Author Topic: The Gizmo Effect! (Read 24,166 times)

mouser · « **on:** April 12, 2007, 08:02 PM »

You may have heard of the slashdot effect (or the digg effect), where traffic increases dramatically after being mentioned on one of the top sites on the web. Well, DonationCoder has experienced the tsunami of visitors associated with being on the digg homepage, but we've never experienced anything quite like what i will now hereafter call "The Gizmo Effect".

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lanux128 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 13, 2007, 01:55 AM »

yes, agreed.. i find myself quoting snippets from Gizmo's newsletter several times in the past few days.. it's a fantastic opportunity for DC.com that sometimes people do look at the quality of the software instead of judging based on its licensing policy..

Ampa · « **Reply #2 on:** April 13, 2007, 08:38 AM »

That is really good and encouraging news.

Hello to all our new users

I hope you find a home here.

Ampa

Lashiec · « **Reply #3 on:** April 13, 2007, 11:33 AM »

Tech Support Alert is an excellent newsletter. I've been out of touch with it for some months (reading all the email that I receive is sometimes overwhelming), but it always provided something interesting to read. Plus, Gizmo is a nice guy, patient and very helpful. I suppose most of the readers of his newsletter are quite passionate about it, as their frequent contributions appears regularly in the issues, so that would explain this effect. It's nice to see "old" media still have so much life left on it, and that objective people is appreciated by many people, unlike "new" media which is more and more biased every passing day.

Maybe you could say that Tech Support Alert readers and DonationCoder users have a lot in common

cranioscopical · « **Reply #4 on:** April 13, 2007, 01:27 PM »

Congratulations on the influx of new donating members.
It's nice to think that so many more people are going to be pleased and satisfied by what they find here!
Welcome to one and all...you've made a good choice!

Gothi[c] · « **Reply #5 on:** April 13, 2007, 03:21 PM »

My poor little site also suffered the Gizmo effect, this is what it looks like:

cranioscopical · « **Reply #6 on:** April 13, 2007, 06:37 PM »

Quote

My poor little site also suffered the Gizmo effect, this is what it looks like:

Fame!

Curt · « **Reply #7 on:** April 13, 2007, 10:43 PM »

Quote from: mouser on April 12, 2007, 08:02 PM

...
I've talked to gizmo in the past and he happens to be one of those nice, generous, and genuine people on the internet that can sometimes seem increasingly rare)
....

Yes, he is generous: When I wrote this post, Gizmo extended my premium newsletter with another year!

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Quote from: mouser on April 12, 2007, 08:02 PM

ps. do you know of more newsletters for software lovers, please post about them!

Yes, I do: Please allow me to recommend The Office Letter, "Tips, tricks, tools, and techniques for Microsoft Office", to all users of Office 2002, 20003 or 2007. There is both a free and a $ premium weekly version.

The free Standard edition is sent via e-mail in text format weekly. It includes:

time-saving tips and tricks
Office features in depth
update and upgrade notices
impartial product reviews

The current and the latest previous issue are both also available online.

Each week I get the Premium edition, and it has helped me a lot. It contains all the content of the Standard issue, plus these Premium extras:

additional tips and tricks
access to all current and past issues (sample index)
search by keyword or subject
delivered in HTML format
no advertising

A subscription is just $15 per year (50 weekly issues). That's only 30¢ a week.

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The Office Letter recommends some books at Amazon

mouser · « **Reply #8 on:** April 15, 2007, 05:12 AM »

evidence:

lanux128 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 16, 2007, 01:50 AM »

Quote from: mouser on April 15, 2007, 05:12 AM

evidence:

this is fantastic news, generated by good old word-of-mouth publicity..

Curt · « **Reply #10 on:** April 16, 2007, 06:03 AM »

Quote from: Curt on April 13, 2007, 10:43 PM

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Quote

Special Drawing: Office 2007 Professional

On Friday, April 27, 2007, one lucky Office Letter Premium Edition subscriber will win a copy of Office Professional 2007. Office Pro includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook (with Business Contact Manager), Access, Publisher, and Accounting Express. We're giving away a full retail version of the software, not an upgrade -- a $499 value.

Because of distribution limitations, the drawing is open to U.S. subscribers only. Also, unlike previous drawings, you must enter the drawing by sending an e-mail to drawing@officeletter.com and include your:

full name
e-mail address (where we send The Office Letter)
your complete mailing address (where we will send the software if you're the winner)

You must be a current Premium Edition subscriber on 4/27/07 to be eligible, and you are eligible even if you've won a previous Premium Edition drawing.

If it's time to renew your subscription to the Premium Edition, please visit

http://www.officeletter.com/renew.html

Our thanks to Microsoft for their generous donation of this prize.

Full disclosure: The Office Letter receives no compensation for the mention or distribution of this software.

quote: "... the drawing is open to U.S. subscribers only"

... ...

quote: "... be a current Premium Edition subscriber on 4/27/07 to be eligible"

http://www.officeletter.com/sub/subscribe.html

Sooze · « **Reply #11 on:** April 17, 2007, 12:39 AM »

Hi! I am one of Gizmo's "Tech Support" newsletter's biggest fans! I've been a premium subscriber for a few years now and can vouch for the fact that it's money well spent. I've entered the link below to another newsletter I subscribe to that also has a free and premium edition available. It is an excellent and informative newsletter for newbies to Windows and always has interesting and fun information for advanced users. I have a lifetime subscription to this newsletter and highly recommend it to all new computer owners. Check it out - I'll be happy to send them a link to this site so they can see for themselves how neat this is. Wouldn't it be great if they also ran a feature article about DC?

http://thundercloud.net/infoave/
Enjoy!
Sooze

Sarkand · « **Reply #12 on:** April 21, 2007, 10:19 PM »

I'm happy to put in another resounding plug for both Gizmo and Donation Coder. I've been a faithful reader of TSA newsletter for some time, and I can vouch for Ian's reviews and recommendations - he's usually dead on, and it's clear he works very hard to thoroughly evaluate his victims, whether the verdict is yea or nay. I discovered DC (and Process Tamer) independently and will also add my thanks and kudos for a very sweet little app. I tend to 'multitask' to the extent Windows will suffer with its poor balancing skills. I have a lot of apps running simultaneously, and one of the best features of Process Tamer (IMHO) is its ability to bump the priority of the window I happen to be working with at the moment, while it keeps all the boys in the background behaving nicely - and turn on a dime for the next focus of my attention. And prioritize from launch....and on. I come from a mainframe environment, and tend to think of (and use) Process Tamer as a workload balancer. For the same reasons of personal history, I abhor the lack of user control that Windows imposes, and detest its "trust me" approach to task management. Using Process Tamer and Mark Russinovich's Process Explorer, I get to call a few more of the shots in my own machine (imagine that!). I have also fallen on long hard times, and am virtually penniless, living by the loving support of my family. For me, 'free' is not just better, it's mandatory. I've discovered along the way that free software is often superior to vended, since a) it doesn't try to be everything for everyone and b) its underlying ethos is pride, not profit. I have built a relatively safe, clean, robust and useful system on the strength of many of Ian's free recommendations and several timely additions from Donation Coder (and Process Tamer is one of your finest). If I ever have any money again, I will subscribe to both and add generous donations over and above to thank you all for sustaining me through my poverty. I have also passed along to my family (and installed) many of those same recommendations. Keep up the excellent work: "free" is not just for the frugal, it's also for the economically disabled, and a service to humanity. Thank you.

Curt · « **Reply #13 on:** April 21, 2007, 10:37 PM »

Welcome at DC, Sarkand

- and may you prosper!

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If you need free RAM, don't overlook the brand new trimall by f0dder

Quote from: f0dder on April 20, 2007, 01:30 PM

Here you go "trimall.exe" automatically trims all processes, has no GUI or status indication or whatever (thus the small size). It still won't trim system processes, and on a multiuser system it will probably only trim other people's processes if you have an administrative user account.

Direct link: http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2794.0;attach=17116

Grorgy · « **Reply #14 on:** April 22, 2007, 10:15 AM »

Hi all
I'm one of the 'Gizmo effect' newbies to

I find his newsletter informative and useful and i recently subscribed to his premium edotion, after all he was providing me with an invaluable resource to freeware (and in the premium edition some shareware) that really gets the job done and it appears to be free from boosting software for commercial reasons, it just has to work and preferably work well.

And then every so often he gives us a site like this, which while I've only been here 2 or so days now i have found to be helpful, useful and fun, what more can ya ask for

CleverCat · « **Reply #15 on:** April 22, 2007, 01:02 PM »

Quote

and he happens to be one of those nice, generous, and genuine people on the internet that can sometimes seem increasingly rare).

I can attest to that....I had no way of paying for the Premium sub as I don't have a credit card because I am on a Disability Pension, and Debit Cards in South Africa are useless on the net and.....

He kindly gave me a sub.! His letter has been of great value as it points to loads of freebies...

kudos to Gizmo

?

AEngineer · « **Reply #16 on:** April 22, 2007, 04:42 PM »

I've been a supporter of both Gizmo and DC for a while. Both continue the spirit that I remember happily of the original Computer Clubs in which members helped each other, with usually a lead person of both marked technical competence and integrity. My thanks to both of you. It's splendid.

Jim Mitchell

best1syn2oil · « **Reply #17 on:** April 22, 2007, 04:58 PM »

I too have arrived by way of Gizmo's Newsletter! I want to thank Mouser for his work on Process Tamer - it has made a noticeable difference on my antique: HP Pavilion 8756C/512MB SDRAM/XP Home/Creative Dxr3 hardware decoder board with player/Sony DRU-835A DVD burner/Creative DVD-RW burner/D-Link DU 520 USB 2.0 Card.

urlwolf · « **Reply #18 on:** April 23, 2007, 01:48 AM »

Congrats Mouser, and Welcome to all. Sarkand, your post moved me.

lrosebur · « **Reply #19 on:** April 25, 2007, 12:55 AM »

I am a member also for over a year.

Lynn