Every day we offer FREE licensed software you’d have to buy otherwise.
Zebra-Media Surveillance System v.1.3 was available as a giveaway on January 18, 2012!
Video surveillance and motion capture software. Some key features are: unlimited cameras (including IP and USB cameras), motion detection, SMS and MMS and Email alerts, play sound file (useful on motion detection), adjustable sensitivity for each zone, record on detection, save video into archive or file with automatically or manually selected compression, record on schedule, registration of all events continuously by intervals or on motion detected, password protection, adding a text, time stamps, watermarks to your video. For each video frame, if motion is detected, the Alarm event occurs, that returns a global motion ratio, depending of the number of cells in which motion has been detected, and the level of motion in each cell.
Surveillance System includes an advanced player that allows to play video clips, capture video frames and perform frame overlay.
All settings, such as alerts, photos, and video recordings can be turned on and off using the built-in scheduler.
All monitoring and alert events are logged with date and time stamps. Each camera has its own scheduled on(off) times. Building upon the interface options introduced in MS Outlook, scheduler includes event recurrence control and customizable Date Navigator. Access to all data is provided through a well encrypted password.
Windows ME/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ 2008/ Vista/ 7
15.2 MB
$49.95
Zebra Total Video Converter is an easy-to-use tool to fast convert between various video/audio files. It supports a wide range of video and audio including AVI, MP4, WMV, MKV, MOV, MPG, RM, RMVB, 3GP, VCD, DVD, DV, Flash Video FLV, SWF, HD MP4, H.264, XviD/Divx, etc. and audio MP3, MP2, WMA, OGG, AAC, AC3, FLAC, WAV, RA between each other.
One click is all it takes to capture any video including web-cam chats and video calls. Video Chat Recorder by Zebra-Media is designed to record/save/capture any video chat and group video chat (video conference) with ease. Using a software you can record Skype, Google Chat Video, MSN, Cha-Cha-Chat, Live, Facebook Audio/Video Chat, AOL, Aim, Yahoo or any messengers video chats.
Motion detection and webcam monitoring. Video surveillance with multiple IP cameras and video capture devices. For each video frame, if motion is detected, the Alarm event occurs, that returns a global motion ratio, depending of the number of cells in which motion has been detected, and the level of motion in each cell. A sensitivity grid is applied on video frames.
Zebra Screen Recorder captures your PC desktop activity into standard MPEG or AVI video files. It records everything you see on the computer screen, including the entire desktop, windows, menus, cursors - even video with sound.
Everydody must read excellent comment of Mark above #54 : yes the voting system is not perfect. To really know about the software being worthwile or not, probably you HAVE TO READ THE COMMENTS. Yes it takes time, even more time if you yourself contribute. Definitely it is a homework ! But after all, isn't it fair for the community that there is no easy free lunch !
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There are many uses that the average user can use software like this. As #19 stated, renters especially have a use for this. Issues with animals coming into your yard, litterers, kids, vandals, etc...
I would like to see remote viewing added to this software. Thumbs up! But needs some work!!
Thank You GAOTD! Keep it up!
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Installed and activated easily. Using a Foscam wireless, will not connect. Seems to work on laptop web cam, but really, big deal. Was looking for an easy to use package, so far this isn't it.
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I have tried to connect to two different IP cameras on two different computers. An could not, although I have had no problems with iSpy. Also the passowrs for accessing the cameras do not stick. When I tried to save the username and password, the program changes the password to the username.
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Please GAOTD dont change the vote system.
The vote system is very usefull to people who knows how its been working by a long time until now.
-GOOD AND USEFULL SOFTWARES:
Positive Votes > Negative Votes
-USELESS SOFTWARES OR BETTER FREEWARE SOFTWARE AVAIBLE:
Positive Votes = Negative Votes
-CRAP SOFTWARE DOESN'T WORTH THE VALUE
Positive Votes < Negative Votes
-COMPANY CHEATING THE USERS OF GAOTD
Positive Votes < HUGE Negative Votes
And I really appreciate the commentaries about alternative softwares, freewares or not.
Thanks Giveawayoftheday.
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Must pass -- thanks to those with useful comments. Not being a techie I rely on others expertise and read all of the comments first.
@38/@48 Best comments on today's software. I have win 7 x64 so those help me definitively stays away. As such, I did not vote up or down.
I think the up/down vote should be attached to the activation process. Right before closing that last frame, one could mark their vote. Then the count could total here. Then only those who have completed the download process can vote.
No, not good. There needs to be a way to vote only after download but that won't work because no one could test the program first. BUT this is along the lines where I think it should go. (I hope that makes sense).
Anyway, thanks to all the constructive comments on the program - they always help me, a non-techie, decide on a download or avoid a problem.
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# 2 & 42 ... time zones. GAOTD seems to operate on North American Pacific Standard Time. Midnight PST is 9 a.m. in Sweden and 3 a.m. where I am, EST, and I get the notification at 3:00 a.m. I don't think GOTD's email daemon takes note of the time zone of the recipient. Notice goes out at midnight PST and that is when the software is first available.
This also means that I really have until 2:59 a.m. my time to d/l and activate it though I have reset my computer clock to PST before doing it after midnight my time. I don't know if that HAS to be done, I forget if I ever tried to do it after midnight my time without setting the local computer clock.
From that data it would seem that everyone on earth gets access to the daily freebe at the same instant, at midnight PST.
I DO WONDER how it is that within minutes there are many comments and hundreds of thumbs up or down in some cases. I sometimes am up at 3 a.m. and check out the day's offering immediately.
Sure, with some very popular programs there will be many ppl who are already familiar with the day's offering. But with this one? Just how many of us have experience with security cameras at all, never mind this particular software? You can see when each comment was posted ... there is a time stamp on it (expressed in your own computer's local time) ... and the first ones to comment were mostly wondering why there were already so many "thumbs" within the first ten minutes.
It is almost impossible on the first day of using any genuinely new software for anyone to offer more than a "first impression." Most of those "first impressions" aren't very useful. Especially those that simply report "wouldn't work for me." There is no way to know if the "problem" was something specific to that user or that system or if there is a real problem with the software from that one fact, that someone had some problem that is usually poorly described. That hardly adds up to a useful "review." It's great when the publisher is participating and can answer those "it didn't work" issues which I expect most publishers could, most of the time, and most would likely very much wish to.
Things I always want to know include how much memory it takes up, how much it inflates the Registry, and how CPU-intensive it is and that is only very rarely mentioned. I think that should be REQUIRED information! I mean can I even use it on my netbook which is limited to 1 Gb RAM and whose Atom CPU is no weight-lifting champion!?!?! Often, even with good software, the answer is no, it requires a more powerful system. I try to figure out from the "comments" if I can even run it before going to the trouble of downloading and installing it. The "thumbs" really provide no useful information. INFORMED comments do, sometimes there are very knowledgeable and useful comments but most are first impressions which are rarely very useful.
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It would appear that this does not record audio, just the video.
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To #2 and others complaining about the voting. I did not early vote in this case, but I sometimes do. When I do it is because I already know the software, good or bad. Installing software just to vote would be foolish. It bloats your system, can cause conflicts with other things, and can even be a security problem. I actually had to rebuild my system a year ago and lost many good GOTD offerings because my video was so screwed up from all of the different and conflicting video applications I had "tried out".
If I see a supposedly $200 package offered here that saves things in its own proprietary format that I will not be able to read after my next rebuild, and does less than free open source similar software, then of course I'm going to give it a thumbs down, and I don't feel any obligation to first download it and potentially compromise my system with it. Suggesting that only people who are willing to download and install something on their system should vote would inappropriately skew the votes toward the positive, and it would preclude the most knowledgeable users from voting in many cases.
I have downloaded several very good applications from GOTD over the years. But the gems are something one has to wait and search for, unfortunately many of the offerings here are not all that good. Perhaps some people feel we shouldn't offend anyone offering something for free with a negative vote, but I feel that to encourage the better than average software you have to be willing to express disappointment with the mediocre, the under preforming commercial versions of free software, the buggy, and the just plain bad software.
I expect that many people do use the thumbs up / thumbs down count as a quick first indicator of what they should expect. If the thumbs up outweigh the thumbs down by two or three to one, and if they are interested in that type of application, then it might be a good application for them to download and evaluate for themselves. If the thumbs down outweigh the thumbs up by a similar or higher ratio then they might be well served to at least read the posted comments before installing the software, even if they have to wait a few hours to see a number of comments posted. It would make no sense to tell the people who already know about the flaws in an offered piece of software that they should not vote because they did not download and install the software, particularly for things that have been offered here before.
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Doesn't work on Win7-64. Problem is probably not related to operating system. Tried to monitor a web cam but get this error:
[ERROR] NO VIDEO DEVICE SELECTED
VideoFormat depends on the current video capture device.
Assign VideoDevice with the index of the video capture device in the VideoDevices list.
Other software works fine so something is wrong here. Every webcam has its own format but this program doesn't allow selection of the type of camera.
Worthless.
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Software installation was straight forward on XPSP3 machine. I have been playing with the programme all day (it is now 7.30p.m. in London, UK) and find everything to work as it should.
It even works fine with a ten year old Fuji M603 and I am now experimenting with my Galaxy S2 phone as an IP camera using Zebra-Media Surveillance System and the Android IP Webcam app.
I noticed that a previous comment stated that all settings were lost when the computer was re-booted - perhaps clicking the 'SAVE' button at the bottom of the screen may asist in this matter.
On a machine with an overclocked Q6600 the CPU usage seems to increase by 7% for each camera added when it is actually streaming video, so there is a limit to the number of cameras that can be used, depending on the power of the host computer.
Thank you Zebra-Media and GOTD.
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I was really excited about this software, but, not only couldn't I get it to work, but, I also couldn't exit the software without re-booting my computer, the hard way. It blocked my Windows Task Manager from opening as well. I had to Un-Install this, and would not recommend anyone else to install it. I'll try some of the other software mentioned in the comments above.
Best Regards,
Richard Sittel
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@ 3 Barry. THANKYOU for saying what I have been meaning to say for awhile. I too believe that a two vote system would be appropriate. It has the potential to benefit both the developers via 'real' user feedback, and also GAOTD re users preferences for giveaways. Perhaps this 2 vote system could be looked at by GOTD?
I come to this page every day to check and sometimes download whats on offer but if there is something I dont want or dont think I will use, I DO NOT give it a 'Thumbs down' just because its not what I want. I just come back the next day to see what else is on offer.
Anyways, thanks again to GAOTD and the developers who give away some good wares. I for one am very grateful. Have a great day everyone.
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As a summary of today's reader comments - it appears as though this software is not yet market-ready. It seems that it has too many fundamental flaws, and too many basic interface flaws.
As for the voting system - the site software seems to be written in stone and likely will not change. Caveat 'emptor'.
And judging by the magnitudes of the comment votes today I'd say that someone has hacked to 'vote-once' limitation and is ramping up the numbers to accord with his or her viewpoint. My reading tells me it is someone rather juvenile in demeanour.
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#42 F.Y.I Downloads available at 3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Everyone has the programs available at the same time. Nobody has to wait.
As for the comments, I think GOTD should include a different comment key in the download file each day so that someone would at least have to download the program before they can leave a comment or thumbs up/down.
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Buggy, Buggy, Buggy why bother putting something out there for us to try and rate? If a company does not care enough to fix it's software before it is released as a full package version 1.bla bla it should. I have nothing better to do then install putrid software and mess up my registry? I think not. This software belongs in file 13 if you ask me I cannot see why a piece of software would reset itself every time it's booted unless there were no tests with it and to not be able to connect to IP cameras is just plain stupid. Fix it then put it out for someone to use unless your name is Microsoft.
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I did what the text said, BEFORE I posted here. Re installed it, still get the same message, I have window 7, 64.
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This does appear to be the same program as Webcam Motion Detector that was given away last year. It's from the same company (Zebra Media). It's a decent program, but this one has the same version number and even seems to have the same bugs, so it's not clear if it represents any kind of an update. Maybe it's just a renaming.
As for the voting, I would prefer if people did not vote at all if they are not interested in the offering, and only vote positive or negative if they have actually installed and tested the software (ok if they got the same version from another source). That way we can judge the interest by the number of votes, and the quality/usefulness of the software for the intended purpose by the positive/negative balance of the votes.
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I would like to adress number 2... Its like this, diffrent places have diffrent times.. I live in Sweden, so I get the option of the daily download at 9 am. But, 9 am in Sweden. Is six hours -I repeat six HOURS before nine AM in New York city. Giveaway of the day gives me the program six hours before the people on the east coast of the USA gets it. Why, even for a european. Thats pleanty of time to try a program and comment on it..... Just look at time zones and it will all fall into place... Just like people in New York, get the program 3 hours before people in California!! Aint that special?? W
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(Gotta get used to the comment numbers changing unexpectedly, it's not 32 but 33)
@#33 unpeudepolitessesvp - That was kinda rude. A little courtesy please… :)
@#29 jag - There is a readme.txt file included with the download that explains how to register the program. If you still have the problem after following that registration process, contact the vendor and/or post here again to see if this collective can assist you.
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It is simple if you are not interested in the day's givaaway then you should not comment at all....why should you give a negative comment when you dont even have a cammera..comments should be given by those that have tried the offering and are giving their opinion of the pro's and con's of the software .PERIOD !!!!!!
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@#32 That was kinda rude. A little courtesy please... :)
@#29 There is a readme.txt file included with the download that explains how to register the program. If you still have the problem after following that registration process, contact the vendor and/or post here again to see if this collective can assist you.
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Not fully developed software.
Every time you reset your computer, you lose all of the setting.
Furthermore, it locks my web cam to still pictures only and the settings do not hold after power down.
Passwords are useless and not holding.
Certain cameras are not supported and freezes down the win 7 on start up.
The developer needs to start all over on this software and to test the modulus as they are created one by one.
It does not releases the memory after terminating the program.
Slows down win 7 to a crawl after setting 2 IP cameras and 3 local cameras.
Just uninstalled it.
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Thinking of downloading and trying this software, but what I am trying to determine is: does this software accept the input from 4 or 8 camera dvr capture cards like those sold on ebay?? If someone has tried this please post. The vendor site does not have information such as that listed.
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I agree with Barry with his comments/suggestions in #3. Well worth the valuable input by Developers.
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Another fantastic giveaway.
I'm looking forward to using this software as I am installing security cameras now. Looks like a well designed application.
I tried to post a suggested improvement to this software being a cell phone notification option.
Thankyou GATD and Zebra-Media.
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@ # 29 : if you spend 10 seconds reading the txt file in the zip package, you will find the answer.
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don’t need it, but thanks for the offer!
#3 @Barry - i understand where you are coming from and i agree. i also think others have offered great suggestions on separating interest and usability. your idea could be executed rather simply. until then, we'll have to use our own judgement. IMHO, i like #18 @Fran's idea.
#18 @Fran - my comment is a variation of your suggestion, which we often use here. i think it fits, as well.
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I am having the same problem described by Jag at #29.
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Bruce # 16. Where do you see the number of downloads? If it was available it would at least show interest in the software. I personally download and install most offerings even if I have no use, purely for interest sake.
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Ever time I open it, it said, that it is shareware, and will expire in 7 days> How do you fix this problem?
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What? Software for IP cameras again? I want to see more video converting software, more audio converting software or keylogging software. ;-) Thanks GOTD for this offering. However, I think the software that comes with most wireless/ip cameras work just fine. I've not had much luck using "other" brands with my camera. But sounds good. Thumbs up for me.
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#3 @Barry You start off raising some good points, including some I raised when I started visiting here also. However it has been pointed out many times that you might already have the software, so do not need to download it to know what you are talking about.
When we post a comment, it "appears" on the list, but don't you see the grayed-out "Your comment is awaiting moderation"? This is why you get so many votes at the start, but no comments - People have posted comments, but as they have not been moderated yet; so no-one else can see any comments yet. Votes however go through immediatly, so that is why each day there are lots of votes, but no comments yet at the start.
A good idea of a softwares' real usefulness might be a counter, so you could see how many times it had been downloaded today (as has been suggested). You could even have say a running average over the last month, so you would know that by this time in the day, there had typically been x number of downloads, if this is more than that, then it could well be worth considering. The system is not perfect though, as national holidays can affect then number downloading, or if a lot of people have already got the software, they might not be downloading it today from here, even though it is really good software. Still it might be a useful indication when used with other indicators on the site, but isn't something like how many downloads there have been from this site likely to be "sensitive information" that the sites' owners will want to keep to themselves?
Even worse, so days the votes are very "suspicious". Visit here long enough and you get a feeling when there is something wrong that days votes. If someone says the votes are appearing suspicious that day, that comment will get a lot of negative votes - Possibly by the ones trying to game the voting system in an attempt to discredit the person writing that comment in the hope that others will not take that comment seriously and so not realise something is being perpetrated. Sadly we have lost some very good reviewers over the years to this, and so it is possibly the origin of some people saying things like "Vote this comment down if you like, but..." Not always that they think they are right and everyone else is wrong, but possibly more that they think there are some people who are abusing the voting system?
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This is great! Now, I can finally catch those crazy people who keep breaking into my house at night when I'm asleep and replacing all my furniture with exact replicas.
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Thankfully a simple installation and registration procedure and an equally simple program to setup.
The previous giveaway was purely a motion detection program, this appears to have an extra function whereby cameras can be scheduled to be turn on and off.
This company's software is by far the best I have used of this type, but my experience has only been with local USB connected cameras.
If that is what you need, they don't get much better than this.
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I use the freeware "Yawcam" which has motion detection, scheduling, movie creation etc.
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GAOTD needs to change the comment system. Only people who downloaded the software should be able to "Vote". Secondly the question should not be "Did you find this comment useful?", but maybe something like "Did you find this PROGRAM useful?"
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Does this have a Ghost mode to be automatically activate when they come into the frame? Can you change the Gernsweitz Factor depending on how transparent the subject is?
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Sorry folks, this tool still seems to be in beta state.
I had to uninstall it again.
It can't be closed (on XP Home SP3).
Instead, the entire system would freeze and in that very moment, not even the task manager was accessible anymore.
So, I had to shut down my computer "the hard way", i.e. switch it off.
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I've never rated a gaotd dl. I can't competently judge any reasonably complex software within >24hours of (non fulltime) usage.
Each gaotd dl page "goes dead" after ga offer "expires", and this reduces incentive to rate later.
Today's GA interests me, because i have usb webcam (limited by unknown max cable length), and an older "IP" (ethernet cable) cam, that came with cruddy marginally useful software.
I've already searched a little for oss/fw camware, and will probably pursue that on some future day, rather than deal with chance of needing to system restore after trying today's GA.
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I am downloading this now to check out later after work, but to address those who wonder about the usefulness of this for the average user...do you live in an apartment, a trailer park or do you simply rent your home? If so are you sure the landlord is not coming in and looking around while you are at work? They are not supposed to but since they have a key how can you be sure? Here is your answer. I have had concerns about this very issue and so am going to give it a shot, and heaven help the fool I catch in here that is not supposed to be.
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Hi, #3 (Barry) - regarding Voting.. I think You are putting forward some valuable points. However, the way it is (understood?) - the so called Voting is left by GAOTD to our Discretion.., and Hope, that Daily Promotion will raise enough interest for people to WANT to test/promote the Software and for people to WANT to leave Comment and finally to WANT to mark the Software and User's Comments too.
NONE of these things are Compulsory!
If I see something that I personally am not interested in - the worst possible outcome would be to "down-vote" it, or write something as silly as "don't need it, next.."
There is enough Good Will here and Judgment and Trust that people serious enough about this Site and "hands on" being Fair(!!) - will give enough Guidance, Help and true Expertize on how the Software of The Day can be of Use, how it's treated, what can be IMPROVED!
Nothing is perfect?..
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#4 Krypto
The bug you mentioned was already signalled last year, perhaps even earlier. Apparently they are not interested in fixing it.
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@#3 - Barry, there already is a measure for your 1) vote (interest); that is reflected in the number of downloads. I agree that many people are using the vote for that purpose, however.
In addition, some people think they know the software from prior experience, or they think some other software (in the same genre) is better in some way - the votes reflect that, as well.
There may be many other reasons for votes, even people just having a bad day (haters?)
I look at the overall numbers when I come here - if the number is 40% positive or higher, I think that's a good sign that the software is valuable in many ways (because there are always so many 'no' voters). If the voting is 80%+ negative, I don't read further. So, I suggest that readers use the same method - just realize that there will be many 'no' voters.
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Agree wirh krypto,doesn't save passwords.Useless to me,back to Icam here.Tried on XP.
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@Barry (#3)
I totally agree with your comment’s idea, but in the future please refrain from adding in “This will probably get many thumbs downs, but…”
The thing is that saying that means that you’re right anyways if people end up thumbs-ing it down. It makes me mad every time I see that actually, because it’s like you’re thinking about what people will end up voting as part of the purpose making of your comment. And it doesn’t make your comment any better or worse, so just leave it out!
This was kind of a side comment, I just wanted to inform people of that so they stay away from saying it! And as for this comment voting up or down on it, you might as well vote it down because it’s not useful or relevant to the product up there. If you want to vote it up, then don’t vote at all because once again it’s not useful. I’d rather people just read this comment, understand what I said, and it stay neutral.
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@#2
How is it that some people think the software offered here has never before been available for users to try it prior to being available here... [Sarcasm-mode off]
At the time of your writing, the software had been available for 7 minutes only... at GAOTD's site! But the developer was already providing a trial as well as selling the software in his own website prior to that...
It's not the first time I see this kind of comments, and probably not the last time... I just hope people start thinking twice (at least) prior to posting this kind of comments.
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@Barry (#3)
I totally agree with your comment's idea, but in the future please refrain from adding in "This will probably get many thumbs downs, but..."
The thing is that saying that means that you're right anyways if people end up thumbs-ing it down. It makes me mad every time I see that actually, because it's like you're thinking about what people will end up voting as part of the purpose making of your comment. And it doesn't make your comment any better or worse, so just leave it out!
This was kind of a side comment, I just wanted to inform people of that so they stay away from saying it! And as for this comment voting up or down on it, you might as well vote it down because it's not useful or relevant to the product up there. If you want to vote it up, then don't vote at all because once again it's not useful. I'd rather people just read this comment, understand what I said, and it stay neutral.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't most home monitoring kits have their own included software?
To me this seems a giveaway targeted at a very select audience, not the kind of general giveaways that this site is loved for.
Having said that, I have used this software and I found it extremely useful.
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Installed/activated and this program looks exactly the same as the giveaway on November 30, 2011 - Webcam Motion Detector. Same version number 1.3. I didn't see any differences other than this newer version is listed as 15.2 Mb versus 15.1 Mb.
67 comments from the previous offering - http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/webcam-motion-detector
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