Just another IT quote that came to me...

"Upgrades - the solution to, AND cause of, all IT people's problems"

ClickClickRevolution update (v1.9.2 "Touch")

ClickClickRevolution v1.9.2 is now available for download.

New in this version:
CCR is now touchscreen-enabled - which means if your mobile device has a touchscreen, you can play CCR with your stylus or fingers.

(Note, if you currently have v1.9.1 installed and your mobile device does not have a touchscreen, there is no need to download this upgrade.)

Visit the website at
http://ClickClickRevolution.com/ (will be taken down in July 2018)

or download the game directly onto your mobile here.

Digg it!

In case you wonder, CCR "touch" has nothing to do with iphone or ipod touch, which sadly are still not Java-enabled.

the dark side

Your budget laptop

Doing a little survey. What essential hardware requirements would you have for your ideal laptop***, and how much would you pay for it?

Here's the template (all meant to be built-in components):

System
CPU/Speed (make/model/GHz):
RAM (GB/speed):
Harddisk (GB/speed):
Battery life (Hrs under normal use):
Weight:
Speakers (if other than typical built-in speakers):

Video
Screen (inch/resolution):
Video card (type/RAM):
TV out:
VGA out:
DVI out:
Screen surface (matt, reflective, privacy):

Input devices
Built-in keyboard (enter must-have direct keys):
Built-in pointing device (touchpad, clitoris, trackball, etc):
Built-in mouse wheel:
Built-in third mouse button:
Built-in fingerprint scanner:
Built-in tablet:
Touchscreen:

Network
Wireless LAN:
Ethernet LAN:
IEEE 1394 LAN:
Modem:
Wireless carrier support (Bands/HSCSD, EGDE, 3G, etc):

Connectivity
USB (version/#ports):
IEEE 1394/Firewire/i.LINK:
Infrared:
Bluetooth:
Expansion slot (pcmcia, expresscard, etc):

Media support
Disc reader (DVD, CD, Blueray, etc):
Disc burner (DVD, CD, Blueray, etc):
Built-in media card reader (types):
Built-in webcam:
Built-in microphone:
Boot-free media player:
Boot-free document viewer:
Mic out:
Headphone out (#ports):
Line out:

Other features (colour faceplates, remote control, anti-shock, etc)

Usage
Where (%@home %@work %on-the-road):
What (%music/video %browsing %wordprocessing %developing):

Price:

*** bear in mind this is a laptop that you want but you're buying on a budget, so include only what you need and the price you are willing to pay for it.

Batch MP4 encoder for your mobile device

For many like myself, VLC is the most loved free video player / encoder as it supports a wide spectrum of formats and provides a very comprehensive list of playback options to accomodate even the weirdest, funkiest and kinkiest of video playback requirements.

However, its user interface leaves many of its loyal fans desiring some automation for encoding or transcoding multiple video files. Especially when you have a library of TV shows and movies that you want to shrink and put on your mobile device(cell phone, ipod, PDA, etc). You may try VEMoDe (an excellent tool for the job, but my phone has trouble playing its files and naming the output files is a pain). Luckily, VLC is fully configurable from the command line, which is good news for those, ie me, who won't spring for a commerical batch encoder or a so-called free one that's infested with adware/spyware and other digital disease like a cheap 5-dollar dildo in a used sex toy store. A couple hours of quick and dirty coding et voila!

CellEncode - VLC frontend for batch MP4 encoding
[2-part download: CellEncode + VLC]

Features highlight:
- MP4 encoding (requires installation of VLC for Windows)***
- configurable: scale(or size), video rate, audio rate, frame rate
- smart numbering (extraction of numbers from original filename)
- file number formating and incrementation (ex: 001->002->...)
- zero product warranty
(***VLC may not be capable of transcoding all files it can play)

.enjoy

A simple web tester (SimpleWebTest v0.0.0.1)

SimpleWebTest (SWT) provides an quick and easy way to build test scripts for verifying multiple pages in a web application or site. The design aims to reduce typing to a mininum (in many cases, the only thing you need to type is the filename in which to save the test script). For many simple web apps or sites, the test script building process should only take 5 to 10 minutes.

The need for my writing such application arised when my web space was wiped clean during an upgrade a week ago (and maybe during my 7-year career writing web applications [grin]). After uploading all my web apps from backups, I was required to perform testing on every single app/page/feature by hand to ensure everything functions correctly. Had I SWT I would only have needed to open a test script and press F5. (:

Watch a demo of test script authoring and execution here [24MB].
Watch a demo of how SWT handles POSTDATA and logins here [9MB].

Digg it!

Download the executable here [97kB] (.NET framework required).

PS: can someone explain to me why the download page looks perfect on first try in IE but looks like utter crap in FireFox?

New features in AttoPlay 0.0.39

- individual volume compensation
- song score (rating)
- filter by score
- shortcut keys for skip forward/backward


Download it here
Digg it!

AttoPlay - update 0.0.33

New features:
- persistent string search filter
- new mood configurator and selector
- self-retracting visible play buttons
- extended playlist and UI options

Download here

(know what? ...nevermind)

Buying vs Renting

I am going to answer this question once and for all:

Buying vs Renting, which costs less?

I've written an excel worksheet to solve the question above. What I found is that the answer is different for every case depending on:

• the size of down payment
• the length of amortization
• the interest rate, inflation rate and rate of return

The way to go about it is to find the house/condo that you want to buy, then find a rental property of equal quality. After gathering all the information on mortgage and rent, enter them in the worksheet; and you'll know which method will work out better for you scenario.

Give it a try!

AttoPlay - update v0.0.15

- more intuitive mouse behaviour
- clicking away from application closes playlist
- clicking on a song in playlist selects or plays it
- I think I finally got the lose focus bug fixed... I think
- playlist is now a toggle button
- mouse wheel changes play position when playlist is off
- mouse wheel browses songs in playlist when it's on

AttoPlay - update v0.0.14

New features:
- shortcut keys: z, x, c, v, b, p, j, q
- up / down keys in playlist
- random play, repeat

Bug fixes:
- weird mouse behaviours
- focus change when Outlook is in focus
- "jump to" search backspace behaviour

AttoPlay - a big tiny mp3 player

Just trying out a new way to do UI. It's heavily mouse-dependent, but uses both mouse and keyboard to minimize the number of clicks required to perform actions and to minimize desktop usage (occupied less than 3 pixels vertically).

Download the very beta version of AttoPlay here (for windows)



Features:
- play, forward, rewind, skip, stop, pause, resume
- randomize playlist
- sort playlist by name/folder/display name/album/genre/year
- supports album arts thumbnail (if available)
- jump to / filter playlist

Instructions:
- follow the white arrow
- drag and drop mp3 files anywhere on the application
- mouse over, mouse click, wheel rotation: every action has a different effect
- use the keyboard to type in the name of the mp3 to jump to
- playlist also supports: ESC, Page Up, Page Down, Enter

Yet to come:
- saving to different playlists
- unicode filenames
- playlist management
- id3 editing
- persistent volume and playlist index
- genre in text instead of numbers (you'll see)
- other boring time-consuming features...

mp3s shown in screenshots courtesy of roy, thanx!

.enjoy