News & updates (Newsletter) (page 2)
As promised some photos of our 20th anniversary trip to Paris that we took on the 22nd anniversary because of reasons 🙂
We did a lot of walking, eating, drinking, and generally having loads of FUN!
Day 1: Travel, 2CV tour, walking around and a big river boat dinner
We got up real early and grabbed a high speed train from Amsterdam to Paris:
In Paris we met up with our tour guide and we drove around the city in old Citroën Deux Chevaux cars, after which we had lunch and walked about the city a bit.
We see you Eiffel tower! We will be visiting you soon too!
Did you know they love collecting in Paris too?
After that, we enjoyed some free time on our own, and finished the day with dinner on a big river cruise boat, right under the Eiffel tower.
Day 2: Guided tour of the city, Eiffel Tower, Tuk-Tuk and Buddha Bar
After a great breakfast of croissants and pastries, we walked around the city on a guided tour with lots of interesting tidbits of information about the history of Paris.
And of course an LCS (“Local” comicbook store) had to be visited!
We then stopped briefly for a great lunch, with a glass of wine. Or two glasses. Salmon and mashed sweet potatoes:
Then, we headed over to the Eiffel tower to visit… all the way to the top!
Lots of influencing going on here.
Under the Eiffel tower
And now, to the top! It takes 2 elevator rides to get all the way to the top and the view is amazing!
They even serve beer half way up the Eiffel tower:
After that we “tuk-tukked” our way back to the hotel. A great (and FUN) way to sneak right through traffic and get somewhere quickly during Paris’ constant rush hour
Catching up and having a couple of pre-dinner drinks at the hotel before leaving for the evening program:
That night, we enjoyed amazing dinner and drinks in the Buddha Bar, they even themed the menu to our CLZ 20 Years logo!
Day 3: Walks, “Canard & Champagne”, influencing and more!
Near our hotel is where our walk started, going past these zebra columns, a place much coveted by influencers:
Here’s Rowdy, listening to our tour guide (who is not in the picture)
And here’s Rowdy, listening to our tour guide (who is in the picture)
And here’s Rowdy, the influenced becomes the influencer:
One of Paris’ oldest book stores:
We then had lunch at “Canard & Champagne” where they serve… canard (duck), and champagne!
Started with an egg:
And the very tasty duck and delicious champagne followed:
Martin followed lunch up with some influencing:
Some macarons were bought somewhere in LaFayette shopping mall:
And finally, just before leaving Paris to train back to Amsterdam, Stijn played the piano a bit at Gare du Nord train station:
This is CLZ Alwin, trying to write this newsletter in the midst of all the pre-launch chaos at the office. There’s only 5 days to go until the biggest launch in CLZ history: The partnership with CovrPrice, for integration of comic values into our comics apps and software. Going live on October 4! Read the latest news below.
But before launch, we are going to to celebrate our 22nd anniversary, in Paris!
The topics today:
- CLZ team going to Paris to celebrate our 22nd anniversary!
- Coming up on Oct 4: CovrPrice values integrated in comic software and apps
It’s August 31, so I know you saw this coming: the August 2022 edition of the CLZ Newsletter. A bit of a quiet month, with many CLZ team members enjoying their well-deserved vacations. But still, a nice set of releases, strangely enough all about our comic database apps and software.
Also, in today’s newsletter, the latest news about our upcoming partnership with CovrPrice (ETA late September!).
The topics today:
- CLZ Comics 7.10 / Comic Connect: Re-Link Core Variant / Improved Card View
- CLZ Comics 7.11: Configurable Update from Core
- The latest news about the CLZ / CovrPrice partnership
CLZ Alwin here, with the CLZ Newsletter for July 2022.
A large part of the CLZ team is currently preparing for the upcoming collaboration with CovrPrice for comic values. The developers are working on the apps, the software and our server side code, while the content managers are getting our Core for comics fully linked up with the CovrPrice database. We are planning to do a more detailed update on this project soon.
Still, with all that going on, we have been able to do quite a few other projects, mainly for the mobile and web-based software. These are our July 2022 releases:
- For the CLZ mobile apps:
- CLZ Games 7.5: More value data from PriceCharting
- CLZ Comics v7.9: Filter your Series list by Completed status
- Coming up, CLZ Comics 7.10: ReLink Core Variant / Improved Card View
- For the Connect web-based software:
- New collection view “Vertical Cards”
- Game Connect: More value data from PriceCharting
- Comic Connect: Bigger cover images in Add Comics screen
- Comic Connect: Improved Pull List and new “Discover” mode!
Last day of June, so here’s my June 2022 edition of the CLZ News.
This month, big news about our new collaboration with CovrPrice.com for comic values. Also, the first of many Connect updates and finally, 2 big updates for the CLZ mobile apps for movies and comics.
These are the topics for today:
- CLZ is going to work with CovrPrice for comic values! ETA: Sept 2022
- CLZ Comics v7.8: Improved Pull List and new “Discover” mode!
- CLZ Movies v7.5: New report screen after Updating IMDb Ratings/Votes
- Connect: Lots of new features and tweaks in one go!
- Coming up for the Connect web-based software
CLZ Alwin here, with the May 2022 edition of the CLZ News.
This month, more updates for the mobile apps (as always) and 5 big maintenance builds for the Windows software. I know it has been a bit quiet on the Connect end, but that is caused by the big translation project we are doing there. We will be swinging back to big feature updates for Connect soon!
The releases for May 2022:
- CLZ mobile apps: new Card View in main screen (and more)
- CLZ Comics: List View is back in the Add Comics screen
- 5 maintenance builds for all 5 Collector programs for Windows
[CLZ News] What’s Cooking at the CLZ HQ? / New layout for CLZ Comics Add screen
This is CLZ Alwin, bringing you the CLZ News for April 2022!
Strangely enough, only ONE new release this month (CLZ Comics 7.6). Well, not that strange really, as part of the team is working on big back-end projects and the rest on upcoming May releases.
So today’s newsletter is all about “What’s Cooking at the CLZ HQ?”:
- Now live:
- CLZ Comics 7.6: Bigger cover images in Add Comics screen
- What’s Cooking?
- A new partner for comic values!
- New “Card View” for all CLZ mobile apps
- Faster searches with our new search engine servers
- Multiple languages for the Connect web-based software!
[CLZ News] v22 for Windows, big updates for Connect, 2 cool updates for CLZ mobile
It is the last day of March, so just in time for the March 2022 edition of the CLZ Newsletter.
We are really enjoying being back at the CLZ HQ, three of us full-time, the rest of the team for 2 days a week. It is so nice to be able to have live brainstorm sessions again, about new functionality, user interface designs, etc… Video meetings are okay, but nothing beats live face to face sessions!
And the extra efficiency is already showing, because we are cranking out good updates like never before; 5 updates for the Collector desktop programs (v22 live now!), 5 for the Connect web-based software (Pre-fill updates), and 2 x 5 updates for the CLZ mobile apps!
The topics today:
- All v22 for Windows updates are now live: Configurable Pre-fill and more!
- Also live for Connect: the new Configurable Pre-fill screen.
- All CLZ mobile apps: Progress Bars and Cancel buttons!
- All CLZ mobile apps: Support for Back Cover images
- Sneak Preview for CLZ Comics: bigger images in Add Comics screen
This is CLZ Alwin, with the Feb 2022 edition of the CLZ Newsletter. And I am writing this one from the CLZ HQ, not from home! Yes, the improving covid situation in the Netherlands means we are back at the office!
The return to our HQ did not exactly go as planned though… On Monday Feb 21, we arrived at the office to find part of the ceiling had collapsed. The storms over Amsterdam had dislodged some of the roof tiles, causing lots of rainwater on top of the ceiling.
The result, one dead Mac (an old one, phew), 2 dead keyboards, 2 dead magic mice, and some DVDs with water damage. Luckily our main computers were safe and dry.
More pictures of the mess can be found on our blog here. In the meantime, the roof tiles have been fixed. We still have a hole in the ceiling though.
But, even with the bad start, it is great to be back at the office! For now, Sytske, AJ and I are here full-time. The rest of the team is joining us at the office 2 or 3 days each week, working from home on the other days.
As for our projects, it’s been all about the user-configurable Pre-fill screens the past 2 months. But with that feature now being released for all products, we’re getting ready to move on to other cool stuff.
The topics today:
- Improved Pre-fill screen: choose your own fields!
- Music Collector 22: Configurable Pre-fill & Update from Core + WebP support
- CLZ Comics 7.3: Mark Multiple Series as Completed in one go!
- All CLZ apps: Sort by Date Added, Date Modified
- Coming up for the CLZ mobile apps: Progress Bars and Back Covers!
CLZ Alwin here, with the Jan 2022 edition of the CLZ Newsletter. This month, more huge updates for our comic cataloging tools and finally, the first update is live with the user configurable Pre-fill screen (CLZ Books)!. Plus, in other news, a nice surprise from our loyal customer M. Night Shyamalan!
The topics today:
- Coolness: M. Night Shyamalan mentions CLZ Movies in an interview!
- For all comic tools: Minor/Major Key distinction + Key Categories
- CLZ Books: Improved Pre-fill screen: choose your own fields!
It’s the last day of the year, so this is CLZ Alwin with the final CLZ Newsletter for 2021. But first: A happy, healthy and safe 2022 from the entire CLZ Team: Martin, Rowdy, Sven, Stijn, Joel, AJ, Pim, Joe, Bernard, Sytske and me, Alwin!
Let’s hope that in 2022, we will finally get rid of this Covid tragedy!
Today’s newsletter topics:
It has been a bit of a slow month, with few releases. Most of the team has been taking their well deserved days off from work this month. But… in January we will be ramping up immediately, with big releases coming up, see the news below:
- CLZ Books / CLZ Movies / CLZ Games 7.0 : New features and lots of improvements
- Coming up for ALL products: User-configurable Pre-fill screens
- Coming up for comics: Minor/Major Key distinction + Key Categories
CLZ Alwin here, with the CLZ Newsletter for November 2021.
Syts and I are currently dealing with the busiest week of the year: the Black Friday craziness. Processing over 200 support tickets everyday, and answering lots of questions in our Facebook groups. Providing renewal advice, correcting wrong purchases, helping with problems, etc…
So let’s start with a quick reminder of the CLZ Black Friday Sale 2021:
CLZ BLACK FRIDAY SALE: 33% discount on all subscriptions
The deal is very simple: 33% discount on the “Pay Yearly” options for everything CLZ, so for the Collector desktop programs, the Connect web-based software and the CLZ mobile apps.
To take advantage: »» LOGIN to the BLACK FRIDAY page here ««
This Black Friday sale will end on Cyber Monday, November 29, 23:59 EST, so only 3 days left!
Today’s newsletter topics:
As you know, the entire CLZ team has been working on a comic related project in the last few months. Which has resulted in 3 major releases for our comic cataloging tools this month, the main attraction being automatic key comic info from Core (first appearances, cameo appearances, major event, iconic covers, etc..).
In the meantime, the team has already moved on to give our other products some well deserved attention. First, big v7 releases for the other 4 CLZ mobile apps, v22 releases for the other 4 Windows programs and… many updates for the Connect web-based software.
These are the November 2021 releases:
- Huge updates for all comic cataloging tools (CLZ Comics, Comic Connect and Comic Collector), with automatic key comic info from Core, many new fields, etc..
- CLZ Music 7.0 : New features and lots of improvements
- Connect: new Progress Bars for all “slower” actions
- Connect: new Add from Core settings: select which fields to download from Core
[CLZ News] Improved Submit to Core system / Sneak Preview of updated comic tools
It’s Halloween! So it must be time for the Oct 2021 edition of the CLZ Newsletter!
October was a quiet month in terms of releases. But the CLZ team has not been sitting still, on the contrary:
At the moment, the entire team is working together on ONE big project, including all developers and all content managers. This is a rare opportunity, but we always enjoy working this way, as it is both fun and efficient.
This time, the big shared project is all about comics and it will result in BIG updates for all flavors of our comic cataloging tools: CLZ Comics 7.0, Comic Collector 22.0 and of course a big update for Comic Connect too (web developers are too cool for version numbers).
Read on for a sneak preview of the new features and improvements.
The topics today:
- 5 updates for Windows with an improved Submit to Core system
- 5 CLZ updates for Android to fully support system font sizes
- Sneak Preview: huge updates for all comic cataloging tools
The big project we are all working on now: lots of new features, new fields and improvements for our comic cataloging tools. Of course all based on your feedback!
Here’s what will be new:
- NEW: Automatic key comic information from Core!
When adding/updating comics from Core, it will now automatically fill in your “Is Key” and “Key Reason” fields. First appearances, deaths, cameo appearances, etc…
BTW: don’t worry, we won’t go the “speculation route”, like the other app “that should not be named”, you know the one 🙂 - Many new fields:
Is Completed for series, a new Collection Status called “Sold”, Date Sold, Price Sold, Last Bag/Board Date and Slab Certification Number. - CLZ Comics: Improved List View entries, showing more info
List entries will now include the Quantity (when <> 1), an Is Key icon and a Slabbed icon. Collection Status is now shown using a colored band on the right. You can now opt to show Cover Dates instead of Release Dates.
Also, in Series List your completed series are hi-lited with a colored band on the right. - Add Comics screen
New setting to “Hide Variants” when searching by Series.
CLZ Comics only:- when scanning barcodes, different beeps for found vs not found.
- tap thumbnail for bigger image
- Improved “Missing Comics” tool
New setting for showing/hiding “On Order” comics. When shown, hi-lited with a star (*). New setting for showing/hidding “Unreleased comics”. - CLZ Comics: now also use camera barcode scanner to …
- search your own collection
- fill in the Barcode field in the Edit Comic screen
ETA: within 3 weeks!
This is CLZ Alwin and I am afraid I have some bad news for all users of our comic cataloging tools today:
Our agreement with GoCollect has ended, so in today’s updates all GoCollect-related features have been removed:
- CLZ Comics 6.9 for iOS and Android (now live)
- Comic Connect (changes now live)
- Comic Collector 21.7 (coming up next week)
Which means no more automatic comic values when you add comics and no more daily updates for values.
We fully understand this is a shock and a disappointment for you all. Trust me, we are very disappointed too, maybe even more so than you are.
In any case, we sincerely apologize for this sudden loss of functionality.
But first, let me give you some more background on what happened:
CLZ Alwin here, with your Sept 2021 newsletter.
In September, we continued the stream of updates and releases that we started last month, with 2 big updates for all Windows releases, 2 big updates for all CLZ mobile apps, and several new features and tweaks for the Connect web-based software.
These are all September releases:
- For all “Collector” Windows programs:
- v21.4: Bar chart in folder panel background
- v21.5 for Movie/Comic/Game Collector: website-links now sync to cloud
- For the “CLZ” mobile apps:
- Version 6.5, with several new features in one go:
- Duplicate an item
- Clear Cloud button in Sync screen
- “Shake to Shuffle” – select a random item
- Games/Comics: a new Links tab for adding web-links
- Music/Movies: choose the currency symbol for displaying prices and values
- Movies: Set and Sync your own Box Set cover images
- Version 6.6, Submit to Core (and more):
- Submit to Core
- New Select Mode with new Action menu
- Action menu now also available on details page
- Version 6.5, with several new features in one go:
- For the “Connect” web-based software:
- More fields available in Field Defaults
- Easier user interface for Columns and Sorting
- Remove/Restore the automatic Core images for Front and Back
- Search your own database using CLZ Barry
- Set Cloud Visibility per Collection
This is CLZ Alwin, with the August 2021 edition of the CLZ Newsletter.
As promised in my “What’s cooking?” edition last month, there have been lots of releases in August, for the mobile apps, for Windows and several small updates for the Connect web-based software.
Here’s an overview of the August releases:
- For all “Collector” Windows programs:
- v21.3: New Transfer Field Data tool: copy field values from one field to another
- For the “CLZ” mobile apps:
- CLZ Music v6.4: Lots of new database field
- Coming up for all 5: Duplicate, Clear Cloud and “Shake to Shuffle”
- For the “Connect” web-based software:
- Collection Status filter
- Update from Core
- Movie Connect: Set Box Set Covers
- Coming up: more Field Default options, better UI for Columns/Sorting
Here it is, the CLZ Newsletter for July 2021.
Now, this could be a very short newsletter, because we did only ONE release this month: the CLZ Games 6.4 update on July 2 (the one with the new look).
But I won’t let you get away that easily:-) Instead, I am turning today’s newsletter into a big “What’s cooking at CLZ?” overview!
Even though we did no further releases, we have not exactly been sitting on our hands this month. Big projects are underway, some preparing for big releases in August, but also some “behind the scenes” work to improve our online services.
So… here’s what’s cooking:
- CLZ Music 6.4 for iOS and Android: lots of new fields
support for all new cloud fields that were introduced recently (Musicians, Credits, Headers in track lists, etc..) - For all Windows editions: new “Transfer Field Data” tool
an advanced tool for batch copying data from from one field to another. - Submit to Core site re-write
a new design and fully mobile ready! - Moving to a new server infrastructure
full scalable, more secure and more cost-effective - Better ISBN coverage for some European countries
implementing new data sources for European ISBNs.
CLZ Alwin here, with the June 2021 edition of the CLZ newsletter.
The CLZ Team is still working from home, but the end is near. We are hoping to start working at the office again around September 1.
And, as the regulations in the Netherlands have loosened up already, we were finally able to meet up for food and drinks. It was so good to see each other face to face again!
This month, it was all about 3 big projects:
- Lots of new fields for the CLZ Cloud for music:
- Music Connect / CLZ cloud updated with many new fields
- Music Collector 21.2 for Windows: More fields now sync to CLZ Cloud
- Coming up: CLZ Music 6.4, with all new fields editable and syncable
- New look for all CLZ mobile apps:
- CLZ Comics 6.6
- CLZ Books 6.4
- CLZ Music 6.3
- New Link with Core screens for all Windows products:
- Comic Collector 21.2: New Link Comics with Core screen
Here’s the CLZ News for May 2021, as always brought to you by CLZ Alwin.
Yes, I am still at it, after 25 years! That’s right, this month we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first Collectorz.com product: Music Collector for Windows!
Read my full “origin story” below 🙂
A large part of the CLZ team is working on big projects that take long to complete. The new Submit to Core system, the big CLZ Cloud / Connect update for music with lots of new fields and all the new Batch Link screens for Windows.
And we have started on a new huge endeavour: big cosmetic updates for all CLZ mobile apps. We have 4 people working on that, mobile developers Pim and Bernard, UI designer and tester AJ and since last week, even web-developer Sven joined the mobile team to bring you great looking new details screens with this updates to the “Clear” templates.
So… all in all… only 2 actual releases this month. More coming up soon!
The newsletter topics today:
- Music Collector’s 25th anniversary
- CLZ Movies 6.4: New look for movie list, cover view & movie details
- Music Collector 21.1 for Windows: New Link with Core screen
[CLZ News] New Link with Core screen for Windows, cosmetic updates for the CLZ apps coming up
CLZ Alwin here, with your CLZ news for April 2021.
Here in the Netherlands things are looking up, albeit slowly. The evening curfew has been lifted, shops can be visited without appointments and restaurants and bars are allowed to open up their outdoor terraces between noon and 18:00.
For the CLZ team, it’s business as usual, with some nice releases this April, and more big projects coming to an end soon:
- Released this month:
- Movie/Book/Game Collector 21.2 for Windows: New Link with Core screen
- Comic Collector 21.1: Download values in other currencies
- CLZ Books 6.3: New fields, website links and: other currencies!
- Coming up:
- Music/Comic Collector for Windows: New Link with Core screen
- CLZ mobile apps: big “cosmetic” update with a new look
- Music Connect/Cloud: new fields
- Re-design for the core.collectorz.net Submit to Core site
This is CLZ Alwin, with the CLZ News for March 2021.
We just started on our 2nd year with the entire CLZ Team working from their own homes. It feels like the new “normal” by now. Still hoping that we will all be working at our nice office again later this year. Time will tell.
Lots of releases in March, for Connect, the CLZ apps and the Windows software. Here’s what went live this month:
- Connect web-based software:
- Book Connect: New fields! Translator, Editor, Photographer, web-links, etc…
- Music/Movie/Comic/Game Connect: New: add website links to your entries
- Windows software:
- Book Collector: More fields now sync to CLZ Cloud / Book Connect
- All Windows editions: Various improvements and fixes
- CLZ mobile apps, for iOS and Android:
- CLZ Movies 6.3: Automatic Audience Ratings from IMDb
- CLZ Comics 6.4: Keep track of your Pull List
- CLZ Comics 6.5: Download GoCollect values in other currencies
[CLZ News] Big updates of all mobile & web editions, Automatic Audience Ratings for Movie Connect/Collector
Welcome to the CLZ News for Feb 2021, as always brought to you by me, CLZ Alwin.
In the Netherlands, the lockdown with curfew has been extended, so that’s not going in the right direction yet. In two weeks, on March 13, we will be “celebrating” our 1 year anniversary of the entire CLZ Team working from home. Crazy, right?
But we will have to deal with the situation, so we’ll just focus on bringing you lots of improvements for your software!
This month we sure managed to get a lot of updates out: 1 for Windows, 6 for Connect, 5 for iOS and 5 for Android.
The topics today:
- Movie Collector/Connect: Automatic Audience Ratings from IMDb
- Connect web-based software: 3 new settings to save screen space
- CLZ mobile apps: Big updates with various improvements
- What’s cooking?
[CLZ News] Pre-fill for Windows, Missing Comics for CLZ mobile apps, new currency settings for Connect
Here’s CLZ Alwin, with your CLZ News for January 2021.
I hope you are all staying safe. In the Netherlands, we just went into a stricter lockdown, including a curfew, meaning we can’t go outside between 9PM and 5AM. So it looks like we will have to remain in our work-from-home situation for quite a while 🙁
Still, we are now fully set up to work like this, so there’s absolutely no delays here, not in customer support, not in development, not in content management. Here’s what’s new and what’s cooking:
- Windows: New “Pre-fill” screens for Movie, Book, Music and Game Collector
- CLZ Comics: Missing Comics tool
- Connect: Currency selector and Currency Display settings
- Coming up: Audience Ratings from IMDb, for all movie tools
- Coming up: mobile-friendly Submit to Core site
This is CLZ Alwin, with the last newsletter for this strange 2020. All CLZ team members have been working from home for most of the year. With the Netherlands being in lockdown, I suspect it will stay like this for quite a while in 2021 too 🙁
Still, we were able to make lots of progress on our products and services in 2020, no problems there. And we’ve got big plans for 2021, so lots more to come!
BTW: did you know we celebrated our 20th anniversary this month? I started work on the first program in 1996 (Music Collector), but the Collectorz.com company was officially founded in December 2000, 20 years ago!
In a normal year, this would mean a nice long weekend trip with the entire team, to a city in Europe (we’ve done Berlin and London for our 10th and 15th anniversaries). But of course, no such trip was possible this year :-(.
Let’s hope 2021 will bring us back to normal life.
For now: The entire CLZ team wishes you a happy, healthy and safe 2021: Martin, Rowdy, Sven, Stijn, Joel, AJ, Pim, Joe, Bernard, Sytske and me, CLZ Alwin!
Wanna see faces with the names? Here’s a picture of the team during our online Christmas party via Google Meet!
Now, this is the CLZ News for December 2020:
- New “Pre-fill” screens for Connect and mobile apps
- Comic Connect: Missing Comics tool
- Comic Collector 21 for Windows
- V20.2 for all Mac editions: Now fully Big Sur compatible