I used to be a Java fan until I found Qt. I see no reason for Java except in very narrow cases.

http://dannagle.com/2013/03/qt-java/

I stopped using ad servers, and my ad revenues went up. How did I do this?

I ripped out the Google ads and made myself manual text links to Amazon with my affiliate code.

Here is an example from one of my sites:
http://paydowncalc.com/

Adblock does not block that simple little link. It gets clicked way more often than my normal Google ads ever did. Amazon also pays far better than Google ever paid me.

Also, I have never gotten any complaints about my simple little ad either.

I consider this switch a "win-win".

I used Qt Quick briefly. It seems like you get a lot of deep powerful customization, but that comes at a cost. It eventually pissed me off so I went back to QWidget, and my productivity soared.

I would not have completed my project in a reasonable time using Qt Quick. It is not "quick". Sometimes, you just want to drop tables, check boxes, buttons, etc. on to your main window, tie the click event to a slot, and call it done. You are fine with whatever default styling and rendering that Qt and the OS decide is appropriate for the widget's click/hover/etc event.

It seems with Qt Quick, you have to specify all that nonsense. Plus, the Qt Quick editor tool felt complex and confusing. I avoided it and did everything by hand. Qt Designer for QWidgets is a drag-n-drop breeze. I even got my manager on board after he saw me using it. He is an EE, and he really likes it. He is used to spending $500 on Visual Studio Pro to what Qt Designer does better for free.

Maybe I just needed to study Qt Quick more to get past the learning curve, but I knew how to do it the widget way, and I wanted the project done.

Has anybody had success migrating their project from QWidgets to Qt Quick? Unless I see a strong compelling reason, I am sticking with QWidgets. It works really well for me.

When they do, the add-on should work there too. It covers all the Advance Digital news properties.

My local paper (AL.com) got hit by the same fate as the New Orleans newspaper (NOLA.com): a reduced schedule, and a horrible redesign.

There is now a massive floating banner that covers a full third of my netbook screen. It is intolerable.

Therefore, I wrote Firefox and Chrome add-ons to remove the floating banner. It works on NOLA.com, AL.com, MLive.com, and MassLive.com.

Enjoy:
http://dannagle.com/2012/06/advance-digital-banner-blaster/

Let the professor decide what is and is not appropriate. That's their job. We don't need more blanket rules.

I used to hate writing JavaScript until I found jQuery. What used to take me writing a lengthy mess plus patching it with cross-browser hacks has now become elegant one-liners thanks to the wonderful jQuery libraries. I recommend everybody that writes JavaScript take a look at it.

Well, I'll just add this to my list of why I hate HP...

-300 MB printer drivers
-$30 for a ketchup packet of ink
-hardware\software designed to actually lie about ink levels
-scanner and other bundled software that simply does not work
-software takes over your computer as bad as QuickTime and AOL
-And now, advertisements directly sent to your printer!

At what point do we just start referring to HP as malware vendor?

I think of HP as one of the companies that people go to solve a simple problem, printing, and these people have learned to accept the terrible deal as a necessary evil, because they need to print, and HP = printing. It is like all the poor folks paying for the $100 Adobe Acrobat + 1 GB install process when there are other PDF creation tools that are free and better.

HP is making tons of money off of by being a synonym for printing. Everybody that knows better has already left, and the people still around buying will just accept this new thing, ads on their printer, as just another necessary evil. I think it will hurt them though. Even my less tech-savvy friends are pleased with how their new Brother printer or other brands are treating them. Brands not normally found at Wal-Mart because the all-in-ones cost a more reasonable $150 instead of the ludicrous $40.

I had a very bad experience with AT&T DSL.

They botched the installation and then charged me $100 to come back and fix it. Several weekends ago, when my DSL died for a solid 2 days, I couldn't get a hold of a human because they kept transferring me to offices that were *closed*, which would then just hang up on me forcing me to start the automated system from the beginning.

When I finally did reach a human, they wanted to charge me again to come out and fix it. I cancelled my service the next day. During cancellation, when asked why, I said, "Because Comcast has better customer service." I don't think they understood the severity of that statement. I told them their customer service is so bad, I am switching to *COMCAST*: http://consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america. Comcast, the company that sent me a technician when I asked for cablecards, and I had to install the cablecards myself because the tech didn't know how to do it!

AT&T mistreated me so badly that I am selling my iPhone 3GS just to switch to Verizon Wireless after my contract expires. Apple started me down that path by being annoying with developers started me down that path, but AT&T crossed the line for me.

There is no hope where I live. My choice is AT&T or Comcast. It is truly a desperate situation.

This happened Feb, 2004.

2 months after finishing college and starting a new job in a new area, I woke up one morning with an odd stomach pain. I didn't think anything of it, so I went to work. By lunch time, the pain did not relax at all. It didn't get worse... just a steady piercing pain. I told a co-worker I was taking a half day. By 5pm, I was starting to get really worried because this was not a normal feeling stomach pain, and it was still there.

I went to Google and typed in stomach pain, and that's when I was starting to really get worried. Several websites started directing me to Appendicitis. After reading more, I had all the Appendicitis symptoms except "nauseated". I called a friend, and he said, "Nah, man! It's probably just something you ate! You said you aren't feeling nauseated, right? I'd wait until you were nauseated."

I had crappy insurance. I didn't want to go to the hospital unless I needed to, but since everything I read online was pointing to Appendicitis, I eventually decided that peace of mind was worth an out-of-pocket exam, so I jumped in the car and drove myself to the ER.

I went to the front desk, and he asked, "What do you think is wrong?"
I said, "I think I have Appendicitis."
"All right, fill this out and sit over there."

When I got to finally see a nurse, I said, "I think I have Appendicitis."
"Does this hurt?" "Yes."

When I got to finally a doctor, I said, "I think I have Appendicitis."
"We'll run some tests."

They ran a blood test. Came back positive.
They ran some x-ray type test. Came back positive.

By 10pm, the doctor came and said, "You have Appendicitis." By 5am, they were operating on me.

Try http://www.getpaint.net/ as an alternative to Photoshop.

It is very nice and free (as in beer).

At a place I used to work, one of my coworkers reported a simple potential security problem: the username for the admin account on all our machines is the same as the computer's name. This just eliminates one less thing for a hacker to figure out. He was accused of "snooping", whatever that means, and almost lost his job. The only thing that saved him is a higher-up with a brain.

Whenever I hear a story about a person\firm reporting security risks, I am reminded of the story of my coworker, and I have heard too many similiar stories. It has trained to me keep my mouth shut about these problems.