azurite: (cat and mouse)
Yes, it's shiny and inexpensive for what it comes with, but why should I buy the MacUpdate Promo bundle? Aside from the fact that, yes, $49.99 is a damn good price for the software included (retail value of $521.71, according to MacUpdate), and there are only four days left to get those apps at that price, why bother when:

(1) I already own Parallels Desktop. There goes a $79.99 part of the overall value.
(2) I already own Circus Ponies' Notebook. There goes another $49.99 (but I only bought it for $29.99, because I'm a student!)
(3) I already own Quicken, which might not be as intuitive as MoneyWell, but it serves the exact same purpose. Minus another $49.99.
(4) "Posterino - Posters, postcards, and more." Hm, these are things that a) I can do in Photoshop; b) I can do in Pages; c) I can do in MS Office. Heck, I can even do this from within iPhoto! WHY would I pay $24.95 for it?
(5) BetterZip - Okay, so StuffIt isn't perfect, nor is the Mac OS X zip utility. But it does the job, and that's all I really need. I don't zip or unzip TOO frequently (maybe a few times a week), so why would I need this? Hmmm.... minus $19.95!
(6) RipIt - hey, wait a minute, what the heck is DVDRemaster Pro for, then? Minus $18.99!
(7)Multiplex. Useless to me. I watch pretty much everything in MPlayer OS X Extended, anyway. (VLC started to suck a while ago and I haven't looked back since.) If it's got some features above and beyond the default OS X DVD Player, point me at 'em! Minus $35.00!

TechTool 5 might be worth it, except I've already got DiskWarrior AND Drive Genius. Let's be honest here, as awesome as TechTool 5 is, what does it do that those two programs and a good piece of freeware, e.g. OnyX, can't? (I'm not being sarcastic here; if there's a wonderful feature of TT5 that I ought to know about, sell me on it!)

NetBarrier X5 I'm seriously considering, if only because I HAVE to have my firewall down in order to connect to a wi-fi network these days. Due to the fact that none of my external hard drives are big enough for an exact clone of my hard drive (or the bulk of the really important data, which is scattered all over the place), I have yet to do a clean install of Mac OS X 10.5.7 yet! It might be nice to have something protecting my Mac from what few things could possibly screw with it.

DVDRemaster Pro 5 - I don't really duplicate video DVDs. Converting them might be useful though, and if it works with non-video DVDs, like Data DVDs, I might consider it....

Paperless - Reminds me of Notebook fused with NeatWorks. This COULD be useful, if I didn't have that sinking sensation that it does something that other apps that I own already do.

Bearing all that in mind and only subtracting those apps that I truly felt would be of NO use to me whatsoever, that brings the total "value" of the apps I'd actually use to $277.85. That's just slightly more than half the total value if ALL the apps were included, and I subtracted the most expensive apps, AND the majority of the apps (seven out of eleven; not including the two "bonus apps" if I were to BUY BUY BUY like, today).

I'd really only do this if I could split the cost with someone who could use the other items, like Parallels, Notebook, and so on. Considering the high-ticket value of those, wouldn't it be more fair to have that person pay $35 and me $15, and we each get huge savings AND just the apps we want? (Are we even allowed to do this? I mean, I'd buy the bundle if I thought the apps would go to good use, but the other Mac at home is a PowerPC and not exactly state-of-the-art, meaning it can't even HANDLE some of these apps!)

Anyone up for it? It's a pretty sweet deal for anyone that wants to: you get 7 apps for WAY cheaper than their market value, and I get 4 apps (plus the bonus ones, if you don't mind) that I could actually use.

Kyappu!

Feb. 26th, 2006 09:49 pm
azurite: (blue flower)
Okay, I know about getting screencaps via PowerDVD for DVDs, using PrntScrn for almost every other program, or Ctrl-I in Windows Media Player 7-10+ where the overlay option is inaccessible. I've also heard of VirtualDubMOD, but I want to save myself the trouble of downloading excess stuff if I can.

I'm watching some beautiful episodes of Star Ocean EX, but they're in MKV (Matroska). Thus, I'm watching them in The Core Media Player rather than Winamp, Windows Media Player, or DivX. But do ANY of those players or any OTHER player have an "auto screencap" option? That is to say, take screencaps every X minutes, or take screencaps every time you press a key, but you don't overwrite each and every cap you take? (Like you would with PrntScrn; all that does is copy the current screen to your clipboard, and let you paste it in an Image Editing program. I want to be able to take multiple caps without pausing each time and having to copy-paste.)

Notes:
- I don't want to get BS Player, since it's essentially adware. Unless someone can give me a clean, ad-free version, I don't want it.
- I'd like to be able to specify the directory that I want my images saved to. Even better would be if I could set a certain prefix/suffix for them, so I always know what format they are, and what name they'll go under.
- Tried to use VirtualDub(Mod), and I got it to open the program, but once I set my preferences, the program crashed. -_-; Maybe I'm doing it wrong?
azurite: (screw it trashcan)
And now for a 2-question meme whose results are amazingly true:
I do know how to LJ-CUT, I do, I do! )

I finally managed to clean some junk off the computer; I need to somehow scan my Waseda application to be able to type in it, but short of scanning it to Adobe Acrobat, I don't know what to do. What about Word? I could do it in Photoshop too, but I'd rather not, because it'd take up so much space. Does anyone else have any ideas on what to do when you have a paper copy of something that needs to be typewritten? I can't get a digital copy (as far as I know)...

I tried to scan it before, but I think my Scanner software is being all stupid on me, so I might need to uninstall and reinstall it, along with a security update. But to do that, I had to delete some things-- I think Meteor Garden episode 3 was part of that. So I burned Episodes 1 & 2, but 3's missing, and I have 4-27 now. I also have to burn the HYD J-drama, some leftover Red vs. Blue episodes, Yu-Gi-Oh! (though I might keep Capsule Monsters eps 3 & 4 on my HD so I can upload them to seventh-star.net for anyone that wants them), and... blah, other stuff. I burned some good AMVs-- "The Light You Bring" (Eizou, to the song by Fuel) for Yu-Gi-Oh, "Listen to your Heart" (unknown creator, to the song by DHT) for FFX-2, and Studebunker Studio's "1985" (to the fabulous song by I-can't-remember-who) to Azumanga Daioh. There's a bunch of others. Me loves AMVs. :)

It seems I can't get anything done unless these other things get done first. I have to get Meteor Garden 3 again... though finding the torrent (as I usually don't save them) will be a pain in the neck. ;_; Anyone that has that one episode subbed, I would be much obliged. Then I can download the scant few episodes of Star Ocean EX that I'm missing, because the DVD package is incomplete and ridiculously overpriced, and Soldats did a better job anyway...

I've got so many damn ideas for [livejournal.com profile] 30kisses that I started to post one, trashed it (sort of), and saved it as a Private entry so I can edit it later on without ya'll seeing it in its horrific-ness. But on the bright side, if I don't make these all horrendously long, I should actually be able to get most of them done... soonish? I still have to worry about all these scholarships and applications, plus letters of recommendation, work, school work (including getting interviews done for my first news-feature in a week), and everything else.

Just when I thought the stress was over...! This is what I get for having a relaxing weekend. Damn it, I hope I sleep well tonight.

Snap!

Feb. 2nd, 2006 11:54 pm
azurite: (the potternator)
According to [livejournal.com profile] jacksonslam I have made my first (special) guest appearance in the Daily Sundial here at school. They took some pictures of me working at the "Peacock Room" of the bookstore a while back, but I didn't think they'd use them. I checked the website, but I guess the way they've got it streamlined now, they don't have all the articles, just a few of the headlines and some of their photo essays. But how do I get my hands on yesterday's paper? Easy... I hope-- I ask! :P

Also, to anyone that may be able to answer this question, but especially to [livejournal.com profile] cutieme4u -- how would we find out the dates that we attended all our schools? I don't mean estimates-- I know I attended Lafayette from September of 1990 to June of 1996, Presidio from August or September 1996 to June 1999, and Wash House from August 1999 to June 2003. But I need more exact dates, and I wouldn't even know where to start looking. Any ideas? (Oh, and I need quick results-- this is for the Tokiwa application, which is due by Feb. 24!)

Due soon:
* 2 References for NSEP application (worth $20,000!)
* Tokiwa application, with 3cmx4cm photo and lengthened essay
* CCSF Transcript (already sent Rush request; hopefully it'll get here before the 8th)

IMPORTANT! You know, there are a lot of people on here that I consider my friends. I know and I trust you guys. You know me pretty well, and I hope you trust me to some extent as well. Considering I'm in a bit of a bind here, I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in writing a short (2-3 paragraphs) letter of reference for me for this scholarship. If the references are good and I get the scholarship, my trip to Japan would be practically PAID for. I would adore you for life, too, and if you ever needed a good connection in Japan or in the journalism business, I'm all yours.

So please, please, please... consider it. Tell me if you'd like to, and I'll send you the PDF. All you have to do is print it out, write the reference, and mail it (RUSH) by 2/8 to my professor (Aki Hirota) at CSUN OR you can type it up as a word document (or something) with the appropriate information and margins in the PDF file, and then email it to her. All the info can be obtained from me... so let me know if you're willing to help me out. And I do mean HELP me out-- it is SOOOOO super-necessary that I do this. I'm not asking my friends here as a last resort; I'm asking because you guys know me SO well, have known me for SO long, and know DAMN WELL how much I want this.

Comment if you can lend a hand. Thanks. :)

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