelect - mini mini review.
• PIM-related Mini-Reviews ("also-ran").
• Vivaldi: A promising browser

9. Website Discoveries, Debates, Essays, 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..

• JayIsGames.com - longtime favorite casual games review website - calls it quits
• The business of web ads - fraudulent at its core
• Long read: An Interview with Matt Haughey, Founder of MetaFilter
• Blog Essay: Reconsider - Startups Don't Need to Disrupt the Universe
• Confessions of a free-to-play games producer
• The Hostile Email Landscape
• The Walled Garden Closes In
• AVG Antivirus Plans to Collect & Sell Your Personal Data to Advertisers?
• Ghacks looks at software giveaway sites
• ghacks interviews freewaregenius
• Computer blogs that you read?
• Origins of TrueCrypt
• Slysoft shutdown (by government action?)

10. General Software Discussions

Some noteworthy general software discussions on the forum since the last newsletter:

• MakeUseOf recommends 3 price comparison browser extensions
• Nirsoft's Antivirus Hall of Shame
• MakeUseOf: Cleanest & Safest Websites for Free Software
• MakeUseOf: Good Portable Apps
• Calendar that is happy in Windows and on tablet
• svchost /k netsvcs [Problem on Win.7]
• Utility to track boots and uptime.
• OneNote, Evernote, and Tagspaces. Best for multi-platform use?
• Looking for MP3 player with "speed up playback" option
• Comparative review of password managers
• Sync Laptop & Desktop?
• ghacks compares 32-bit and 64-bit browser versions
• Assemble PDF documents

11. Specific Software Discussions

Some noteworthy software discussions on the forum about specific software applications since the last newsletter:

• Long Path Fixer
• HashTab Shell Extension
• TeraCopy 3 updated August 11, 2016
• OpenToonz might interest our graphic artist users
• Picasa to be 'phased out'
• Paint of Persia - Tool for Rotoscoping
• Mozilla Thunderbird Cheatsheet
• Recommendation for extracting video clips: Avidemux
• TeamViewer hacked?
• YNAB moving to a subscription model
• ActivePresenter: most powerful free Screen Recording?
• Run Bash on Ubuntu on Windows
• Affinity (Serif) goes head to head with Photoshop

12. Entertainment, Games, and Humour

Here's a collection of some fun or funny web browsing links posted on the forum recently.

• Wonderful Argument: Jar Jar Binks Was a Brilliant Sith Manipulator
• Samarost 3 - Beautiful charming computer game - is out today
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes!
• A history of World of Warcrafts gold economy
• Hadean Lands Text Adventure Game
• Guide to Living with Introverts
• Attending GenCon (board game convention) Aug 4-7 in Indiana
• A Cabinet of Infocom Curiosities
• Somebody actually made an Ikea furniture building simulator game
• TV recommendation: Born This Way
• Learn to type by playing this beautiful game: Epistory Typing Chronicles
• Help me recall this comedy video series posted on DC many years ago

13. Developer's Corner

This section highlights some discussions that might be relevant for not just coders and developers, but also people interested in entrepreneurial issues.

• Neat little video on how youtube generates video ids and why
• Amazon Lumberyard - free game engine integrated with AWS and Twitch
• Wanted: A Mac user who knows his way around Lazarus to compile something
• HyperDev - A Developer Playground for Building Full-stack Web-apps, Fast!
• The Theory and Practice of Cameras in Side-Scrollers
• Coder Humor: The Edge Case Saloon - a fine establishment
• Article on JS V8 math.random()
• ZTD and transitioning to using GTD
• Heads-up for big changes affecting signed installers
• Articles on the advantages of Subscriptions over Ads
• Fun idea for a coding challenge: Texas Hold'Em Poker Hand Analyzer 
• You can now publish traditional Win32 apps on Windows App Store

14. Hardware and Non-Windows Software

While the lion's share of technical discussions on our forum involve Microsoft Windows software, hardware and linux threads are becoming increasingly common.

• My Dice analyzer machine project
• External 5.25 floppy usb drive or another way?
• Is there a hardware kit to move an armature on a 2d grid?
• Surface Pro 4 (etc); observations from long term use?
• Remix OS for PC Beta Launch
• Dan Gilmor on moving to Linux
• SoftMaker Office 2016 for Linux
• Manjaro and UEFI
• Mechanical Keyboards
• Make a custom 20 key keypad for $10

[mouser]

IMPORTANT:

We no longer automatically put people on our mailing list to be notified about new editions of the newsletter -- so if you're interested in keeping up with DonationCoder news, please sign up at our official mailing list:

• https://www.donation...om/plist?p=subscribe

Needless to say we'll never send you spam or share your email address with anyone else, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

[tomos]

It's always nice the buzz around here after a newsletter has gone out

thanks mouser

[mouser]

Yes it's fun to see a burst of activity on the forum whenever a newsletter comes out 

Is anyone finding that the newsletter is being marked as spam by your email provider?

[Deozaan]

Is anyone finding that the newsletter is being marked as spam by your email provider?

-mouser (September 19, 2016, 07:31 PM)

It wasn't marked as spam for me. I'm using Gmail.

[oblivion]

Yes it's fun to see a burst of activity on the forum whenever a newsletter comes out 

-mouser (September 19, 2016, 07:31 PM)

Is there an emoticon for a guilty look? Ah. Possibly this.

Is anyone finding that the newsletter is being marked as spam by your email provider?

Not here either: neither gmail nor fastmail.

Particularly good newsletter, I should say. Thanks!

[peglegpete]

Is anyone finding that the newsletter is being marked as spam by your email provider?

-mouser (September 19, 2016, 07:31 PM)

It wasn't marked as spam for me. I'm using Gmail.

-Deozaan (September 19, 2016, 10:44 PM)

My copy was marked as spam in GMail.  I only found it while checking the spam folder a few days ago, a month after the date sent out.  FWIW, DC is sent to an old Yahoo email address which I have set up to forward automatically to my newer GMail address.  Maybe this is why my experience is different from Deozaan's.  I had been gradually updating subscriptions to the old Yahoo address across to the new address, somehow I must have overlooked DC in this regard.  Anyway, I will fix this forthwith.

[Curt]

After 9½ YEARS, peglegpete finally decided to make himself known to the forum:

[ Invalid Attachment ]

-peglegpete (October 29, 2016, 04:51 PM)

Belated, but not late, or is it late, but not belated? Hm...:
Welcome to the forum, peglegpete! 

------------
modified:
WHY on earth does it say "invalid attachment"? I don't know what could be wrong.

[peglegpete]

After 9½ YEARS, peglegpete finally decided to make himself known to the forum:

[ Invalid Attachment ]

-peglegpete (October 29, 2016, 04:51 PM)

Belated, but not late, or is it late, but not belated? Hm...:
Welcome to the forum, peglegpete! 

-Curt (October 29, 2016, 05:27 PM)

I am pretty sure that I made a few posts at the time I joined, maybe got lost.  But I admit that it has been a long time between drinks 

[Deozaan]

modified:
WHY on earth does it say "invalid attachment"? I don't know what could be wrong.

-Curt (October 29, 2016, 05:27 PM)

Because the forum can now have attachments from quoted posts and you are trying to display your attachment in a quote, so it is looking in peglegpete's post for an attachment. Just move your image outside of the quote and it will work.

EDIT: The really interesting thing is that peglegpete's quote of your quote of peglegpete's post has the attachment working properly. 

[techidave]

out of idle curiosity Mouser, how long did it take to compile this newsletter?

dave

[mouser]

It takes about 5 months to make a newsletter.

That's 4 months and 29 days of waking up and telling myself today will be the day I do it, and then one day of actually doing it.

The bulk of the work is in opening up every new thread since the last newsletter (which amounts to maybe 80 a month) and making a quick decision about whether it belongs in the newsletter.  So the longer I go between them the more daunting the task.  I've written some scripts to show me the new threads since the last newsletter, but it's still mostly a manual task of cutting and pasting links into the newsletter section where I think it belongs.  And then there is just a lot of little small tasks I need to do to send it to new members and to the mailing lists, update blog, forum settings, etc.

It's not actually a *lot* of work, but it is a bit tiring.

[techidave]

my hat's off to you Mouser for doing the newsletter.  I figured it would take longer than 1 day to make it happen.

is the newsletter actually needed?  I mean is it something people have requested?

just wondering.

dave

[anandcoral]

is the newsletter actually needed?  I mean is it something people have requested?

just wondering.

-techidave (November 02, 2016, 07:46 PM)

Yes. Maybe not for some but yes for me and some.
It is the newsletter which gives me scope to get all the goodies of DC in one place and scope to not check DC everyday lest I miss some gold here 

Case in point https://addons.mozil...irefox/addon/shelve/. I needed something like this for all the urls I have accumulated and was going to develop similar app for NANY 2017, no need now.

Thanks all to Mouser , we are always the beneficiary.

Regards,

Anand

[wraith808]

my hat's off to you Mouser for doing the newsletter.  I figured it would take longer than 1 day to make it happen.

is the newsletter actually needed?  I mean is it something people have requested?

just wondering.

dave

-techidave (November 02, 2016, 07:46 PM)

The traffic to DC (especially on those threads that have been up to the newsletter ignored) increases quite a bit from what I understand- it gives a concise accounting of what has gone on with the website, and gives less frequent visitors impetus to visit.

[Deozaan]

is the newsletter actually needed?

-techidave (November 02, 2016, 07:46 PM)

It's not needed. This is evidenced by the sometimes long gaps of time between the "monthly" newsletters.

But as others have pointed out, the newsletter is very useful to the community here.

[Attronarch]

I like it. It provides good overview, reminds me of some good discussions, and points out if there was an interesting discussion I missed.

And people surely read it, since downloads for my Thunderbird cheasheet skyrocketed after the newsletter was posted.

[tomos]

And people surely read it, since downloads for my Thunderbird cheasheet skyrocketed after the newsletter was posted.

-Attronarch (November 06, 2016, 02:20 AM)

yeah, there's always a surge in posting after a newsletter which is a nice thing