Newsletter for December 8th, 2006 - Codename Freezing Feathers

[mouser]

Newsletter for December 8th, 2006

"Freezing Feathers"

"If you read nothing else on our site, read our BLOG"

1. Massive Prizes Announced for the Accessibility Game Programming Contest - Deadline Dec 22nd to Dec 31st
Do you fancy yourself a game programmer, or have you been looking for an excuse to give it a try?  We've just announced the prizes for the contest and they are outstanding.  To be eligible you must submit your game by December 22nd (you'll then have until Dec 31st to improve it and resubmit).  We will choose two top winners, one for each category (Audio-only or Switch game), and also provide some runner up prizes.  We're giving out over $15,000 worth of prizes including some deluxe passes and proceedings for the 2007 Game Development Conference:

• See the giant prize list and read more on the DonationCoder.com Accessibility Game Programming Contest Webpage.

2. December  Discounts and Giveaways
December's Special Discounts and Giveaways:

• Tidy Start Menu (50% discount)
• Vista Start Menu (50% discount)
• My Life Organized (50% discount)
• Surfulater (35% discount)
• Direct Access (30% discount)
• Plus a chance to win software from our Icon Tool Shootout Review, including Axialis Icon Workshop, Real World Icon Editor, and Microangelo Toolset.

IMPORTANT: The software giveaway this month will end on December 14th, so make sure you submit your entry to win before then.  The discounts run throughout all of December!


3. Software Updates and Releases
This month we only had one major program update, but a TON of coding snack software releases by coders on the forum

• Screenshot Captor Alpha 2.28.05 - now with email sending ability and more
• SPinZip - Compress files into multiple .zip archives with each .zip being independent.
• GoneIn60s - recover closed applications for 60s after you click close, in case you change your mind or make a mistake.
• MoveOut - Make rules to move files automatically, like Desktop Teleporter below.
• Desktop Teleporter - automatically process any files placed on the desktop and do special things with them, just as move them, log them, let you add comments, etc.
  

4. The N.A.N.Y. Programming Challenge
N.A.N.Y. stands for "New Apps for the New Year", and it's our challenge to all coders who visit our site to release a brand new app (even if it's just a small beta tool), on Jan 1st 2007.  You don't need to host the program with us if you don't want, just put it on your web page and send us an announcement.  But you need to sign up a pledge to participate now!

• Read details about the N.A.N.Y. challenge, and pledge to participate

5. Software Discussion
What's new in the world of software? Are you good at finding new software discoveries? Stop by the forum and help us find stuff!  And don't miss our Found Deals and Discounts section where people post great software discounts they find on the web.

• Firefox Extensions of the Day: Link Alert and TargetAlert
• BuildIT - A tool for automating repetitive activities
• WinCalendarTime - windows clock enhancer
• MX Skype Recorder
• Firefox form filler vulnerability - definitely watch out for this one
• Microsoft Issues Word Zero-Day Attack Alert
• Ed Bott's Microsoft Report - Great Site for Windows Vista Info
• Bear Bottoms Freeware: A very nice high-quality software site
• Agored.com — Bilingual OpenOffice!
• FUD Forum (forum software)
• Kalendra: Organizing The Dreams, Events, & Memories Of Your Life
• TOP 11 Tools for Sending BIG Files
• musikCube 1.0 Final Released
• KnowledgebasePublisher v2.0 - Nice CMS Software for Hierarchical Articles
• 2006 Great Software List Awards
• eXpress FreshFiles Finder
• Free Windows firewalls found better than commercial ones
• ActualDoc recent documents manager
• Anonymous Google searches with G-Zapper
• Best Freeware FTP client?
• ACNP Software: Anti Cut and Past Software

6. Fun Games, Gadgets, and Diversions
Everyone needs a break from work every now and then..

• 12th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition Results
• Random Google - Better than StumbleUpon?
• Here's a funny video if you like star trek next generation
• Gold Miner Joe: Flash Game of the Day
• Qwerty Warriors: Flash Game of the Day
• A Picture Is Drawn From A Thousand Words
• The Great MP3 Player Search
• Building a Quiet PC
• Tony vs. Paul - The Coolest Stop Motion Video Ever Made
• Start on your first $1 million at age 16
• Ask A Ninja?
• Winterbells - Orsinal does it again with today's Flash Game of the Day

7. Website Discoveries and Website Discussions
There are always new website services popping up every day, and lots of debate about the future direction of the web.

• Mood Music - Very Cool Site
• ColorBlender: free online tool for color matching and palette design
• Wireless Networking Guide
• Use Gmail to Generate Unlimited E-mail Addresses to identify spam source
• Ask City: "The Online Map With The Best Features Hands Down?"
• Best Blogs of 2006 that You (Maybe) Aren't Reading
• Podiobooks.com - Free (Serialized) Audio Books - Donations Shared with Authors
• Geek 4 Sale: Geek Bloggers and Interns Wanted
• DonorsChoose: Pick a Project You Want to Fund
• Blog Piece: Trend Watch: P2P Traffic Much Bigger Than Web Traffic
• Zamzar - Free online file conversion. (up to 100 MB)
• Online social site social enterprise enquiry. (collaboration and advice needed:)
• Beginner's Guide to Digg
• A like minded micro-donation community omidyar.net
• Corante: Many-2-Many - A Group Weblog on Social Software
• Nine Ways to Combat Spam

8. Site Discussions and Debates
There are always new website services popping up every day, and lots of debate about the future direction of the web.

• Want to be a name-dropping, annoying, self-absorbed, blogger? Scoble Tells How
• Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced
• What changes would you like to see on DonationCoder.com in 2007?
• Another alt.comp.freeware post on donationcoder.com, for your consideration
• Demise of the trackball? What's the alternative?
• Nice New Blog by DC member on "Social Computation and Creativity"
• What present should we get Cody for xmas? Win a Cody Mug!
• Internet Explorer 7 or "Is MS determined to make everyone hate them by 2010?"
• Our own Find+Run Robot Gets Nod for Best Launcher in a new computer magazine article

9. Developer's Corner
The Developer's Corner section of our website isn't just for programmers, it's for people interested in starting their own business, website developers, etc.

• Krugle - a search engine for developers
• Writing Good Software Documentation
• Animation of CSS Evolution Over Time
• Lambda the Ultimate - Programming Language Weblog - Call for Writers
• Cognitive Seduction and the "peekaboo" law - Nice Blog Essay
• New Digg-Like Site For Game Development Stories
• DelphiFeeds.com - Great Delphi/C++Builder Daily Info and Tips Site
• An Entrepreneur's Take on "The Long Tail"
• Turbo Professional products for just $249
• 2 part print interview with Bjarne Stroustrup, Creator of C++, on Programming
• Raymond Chen, Author of The Old New Thing Blog, Releases Book on Windows Coding
• GotApi - THE Reference

10. The Great GOE (Getting Organized Experiment) of 2006 (GTD)
Well it's almost over and we've taken a bit of a breather - but we're not done yet! If you haven't participated yet, it's still not too late!

• Tracks: Doing Things Properly (via David Allen)
• More fasting: No newly installed apps till 2007; limiting internet intake to 1h per day
• Nice New Blog On Self Improvement by Scott H Young

11. Website of the Month
Did you know that DonationCoder.com has a list of all of our past best-of-the-web recommendations and a list of recommended websites arranged by category?

• Our website of the month in December is Gamasutra - a site about professional game development.

[Redhat]

Fantastic as always mouser 

Embarrassingly didn't know about the links page.. I do now 

[Jammo the OrganizedFellow]

shameless post to rack up another post.

<~~~post whore.

J/K:really wanna say THANKS MOUSER

[momonan]

Really refreshing, easy-to-navigate, newsletter again.  Thanks mouser.

Speaking of freezing feathers, if you haven't seen Cody at the keyboard yet, check out the home page.  nudone, you've done it again.  Cody always makes me laugh, but is never ridiculous.   It seems like Cody engages in all activities with as much dignity as possible, while getting a kick out of the pleasure it gives us.

[dpierron]

Thanks Mouser, as always I end up with 30 tabs open in Firefox that I'll need to check later ! This measures the interestingness (english?) of the DonationCoder newsletter !
Keep up !
David.

[thunder7]

ATTENTION:MOUSER
hey I am always reading!.

Do not send me email telling me "this might be my last email."
I read almost everthing within the forum. When I have a chance and when I feel well enough to do so.
I also leave many comment too, when I find need to do so.

[mouser]

thunder i honestly have no idea what you are talking about. 

[vegas]

so, i'm confused - what was this all about?

[mouser]

until thunder7 replies it will remain a mystery..

the nearest i can guess is he might have been confused by the email version of the newsletter which says:

If you do not wish to receive mail from us ever again - just reply and say so, or follow the instructions at the bottom of this email.

is it possible he read that as saying something like "this might be your last email?"