roncli.com blog

roncli.com blog

The blog of roncli

roncli.com blog

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Ronald M. Clifford

Houston, Texas, United States

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Trax in Space Beta

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Cleaning Up Code

Leaving CTG, Closing OSMusic.Net

Riding the Wave

LibWowHeroes 3.2.2

LibWowArmory 0.2.1 beta

Archives

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Riding the Wave
Posted: 2:42:00 PM 1 comments

Last night I had a surprise waiting for me in my inbox: a Google Wave invitation!

I spent the majority of last night playing in various multiplayer Sudoku waves and checking out many of the other public waves available. The implementation is very nice. I haven't done a whole lot so far, but this post here is my first attempt at using Bloggy, the robot that publishes stuff to your blog. [ed: It failed. Bloggy's not working yet.] There's also Tweety for Twitter, and about half a gazillion more that I haven't even discovered yet.

Having very few contacts makes it difficult for me to do anything productive here, but it's really neat to be able to check out the latest Google technology. And before you ask, all my invitations are spoken for. Sorry!

Labels: Software

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Yahoo! Pipes
Posted: 12:34:00 PM 0 comments

While I was on my honeymoon, I discovered Yahoo! Pipes, which is an interesting feed aggregation service. The nice thing about it is that it has super advanced features that allow you to do things like, well, this.

The premise is simple, just display the last 5 achievements earned by the player in question. But since the data is coming from an XML page, a lot needs to be done to format it into a feed.

The original version of this was found for th EU servers, I just modified it to be compatible with the US servers. But the possibilities appear to be endless. Worth a try if you like tinkering with data.

Labels: Software

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Out With the Old and In With the New
Posted: 11:13:00 PM 0 comments

First of all, my apologies if this post comes across strangely. I've decided to ditch LifeCast since it can no longer connect to Blogger. Instead, I am using something called Pingle. There doesn't appear to be any obvious place to put a title, so I will fix it if it breaks.

this will allow me to also post to Twitter, so I may begin to actually use twitter.com/roncli for micro-blogging. We shall see.

In any case, off for some sleep, there's a long day of Blizzcon ahead of me tomorrow.

Labels: Software

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Google Chrome
Posted: 5:06:00 PM 0 comments

Google has put out a new product called Google Chrome. It is, basically, an IE killer... a next-gen Internet web browser.

Google put a lot of thought into this product, as is evidenced by the elaborate comic strip they put out, describing all the deep, delicious, techie details that only us geeks can understand.

It's quite feature-lacking, however. Google put all their manpower into the V8 engine, the webkit, and the minimalistic design that they've forgotten about simpler things. One person on TiS pointed out that you can't tell Chrome to not remember a password right now. You either remember it forever, or it won't bother you ever again, there's no middle ground. One of the frustrating points for me is the lack of 3rd button scrolling on the mouse. You can't hold down the middle mouse button and scroll the webpage. And the spell checker... did they not think about offering suggestions for misspelled words?

But the speed is phenomenal, you can't deny that. Everything that has run JavaScript has worked with amazing speed and web pages load faster than ever. For that reason I've made it my primary browser for now. Hopefully Google can get their act together and start working on the small details to make a really awesome Internet browsing experience.

Labels: Software

Monday, July 28, 2008

LifeCast
Posted: 1:57:00 PM 0 comments

In checking out the many applications available for the iPhone, I've come across LifeCast, which is compatible with blogger.com. Now I should be able to better aimlessly chatter when I'm at lunch or otherwise out be about.

Anything to get me to post more, right?

Posted with LifeCast

Labels: Software

Thursday, July 26, 2007

winLAME
Posted: 7:16:00 PM 0 comments

Today, I discovered an application by the name of winLAME. It's a free WAV to MP3 converter using the LAME engine, and it's got to be among the best interfaces I've used for creating MP3's. Best part is, they sound great, too. All of my releases from here on out will use this encoder, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others, either. Need an MP3 converter? Check it out.

Labels: Software

Thursday, March 01, 2007

BoincView
Posted: 3:48:00 PM 0 comments

For the past several years, I've been running Berkeley's Seti@Home, a grid computing application that searches for extraterrestrial life. It's out there, just trust me.

Anyway, since being put under the BOINC system, I've managed to compile a list of 41 projects that my computers can crunch numbers with. Naturally, my servers all host a BOINC client service, and I'm particularly controlling over which projects get time. Basically, I set it up so that I'm hitting a particular goal as to how many percent of the users in each project I'm doing better than. That current goal is 80%, although projects like Seti@Home are pushing the mid 90's.

The big problem has been controlling all of these servers, which used to be a pain. Then I found BoincView. I've only been using it for a couple of days, but what it does is it gives me a look at all of the computers that are running BOINC at once. I have the same control I can get with the BOINC Manager application that comes with the client, but since it all operates over the network, that means I can take care of all of the tasks I need to do, such as switching project work requests off and on, from one computer.

It's currently in development, so the project continues to get support and more features as it goes along. And the best part is that it's free software! Not a bad replacement for the BOINC Manager either, but if you have multiple computers you run BOINC on, this tool's invaluable.

Labels: Software

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Another PDF Viewer
Posted: 10:42:00 PM 0 comments

This free PDF viewer is very compact and fluff-free. It's Foxit Reader, a really smooth PDF viewer that is a bit better than the previous one I mentioned. Give it a whirl.

Labels: Software

Overcomplication
Posted: 10:31:00 PM 0 comments

I finally uninstalled Adobe Acrobat Reader today after struggling with its absolutely terrible updater. Not only does it make you reboot your machine two to three times in order to update, I have never gotten its updater to work correctly since going to 7.0.

I'm trying a few free utilities, one being the CAD-KAS PDF Reader 2.4, a free PDF viewer that can also edit the files if needed. I'm definitely not going back to Adobe until they do somerhing about their faulty updater.

Labels: Software

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

CDBurnerXP Pro
Posted: 9:35:00 PM 0 comments

More good software, CDBurnerXP Pro sounds like an expensive, state of the art CD Burner. Well, knock out the word "expensive" and you've got it right. I downloaded the approximately 11 MB program, installed it in seconds, and had a CD burnt within 10 minutes after installing. No confusing wizard interface, just a very solid CD burning application that's free. Check it out.

Labels: Software

Microsoft's Latest Resource Hog
Posted: 1:02:00 AM 0 comments

I haven't talked about bad software in a while, either. At all costs, avoid Microsoft's IE 7 beta.

It's not that it's a bad browser. They have tabbed browsing, now, so it's not all that bad. Popup blockers, phishing filters, all sorts of neat little bells and whistles have been added. However, all of this comes at a cost.

IE 7 has destroyed my computer's performance. I have web browsers open all the time as part of what I do, and whenever I do, my CPU is instantly a constant 25 to 50 percent. Not all of it is IE 7, either, csrss.exe joins in, running 10-20%, even after reinstalling the one hot fix Microsoft updated late last month.

The last thing I want is a computer that's annoyingly slow, and IE 7 has done it. I can't wait to get a chance to sit down and uninstall this stupid browser. Maybe I'll just take all of Windows with it, that can't be bad.

Labels: Software

Google Calendar
Posted: 12:58:00 AM 0 comments

I haven't talked about good software in a while, so let me introduce you to Google Calendar.

When you first look at your calendar, you see nothing but... well... a calendar. I never was big on using a calendar before, and I really had nothing to put in there. So I started by creating a schedule for the Houston Aeros 2005-2006 season. It actually went fairly well, I could put in the name of the arena they were playing in along with the city and state (or providence, they played a few games in Canada), and it would come up in Google maps. Neat!

Next, I put in my vacation, flights included. It's a bit lacking in time-zone specific information, but I was willing to overlook that for getting 3 hours advance notice of a flight.

Finally, I started throwing my blocks for working on projects in there, and that has really gotten me fully into using Google Calendar. I'm fairly amazed at how simple the interface is to use, yet has many features that make using it worth it. Check it out, even if you don't use calendars much. You may be surprised at what it has to offer.

Labels: Software

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

First look at Google Pages
Posted: 2:03:00 AM 0 comments

I got my first look at the latest in free Google stuff, Google Page Creator. It's pretty simple, you use a web-based WYSIWYG editor to create your web pages. There's not a whole lot of flexibility, but I'll give Google this: they did a good job with what's there so far.

I put something up. It's not much, but gives you the idea the type of stuff you can do with it.

Labels: Software

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Windows Defender is Terrible
Posted: 4:26:00 PM 0 comments

I was using Microsoft Anti-Spyware at work, and it was a great program. It caught stuff that didn't need to be on my computer, and for the most part worked quietly in the corner minding its own business.

So I decided to upgrade to Windows Defender, the next in line. What a mistake! All day at work I was having message after message after message asking me to check Windows Defender to see what was wrong when there was nothing wrong. It also said I had two VNC versions installed on my computer, except when I had the program remove one version it killed the second version. Then, after I completely uninstalled and reinstalled it, it still saw two versions.

I finally gave up and uninstalled the program. Spyware just doesn't concern me enough to keep a program that won't leave me alone for no reason, even when I turn it off. AdAware SE remains the best thing out there.

Leave it to Microsoft to screw it up.

Labels: Software

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Warning: Winamp 5.2
Posted: 12:30:00 AM 0 comments

Just a warning to those who like to play MP3 and other files in Winamp: Don't upgrade to 5.2.

Apparently there's a lot - and I mean a lot - of problems with it. I installed it and I can't even open it now, I get a fatal exception.

Back to WMP for now... Sigh.

Labels: Software

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Seti@Home Classic is Dead
Posted: 5:43:00 PM 0 comments

Well, Seti@Home finally announced the inevitable: Seti@Home Classic sent out it's final work unit, and is switching solely to BOINC. What sucks is that they aren't allowing Classic users the ability to upload completed work units anymore, so all that queuing done was rendered useless. I've seen the new BOINC version and am not really sure I want to go to it yet. I've done a lot for the Classic version, having run a SetiQueue for over 3 years. It's more a sentimental thing than anything.

Labels: Software

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Google Desktop 2 out of Beta
Posted: 5:21:00 PM 0 comments

Google has come out with the full release version of Google Desktop 2. It has a great desktop search capability which beats the pants off of Windows, but I like it for the sidebar. Email, news, weather, and all sorts of other things at my fingertips.

I've been playing with writing plugins in Visual Basic.Net, and with the help of some great people at Google, I have a version of a sample plugin that is very close to working. In the meantime, they decided to add scripting as another option for making plugins. It's more limited than using COM, but there still are a wide array of possibilities for plugins.

Of course, there are already quite a few sidebar plugins available. Check it out, more great freeware!

Labels: Software

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Google's Boggle
Posted: 12:30:00 AM 0 comments

I'm rather annoyed.

I've been using the latest Google Desktop Search with the sidebar for a while, now. I really like the simplistic interface where I can have quick access to email, news, weather, and of course Google itself. But I don't like the way that Google makes 2 to 3 lines or more for each item. I also can think of little tweaks that I'd want to do to the existing news and web clips (RSS feeds) panels.

I also run Trillian, which has a "sidebar" of it's own that people have written some neat plugins for. The problem is, the interface for Trillian is too flashy. But it does things I like, especially with the RSS feeds plugin I have.

But, even on a 2048 pixel-wide screen, I find myself horizontally challenged, and can't justify giving the space to two sidebars. My solution, therefore, has been to attempt to pick up Google's plugin interface and try to code something in VB.Net. There are no VB.Net examples, but I've had success in the past porting C# to VB.Net. I gave it a try.

I have it mostly working. The COM registers. The panel displays. I can even click on a line item to see its details. The problem? The line item is absolutely blank. The only way I know it is there is if I move my mouse over it to see it highlight.

I tried posting to their developer groups to no avail, it seems the VB.Net code scared everyone away. I've been trying every now and again to get it working, and have learned loads about how Google processes information back and forth. I am going to be able to write some great stuff for this sidebar...

As soon as I can figure out how to get a damn content item to display.

Labels: Software

Monday, October 10, 2005

Migration to GMail
Posted: 12:28:00 PM 0 comments

I finally bit the bullet last night and got my email forwarded from roncli.com to GMail. The ability to be able to send mail through my mail account there sealed the deal. GMail organizes email better than anything I've ever seen, and it's free. I doubt I'll hit the 2.5 GB barrier anytime soon.

I probably wouldn't have never had used it if my network hadn't had the problems it has had over the past several months. I moved to it to work with Kim on a project, and realized it was so good, I could probably do all my email through it. I guess the phrase "don't knock it till you try it" applies here.

Labels: Software

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Now That I Have Room...
Posted: 9:04:00 PM 0 comments

Now playing: DRAX - Tears of My Heart (1:48)

After transferring my MAME collection to a new external drive, I'm left with 30 GB+ of hard drive space, and as such I've decided to download Google Desktop again. They've since come out with a new version of the software which has another "clutter bar" that docks to the side. My first thought was, "How many stupid applications need a sidebar like this?"

Well, turns out that Google's sidebar is open, meaning you can write plugins for it. So I'm thinking of trying it out for a bit to see if I can get some functional plugins going for it. I use Trillian, and I've got it loaded up with plugins of its own. Trillian's I find are much nicer than Google's. All entries are on one line, and you can mouseover to see what they are. Google uses two, sometimes three lines for some things it really doesn't need to. But the general interface of Google Desktop is a bit better, and I'm sure with a bit of tinkering I could make plugins similar to what they have now that'll look a lot nicer.

Another thing that bothers me about Google Desktop is the lack of ability to skin it, but that's not really so bad. I'm sure they'll add that at some point. Functionality before beauty I always say, and the folks at Google are geniouses when it comes to that.

Labels: Software

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Opera: The Gayest Browser
Posted: 12:19:00 PM 0 comments

Really. Has anyone seen Opera's homepage lately? The image on the front page alone proves what we've all known for years: Opera is the Gayest Browser ever.

Labels: Software

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Google Earth Take 3
Posted: 3:23:00 PM 0 comments

Now playing: Gopher - 3: Meeting - The Gathering of Arms (6:39)

I am enjoying this program far too much.

My latest shot shows an approximation of the view I had from the Williams/TransCo Tower in the Galleria Area today. I was in for an interview with a company, and the office in which the interview was conducted had an amazing view of Houston to the south and west. Of course, I was too nervous to fully appreciate the view (see next post), so I had to come to Google Earth to check it out again.

One of the interesting things about this program, and an indication of how far it still has to go, is the vertical perception of things is different. For instance, you may see the pools in the white complex in the middle of the page.... they were not present from my vantage point, obscured by the two stories of apartments around them. Also, the buildings behind where you see the label "Hidalgo St" are quite tall. But this is still pretty amazing software... Love the waterwall shot in the lower left. And I think what amazes me the most is that they found a time during daylight when the 610 & 59 interchange wasn't a parking lot...

Labels: Software

Thursday, July 14, 2005

More Google Earth
Posted: 9:53:00 PM 0 comments

Now playing: Namco - Sala de Masala 2000 (2:42)

I found a pretty neat Google Earth shot of Mt. St. Helens that I shared with my friend who lives near it... the detail is pretty spectacular. It doesn't have any of the 2004/2005 eruptions in it, but that's not entirely necessary either. Big file... 359KB, over 1000 pixels in both directions. Sorry, I have a big screen!

Labels: Software

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Speaking of Google Earth
Posted: 7:36:00 PM 0 comments

Now playing: roncli, The Nightstalker - Everytime (5:24)

Here is a Google Earth shot of Track 1 from San Francisco Rush 2049. I couldn't highlight the actual track, but I do have the turns marked at least. It's wildly different than the actual game. For instance, Palace Dr. is not a 180 degree turn when it hits Richardson Ave., which eventually turns into Lombard. Unfortunately, the shot of the jump near Lombard Reservoir is awful, as the image has it in the shade. Be warned the shot is upwards of 650 KB.

Labels: Software

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

AM Browser 2.0 released
Posted: 1:48:00 PM 0 comments

Now playing: Antony Raijekov - Mapped (5:39)

I'm a bit late with this, but AM Browser 2.0 has been released. Fixes some bugs, adds some new stuff, and still kicks ass. Check it out.

Labels: Software

Sunday, June 05, 2005

AM Browser
Posted: 6:14:00 AM 0 comments

New name, same great freeware.

Crazy Browser has changed its name to AM Browser. No idea why, I kinda liked the old name and the new name is, well, lame. But it still is excellent software, currently on 2.0 RC2. Highly recommended for those who like IE, but are frustrated with its lack of a good popup blocker, or missing tabbed browsing support.

Labels: Software

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Foobar 2000
Posted: 9:23:00 AM 0 comments

Now playing: roncli, The Nightstalker - Everytime (5:24)

Found a nice little utility that's fixed my VBRs so they display the right time and scan correctly in Winamp. It's called Foobar 2000, nice free app with a good design, unlike all those other little MP3 utilities that put flashing graphics in their apps or look like it's their first app made in VB. If you're into MP3 tools, this is a must have.

Labels: Software

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Winamp 5.08
Posted: 4:38:00 PM 0 comments

Now playing: roncli, The Nightstalker - Everytime (Preview) (7:37)

Just installed Winamp 5.08... man has their installer gotten bloated. It makes it seem as though they're getting away from the simplicity that made Winamp so popular and morphing it into... I don't know what. Too many options in the installation for me to consider when all I want is the latest version of the software.

No worries though, I open up Winamp and it looks and works just like it always does. Maybe it's just AOL getting to them.

Labels: Software

VBR & Winamp
Posted: 2:05:00 PM 0 comments

Now playing: roncli, The Nightstalker - Everytime (Preview) (7:41)

Seems Winamp can't get song times straight on VBR encoded songs. The play length of Everytime is 5:23, not the 7:41 it advertises when it's first opened.

Labels: Software

Monday, March 07, 2005

Google Desktop Search
Posted: 1:04:00 PM 0 comments

Now playing: Karmann - Number 27 (5:30)

Google continues to impress me with the quality of the products that they put out. Today I downloaded the Google Desktop Search. Easy install, and great integration with your desktop. Get this, it'll even put search results from your desktop into your google.com search results, all without sending anything to Google. It's absolutely brilliant, and makes all my other file finding utilities I've downloaded over the years irrelevant.

Google rocks.

Labels: Software

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Pushing the Limits
Posted: 6:48:00 AM 0 comments

Now playing: RedHeat Sonic Soundscapes - Outer Circle (Vocal, Dance) (4:50)

A followup on the screen resolution.

I did end up finding a good application called PowerStrip that allows you to totally tweak out your monitor and customize it's resolutions.

Not only can I experience the computing bliss of 2048 by 1536 at a eye-pleasing 64 Hz, I can also play Descent 3 at a screen resolution of 800 by 600 at a mind-blowing 158 Hz! The game is so fluid at that refresh rate, very enjoyable experience.

The only thing that bothers me about my ungodly large resolution is patches of bright white. I've actually tweaked the contrast down about a bit, and may go more should I get bothered by it. But for now, I'm content stretching my monitor's capabilities to the limit!

Labels: Software

Monday, February 28, 2005

Crazy Browser 2.0.0 beta 1
Posted: 9:12:00 AM 0 comments

Now playing: roncli, The Nightstalker - Everytime (Preview) (5:25)

Crazy Browser, my favorite web browser of all time, has released a new beta version featuring an optional MDI interface, even better popup blocking, and a new feature to delete temporary internet files on close. Crazy Browser is basically an extension of Internet Explorer with features that the other browsers have added to try to lure you away from Microsoft's browser. It is very well organized and easy to use, and has features that blow IE away. This is Good Software™. Grab it, you won't be sorry.

Labels: Software