Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'

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Halfbakery Screensaver
Ideas straight to your desktop.
 
(0)
  [vote for,
against]


A downloadable screensaver, that displays random ideas or quotes (from the half bakery), either from a downloaded database or, for those with broadband, straight from the site.

MikeOliver, May 26 2003

Flipper 0.8 http://solidice.com/flipper/
Needs some images posted by the web host - not sure how implementable this is. [MikeOliver, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Freeware to display a changing quotation on your screen saver http://216.239.33.1...info&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Check the entry "Quotes", fourth from the bottom [Tiger Lily]

Info on creating Active Desktop pagelets http://www.javascri.../howto/active.shtml
Can you access an .5B RSS feed without logging in and creating a view? [Tiger Lily, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Info on creating Active Desktop pagelets http://www.javascri.../howto/active.shtml
Can you access an .5B RSS feed without logging in and creating a view? [latka, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Internet Screensaver Builder http://www.download...sktop/desk7156.html
Change it, and all your clients' screensavers change, too. [Amos Kito, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

[link]






       you have a ge(r)m of an idea here +1

po, May 26 2003
  

       [Mikeoliver], if you can obtain the permission of the site owner, and develop this, then I am willing to pay money for it.

UnaBubba, May 26 2003
  

       ++Good

thumbwax, May 26 2003
  

       Are you that hooked, Mike, that you feel the need to be halfbaking even when you're not using the computer?

waugsqueke, May 26 2003
  

       How much would it cost to have HB ideas scroll across the billboards in Piccadilly Circus?

friendlyfire, May 26 2003
  

       I just googled around to see if someone had built a screensaver that took RSS feeds as input, to emulate the old pre-boom "Pointcast" product. (It fed news/weather/sports/etc to your desktop when the screensaver was up). Although I found several folks discussing that this would be a good idea, nobody seems to have baked it yet.   

       My point being that if you had an RSS-to-screensaver app, you could hook that into the bakery since it is available as RSS. (Click [edit] at the top of any view, then scroll to the bottom of the form that appears).

krelnik, May 26 2003
  

       I got this completely wrong in my bleary eyed early morning state. I thought it was random stuff downloaded to help you come up with ideas. nevertheless, I still like it.

po, May 26 2003
  

       One day, I'll be getting ready for the unveiling of our new business logo. The big boss and all the board members are there. I turn on the projector, and there, floating around the screen, is "Strap-on Testicles for Women". Everyone applauds, and I get a promotion. Croissant+

There's a program called Internet Screensaver Builder [link] that can sorta do it. You make a screensaver, people install it, and the software looks for updates automatically. Change the text & images, post your new files, and all those screensavers change with it. This means that you'd have to pick out HB ideas and manually make the changes, but it would bog down your server, not the 1/2Bakery's.

Amos Kito, May 26 2003
  

       I thought this was something to help the baker "hide" his/her addiction from the boss/mother/co-workers/partner: when anybody came about, with just a click, you'd have a screensaver with a word document or whatever that makes believe you're doing something useful. I still like it.

Pericles, May 26 2003
  

       I possibly didn't explain the idea too well. Hopefully a little edit has clarified things.

MikeOliver, May 26 2003
  

       Reminds me of an old Screen saver I used to have; the 'Gallery of the Absurd.' Pics of old signs with truly awful double entendres, such as 'Everything goes better with lard.'   

       This is one of those that I'm absolutely astounded hasn't been halfbaked as of yet. Maybe it disappeared with an old account.

RayfordSteele, May 26 2003
  

       I'd like it to look like the scrolling stock market quotes you see on the news:   

       Neodymium Cars +4 -3 . . . Vexibels +23 -2 . . . Hate Pets +1 -10 . . . Superconducting Donut Holes +3 -3 . . . Electric Nose Picker +3 -10 . . .

phundug, May 26 2003
  

       Nice [phundung]!!! If it's done that way sounds even better.

Pericles, May 26 2003
  

       Is there a way of putting a link into the windows 3d text screensaver? If so, or if a similar screensaver (that does support links) exists, then this is eminently doable. (see link).

MikeOliver, May 27 2003
  

       [MikeOliver], maybe the link I've added will get you started on the first leg of your objective here. I wonder if the programs that fill in web forms for you based on your saved personal data can be modified to download idea titles and vote entries for tying in with the changing screen saver. I'll continue checking around. I really like your idea. croissant!

Tiger Lily, May 27 2003
  

       Someway of updating a .txt file at regular intervals from a website would solve the problem... Come on all you techies, help me out.

MikeOliver, May 27 2003
  

       I'm good with the stock ticker idea, especially if it can be customised to your recent view.   

       I'll take a look at doing that from RSS updates.

UnaBubba, May 27 2003
  

       If a few dozen bakers had this thing running all the time, would it load up jutta's server?

RayfordSteele, May 27 2003
  

       Yeah that was my concern too... unnecessary pull on those servers.   

       I'm not a fan of this idea, though I can see why it has appeal.

waugsqueke, May 27 2003
  

       Fishy. Like other screen saver entertainments, this is a waste of time. Your screen saver is there for when you're not actually using the computer, so what does it matter what picture it's showing when you're not looking at it?

DrBob, May 27 2003
  

       Dr Bob, if you had a point then all screen savers would be blank screens... Obviously there is a market for them or manufacturers wouldn't bother making them.   

       With regard to clogging up jutta's server, i have 50mb of web space free with my email server which could be used (as i'm sure many others do)... A daily update of ideas would keep things tickety boo with no extra work for anyone.

MikeOliver, May 27 2003
  

       Extending the good doctor's point (which I totally agree with) directly into the heart of this idea...   

       As my first question (which you did not answer) suggested, Mike, why wouldn't someone just visit the Halfbakery, like one does now, if one wanted to read ideas? What is served by planting them into a screen saver?

waugsqueke, May 27 2003
  

       One big crescent, not for the screensaver, but for the stock ticker derivative. I did a "View Source" on the MS Investor ticker, and it looks like there's an embedded asp/java object (.cab?) for scrolling the ticker.

latka, May 27 2003
  

       If someone wants to read ideas thouroughly, then indeed they should visit the bakery, however having halfbakery ideas and quotes popping up as a screen saver is a lot more intersting than 3d pipes or flying through space.   

       I am not suggesting it as an alternative to the bakery, and if you are of the opinion that a screensaver is a waste of time (as was pointed out, you may be away from your pc) then you would find little benefit in this.   

       You make a choice, you either want a screen saver or you don't. You and Dr Bob (and others no doubt) don't want one, where as i (and others) do. I reckon a halfbakery theme, as mentioned earlier, beats most alternatives on offer.

MikeOliver, May 27 2003
  

       If you were to use Webshots screensaver, and obtain permission from [bristolz] and others whose illustrations are available here, then you're equally on a winner.

UnaBubba, May 27 2003
  

       Mike, I'm not disputing that there's a market for screensavers. In my experience people get them, stick 'em on their PC. Say 'Wow! That's cool." and then forget about them. That's why I don't think that this is a good idea. I fishboned because I didn't think it was very interesting is all.

DrBob, May 28 2003
  

       Screensavers save your screen... why not have something interesting pop up is all i'm saying. The issue has never been should we have screensavers, and i agree, most are crap.

MikeOliver, May 28 2003
  

       is Eastenders (UK soap) a screensaver?

po, May 28 2003
  

       Have you all heard of the shock ending planned for crossroads (another uk soap)? This will take crap soaps onto a whole new level...

MikeOliver, May 28 2003
  

       nothing new there, Dallas did it years ago.

po, May 28 2003
  

       So crossroads is shite AND unoriginal... Good job it's finishing.

MikeOliver, May 28 2003
  

       More to the point, we could have a stock ticker on the B-over-2 site itself.   

       As for screensavers, I'm using the Enlightenment GUI for the X Window System on Linux, and I can use the screensaver of my choice as my wallpaper.   

       A somewhat reluctant croissant.

galukalock, May 28 2003
  
      
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