Sweet one-off biographical comic about a 12yr old girl who finds her escape in video games.
It's part of a collection of such comics in an anthology that was successfully kickstarted.

• http://boingboing.ne...night-chainmail.html - the comic
• http://boingboing.ne...l-bikini-comics.html - the anthology collection

This is a nice article about Jason Shiga, who was inspired by the choose-your-own-adventure books, where every page has some choices you can make that instruct you to turn to different pages which alter the storyline. Jason has been stretching the idea to introduce some more complex ways of interacting with comic stories.. One even has a kind of "inventory" system.

Every page is sliced in half, separating the comic into two parts. The top half is where the story unfolds, while the bottom half displays the contents of your suitcase. The two sides are connected by an intricate system of page-turning: When you see a number inside a square, you flip to a page in the top half of the comic, advancing the story; when you see a number inside a circle, you flip to a page on the bottom, adding and removing items from your suitcase.

Very cool stuff -- seems like these comics would make great mind-expanding gifts for young kids.

http://boingboing.ne...on-shiga-comics.html

In march of 2005 -- 10 years ago this month -- I set up the DonationCoder.com website and forum -- without much expectation that it would survive the year.  Mainly I was interested in being able to share the software I had written, and in seeing if anyone would donate to support it.  In the year before I had released a program and asked casually for donations and postcards -- and though the response was minimal -- the pleasure of meeting and having contact with a stranger who enjoyed the software was undeniable.  That was really the simple idea behind this site -- nothing very ambitious, just a way to connect programmer and user.

Fast forward 10 years.. The large numbers of downloads of our software, and the high traffic of our forum mean that our hosting costs are substantial -- currently $367/month just for server costs -- paid for entirely by small, optional donations from regular users like you.

The last time we had a fundraiser was in 3 years ago, in 2011 -- when we raised $14,239 from about 600 individuals.  For our 10th anniversary, I've set the goal at $10,000 -- a fairly modest amount I hope -- enough to pay for the next two and a half years of web hosting.

I set the fundraiser goal to less than what we raised in 2011 in recognition of the changing software landscape.. In the 10 years since we started.  Mobile and web apps are becoming ubiquitous, and the notion of free software has become almost dominant -- with consequences good and bad (constant advertisements and crapware).  But if you like what we do -- our software, our forum, our special projects -- it's really more important than ever that we have your financial support.  It's humbling to have to ask, but that's part of what this site is about -- being willing to ask for your financial support.

Having said that -- one thing I made clear when I wrote my article on the first year of DonationCoder.com, is that this website, the software and the forum, will not be going anywhere -- regardless of the money raised.  We're in it for the long haul and our software will always be maintained and free for home users without adware or unwanted junk.  But your donations help keep this site vibrant and active, make it more rewarding to improve, and I think help us to be an example to others.

In the coming weeks I will be writing more of my thoughts on the website -- both where I think we could have done better over the last 10 years, and some possible future ideas we might pursue together -- and I'll be asking for your feedback.

And lastly -- for today at least -- thank you all for 10 amazing years so far!  Here's to many more!

-jesse
 March 23, 2015

Click here to discuss the fundraiser.

Please visit our Donation Page to make a donation now.

Note: Anyone who donates during the fundraiser will receive a permanent license key for all of our current and future software.

A collection of programming and algorithm tutorials, with embedded interactive visualizations that you can play with to better get a feel for what's being explained.  Some very cool stuff.

http://explorableexplanations.com/

From slashdot:

'We've always suspected that Google might tweak its search algorithms to gain an advantage over its rivals — and, according to an FTC investigation inadvertently shared with the Wall Street Journal, it did. Quoting: "In a lengthy investigation, staffers in the FTC's bureau of competition found evidence that Google boosted its own services for shopping, travel and local businesses by altering its ranking criteria and "scraping" content from other sites. It also deliberately demoted rivals. For example, the FTC staff noted that Google presented results from its flight-search tool ahead of other travel sites, even though Google offered fewer flight options. Google's shopping results were ranked above rival comparison-shopping engines, even though users didn't click on them at the same rate, the staff found. Many of the ways Google boosted its own results have not been previously disclosed.'

http://www.wsj.com/a...of-google-1426793274

"WASHINGTON—Officials at the Federal Trade Commission concluded in 2012 that Google Inc. used anticompetitive tactics and abused its monopoly power in ways that harmed Internet users and rivals, a far harsher analysis of Google’s business than was previously known."

DC member Twinbee writes about a new app he just released:

Most of you reading a forum dedicated to software (such as this one) will probably have heard about F.lux, and how it 'warms' the screen so you can sleep better at night, or at least have a screen which doesn't glare as much.

Cue SunsetScreen which is like F.lux but improved. In fact SunsetScreen is the only app of its type to allow you to precisely change the hue, saturation and brightness to allow you to match the screen's colour to the indoor lighting. This makes the screen look more appropriate whilst still encouraging the production of melatonin for a good night's sleep.

But perhaps a bigger advantage of SunsetScreen over any other program is the ability to set the sunset and sunrise times to match your sleep pattern, and not the whim of the seasons. For example, in winter, we only get a short day, and programs like F.lux would have the day colour too late, and the night colour too early. SunsetScreen fixes this so that you get a consistent colour changing cycle, whatever time of year it is.

So if you want to maximize seratonin production during the day, and melatonin at night, download SunsetScreen from here:

http://www.skytopia....nsetscreen/index.htm

(btw, I'm the same guy who created SonicPhoto and OpalCalc. Like those two, I'm the developer of SunsetScreen).