Application Name	Trout
Short Description	Small, simple audio player (Freeware)
Supported OSes	95/98/ME/2k/XP/Vista/7
Web Page	None
Download Link	Installer Zip (portable)

Description
My main audio player for many years has been, and will remain, foobar but there are some times when I just want a simple "load'n'play" type of player.  An application that comes very close is Billy.  It's a FANTASTIC little app that fits in with my preference in software...standard controls, no skins, etc.  However, it only supports MP3, WAV, OGG, & FLAC and it also doesn't display tags.  My audio collection comprises many more formats than that and I tag files religiously.  So, with that in mind, I've always wanted to write my own simple player.  A good friend and I have wrapped the BASS audio engine in AutoHotkey and I've written a player (in AutoHotkey as well) called Trout.

Features

• Supported audio formats (standard): AIFF, AIF, AIFC, MP1, MP2, MP3, OGA, OGG, WAV, MO3, XM, MOD, S3M, IT, MTM.
• Supported audio formats (w/ plugins): FLAC, WMA, WMP, WMV, ASF, MID, MIDI, RMI, KAR, WV, WVC, AAC, MP4, M4A, M4B, M4P, APE, AC3, SPX, TTA, OFR, MPC, ALAC.
• Basic freeDB support for audio CD track titles.
• Support for internet radio streams.
• Supported tag formats:
  ID3v1, ID3v2.2/3/4
  OGG/FLAC Vorbis comments
  WMA
  APE, OFR, MPC, AAC (APE tags)
  MP4/ALAC/AAC (not available under 9x/ME)
• WinampAPI support for external control and display.
• Commandline parameters for external control (/play, /stop, /prev, /next, /mute).
• Extremely customizable hotkey system.
• Basic custom string formatting (see Options screenshot).
• Basic album art support (folder.jpg)
• Horizontal/vertical "minibar" controls (see main screenshot).
• Toaster style popup.
• Play modes (Play file, play list, repeat file, repeat list, random, shuffle).
• Simple tag editing (not available under 9x/ME).
• last.fm support.

Planned Features

• Equalizer.
• Playlist saving in .m3u and .wpl formats.  It currently reads these files just fine.
• Lyrics support.
• Auto updater.
• More...

Screenshots
Main interface and some different looks.  Windows 9x/ME users will have regular slider controls for the seekbar and volume controls.



Minibar controls

Options dialogs


Toaster popup

Another day, another security flaw -- this one affecting Mozilla's Web browser, Firefox. But this one is easy enough for you to fix.

On Thursday, Mozilla revealed a vulnerability in its browser that was discovered by a Firefox user. An ad on an unnamed news site in Russia was able to tap into the vulnerability to upload certain files from a user's computer to a server apparently based in the Ukraine. Exploiting Firefox's PDF Viewer and its use of the widespread JavaScript code, the hack seems to capture only "developer focused" files -- think FTP (file transfer protocol) -- at least in Windows. Your personal files and data aren't caught in the attack, but the hack is still alarming.

Source: http://www.cnet.com/...ecurity-flaw-to-fix/

Back in April this year at Microsoft’s annual Build conference, the company revealed that Windows 10 would be able to run Android and iOS apps with a little bit of tweaking. Now that Windows 10 is out, Microsoft is releasing its porting tools to the public and making them open-source for anyone to use and have access to.

Previously codenamed ‘Project IslandWood’, the Windows Bridge for iOS is opening up today with all of the source code freely available on GitHub. The iOS Bridge will let developers bring iOS apps over to both Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 with mobile support heading to us in the future.

Source: http://www.kitguru.n...ndows-porting-tools/
Microsoft's Full Announcement: http://blogs.windows...s-lets-open-this-up/
GitHub: http://www.github.com/Microsoft/WinObjC/

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I also heard about them doing the same for Android > Windows - This should be interesting to follow!!!

We've talked before about the racket with inkjet printer ink -- practically giving away printers and then charging you an arm and a leg for miserly ink cartridges.

A recent article discusses Epson's new plans to offer consumers an alternative -- a more expensive printer built to be refilled with cheap ink.

Epson, the maker of my nightmare printer, has finally put an end to the horror of ink cartridges, at least for people willing to throw cash at the problem up front. The five new EcoTank series printers look like normal models, only they have containers on their sides that hold gobs and gobs of ink. How much? Years’ worth. Enough that your children—or at least mine—could go on a two-hour coloring-page-printing bender and you wouldn’t even notice.

http://www.wsj.com/a...1?mod=trending_now_1

DC member Edvard writes:

I was reading through Mouser's board game mini-review thread, and suddenly I remembered something I had checked out a few years ago, called "piecepack" (lower case intentional).  It's basically a free (public domain) set of counters/chits/cards/ in pdf form you can download, print, and make up your own rules for.  There is a board where you can browse and download different game rules, and there are game design contests where presumably, the cream rises to the top.  Check it out:

http://www.piecepack.org

What is a piecepack?

Flexible. Portable. Affordable. Public domain. The piecepack is a set of boardgame parts that can be used to design and play a wide variety of games. Anyone may design and publish a piecepack rule set. Any manufacturer or individual may produce piecepacks.

Tom Vasel in the video says the piecepack is best for abstract strategy-over-luck games, but because it is simply an open-ended system, you can make up your own story or theme, or simply make up your own pieces using the piecepack system as a base, or use the piecepack bits as an add-on to other games that may need a little "extra".

Mafia 3 has been anounced! Yay!

Here's someone talking about how Mafia2 gets a bad reap and how he hopes they don't listen too hard to the people saying that the new one has to have big changes:

http://www.gamesrada...ts-brilliant-quirks/

This guy nails that game and talks about why Mafia2 was so special.  If you're on the fence I encourage you to read it.  Mafia 2 is one of my favorite games I've played.