Adamant Solutions

Christmas 2008 Trading Hours

We will be closed from Monday 22nd December and will reopen in 2009 on Monday 5th January. If you require urgent attention during this time please email me directly at alyttle@adamant.com.au.

Adamant Solutions would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Safe & Happy New Year.

We will be back in 2009!

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The top 5 features of NEWS.COM.AU

You probably came into work this morning and noticed the newly updated NEWS.COM.AU website (If not, I'll give you a moment to do it now).

The slick new design brings Australia's premier online news service into 2008, offering everything you would expect from a web 2.0 website: personalisation, a cleaner (crisper) design and a brand new story visualiser on the front page.

But the best features of the website have been available for some time now...

5. Local edition

Adelaide readers can browse directly to AdelaideNow.com.au for the latest news, events and information affecting Adeladians - it's probably considered the closest thing we have to an online version of The Advertiser & Sunday Mail. There's also a PerthNow for Perth residents.

4. RSS Feeds

One of the best technologies to hit the web in recent years are RSS feeds, and it just so happens that NEWS.COM.AU have an extensive range of feeds for you to hook into, from "Popular Stories" to "Breaking News".

3. Mobile edition

I only happened to stumble across the mobile edition by chance a few weeks back. Next time you're on your iPhone or Smart Phone browse through to m.news.com.au. It has everything you would expect from NEWS.COM.AU but condensed into a mobile phone friendly version.

2. Article commenting

For quite some time now NEWS.COM.AU has offered article commenting, requesting for you to post your views on a topic or issue. Sometimes reading through the conversation is more fun than the article itself.

1. Video integration

NEWS.COM.AU is increasingly adding videos to the top stories of the day. This was made possible with a very smart partnership between NEWS.COM.AU and Sky News (the 24/7 cable news network). It's the way the internet should be.

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Digg Alerter 1.3

If you are having issues running Digg Alerter then I highly recommend that you download this new version. Digg recently made a few small changes to their API which prevented Digg Alerter from working properly. This new version fixes those issues.

Download the latest version � (1,470kb)

A special thanks to those who brought these issues to my attention.

Feature Requests

Over the coming months I will be working on a new and improved version of Digg Alerter. So tell me what features you would like to see - and who knows, maybe it will make the cut!

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AussieOlympics Alerter

Twitter has proved to be an informative and entertaining place to find out all the news and happenings in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In particular, if you're an Aussie, you should be following AussieOlympics tweets. In most cases he is providing better commentary than the official presenters.

So, I wanted to bring AussieOlympics comments directly to my desktop. While I'm working throughout the day I wanted his comments to appear on my screen to keep me informed with Australian Olympic efforts.

Introducing AussieOlympics Alerter

AussieOlympics Alerter is a small program that sits in your system tray (at the bottom right of your screen near the clock) and keeps you updated with all the new posts by AussieOlympics on Twitter.

Easy to install
Track all of AussieOlympics posts
Get alerts when Australians take out Gold, Silver or Bronze
Find out when Australians are participating in events
But best of all, it's free!

Click here to download (878kb)

A big thankyou to AussieOlympics for making this program possible and putting his time and effort into keeping us all informed.

This is a free software application designed and developed by Adamant Solutions. It's free from viruses, free from spyware, free from adware, free from malicious code, but best of all: it's free!

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RamTray

I like the functionality of Vista's sidebar, although I'm not too keen on it's memory consumption. But after recently reverting back to XP I have found myself missing some of the basic functionality of the sidebar, including the built-in memory monitor widget.

So I set out to make a new program. A light-weight application that monitors your RAM without the need for the Vista sidebar. It's perfect for those like me who have downgraded to XP or have turned off the sidebar in Vista.

Introducing RamTray

RamTray is a simple program that sits in your system tray (at the bottom right of your screen near the clock) and lets you know how much memory your computer is currently using.

At a glance you are able to see just how much RAM is being used. Move your mouse over the icon to display the amount of memory used as a percentage and in megabytes.

Easy to install
Starts with Windows
Small program that sits in the system tray
Visually displays amount of memory used
Displays memory usage as percentage and in MB's
But best of all, it's free!

Click here to download (858kb)

The software comes with a built-in self updater. Every so often it will connect to our blog to check for new versions of itself. No personally identifiable information is exchanged.

RamTray is a free software application designed and developed by Adamant Solutions. It's free from viruses, free from spyware, free from adware, free from malicious code, but best of all: it's free!

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StumbleUpon Alerter Beta 1.2

A new version of StumbleUpon Alerter has been released for those that were having problems with the version released yesterday. This patch fixes some of the issues pointed out over the last 24 hours.

Usually I don't release software under beta, but I have done so with StumbleUpon Alerter. This is mainly because StumbleUpon does not have any API for developers to use (which probably explains the lack of tools available for the site). But I hope to have these issues fixed over time.

Click here to download version 1.2 beta (1,727kb)

Note: Make sure you close StumbleUpon Alerter before installing the new version.

What's New?

Newly found discoveries are displayed immediately - no need to restart (thanks kdfrawg)
Fixed a few problems that occurred once you reach your maximum discoveries
Changing the username no longer requires a restart (thanks nowsourcing)

Frequently Asked Questions

I have been getting a lot of questions regarding the software, so I thought it would be good to have a FAQ section:

Q: When I install StumbleUpon Alerter on Vista I receive the error "Component MSWINSCK.OCX or one of its dependencies not correctly registered", what do I do?

1Only and liamvictor have pointed out that the program must run in Administrator mode to be installed correctly. Right click the program and click "Run as Administrator".

Q: When I start the program it doesn't show the number of discoveries I specified, why?

Due to the lack of any API from StumbleUpon the program downloads a listing of your likes and discoveries from the RSS feed. The program goes through the RSS feed and only picks out the discoveries, leaving the "likes" behind. Over time it will display your maximum number of discoveries.

Q: Can you show me who has given my discoveries a thumbs down?

StumbleUpon Alerter is limited to the same information that you see when visiting the StumbleUpon site. This means there is no way to see who has thumbed down your articles unless they leave a review.

Q: It's not showing all of the reviews / thumbs, why?

Once again due to the lack of an API, StumbleUpon Alerter watches your discoveries when it is running. When you start the program it should be able to download many of the reviews / thumbs but is not guaranteed to grab all.

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Our Most Popular Software

If you are new around here I recommend checking out some of the tools, screensavers and applications that I have made over the past few months. These are programs that have become instant "must haves" for quite a number of people.

StumbleUpon Alerter

StumbleUpon Alerter is a small tool that sits in the system tray. It keeps an eye on all of your discoveries on StumbleUpon and plays a noise whenever someone reviews or gives your sites a thumbs up. Open the main window to view information about each discovery - including a list of people who have reviewed, thumbed up or thumbed down your sites. More details �

Digg Alerter

Used by some of the influential Digg users. Digg Alerter is a program that sits in your system tray and plays a little noise whenever your submissions are "Dugg". You can also click on a submission to view a list of people who have dugg and commented on your articles. Click here for more details �

SendTo Flickr

SendTo Flickr is a small program that, once installed, adds a "Flickr" item to the "Send To" menu when you right click files. So now you can start uploading your files to Flickr without even opening your internet browser. Click here for details �

Pong Clock Screensaver

A screensaver that looks and feels like a retro game of "Pong", complete with the old style "beeps" and "blops". A random game is played on your screen, the score actually reflects the current time. Every minute the paddle on the left loses, every hour the paddle on the right loses. Click here for details �

Google Reader Satellite

Install Google Reader Satellite to use your existing Google Reader account to get alerted whenever new RSS feeds are listed. An icon sits in the system tray and changes colour whenever a new feed is displayed. Click here for details �

40Twitter

40Twitter will remind you every 40 minutes to post a new entry on Twitter. This comes in handy for those who like to keep their Twitter feed updated but often forget to update their status throughout the day. Click here for details �

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StumbleUpon Alerter

A few months ago I moved from Digg and focused my energy on StumbleUpon (click here to view my profile). To my surprise the site had a much friendlier community but lacked in some basic functionality.

As someone who actively searches for new content I like to keep track of my discoveries on social networks, something that StumbleUpon is lacking. So I set out to make StumbleUpon Alerter.

Introducing "StumbleUpon Alerter"

The Beta

Get alerted whenever your discovery on StumbleUpon is reviewed or given a thumbs up.

StumbleUpon Alerter is a small tool that sits in the system tray. It keeps an eye on all of your discoveries on StumbleUpon and plays a noise whenever someone reviews or gives your sites a thumbs up. Open the main window to view information about each discovery - including a list of people who have reviewed, thumbed up or thumbed down your sites.

Plays a sound whenever a person reviews your discoveries
Plays a sound when one of your discoveries is liked
Displays a list of your discoveries on StumbleUpon
Shows a list of people who have rated your sites
Lists all of the reviews for your discoveries
Ranks your friends in order of most reviews
Made with the same interface as StumbleUpon

Click here to download version 1.2 (1,719kb)

Use the above link to download the latest version of StumbleUpon Alerter. For more details about this version click here.

StumbleUpon Alerter is a free software application designed and developed by Adamant Solutions. Free to download, free from viruses, free from spyware, free from adware and free from anything else malicious.

Tracking your discoveries

A sound is played whenever newly discoveries are reviewed or given a thumbs up / thumbs down. Newly reviewed and thumbed items are highlighted in green and made bold.

For ease of use the number of thumbs up and reviews are displayed to the right hand side of the listing. To view more information simply click on the item listed.

Who likes your discoveries?

(And who doesn't?)

StumbleUpon Alerter makes it easy to watch who likes or dislikes your discoveries. Simply click on the discovery in the main list to view a listing of people who have given your submission a thumbs up or thumbs down.

To the right hand side of their name you can also see, at a glance, how many times the person has liked your other discoveries.

At the bottom of the StumbleUpon window you can view what people are saying about your discoveries. Reviews are displayed in 1 line and show the thumbs up or thumbs down logo.

Analyse your friends

For the first time ever, you can now analyse your friends on StumbleUpon. Within moments you can learn who is reviewing your submissions the most. Clicking on a persons name will display a list of submissions they liked or disliked along with any review they posted.

I envision that this list will get quite large over time. So I have added a "Filter" box at the bottom of the window. Simply type in the first few letters of anyones name to easily find the person you are looking for.

See which domains perform the best

This is a trial feature of StumbleUpon Alerter. It allows you to easily see which domain names are attracting the most attention. This could come in handy for people who want to offer more content to their social network from sources that attract the most attention.

It is worth noting that this product is not endorsed or supported by the founders or developers of StumbleUpon. Adamant Solutions is not associated in any way with the development, design or the running of the StumbleUpon service. If there is any confusion please contact us.

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