Category: Software & Technology

SwordSearcher 4.6 Released

I’m finally done preparing a new version of SwordSearcher Bible Software — version 4.6. The “official” release date is tomorrow (Feb 1, 2005), but I managed to get everything up today. Check out the revision history.

4.6 took me a lot longer to finalize than I originally expected, but it’s done and shipping! There are three new study resources this time, but the changes I am most pleased with are mostly cosmetic and internal. I’ve improved a lot of my code in regards to the display, so things are “snappier” now (not that they were ever slow). Also, I hired a graphic artist to redesign my toolbar glyphs, so SwordSearcher has an overall more ‘modern’ look to it now.

On a more technical note, SwordSearcher is now being developed with Delphi 2005. The previous version of SwordSearcher was done in Delphi 6. I must say that I really like Borland’s improvements to Delphi. There are a lot of features that had been lacking in Delphi 7, and it’s nice that they finally “caught up” with their competition in the desktop application development market. But Borland released D2005 too early. Too many annoyances/bugs that should have been dealt with before it was released marred D2005. Maybe they will get their act together with the next update…

Spammers lose; Earthlink Wins

EarthLink Claims Victory in Spam Case: “The group used stolen or forged credit cards and engaged in identity theft to set up EarthLink accounts that were then used to send spam…”

What I don’t get is how can someone make money spamming people while hiding their identity. Don’t you need people to be able to, like, send you money or something? One way or another, if spam is supposed to actually make money for the spammer, there has to be a trail to follow, right? Besides, who would refinance their home with someone who spells “mortgage” “m.0rtg_aaaagE” anyway?

Text Ads and Click Fraud: A cost of doing business?

The explosion of content-relevant text ads on websites (even I use them on this site) has been very profitable for advertisers, content providers, and ad networks such as Overture and Google AdWords. But there is now a serious problem with “fraudulent clicking,” which amounts to stealing money from the advertiser. And unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done about it. [Article]

My Continuous Ink System: A Review

I’ve neglected my blog this month. However, today I have an interesting new review to post: my review of a Continuous Ink System for my Epson R200 printer. Are you sick of ink cartridges that are priced as if they contain liquid gold? I am. So a Continuous Ink System may be the solution for you — read my review to see how it worked for me.

On a related note, I really like this Epson R200. I use it primarily for printing directly on inkjet printable CD-ROMs and DVDs. No more cheesy printer labels and stompers; no more sharpie pens!