Validate VAT numbers from the desktop

If you run a business (or look after the books for one), sometimes it can be useful to be able to double check VAT registration numbers to ensure they are valid, or to simply look them up to find an address. Double checking a UK VAT number can be done with some simple maths1, but all that does is ensure it could be a valid number, not that it is one. Better, then, is to be able to punch the number into an online service, and be told not only…

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QrCode receives a little house training

Kevin Wells has released a new version of his QrCode application. The software is used to produce ‘Quick Response’ codes – two dimensional bar codes that can contain a little more information than their simpler older relatives, with URLs being a common example, whereby you scan a QR Code with your phone or other device, and from there your web browser can be launched pointing to the relevant address. For example, the one used on this page – somewhat pointlessly, I admit – leads to this page.

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Scroll wheel support added to BusTimes and TrainTimes

The wheels Windows on the bus screen go scroll round and round up and down… Kevin Wells has released updates to two of his applications – BusTimes and TrainTimes – bringing them up to versions 1.16 and 1.15 respectively. The update adds scroll wheel support in both cases, so where they present a window that can be scrolled vertically, the wheel is now functional for that purpose.

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Evade the noose by guessing a word in KevSoft’s kHangman

A new release from Kevin Wells is kHangman, a variation on everyone’s favourite game in which the punishment for not successfully guessing a word is to be hanged. Well, virtually, anyway, with an image of a hanging matchstick man drawn piece by piece with each letter guessed incorrectly – your game is over when the image is complete.

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News nybble: TrainTimes version 1.14

Kevin Wells has followed up his recent update to BusTimes with a similar one to TrainTimes, bringing it up to version 1.14. While the purpose of BusTimes is to provide RISC OS users with access to bus stop timetable and bus route information via the Transport API website using Wget, TrainTimes offers similar facilities for trains and stations, and the update to version 1.14 allows station timetables to be saved – either the current time, or one chosen by the user.

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News nybble: Form filler 1.18 released

Another update to Form Filler has been released by Kevin Wells, bringing it up to version 1.18. The program allows you to store a number of text strings, which can be inserted at the cursor when the corresponding button is clicked. A simple solution to cases where you might fill in certain details on a particular form repeatedly, or even use certain details on multiple different forms. The application can store a number of different sets of strings, so any given set could correspond with a particular form – and…

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