News & updates tagged 'key' (page 44)

Find Image Online tool now uses Bing Image Search

The Find Image Online tool previously used Google Images to find images.

However, it turns out that on December 1, Google terminated the free Google Image Search API
that we were using, causing our Find Image Online functionality to stop working.

Google provides a new paid version of the Search API, but it is limited to max 10K searches per day.
With the amount of customers we have, we need at least 20K daily searches (600K per month!) 🙁

The solution: Switch to BING!

Microsoft also offers a paid Bing Image Search API and this one has no limits.
Or, to be more precise, they let us pay more for higher limits.

We immediately went to work and updated all our Windows and Mac programs
to use Bing Images for the Find Image Online tool instead.
Obviously, this generates considerable extra monthly costs (well over US $1,000),
but we have decided that we will NOT pass on these extra costs to our customers.

So here it is: the new Find Image Online, powered by Bing. Enjoy!

Fixed:

• Freezes at start up for some users, caused by the webcam detection.

Webcam barcode scanning

Use your webcam as a barcode scanner, to add or find CDs by barcode.

• Scan barcodes with your webcam
  Just use the live camera view to point your webcam at a barcode
  and let our software detect the barcode that is in view.
• Use the webcam scanner to add CDs by barcode
  Pop-up the scan window and scan CD barcodes,
  either using Direct Search or scanning into the Queue.
• Or use it in the main screen to find albums by barcode
  Scan a CD barcode while in the main screen,
  to quickly search your local database by barcode.
• Works best with auto-focus or manual-focus webcams
  Fixed focus cameras will not work well (or at all).

Read more

For better security, we have now moved both the Cloud and Connect websites to the HTTPS protocol, using so-called Extended Validation SSL certificates.

This SSL connection is indicated by the nice “green bar” in your address bar:

In the past 2 weeks, we have moved all 5 online media databases (movies, books, music, comics and games) to 5 new separate database servers.

This week, CLZ web developers Sven and Dion have further optimized these new servers to give you even better performance from Core, especially for title searches that have many results.

The fruits of their labour are now immediately noticeable in the ADD screens of your Connect software. Enjoy!

Today, we have completed the big project of moving our 5 Core and Cloud databases to a new server solution. Previously, everything was running on two high performance dedicated machines: one for all databases and websites, the second for all cover images.

For better performance, stability and scalability, we are now splitting up all services into multiple separate cloud-based solutions:

• 5 separate database servers for all 5 Core+Cloud databases
  
  Status: completed today!

• 5 separate storage servers / delivery networks for all cover images.
  
  Status: preparing the switch now. ETA: several weeks.

• 1 new fast web server for the Cloud, Core and Connect sites and services.
  
  ETA: within 2 months.

Multiple new field options have been added for the folder panel (for both Connect and the free CLZ Cloud viewers). My favorite new folder option: The Year folder for movies:

Read more

The home / hub page of your CLZ Cloud or Connect account now loads a lot faster.
(the 5 separate collection lists are now “lazy-loaded”)

A few weeks ago, we introduced the new Sort Order screen. Today we’re taking the next step: allowing multi-field sorting.

For example, you can now sort your list first by Year, then within the years, by Title.
Just drag multiple fields from the Available panel to the Selected panel, one by one:

New in all five Connect editions: Export your list to a text file, e.g. to CSV format, for importing into spreadsheet programs like Excel, Numbers, etc…

You can either:

• Export your entire database, by choosing Export from the Tools menu.
• Export only a selection. To do this, go to Select Mode, select some items, then click the Export button at the top.

Just over a week ago, we introduced a new design for the Columns screen. Today, we moved the new design over to the Sort Order screen, so that both have a consistent user interface.

Just drag your desired Sort Field to the right, then select Ascending or Descending using the toggle buttons below the field.

Next up: multi-field sorting!

Today, more sort field options have been added to the Sort Order screen of all five Connect and Cloud Viewer editions.
This basically means that from now on, ALL available cloud fields can also be sorted on.

Read more

The first version of Connect had a nice A to Z “alphabet bar” at the top, for quickly filtering your list to show only the items starting with a specific letter.

However, in the Two-Point-Oh redesign the wise wizards at the CLZ HQ the alphabet bar was reduced to just a tiny button, with a drop down panel showing all letters. Which of course saves space on the toolbar, in an attempt to make it all fit on smaller tablet and phone screens.
Not a bad idea in itself, but the first letter filtering lost its’ easy of use and accessibility.

So we changed our minds and today we brought back the Alphabet Bar!

It is now available on both the free CLZ Cloud viewers and the Connect software. But: only on bigger screens where it actually fits. On smaller screens, the Alphabet Bar nicely reduces to the tiny button again 🙂

New today, in all Connect apps AND Cloud viewers: a new Column Selection screen for the List View.

This new Columns screen lets you:

• Easily select your preferred columns by dragging fields from the Available Columns area to the Selected Columns area.
• Drag and drop to re-order columns within the Selected area.

Several small fixes today:

• Editing multiple items with really many items selected (say over 1,000) didn’t work.
  Now it does. But still, editing many items in one go may be slow.
• On large desktop screen, with the browser window set full screen, the infinite scrolling system didn’t work.
  It immediately stopped loading after the first set of items was shown. Happened only in Images and Card Views though, in List View all was well. Fixed now.
• When changing the sorting by clicking a column header, the sort direction of the previous sort column was used. Now it correctly resets to ascending sorting when changing to a different sort field.

Until recently, the public Cloud Viewer always followed the Sort Order and Columns selection set by the owner of the specific cloud collection you were viewing.

But as of today, the Cloud Viewer also features the Sort Order and Columns buttons:

Now, everyone who views your collection in the cloud is able to select his own Sort Order and Columns. Of course these settings are saved only for them (in a local cookie on their device), so their choices will not affect your own settings.

After a short absence, the Share to Facebook feature is back.
We have now re-implemented this feature using Facebook “stories”.

– Select an item in your collection, click the Share button and select “Facebook”.
– Now enter a personal message and click the Share button.

Which will result in a post like this on your Facebook timeline: