Multi-monitor setups are fun 😁
Use an old laptop or tablet an additional monitor? Not a problem, and with SpaceDesk you can mix and match iOS, Android, and Windows devices (!).
And best of it all: it is (still) free.
To show what this little tool does I decided to create a little video. Which was a little more complicated than expected, and I got distracted along the way 😁
So I learned OBS (to grab the screen), Magic Window (tracking the mouse pointer in OBS), looked at Stream Decks but opted for Touch Portal, added some features to WallX to simplify the handling and creation of icons, then had to learn how to edit videos in HitFilm Express.
Three 'direct to TV' movies. What can I say... Frank Grillo does his thing, and the monsters are nice. Everything else is meh. Think of it as a B- version of Independence Day, spliced together with a low budget fan-made scifi flick and you know what you're dealing with.
Verdict? Skip it.
I like Touch Portal but found the conversion of .ico to something Touch Portal can understand a pain, so I modified WallX a bit to make the process easier.
Well, nothing's ever completely done but WallX now runs smoothly and hasn't crashed on me yet. I've worked on importing files / exporting graphics, faster response to user action, and added some fail safe handling when writing files. Either Windows or some virus scanner was blocking my write access now and again. Also removed a bunch of smaller and larger bugs.
But... what has that to do with Touch Portal?
OBS is a nice tool, but it's more focused on streamers (seriously? 😁) than other types of users. I like OBS. I use it to record some presentations, make instruction videos with one or more screens, etc.
Combine OBS with a stream deck (an old tablet with Touch Portal will do) and it's gadget nirvana. Unfortunately OBS wasn't designed for non-streamers, and there isn't a way to force a single instance. Time for some tricks...
Of course you can buy a Stream Deck. They're actually quite nice and are great to use. Or you could use some software package and turn your tablet or phone into a stream deck. But what if your desk is already full, or you're out of cash? The Shuttle it is then.
Just like Christopher Nuttall, Bella Forrest is sometimes accused of plagiarism. I think that's not entirely fair, because she wrote some interesting stuff, but it's clear that she's sometimes - strongly - 'inspired'.
Then again, it is impossible to write something entirely original, so let's just shrug.
Another day, another update.
But I think it's a good one... No, a great one 😁
WallX is no longer merely a wallpaper manager, it's now also a mini launcher. Why? Well, 'because'... Seriously though, the new version included a systray icon, and I thought it a handy place to store my own custom shortcuts. Which, actually, works. More information or download it here.
Guild Wars 2 may have better graphics, better monsters, better frenemies, more content, easier skillsets (not sure if that's an improvement, but okay) but Guild Wars 1 had attitude.
If you never played an MMO, then download the (free!) Guild Wars 2, and enjoy!
(Click the image to enlarge.)
Remember both Pacific Rim movies? Well, here's an anime series set in the same universe, which isn't that bad. The animation is okay, the monsters are fine... though not exceptional. The story is okay, mostly.
If there's anything bad about this one, it's the ease with which the main characters accept they are responsible for murdering a village full of friends and family, that just doesn't sit well with me. Otherwise, it's fine...
This isn't entirely confirmed yet... I'm still testing this, but thus far it seems to work.
If you lose your Google Timeline data for no appearent reason, and you have more than one device, then try the following:
This is a little command line tool I wrote to help me check from a batch file for windows which are open or closed. It can also launch other programs if a specific condition is met.
I couldn't find what I needed, and so I wrote it myself... You can download waitwindow.exe and waitfile.exe here.
(Searching for wallpapers may have brought you to this page. If so, try this link for a selection from the wallpapers that I collected.)
Datatalk + Google Docs + Grammarly
I noticed that, sometimes, GoogleDocs suddenly slowed down. It looks like the culprit is Grammarly. The fix is easy, though a little illogical.
Read on if you installed Grammarly...
A little trilogy about a paranormally gifted (created?) telekinetic in a far away future. At roughly 220 pages per book these are not very large, but they are easy and entertaining reads.
Verdict: enjoy 'm!
Another supernatural PI series. How many are there by now? Never enough 😁
Harbinger PI and The Dresden Files have a lot in common though, so much that I sometimes wondered in which universe I was wandering around. Nevertheless, both are quite readable, and original enough to be called original... Euh... Sort of.
I'm trying my utter best to like this movie, but that's because I like Nicolas Cage. In this B - direct for TV - movie he plays an utter lunatic, and that's a role that, frankly, suits him well. Will we ever see him again in a larger, better scripted movie? Perhaps some day...
WallX has seen another update. Changes: some internal fixes for better image series handling, better wallx.lst support, Windows 10 support, better support for weird combinations.
Update: Video introduction and download.
Do you use wallpapers? Then you need this 😏
I've been a big fan of multiple monitor setups, ever since NVidia put two or more video outputs on their cards. In fact, I did have a multi monitor setup before that using two video cards (which wasn't great, to be honest).
This post shows different sizes and combinations, to make it easier to find your path to multi-monitor minerva 😄
There's nothing like a decent bawl, by the un-imitable Meat Loaf.
Perhaps his voice falters in his later works, but man, did Jim Steinman come up with some good songs, and did Meat Loaf pour his heart into them like nobody else could.
But... this is about wallpapers 😁 Now and again I like a shot of 'detective noir' and the cover of one of Meat Loaf's albums fits that mood nicely.
Should I spend even time on describing this? I actually like the cast, but the aliens are plastic / rubber-suits, and the movie brings absolutely nothing new.
Synopsis: team of four is send into a base where everybody has been blown to dust by an alien weapon (that turns out not to be a weapon). Sigh. Why is anyone spending money on making this, or wasting time watching 'm?
I know he does it for the money, but Bruce, please... You can do better.
So, what do we have here? A simple Scifi / Horror cross-over, heavily inspired by Aliens, with a little infusion of Event Horizon.
I'm not impressed. Go see both Aliens and Event Horizon, that's a way better way to spend your precious time. Note: this movie is also known as Anti-Life.
I love my cheap, macho military / action / adventure SF. And because dumb books are easy to digest whilst doing something else I'm more than happy to look the other way.
But... there are limits. Especially when the same mistakes are made over and over again.
There's a whole subset of romance novels in fantasy settings, which all seem to follow a certain pattern. This is one of those.
Sometimes they stand out (Rachel Aaron's DFZ series, for example) and sometimes they are 'pulpish' (like this one). Great if it's your thing, but Lindsay Buroker can do better, as she proved with her Dark Currents series.
I edited one of the images I found on https://www.collectedcurios.com/ and modified it a bit to make it a better wallpaper. Lunch, anyone?
(Click image to enlarge)
Military SF is a guilty pleasure of mine. Let's read another one...
Today, that's Confrontation by Nathan Hystad. Oh dear... (read on)
Wallpaper.
It's summer, and life and work are changing yet again. The future is... unclear.
It's a good thing I'm not the only one who doesn't know where he'll end up.
The truth is, most of us only discover where we are heading when we arrive...
Writing + Reference
(This is a follow up to Book And Chapter Sizes)
Do you need chapters, and is chapter size related to reading speed? I think it is! Read on...
(For clarification: the WOL tool is NOT running INSIDE VirtualBox.)
Series Review.
Continuum wrapped up. It could have used a few more episodes, but this was all they got.
Column.
One of the more curious side effects of this whole Corona mess is a loss of sense of time. We've been locked in our homes, stuck in an endless rut of repeating events, surrounded by the same four walls. For so long now that we're all losing our sense of time, even without catching actual Covid. Nothing seems to change, except for the weather, so perhaps it's only natural to forget about unimportant things like seasons, appointments, and clocks...
