Newsletter for May 24th, 2007 - Codename "Summer is not for Sleeping"

[mouser]

Newsletter for May 24th, 2007

Codename "Summer is not for Sleeping"

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

1. DonationCoder.com Stuff
Do you wake up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat fearing that you missed some important news on our website?  We didn't think so.  But you might still be interested in catching up on some official news from the site.

• Google Translator Boomerang Update
• Irc/Mircryption News: Java CBC encryption now supported
• Forum Random Quotes Generator - salting your forum signature with wits
• Have you joined our IRC text-chat channel yet? Stop by and say hello, any time of the day or night!

2. Your Input Requested!
We want your participation on the DC forum! It's ok if you're normally shy and reserved and scared to post questions and comments -- we give you permission to make an exception for these posts.  Some people think our forum is only for expert power users, but it's really a giant mix of users, and we want you to participate, regardless of your background.  So take a deep breath and jump in!

• POLL: How many students are active here?
• POLL: How old are you?
• POLL: What gender are you?
• Why don't you pay for software?

3. Mini-Reviews by Members
The mini review section is where members on our forum can post short reviews about programs they like.  It's a great way to spread the news about an under-appreciated application, and discover a new program.  We've got some nice new mini-reviews for you this month.  What's that? You want to read more? You can view them all at: http://minireviews.donationcoder.com.

• Mini-Review of Ink$aver (Money$aver)
• PhotoFiltre - excellent raster graphics editing tool
• Mini-Review: ZuluPad / ZuluPad Pro
• SuperBoyAC's latest blog - A Unique Backup Process

4. Discounts for May
Supporting Members, you've only got until May 31st to take advantage of this month's discounts (congratulations to everyone who won free copies already!).  Carl Thorpe has volunteered to take over as Discount Coordinator on the site, and will be contacting companies on your behalf to get discounts on your favorite software.  So if you have a program you'd like to see a discount on, stop by and send Carl (cthorpe) a message on the forum -- he'll try his best to make it happen.  This month's discounts:

• ArtRage Pro 2.2 (15% discount)
• ED for Windows (50% discount)
• Super Flexible File Synchronizer (Pro and Std) (30% discount)
• SynchronizeIt and CompareIt (50% discount)
• ZuluPad Pro (33% discount)

5. General Software Discussion
Above all else, discussion on the DonationCoder.com forum focuses around software, old and new, and finding the best tool for the job.  Have a question or want advice on what program to use? Ask it!

• New Trojan to watch out for: Kardphisher
• Alternative CD Burning Tools?
• What's the best Journal (Diary) software?
• Distance Check by Veign
• File Extension Seeker
• Prevx2.0 beta (anti-malware)
• ServicesCtl by OGroeger
• Recovering Cached pages in IE
• mynoteIT: Social note taking website focused on classroom notes
• Ask Leo: How do I fix this high CPU usage svchost virus or whatever it is?
• Free Acronis TrueImage for Seagate/Maxtor HDD owners
• Best PIM's?
• Backup my Dial Up Network Setting (DUN) in WinXP?
• VMWare Workstation 6 released today!!
• Textaizer - free tool to make pictures out of text parts
• Uninstalling Norton products - Norton Removal Tool
• Wood Workshop for Textures
• Symbolic Links in Vista - Like a playlist, but for anything!
• SharedView: Free tool to share your desktop with others for viewing / control
• Swept Away - from Lifehacker.com
• Installing Ubuntu: A step-by-step guide for first timers
• Looking for: ToDo List plus Calendar plus Countdown Timer
• How can I automatically run a command after an application closes?
• Recommend a good benign keylogger
• Converting Spreadsheet to Table in forum
• Autoplay Repair
• DVD playback software
• The Holy Trifecta - Indexing, Backup, Catalog
• Firefox image resizer extension
• Faststone Image Capture now Shareware
• TRUSTED Download Manager discussion
• KatMouse - Mouse Wheel Enhancer software
• 18 Online Tools to Edit, Mix and Enhance your Videos
• EPC Title bar changer
• TweakUAC - a freeware for Vista users
• FTPpie - check space usage on your FTP server
• Vista Problems with StandBy and Sleep Modus
• MusicIP (as a player): wow

6. Fun and Games
Our readers are obsessed with productivity and time management, but even the hardest workers need an occasional quick burst of recreation and diversion.  Nothing too complicated -- just enough to recharge your batteries.

• Comic: The Unfeasible Adventures of Beaver and Steve - The Imaginary Internet
• oFone, Microsoft's answer to the iPhone, definite hit!
• Save Pooky: Flash Game of the Day (for all ages)
• Beautiful Stylish Flash Adventure Game
• A classic GameBoy that runs Windows XP...sort of
• How to Teach Someone to Use Their Computer and Other Cartoons
• UK pc con (sorry, i mean repair) man captured for TV show
• Bowling Evolution

7. Coding Snacks and Software Updates
Do you know about our Coding Snacks section? If you don't then you need to fire your personal assistant.  In the Coding Snacks section of our forum people can post ideas for small utilities that they need, and coders who hang out on our site try to implement them as freeware for everyone to use.  Do you have an idea for a small tool you really wish existed, post it!

• Folder-RSS: Monitor folder changes via rss
• Copy-paste with the right text format
• Toggle Hidden Files and Folders
• PutAside: declutter and cycle through windows
• Setting up secure bookmarks/favorites?
• Tool to fullscreen (not just maximize) any application?
• Switching Windows firewall on/off?
• Alarm When Power Cord Falls Out of Notebook?
• Increasing Notebook PC Volume?

8. The Wonderful World of the Web
Are you suffering from IOS (Internet Overload Syndrome)?  We thought so.  Have you just figured out what web2.0 means? (get ready because web3.0 is coming soon).  To help reduce your overload, here's a list of some of the more interesting website discussions, debates, and discoveries that have come up on the forum over the last month..

• DRAM Buyer's Guide From ExtremeTech
• Money, Not Spare Cycles, Drives Open Source?
• Another Thought Provoking Article On The Microsoft vs Open Source Religious War
• Visual-syntactic text formatting - cool paper about optimally formatting text
• Scratch - A Game Programming Language For Children
• Cool Google trick: search file types
• Dumpr - Automatic Photo Manipulation
• Encyclopedia of Life

9. Developer's Corner
Don't be thrown off by the name of this section on our forum.  It's not just for programmers.  It's also for people interested in starting their own business and website developers, students and entrepreneurs.  Even if you're not sure whether you belong in that category, you might want to peek your head in and see if there's anything interesting out there that might want you to start up a new hobby.

• BackupBuilder: Free backup and restore tool you add to your programs
• 70 Expert Ideas For Better CSS Coding
• Overview — D Programming Language
• Thriving Office: Background Sounds for Small Businesses
• How to bundle a game's source file and its interpreter into a single EXE
• Why Ruby is so great and why I'll pass and wait for the next big thing..
• How to get the perfect (looking) résumé / CV
• Stupid user Tricks

10. Website of the Month
Did you know that DonationCoder.com has a list of all of our past best-of-the-web recommendations?  Our website of the month in May is ghacks.net - a great daily blog for software news and discovery, and PC optimization tips.


Cody's Uncle Says:

"Thank you for your continuing support of our site.  Your donations make everything we do possible!"

[mouser]

Anyone have any requests for how we can make the newsletter better or more interesting?

[justice]

I'd like to see an editorial about donationcoder inside the letter, now it's just links which is great but a paragraph or two about how the last month has been would be ace! Also probably something like an interview with one of the donationcoder people would be great to read. Btw great job as ever on the newsletter it's always an excellent read!

[mouser]

i think it's a good idea to add at least one paragraph of unique editorial about the site which cannot be found elsewhere.

[mouser]

One thing i'm open to is having the newsletter "guest-edited", if any regular dc forum reader wants to give it a try.  A script makes a list of the new posts since the last newsletter, so it's mainly a matter of organizing, pruning out stuff, and writing a little extra...

[insert_nick]

Anyone have any requests for how we can make the newsletter better or more interesting?

-mouser (May 24, 2007, 04:43 PM)

Don't know if this makes sense, judge yourself or correct as necessary:

A section where are summarized (if any) projects (software/services/etc.), commercial or not, which seem to take inspiration from projects or forum posts proposed on donationcoder. Of course, the projects must have a birth date successive to the corresponding entries on donationcoder, and the "inspiration" has not necessary to be declared from the official project owners in order to include it in the summary. The so-called "inspiration" can also be just random, let's say "in the air", so that we can see an idea for some nice project was already there, written in gold characters deep into the donationcoder forums, posted by some user here long before.
Users of donationcoder shall notify these (maybe rare?) events when they occur so that they can be included in the newsletter.
Obviously, every entry in the summary will provide at least two links: one for the "official" project, and one for the corresponding "far-sighted" forum post on donationcoder...

[mahesh2k]

Why Not some Howto tutorials for programming apps that done here say explaination for each line in code like one done at http://kirupa.com this could help others.what you think.

[TucknDar]

Anyone have any requests for how we can make the newsletter better or more interesting?

-mouser (May 24, 2007, 04:43 PM)

Like someone's already posted, an editorial of some sorts would be nice. I have to admit I usually just skim through the newsletter, and see if there's an interesting thread or cool piece of software I've missed from the previous weeks. An editorial or something similar would make sure I'd spend more time reading the newsletter.

[mouser]

Like someone's already posted, an editorial of some sorts would be nice. I have to admit I usually just skim through the newsletter, and see if there's an interesting thread or cool piece of software I've missed from the previous weeks. An editorial or something similar would make sure I'd spend more time reading the newsletter.

ok i think this is a good idea and you guys have convinced me to throw in a short little editorial unique to each newsletter.  it's hard enough putting out the newsletters so don't expect great stuff, but i will try to make sure there is a least a couple of paragraphs of newsletter-only editorial on some dc issue.

feel free to send me ideas for things to editorialize about.  i think it would be nice if we occasionally did a little feature of one of our members (i was thinking nudone the creator of cody our mascot would be a good example).