A friend of mine was looking for something to backup her whole computer, and in my travels I found this little gem. It’s really flexible, easy to use, and it’s free. There’s a pay version that can do more, but just as they intend the free version is plenty for most home users.
So far I have literally no complaints about it. Which, if you’ve ever talked to me, is amazing.
I might suggest you check out Bamboo. It is, as advertised, beautiful, elegant, straightforward invoicing.
Now, I’ve never really dealt with “professional” invoicing systems before, so consider the source, but this really does seem very nice. Because it uses a fairly sane schema, as far as I can tell at first glance anyway, and uses a sane database on the backend, you can extract the data into plenty of other formats if you need to. At a click you can also export to Excel or XML.
In other news, clowns.
Let me count the ways-
You’re comprised of a truly staggering number of batch files and binaries, despite this being 2009.
You use a database that is obscure, and dubious in nature.
Your payment component isn’t just a plugin for the main app, but is rather a completely separate application written in a different API.
That API is .NET.
You are several hundred megs in size, yet present only a couple of picture based buttons and simple editor screens.
You are so screwy there’s a tool installed alongside you that’s whole reason to exist is to clean up the registry after you’ve been uninstalled.
Your error messages don’t seem to help the user, tech support, or the developers.
I mentioned this neat piece of software a short while ago, and have finally had a chance to write a few things in it to check it out.
If you write anything that would benefit from organization and summaries, then you should really check it out.
There’s the Master Catalog, which you can use to create a list of actors, places, things, and a bunch of categories I’m forgetting. Say you have a guy in your story named Ralph. You can add Ralph to the catalog, enter a description, attach related media, and then refer back to that whenever you need to get in touch with Ralph again.
Then you can create multiple files, add your content, and whatnot. It’s all very elegant.
There’s also the option to tie it into their website, which I haven’t actually tried yet.
I might post once more on this after using it even more.
RSSRadio has some issues. That bonging noise you can’t turn off being the foremost. Also, it hasn’t updated in forever, and is pay software. Not a great combo.
Doppler, however, is not terrible so far. I couldn’t get the stable release to install on Vista (yeah, I’m not happy about it either), but the beta installed fine. Sadly, the beta does have some issues. Primarily it tends to take a while to process clicks. Still, so far, so tolerable.
So, yes, a solid rating of tolerable podcast client.
Edit: Thank gHod the author set me straight. I love being wrong when it comes to bad things about software I actually like. So, uh, yeah, sorry Doppler, but I’m going back to the good podcast client. The location of that sound setting is totally bogus though. Seriously, that sound could be used to condition compulsive masturbators to instead stick a fork in their eye over and over.
I think that Corrosion of Conformity is seriously underrated, and I thank this wonderful service for causing me to rediscover them.
Pandora.com there is great. It has issues, like a tendency towards low variety from session to session and getting stuck in a sort of theme mode. Like I added Cyndi Lauper (I’ll stab the first of you to snicker) and it was Madonna and The Bangles for like an hour.
Some of that is probably me doing it wrong, since you can create multiple “stations”, but I was curious, you know? Like the first time you were alone with a wide rubber band and three hours of free time.
Maybe… maybe that one was just me.
I haven’t delved into it really, but what I see here is really cool. If you want to write a script, comic book, blocked out text, or anything similar, you should check it out. Open source, great looking interface, and free. So, you know, check it the hell out.
Finally, something that isn’t painful to use. Very straightforward, so far very nice.
Edit- That alert tone you can’t shut off? Irritating.
Both suck, at least for me.
Juice looks good, seems more or less rational in layout, and gives great control over what you download. On Vista, however, it doesn’t work, and I’m not jumping through hoops for something as simple as grabbing some podcasts.
MediaFly is a travesty. The idea is fine, and the website is marginally functional, though stifled some by having a somewhat incoherent presenation theory. The application, however, sucks donkey cock. Possibly more than one. It gives you no options, little control, and no apparent way to add a non-mediafly feed.
The download and install process are complete fucking ass. Not a great interface either.