WhatPulse...

[BC_Programming]

I was bored one day, and was thinking "I wonder how many times I've clicked my mouse... or typed keys..." you know, silly little stats like that. I knew there were probably programs that kept track of them, so I went searching.

I found quite a few- keyboard statistics, some older programs, etc. However, one in particular was extremely cool- "WhatPulse" (www.whatpulse.org). It records keyboard keystrokes, mouse movement distance, mouse clicks, etc. And best of all, it's "distributed"- that is, the data can be uploaded to a server- it even allows for teams. It's really quite neat. and the client doesn't intrude at all, unless you configure it to do so.

Another neat feature is that they actually provide PHP that can be used to show these statistics on a web page; It's really quite polished- it can even keep track of individual keys and their counts. Very cool.

It doesn't HAVE to be used online, of course- it could just be used to keep track of your own keyboard/mouse usage, and export to local XML files. But the appeal of seeing how much we all type and click and move the mouse is pretty cool.

I took the liberty of creating a GlitchPC team, also. It won't intrude on our folding efforts, like BOINC or a SETI@Home team might, and it seems like fun. :)

[camerongray]

I signed up :biglaugh:

[Tux2]

Signed up and joined the team. It will be interesting seeing my statistics...:smile2:

[GlitchPC]

Just joined myself...:smile2:

[Stix]

Signed up and joined. Should be interesting to see what info this program gathers. :D

[Tux2]

Signed up and joined. Should be interesting to see what info this program gathers.

Yeah, exactly. I wish they had a version of it that was packaged for portableapps.com! I work on computers all day, just not mine, so the stats are a little inaccurate for me. Still pretty cool nonetheless though.

[GlitchPC]

Not to burst anyone's bubble here, but this program has a flaw...

Although it does count clicks, mileage and key-presses, the flood control only works on a timed basis...and those who are legitimately clicking links and/or just typing arbitrarily can add to their stats. Meaning you'd have to be on an honor system in order for this to really mean anything. Unfortunately...I can only vouch for myself, but have noticed I can just sit here and click my mouse while WhatPulse counts the clicks...and then I can wait till this program automatically pulses, or manually pulse to accept those stats.

Bummer...:sad2:

[Calum]

Although it does count licks

Yeah? An interesting feature :biglaugh:

Joke aside, yes, it's easy to "cheat" but it's all in fun anyway. Unless anyone here seriously wants to be the number 1 team? "We click the most ... yeah ... that's awesome".
I'm finding it very interesting seeing how much I do actually click and typ,e I honestly had no idea how much or how little I did it. it would be interesting to watch the stats if I was to go and play some games, the distance and clicks would mount up quickly then. Being able to pulse manually, then do something else, then see the stats again, is pretty cool - for example the difference between web browsing, typing on IM, things like that.

[BC_Programming]

I wouldn't really call it a flaw in the program... it would be a tad difficult to recognize when somebody is spamming without some complicated hueristics. Heck, if I really wanted to cheat I could just right a VB program that uses APIs to send mouseclicks a million times or a million random keycodes or something. But I have it because I'm genuinely curious about the number of keys/clicks and odometer and so forth, not to try to cheat. the whole on-line aspect is just a perk.