Chris "Club Drop" Ambler's Dropshark has been released

[cambler]

I have just made available version 1.0.603.2, which should remove all splash screen issues and allow for both .NET Frameworks 1.0 and 1.1 to work right.

Note that I've not yet tested this on 1.0, but will do so this afternoon.

Also, I've finalized the feature list for version 2, and have decided that registered users will have access to download the betas as they are generated - yet another reason to register

http://download.dropshark.com for 1.0.603.2

 

[ezimedia]

HI Chris,

I sent the email to [email protected]

It was about an error I was getting when trying to download all 5 days of dropped lists.. did you get that email or not, I can resend it if you like, just let me know.

Thanks
Tom Dahne

 

[cambler]

Yes, can you re-send? I don't see it in my list, though it's possible that I deleted it accidentially.

What I need to do is put up a support forum.

Also, in tonight's build, I'll be changing the 5-day download routine to do it as a single package instead of 5 separate web service calls. It should be more efficient, now that I can see real-world usage. Sometimes the obvious way to code something isn't so obvious until you see how people use it!

 

[ezimedia]

HI Chris

I just sent you the email again, hope you got it this time ok, let me know,

Thanks
Tom Dahne

 

[cinran]

I have downloaded and tested the demo...Nice!

My question is will there be a feature (in the future) that will alert members/customers the second a domain name becomes available to the public? We really need something to give us a way to register "Good" domain names without having to bid for them at the big boy websites.

Thanks

 

[cambler]

I did get it - and then got the original, too, so it looks like something was stuck, somewhere.

And you're absolutely right, the bug is because you're 18 hours away. I must publically kick myself in the head for not taking that into account.

What I will do is make the startup auth call query the web service for which days have active data, rather than looking at the current time and calcluating from there.

I will make that fix for tonight's build and 1.0.604.1 will have it, along with a more streamlined 5-day routine.

 

[cambler]

Cinran, such a feature would be virtually useless. Given a name that is scheduled to be dropped, it will become available at 1400 Eastern US time plus however long it takes Verisign's drop procedure to get to that name in the list. Given what I know about the drop, I could predict, right now, what time any name will become available in the next 5 days. I'd wager I could predict it to within 3 seconds, in fact.

Why this won't do you much good is because Club Drop knows this. And Pool knows it. And every other drop-catching service knows this, and they all go for the name within microseconds of when it's available. Unless you're a registrar, using an RRP connection to Verisign's batch pool, you have essentially no chance to get the name.

DropShark will let you identify which names are dropping on which day and allow you to seek out the ones you want so that you can submit them to the drop-catching service of your choice.

The next version will have API hooks into Club Drop, and perhaps a few others as well, to make it easier for you.

I've also been convinced by a number of people to put in general domain searching (including tools to calculate link popularity, keywords, etc.) in the next version. In essence, one customer has said to me, "put that in, and I can get rid of the rest of this garbage I use." Sounds good to me.

Want access to the beta for the next version weeks before the demo hits the streets? Register 1.0 now, and you'll have it. That is, registered users will have the betas made available to them as they're ready - yet another benefit of registering this 1.0 version (plus, I trust you can see that I'm supporting, and intend to keep supporting the heck out of DropShark).

Yeah, sales pitch. Sue me

 

[cinran]

Chris,

Thanks for the info...you have actually given me more info in this one post than i have found after searching post after post after....etc.

Thanks

 

[cambler]

I'm happy to help. Feel free to ask me anything you wish - the worst I can say is that I won't answer because something is a trade secret.

I'm considering setting up a support forum for DropShark, actually, and making a Q&A forum for registered users - yes, yet another sales pitch: registered users can pick my brain

 

[NameTower]

load in a tool that says when a name will drop within 3 seconds

 

[cambler]

Jordan, I'd do that - but that information plus $2.50 and you can get a really good espresso, know what I mean?

It's more valuable to not worry about that, and get the list in alphabetical order with a powerful search system.

 

[NameTower]

let me know when they can find out the problem..

 

[cambler]

let me know when they can find out the problem..

We're working on it even as I type.

PS: My first banner - and I designed it all by myself:

DropShark Banner

(and feel free to put it anyplace you wish, linked to www.dropshark.com. I'd love to pay commissions on licenses, if anyone knows of the best way to do that - I don't want to go through some funky third party, the market just isn't that big)

 

[parabola]

Looks good but neither of the last two versions install for me. A Drop Shark forum is a good idea to help work through issues with potential and current clients.

Good luck with this project.

Tom

 

[ezimedia]

HI Chris,

Any luck on a new version yet of dropshark that will download all 5 days of drops for people in Australia, you said you were working on the fix,

I also think a Dropshark forum is a good idea and you can maybe make it work from within Dropshark, with a built-in web browser, just an idea.

As for paying commissions on sales of Dropshark you could either use, Clickbank.com they are very good, but they pay by cheques only, every two weeks.. but they are a great way to setup an affiliate program for merchants that don't want to handle the issuing of commission and stuff..

Or you may want to install a third party affiliate script and I recommend you get Ultimate affiliate manager from groundbreak.com it is the best script on the market we have tested..

This way you can handle every part of your affiliate program, and pay commissions how you want, and via paypal which im sure a lot of affiliates will prefer..

Thanks again

Tom Dahne

 

[NameTower]

We're working on it even as I type.

PS: My first banner - and I designed it all by myself:

DropShark Banner

(and feel free to put it anyplace you wish, linked to www.dropshark.com. I'd love to pay commissions on licenses, if anyone knows of the best way to do that - I don't want to go through some funky third party, the market just isn't that big)

i tried it out on an old computer and it looks good and I do want to buy it..

just needs to work on my laptop, its brand new btw so I don't know why it wouldn't work..

will try reinstalling .net framework maybe?

 

[actnow]

Chris,

I believe you are going to have a lot of problems because of the framework program.

Why can't you use a different approach?

I still can not get it to work on my "new" laptop. And, I am going to wait for the others
to figure this out. Eventhough, it sounds like your new script would be very useful.

Please keep us posted.

 

[clemzonguy]

It appears "framework" is a problem with a lot of programs these days.
However I am quite confident with Chris' ability to fix these issues.

 

[cambler]

The initial version was configured to work with .NET Framework 1.1 only. The current version will work with 1.0 as well as 1.1.

There are a few people having problems with startup issues on machines with less than 128 Megs of memory. That's the only deterministic issue right now, so I'm working on some code to change the startup configuration for those machines, and to segment some of the in-memory tables to keep the memory footprint down.

The problem is that in order to get the kind of speed that I do, I make extensive use of large pre-compiled lookup tables (that get built at startup). I'm going to have to segment them for people with less than 128 Megs of memory - not hard to do, just unfortunate

I'm also in the process of adding the analysis features for the next version (as promised) and appear to be on track for the July 4 release I had planned. Those who have purchased licenses will be receiving access to the beta versions in about 2 weeks.

 

[cambler]

I should also add that .NET is the idea platform for this kind of product because of the massive (and I mean massive) churn on memory. If you thought it was a lot for the simple search functionality, wait until you see the analysis engine.

The problems I'm having now with it not working on some people's machines appear to be mostly configuration issues, and they just have to be worked-through.

If you have a problem getting it started, please do send me all the info you can - type of machine, processor, amount of RAM (this one is important), and exactly how it fails. Does it lock up? If so, what happens up until the lockup? That helps me narrow it down and resolve the issues.

The goal here is to have DropShark do just about "everything." This is the very beginning of a very large project. And let's be very clear - unlike others who say "I work on this when I get time," this is what I do for a living. So if you've been hesitant to buy a license because you're unsure that DropShark is going to do what you want in the future, let me be clear that I'm listening to feature requests and I'm also bringing over 20 years of Internet experience to bear over the next 6 months through the third version of this program.

And yes, I have WLS code, should it come to pass - consider an "Early Adopter" license insurance against WLS