Hunt and peck no more

One of the largest collections of Touch Typing Tutors around. If this doens't get you typing 60 words / min than nothing will.

Link:
http://typingsoft.com/all_typing_tutors.htm

~

~Word = Synonym search in Google
(replace Word with your search word)

Interesting Facts About Domain Names

Interesting Facts About Domain Names: Interesting facts about domain names and what's available. Seems like Veign.com is a pretty good domain name - one of the main reason for choosing that as a company name many years ago...

Link:
http://www.yafla.com/dforbes/2006/03/29.html

Xbox.com Prima Guides

Xbox.com Prima Guides: "Lost in a particularly difficult level? Can't figure out how to beat that one boss? Wish you knew how to unlock that last character? Prima has you covered with guides for all your favorite Xbox® titles. The world's leading publisher of official game guides and the exclusive guide publisher for Microsoft®, Prima continues to dominate the field it created in 1990 by providing the highest quality game guides available. Get the best tips, maps, hints, and strategies from Prima's experts, and take your gaming further than you ever thought possible."

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/...

Need help on your AdSense campaigns?

Google Groups : AdSense Help

Spray paint, string, a motor and a wall

See the Video

Paint.NET v2.61 Released

I blogged somtime ago about a free alternative to the paint program that comes with Windows called Paint.NET.

About
"Paint.NET is image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows 2000, XP, Vista, or Server 2003. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.

It is meant to be a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with Windows."

What's New in 2.61:

• Fixed crash when clicking File->New when there is a malformed image in the clipboard
• Fixed several crashes related to pressing Ctrl+Z (Undo) or Ctrl+Y (Redo) before releasing the mouse button while still drawing
• Fixed Zoom Tool "haze" remaining after pressing Ctrl+Z before releasing the mouse button
• Fixed uninstaller not removing Start->Programs menu shortcut
• Fixed "Auto" button in Adjustments->Levels not updating one of its sliders
• Fixed a few small plugin API problems
• Fixed a race condition in the file loading code related to EXIF tags
• Added "Donate" to Help menu

Link:
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/

MSN Search Spoof

MSN Search Spoof: "MSN Search celebrates April Fool's with the return of Spoof, the parody tool that uses fake (but hilariously accurate) search results to gently mock friends, bosses, or people who just need to be teased."

Link:
http://www.mymsnsearch.com/index.aspx

AdSenseLog v3.0 released

I have been a fan of AdsenseLog from the first time I stumbled across and start using.

AdSenseLog is a tool for checking and analyzing your Adsense ads data (Content, Search, Custom/URL channels and Referrals). This is much easier to use than the web interface from Google and the graphical charts adds a nice touch. If your like me and like to kep an eye on things then check out this application.

Whats new:

• Referral Data
• SMS Support
• New Pricing model
  

Of course not everything is perfect and the developer is probably sick of hearing me point out the same issue: Resizing should resize all tables and grpahical displays - I would really like to see the tabulated data resize with the application. I guess something has to be left for a future version.

Anway, check it out, it's worth the download. Tell'm Veign sent ya.

Link:
http://www.metalgrass.com/adsenselog/

Windows Live Messenger Final - Sneek Peek

Windows Live Messenger Final - Sneek Peek

Ohh, glassy

Pixeur 2.6 released

Pixeur is the ultimate in a Color Picker / Color Selector application. I had some free time and desire so I released a new version of Pixeur. I really needed to clear up some stupid bugs with things I forgot to do in the last release and I wanted to get a basic Color Scheme added. Not only do I need to get a color, select a color, but I often need colors that compliment a color. This is where the basic color schemer comes in. Oh, and the color scheme folds up and can be lauched as a seperate window.


Check it out and please let me know what you think..

Link:
http://www.veign.com/download_app.asp?app=107

Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services

Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services

Everything is moving online. Pretty soon your desktop will be a ghost town with only a link to your browser. I will only say all this makes me uncomfortable as there are too many people willing to take advantage of others and having your data, email, applications, personal information, pictures, bookmarks, and conversations all online just makes us HUGE targets. Once its online who knows how they can use it against us.

The Big List of Online Storage

Link:
http://www.thewebsiteroom.com/id102.html

Free Online Storage

Box.Net will give you 1GB of space to store what every you want for free. Get 5GB for only $4.99 / month. This sure beats the hacks that are around for turning a Gmail account into online storage.

Be warned about there Privacy Policy which states:
"Box.net reserves the right to share aggregated demographic information about our customers, sales, and traffic to our partners and advertisers."

Also, don't think of using this service to store your Porn collection or MP3's as they state they will disclose your data if:
"we reasonably believe we are compelled by applicable state and federal laws"

And, I wouldn't use it as a safe backup location because of this:
"Box.net reserves the right to terminate without notice your password, account or use of Box.net service and delete any data within Box.net service"

That's all I have to say about that.

Link:
http://box.net/

What a day

I just had one of those days where it seemed everything was going wrong and I didn't have answers for any of them.

Started out with email going down on the server and tech support would not just re-boot the server (had gone down with the same symptoms in the past and a re-boot is all that would fix it). So, I spend all day submitting support tickets, hounding them on the phone, and posting to their forums just to try and get them to fix the issue. 8 hours later and I get the main guy on the phone and he's trying to work out the issue. I asked him if he could just humor me and re-boot the server, so he did. Guess what? Yup, email back online. 8 hours of stress could have been saved if I just had access to the server.

Also, working on a new website design project and ran into a CSS problem that would only show in IE. Go figure. I tried to search high and low for an answer, work through the issue with trial and error but I just couldn't figure what was causing the issue. Thanx to the helpful people on the CSS Email List - these are some of the best of the best with CSS and came to my rescue.

So, I'm done for the day. Sick back, relax, take a breath, and get ready for a busy tomorrow.

Do you OneCare?

5 reasons to use Windows Live OneCare to help protect your computer: "Windows Live OneCare is a comprehensive service that helps protect your computer from many different kinds of threats."

I'm not brave enought to install this. I will stick with Windows Defender, SyGate Personal Firewall, and Norton Antivirus.

Doodles Honydrops

What is your Easter Bunny Name?

New SyncToy v1.2

SyncToy v1.2: "SyncToy v1.1 helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers quickly and easily."

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

Information:
http://www.microsoft.com/.../synctoy.mspx

See what your website looks like on other browsers

Browser Shots lets you view still images of your website as viewed by other browsers. What you do is submit your URL and then wait for Browser Shots to create the images for you. Just that simple.

Link:
http://browsershots.org/

Most Expensive PCs

Most Expensive PCs: Start saving your pennies

Change the location of the 'My' folder in Windows

I keep all my data in a single data folder. This way I can easily backup all the data on my system just by copying a single folder (of course there is a complex folder structure below). There are times when you need to change the locations of the special 'My' folders to make it easier to drop into my data folder. In comes a KB article from MS to show you how.

Of course if you are not comfortable with screwing around in the registry then use the Tweak UI tool from MS. This tool can handle this and so much more.

Link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q242557/

Tweak UI:
http://.../xppowertoys.mspx

Safely install software in a virtual layer - Lifehacker

Safely install software in a virtual layer - Lifehacker: "you can install any program to a transparent layer that snags all attempts that the program makes to write to your system, instead saving them inside of the layer. That means no extra .dll’s and no permanent registry changes"

I use Virtual PC from Microsoft and love it. In fact I use it for testing software on the various OS's from MS. This makes it easy to install software, test, and restore the OS back to a clean install for the next test.

Link:
http://.../hack-attack-safely-install-software-in-a-virtual-layer...

ZoomIt from Sysinternals

ZoomIt is screen zoom and annotation tool for technical presentations that include application demonstrations. ZoomIt runs unobtrusively in the tray and activates with customizable hotkeys to zoom in on an area of the screen, move around while zoomed, and draw on the zoomed image.

If you are not familiar with the tools from SysInternals then you should look around a bit as he creates some of the top system tools around (and they are all free).

Link:
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/zoomit.html

Microsoft Opens Public IE Bug Database

Microsoft Opens Public IE Bug Database

Quickbooks Rocks!

After much delay I finally got around to putting all my financial data into Quickbooks. I must say I wish I had done this a long time ago. Quickbooks just makes things so much easier: from tracking profits / loss to entering in invoices, bills, and sales receipts.

If you have the need and looking for a deal then check out Amazon. They are selling the software for $30 cheaper then retail and offering a $30 Amazon gift certificate rebate.

Link:
http://www.amazon.com/...

(I have included my referral ID with the links above so purchasing from the links will help support this blog)

Brilliant button maker

The "80x15 brilliant buttons", also known as "antipixel buttons" or "badges", are the very popular buttons especially used by bloggers, see above. Brilliant button maker is a very well designed interface to create your own.

Link:
http://.../brilliantMaker/buttonImage.php

New Tools in the Yahoo! Toolbar

Yahoo! Search blog: New Tools in the Toolbar

Good way to waste some time on a lazy Sunday

The Fancy Pants Adventure is a kinda fun Flash game. Spent about 30min playing and was able to get through the first level - seems to be the only level the developer has completed.

Link:
http://hallpass.com/media/fancypantsadventure.html

The List of Random Links from Garry

MobiLuck : Send messages for free and meet people with your mobile phone.

Deskloops: Imagine yourself at the center of a virtual loop where all the windows you use are spread out around you.

Online Tools, Generators, Checkers: Lot of tools that have probably been around a while just bunched up

Neon Sign Generator: Just what the title says

Adventure Maker: Adventure Maker is a free innovative toolkit for Windows that allows creating point-and-click games and multimedia software in minutes, without any scripting or programming. You can choose between creating software for Windows and for PSP.

Free Printable Business Cards: 200 free business card designs that you can download, customize, and print.

The online tools one is one have a lot if interest in and will probably be the inspiration for some future posts.

Thanx Garry!.

My Note-It application makes it to the radio

I just found out the Kim Komando show listed Note-It as one of her shareware picks for sticky notes.

Thank Kim!.

Quick Tabs - Internet Explorer 7

Did IE actually bring something to the table before Firefox?

Might have. Check out the FireFox extension and then check out IE 7's new Quick Tab's.

Now wonder the icon that was choosen for the extension.

Just may be the coolest Firefox extension yet.

Viamatic foXpose extension has got to be the coolest extension yet. This extension will build a single page of thumbnails for all open tabs in the current session of Firefox. This lets you quickly look through your open tabs and navigate to the one you need. Sure, reading the short title that appears on the tab may be a possiblity if web devs didn't push so many keywords into the titles and make them useless - plus the more tabs open the less of the title you are going to see.

This extension is a must if nothing more than to check it out.

Link:
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/...

(A big thanx to Gary for pointing this one out to me)

74 years

Life Expectancy Calculator:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/calcs/n_expect/main.asp

Megapixel Calculator

Megapixel Calculator: "This is a megapixel calculator, a tool to calculate and convert resolution, file sizes. How many pixels in a DVD image? How does that compare to a 5 megapixel camera? What is the resolution of Digital Cinema 2K? The answer is here!"

Link:
http://www.forret.com/tools/megapixel.asp

Want to start your own video blog (vlog)?

Then check out the Freevlog's step-by-step guide to setting up a videoblog for free.

If you want a sample of a great video blog then swing by RocketBoom.

Link:
http://freevlog.org/

Even more reason to run Firefox

Exploit Unleashed for IE Hole:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/...

Log Me In: Remote access for free

Access & Control Your PC from Anywhere - FREE

Millions of users agree: LogMeIn is the fastest, easiest, most secure remote access solution available - 100% FREE.

• Run programs & access your files anytime
• Check email from anywhere
• Access your home PC from the office
• 100% FREE to use!

Other services:

• Log Me In Pro: Like free except better
  
• Remote Backup: Automating backups to a remote server with ease
  
• Rescue: Provide instant remote support without installing any software
  
• IT Support: Easily manage remote and mobile systems

Link:
http://logmein.com

Quick and easy way to stream an MP3

Quick and easy way to stream an MP3:

1) Open a text editor and add a line to your MP3 file
http://www.MyDomain.com/songs/MySong.mp3

2) Save the file with the extension of .m3u
MySong.m3u

3) Upload both the song and the playlist file to your server

4) Create a link in your page to the playlist file


Alternate Ways:

Use a Flash Player like Wimpy
http://www.wimpyplayer.com/

Inside Firefox 2 Alpha 1

Check out what is planned for the new version of Firefox by looking at some screenshots of Firefox 2 Aplha 1.



Points:

• Each tab can be closed via its own closed button (x)
• History menu
• History Search - great idea

The roadmap for Firefox:
http://.../whats-next-for-firefox.html

Link:
http://reviews.cnet.com/...

Configuring a free VPN solution in your home

"A VPN is used to connect multiple private networks securely across an unsecured public network like the Internet. A private network in this case would be a network in which the traffic is not freely accessible by the public. If we break down the meaning of Virtual Private Network in the instance explained above it would be as follows. The two end points of this "network" are private networks that are seamlessly connected across a public network in which neither private network knows about, creating a "Virtual Private Network" between them."

Link:
http://www.computernetworkinghelp.com/content/view/41/1/

Coca-Cola Blak | New Coffee Drink from Coke

Coca-Cola Blak | New Coffee Drink from Coke: "an invigorating and stimulating blend that has a perfect balance of the effervescent taste sensation of Coca-Cola and natural flavors, with real coffee."

Not too sure about the taste of coca-cola with coffeee but who knows. I am a huge coffee drinker and will only drink coke (can't stand Pepsi) so if this comes around just may have to give it a chance.

Dell Acquires Alienware

Some real kick-ass systems, but pricey. Just too hard to keep the hardware up to speed for the games being released. Give me a moderate system and MAME32 anyday.

Link:
http://.../Dell_Acquires_Alienware/1143070457

Off-Tech: Recipe Ingredient Search

All Recipes makes it very easy to find recipes with the ingredients you currently have. Kinda of fun to play around with.

Oh, and before you look there are no recipes that use peanut butter and beets - I checked...

Link:
http://search.allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ingredient.aspx

Internet Developer Toolbar beta 2

The beta 2 release is out for the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar from Microsoft. This is actually a lot better than I thought it would be. Worth the download.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

So, you want to model?

Primer on 3D modeling. What did you think I meant?

Actually a very informative guide on 3D modeling.

Link:
http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/...

The Hardest Riddle Available on the Internet

The Hardest Riddle Available on the Internet: Oh my god this is difficult. There are supposed to be around 138 levels and considering how long it took me to get through the first 7, I just don't have the time.

Enjoy!

Link:
http://deathball.net/notpron/

MS offers OneNote 2003 free for 60 day trial

This trial software allows you to use the full Microsoft® Office OneNote® 2003 product for 60 days.

Great way to see what OneNote is all about.

Link:
https://microsoft.order-10.com/onenotedl60day/...

Google Finance Beta

Google Finance has been released to beta.

Why don't they just release Google Everything Beta - seems like that's the direction.

Link:
http://finance.google.com/finance

(also updated my Big Google List)

LED-Flex: Now this is cool

LED-Flex: An Efficient Substitute For Neon: No buzz, no broken neon, neat, easy to form, runs cool, reduced energy cost by 70%. Ain't technology great.

If you like that, check out Chronos Chromos Concrete.

New version of Note-It

Note-It is one of my most popular applications. This is a very simple, easy to use post-it type application. I just released a new version with some user requested features (just have to try it to see).

If you're curious is Freeware.

Link:
http://www.veign.com/download_app.asp?app=102

World's most expensive cars, 2006

The are some amazing cars in the just release World's Most Expensive Car List. I just can't imagine driving any of the cars in this list. I mean where would you park it at Walmart? or would be able to reach the window at the drive through at Taco Bell?

If not Winamp then try foobar2000

foobar2000: "Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include full unicode support, ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio formats. Audio formats supported: MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC / Ogg FLAC, WavPack, WAV, AIFF, AU, SND, CDDA."

Link:
http://foobar2000.org/

The Rasterbator

The Rasterbator is a web service which creates huge, rasterized images from any picture. The rasterized images can be printed and assembled into extremely cool looking posters up to 20 meters in size.

Nice idea, bad name.

Link:
http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/

How to convert Adobe Acrobat Reader (*.pdf) files to Word 2003

How to convert Adobe Acrobat Reader (*.pdf) files to Word 2003: "This article describes how to convert a Portable Document Format (.pdf) document from Adobe Acrobat Reader to Microsoft Office Word 2003."

Send a virus to Microsoft

Send a virus to Microsoft: "Microsoft has streamlined their process for receiving samples of malicious software or spyware."

Link:
http://msmvps.com/.../86794.aspx

Colors

What do colors convey:

• Red: Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.
• Green: Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly associated with money.
• Yellow: Yellow is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.
• Blue: Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven.
• Black: Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery.
• Purple: Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.
• Orange: Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.
• White: White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection.

Read more at Color Wheel Pro:
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html


Basic color terminology:

• Hue (A): Hue is the color itself.
• Saturation (B): The intensity of a specific hue.
• Luminance: The intensity of light in a color

Some Tools:

Pixeur: A powerful color picker / color selector application. Select any color on the screen, find a color in the color selector, store and recall a history of colors you've selected.
http://www.veign.com/download_app.asp?app=107

Color Wheel Pro: Software tool that helps you create harmonious color schemes based on color theory. This is one great application and one I have been running for many years.
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/

SEO revisited

I stumbled across a a couple of new SEO websites. One is a great list of tools and the other is probably one of the best articles I have come across. Just in case you forgot my post on the subject check out the 'SEO and What I know' post.

151 SEO Tools:
http://www.seocompany.ca/tool/seo-tools.html

Rules to Better Google Rankings:
http://www.ssw.com.au/.../RulestoBetterGoogleRankings.aspx

Web QA Test Tool Links:
http://www.aptest.com/webresources.html

Utra-Mobile PC's

More about the Ultra-mobile PC stuff coming out:
http://.../UMPC_Why_Microsoft_Thinks_You_Need_It/1142627438

I, for one, look forward to seeing what comes out. This is something that would fit perfectly into my business and the way I do things. The power of a full blown PC in size that could be neatly tucked away (and in the case of OQO placed into you pocket)

Fold - Your Web 2.0 Start Page

Fold - Your Web 2.0 Start Page: "Fold is a portal or start page. The aim of Fold is to consolidate most of the tools and information you need every day into a single web page. No matter where you are in the world, each time you log in you'll feel right at home."

Interesting...

Link:
http://www.fold.com/

Happy St. Patty's Day!

A couple of free movie converters

Bink Video: A free video converter to convert from Quicktime format to AVI format. Also, a tutorial on how to use this tool. A little basic but does the job.

Link:
http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm

MediaCoder: A free universal audio/video batch transcoder, putting together lots of excellent audio/video codecs and tools from the open source community into an all-in-one solution, capable of transcoding among different audio/video formats with many extra features.

Link:
http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/

More AJAX stuff

Because its the future:
Downloadable AJAX Galleries, Slideshows and Effects

New SyncToy v1.1 from Microsoft

SyncToy v1.1: "SyncToy v1.1 helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers quickly and easily."

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

Information:
http://www.microsoft.com/.../synctoy.mspx

Folder Size for Windows

Folder Size for Windows adds a new column to the Windows Explorer details view that displays the sizes of files and folders.

Link:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/foldersize

Little, itty, bitty

Bitty Browser is the little browser that goes on any Web page, it's like Picture-in-Picture for the Web.

Useful? maybe. Novelty? probably. Find on any of my websites? unlikely.

Link:
http://www.bitty.com/

Copyscape - Website Plagiarism Search

Copyscape will search the web for pages that match the page you submit. What it does is a word comparison to determine if pages appear to be plagiarized from the submitted page. This makes is so easy to see if and who is ripping off your work.

Link:
http://www.copyscape.com/

EmEditor is doing it all right

By the title you could probably guess that I really like EmEditor.

EmEditor is by far the top text editor around. I have been using this text editor for many, many years and it has never let me down. With each version it keeps getting better.

I do website development and from early on I noticed I was much faster in a text editor. I do probably 98% of my work in EmEditor and the other 2% in Dreamweaver. I have worked with many text editors before stumbling across EmEditor. Once installed it has never been off my system.

Ok. So you're asking why am I posting all this? Because I just upgraded to v5.0 and I blog about anything I come across.

Link:
http://www.emeditor.com/

How To: Print multiple Word documents at once

Just because I had a need so I thought I would share it.

1. Setup your default printer to how you want all documents to print. This includes which printer will be used, what the quality will be, blah..blah.....blah
2. Navigate to the folder where the documents are located. For ease they should all be in the same folder.
3. Select the documents by either using Shift-Click or Ctrl-Click or Ctrl-A.
4. With the documents selected right-click and choose Print
5. Printing should begin - the more you have to print the more bogged down your system will appear.
   

That's it.

Google Acquires 3D Design Program

Google Acquires 3D Design Program: Wow. They are just eating up everything in site. What does the future hold for Google? World domination of all that is internet? Make everything internet based? Eliminate desktops as we know it?

Link:
http://...Google_Acquires_3D_Design_Program/...

Google Maps land on Mars

Google Mars has been released.

Link:
http://www.google.com/mars/

The worst of the worst

Web Pages That Suck published The Worst Web Design Techniques Featured on Web Pages That Suck in 2005 on their blog. This is always an interesting site to check out everyonce in a while to get inspired on what not to do in website design.

Link
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/...

Looking for replacement parts?

There are over 7 million replacement parts at PartStore.com. This is a great idea for finding a replacement for a lost remote, power cube, or other hard to locate part.

Link:
http://www.partstore.com/

Microsoft launches On10

Instead of posting what I think it is, here is their description:
"10 is a place for people who want to use technology to change the world. Every weekday at 10:00 am (PST) we’ll update this site with a new video that highlights people, their passions and often the technology they are using. At the end of each week we compile these videos into a full length show with some extra surprises for you. In addition to the show, we're launching a number of blogs for the enthusiast covering a wide range of topics. Our blogs will be written by Microsoft employees, members of the 10 community or a mixture of both."

Looks alot like what Channel 9 does but for the non-techie types.

Link:
http://www.on10.net

Too smooth

This game flows very smoothly. They say that you will loose perception of time while playing it. Not sure about that but one of the smoothest Flash games around.

Link:
http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/

New tech gadgets being displayed

Want to see some of the new technologies and gadgets appearing at CeBIT 06, then follow the Gizmodo blog. This blog has been making frequent posts with new stuff and some of it is really cool.

Link:
http://www.gizmodo.com/index.php

Pixeur keeps getting better

Pixeur is the ultimate in a Color Picker / Color Selector application. After a long delay in coming out with the second release I decided to make the application more inline with the color selector in Photoshop. Seemed like I was always using Photoshop for nothing more than selecting a color so it seemed logical to incorporate the color selector into Pixeur along side the color picker.

This makes my life so easy when trying to get color ideas to use in various designs.

Link:
http://www.veign.com/download_app.asp?app=107

Microsoft Building New Free Mail Client

BetaNews | Microsoft Building New Free Mail Client: "Internet Explorer isn't the only application to enjoy a resurgence in Windows Vista -- Microsoft is readying a new desktop e-mail client that will be integrated into Windows Live and eventually replace Outlook Express. Dubbed Windows Live Mail Desktop, the product is currently in beta testing."

Link:
http://.../Microsoft_Building_New_Free_Mail_Client/...

What else is coming for Live?

Augmented reality

Augmented reality
Full immersion virtual reality step aside, here is a cool look of what else might be in store for us in the not too distant future.

Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L6ee0KAdXA&search=

My last freeware list

Even I'm getting sick of posting these freeware lists and sites. I have no problem with highlighting great applications that I find but too much is too much with these top 10 lists and best of the best lists and must have freeware lists.

So, with that being said here's another list of freeware applications that are well catagorized. This is a list that will keep you coming back to see what out there. So, before you get ripped of by places like ThinkAll.com stop by the Who needs to pirate software list.

No more, I'm done...

Link:
http://tacfug.org/blog/...

Ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) Display Emulator Beta

The UMPC Display Emulator Beta application enables you to test your application's layout and screen behavior as it appears on a UMPC.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

Should I change or not, that's the question

Should I change this template to something a bit lighter? Thinking hard about this and may do it next week...

Wanna see what the new Office will look like?

The Office User Interface Blog is a good place to catch a glimpse of the new Office 2007. I looked around a bit and can't wait to try it out.

I know a lot of effort was put into the UI and usability. So far, I like what I see and it seems to be a huge improvement. One issue I always had with Word and Excel was how difficult it was to find the tools to do what I needed to do. There seemed to be so much packed in without a much needed change to how to access these tools. Finally, Microsoft has addressed this.

Good Job!

Link:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/default.aspx

Origami's Architect gives first look at Ultramobile PCs

Origami's Architect gives first look at Ultramobile PCs

Ultramobile PC's is something I think has a lot of merit. Not sure the price point for the MS's devices yet.

Is Microsoft moving in the right direct? You decide after watching the video.

Do I think OQO still has one of the best I have seen? YES

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/umpc/default.mspx

MediaMonkey is tops for music management

MediaMonkey is one cool application. It's worth it for the Auto-Tag from Filename tool.

Features:

• Organize music and edit tags in your audio library with a powerful, intuitive interface
• Automatically lookup and tag Album Art and other metadata
• Manage 50,000+ files in your music collection without bogging down
• Play MP3s and other audio formats, and never again worry about varying volume
• Record CDs into OGG, MP3, FLAC and WMA files
• Convert MP3s, OGG, FLAC and WMA files into other formats with the Audio Converter
• Create playlists and music mixes quickly and easily to suit any occasion
• Synchronize with iPods / MP3 players effortlessly and convert tracks on-the-fly

Link:
http://www.mediamonkey.com/

Live is getting better

Announcing the All New Live Favorites!:

What we've done:

• Redesigned Look & Feel - A much cleaner interface, easier to manage
• Full Screen Experience - No longer do you have to manage your favorites in one small area of the screen
• In-Line Preview - Preview your favorite web pages from within Live Favorites
• Browse by Tags - Not just for search, you can now see a list of your tags and browse by them
• Right-Click Enabled - Right-click any favorite to edit it's properties
• Real-Time Search - Start typing a search and have your bookmarks filtered on the fly!

Link:
http://favorites.live.com/

Did you know that Google Calendar is coming

Read about it and see the screenshots. This is going to be directly competing with the recent launch of 30 Boxes.

I use Outlook but can see the benefits of an online calendar system. One day I will sit down and play with 30 boxes.

Has the whole world gone BlogMad?

BlogMad is a new way to drive traffic to your blog. Go ahead and signup. What can it hurt?

Windows Live Expo to take on Craigslist

First, what is Windows Live Expo: "Expo is a dynamic social listing service that allows members to find and sell items, discover information, and meet other parties in their area – all for free!"

Very similiar to Craigslist but with a much better layout. Does anyone else think Craigslist is the ugliest site ever? I can't beleive a site that bad looking can become so big. Windows Live Expo has a web 2.0 feel so right there its miles ahead of Craigslist in my book. I know, I know, looks are only a small part of a social listing website but I just can't get by the look of Craigslist to actually use it.

Link:
http://expo.live.com/

Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC)

Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC): "The Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) category offers consumers small, ultra-mobile devices with full PC capabilities, uncompromised Internet access, anytime connectivity, and the ability to recognize and adapt to its environment virtually anytime and anywhere."

I think this is a great technology. Much better for me then tying the functionality into a phone like the Treo

Photos: Origami minitablets

Photos: Origami minitablets on CNET News.com

AdSenseLog v3.0 is in the works

I have been made aware that version 3.0 of AdSenseLog is in the works. AdSenseLog is a tool for checking and analyzing your Adsense ads data (Content, Search and Custom/URL channels). This tool makes it very easy to monitor and track your AdSense account.

This is what I have been told will be in v3.0:

• Faster parsing speeds
• Addition of referral data information
• Ability to stop the shut-down question (this was very annoying and I'm glad its fixed)
• A few things that are still up in the air like: SMS support

Link:
http://www.metalgrass.com/adsenselog/

Flagr

Interesting: Share where you go, while on the go with Flagr.

Link:
http://www.flagr.com/

CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor better than NVU

Seems CoffeeCup has a Free HTML editor and this one seems to be far better than the NVU one I blogged about before. One thing I look for in software is something that is actively being developed and CoffeeCup HTML Editor falls into this group - the last release was on Jan 27, 2006.

Be warned the free version supports code only editing as the Visual Editor is only supported in the full version.

From the site:
"The CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor is a drag and drop HTML Editor with Built-in FTP uploading. It has wizards for tables, frames, forms and fonts and comes with all HTML 4.0 and XHTML tags. The Free version also includes wizards for images, links and a Quickstart so you can create web pages fast."

Link:
http://www.coffeecup.com/free-editor/

Instead of posting additional free HTML editors, advanced text editors, or web page creation tools check out the Free HTML Editors, Web Editors, and WYSIWYG Web Editors and Site Builders List.

What? Make Windows 3.1 look and feel like WinXP

Huh?

I don't understand why, first off, someone would still be using Win3.1, let alone want it to look like WinXP. That's what Calmira is for.

I file this one under 'Why in the world'

Link:
http://users.pandora.be/azone/calmira/calxp40.htm

Thursday we will know what Origami is

Seeing Origami on Scobleizer

• It’s not an iPod killer.
• It’s not a portable Xbox.
• It’s not an OQO killer.
• It’s not a PSP killer.

A better list of web 2.0 applications

This list of web 2.0 is better than the previous one I posted. The addition of the thumbnails is a nice touch, even though they are a bit small. Be sure to click on the thumbnail to get a slightly larger image and a brief description.

Link:
http://.../complete-list-of-web-20-applications.html

RSS Platform Screen Saver

RSS Platform Screen Saver is a screen saver which displays the image of RSS posts that have image enclosures.

Link:
http://blogs.msdn.com/rssteam/archive/2006/02/28/540319.aspx

Are you unknowingly sharing your wireless connection?

Hey Neighbor, Stop Piggybacking on My Wireless

Tiltomo: Content Based Visual Image Search

Tiltomo is a new Visual Search site that works against Flickr. What is a Visual Search? A Visual Search uses proprietary algorithms (mathematical calculations) to analyze the similarity & relationship between images.

This site could become very useful for web designers or graphic artists looking for stock images and need some assistance. A kinda thesaurus for images.

The sites needs a serious makeover to have a more web 2.0 look / usability and they need a logo (really bad).

Link:
http://www.tiltomo.com/

So much free software around

With so much free software around its hard to tell if your downloading a legitimate application or the front for some nasty adware or spyware application. Here is a list of some websites which do a very good job of listing free and clean software.

Pricelessware:
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/

Snapfiles (freeware):
http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/freeware.html

Freeware Home:
http://www.freewarehome.com/

Freeware Guide:
http://freeware-guide.com/html/updates.html

Honorable mention (donationware):
http://www.veign.com/download_main.asp

I was happy to just be nominated

What's in this year's Oscar goodie bag?

Was this the first web browser?

Was this the first web browser ever made? Alot of people seem to think so.

Link:
http://www.w3.org/.../screensnap2_24c.gif

Now the proof

I posted a blog entry a while back about throwing boling water into very cold air. Now a video has come out to show the effects of this.

Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFj_i6HtebM&search=science

A weekend away

Well, I'm off for a weekend away. A whole weekend with no computer, no internet, no email, and no blogging. I can feel the shakes coming on already.

Now this is how Microsoft should market software

Nvu, a decent free website authoring application

Nvu is a complete Web Authoring System for Linux Desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Not sure if its in development anymore but still worth checking out.

Link:
http://www.nvu.com/

I can drive 55

You think the speed limit shouldn't be 55 anymore on highways? You're right:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5366552067462745475

Does anybody actually think 55 on the highways is a safe speed?

Can Jotform compete with Wufoo

That sounds like a mouthfull.

So what it Jotform? JotForm is the first web based WYSIWYG form builder kinda like Wufoo. I like the interface and usability of Wufoo better but if Jotform can steer things in a different direction maybe they can compete.

What do I mean by that? Well, if your going to design something to be exactly the same as something else then you have to do it better, a lot better and Jotform comes up a bit short.

But wait! There is room. The thing as I see, as a developer for both desktop applications and web applications, is a need for the forms creator to spit out code. How about when I am done with the form I have a way to hook-it to a database (provide me with a table / field editor) or through a common email script (like MailEnable or Jmail). Also, let me download the code in different languages: ASP, ASP.NET, PHP would be a great start.

If Jotform can do this they will be where nobody has gone yet.

Good luck and lets see if Jotform or Wufoo can tap into this.

Track changes to any website

Feedwhip is built around a simple, powerful idea: we track all your favorite websites so that you don't have to. Every time one of your website changes, we'll send you an email!

Link:
http://www.feedwhip.com/

Strange New Products

There is some weird and strange things on the Strange New Products blog.

Link:
http://www.strangenewproducts.com/

Seeker 3.0 Released

Seeker is a great alternative to the standard Windows file search tool. Besides implementing all the standard features found in the Windows search tool Seeker adds new functionality;

• Search / Find and Replace text inside of file
• No restrictions on the file extentions searched
• Search and Replace based on regular expressions
• 4 different reporting modes
• Preview with highlighter to easily see what Seeker has found
• Command line support
• Find / Search and Replace inside of Word and Excel files

Link:
http://www.veign.com/download_app.asp?app=104

Web 2.0 is popping up everywhere

Here are some of the best of web 2.0 (the next generation of the web).

Link:
http://reviews.designtechnica.com/guide46_page1.html

Microsoft confirms 'Origami' project

Microsoft confirms 'Origami' project: A new portable media device that allows users to listen to music, play video games, browse the internet and jot hand-written notes is the initial vision of a product in development by Microsoft and its partners, the software giant confirmed.

Link:
http://.../microsoft-confirms-origami-project/...

Free USB memory stick from MS

Free USB memory stick - Just pointing this out in case anyone is interested in the information they are supplying. Just so happends they deliver it to you on a USB memory stick.

How do you know if a website is safe?

Use the very easy to use, extremely informational, and just a great idea, Firefox extension called SiteAdvisor.

SiteAdvisor setups a small graphic in the status bar of Firefox that will change color depending on the safety factor of the website you are on. You can also browse to the SiteAdvisor archive of the website and get a more detailed report of what they found; from spamming to distributing adware to a virus threat. It also has a nice feature where it puts a small icon near search results in Google and gives you a pass or fail before you go to the website.

I usually shy away from things that send my browsing habits to their servers but they have a pretty good privacy policy and its seems very much on the up and up.

Link:
http://www.siteadvisor.com/preview/index.html