Flock 0.9 Beta Observations
Posted by admin | Filed under Apps
Flock has just released the next beta, based on Firefox 2.0. I’ve been testing it out for most of today and have to say the graphics don’t make up for the features advanced users are accustomed to. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Freeware, mac, Software, Web Apps 2.0
Apollo ushering in the next generation of apps
Posted by admin | Filed under Apps, Web
[Apollo is now named Adobe AIR]
I’ve always like the web for its interaction; the ability to make everything interactive. I’m not talking drag and drop, but more working with databases and such – the things we expect of desktop applications. Finally the ultimate “mashup” of technologies is in alpha and it allows web apps to behave like a desktop program.
One of the benefits of having a desktop program installed is interacting with the filesystem on your computer. Forget about the malicious side of that and think of the possibilities. One sample application called Maptacular will read vcard files (contacts) from your computer and plot them on Google Maps.
More sample applications include an RSS reader, a webpage structure analyser, and one that lets you draw over anything on your screen.
Adobe’s Mike Downey did a demo of an eBay-branded Apollo application. It showed a nice interface for browsing, integrated webcam support, and even creating auctions offline which are posted when you reconnect. [Watch it here]
One of the biggest benefits is there is only 1 browser to code for, which happens to be the same one used by Apple’s Safari, WebKit. Apollo will be supported on Windows and Mac, and behave the same on both, with Linux support coming a bit later. Web designers and developers are always struggling to get the site working in all major platform/browser combinations, but eliminates that problem, saving time and money.
My first thought is a CMS for client websites. Imagine giving the client a CD which just works. It doesn’t matter if they still have IE 6 or if they have a Mac.
For me and I’m sure many others, it will be fantastic to be able to create applications which don’t require learning more programming languages like C++ or Java. I could use just HTML and JavaScript, although flex looks to be well supported in Apollo.
Not only is this runtime going to be free, Adobe plans to contribute back to the WebKit open source project with any bug fixes and developments they can.
Now it is still in alpha, which means it could be changing before being released (first half of 2007), but you can find all the details and downloads at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/apollo/. After you’ve installed the runtime you can download some sample applications from http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Apollo:Applications:Samples.
Tags: Freeware, mac, Software, Web, Web Apps 2.0
Firefox 2 Add-Ons
Posted by admin | Filed under Apps
When Firefox 2 launches in a day or two, hopefully we’ll steal some more people from Microsoft’s stranglehold on browser market share. Looking for a reason to switch? Here are some of the Add-Ons I use all the time:
Adblock Plus
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1865/
Most website have realized that everyone has pop-up blockers and sites with popups are frowned upon. So what’s the next step? fill the screen with flashing banner ads of course. That’s where Adblock comes in. It blocks any external content that acts like an ad. It could be an image or link coming from a blacklisted website, an image with “/ads/” in the address, or even an annoying flash animation demanding that you punch the monkey. I’ve been using this Add-on for the last two years and I can’t go without it now. It offers subscriptions so the author can keep you protected, but you can also right-click any offending content and adblock it.
IE Tab
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419/
Some websites just won’t leave the stone age and work in anything but Internet Explorer. Most of the time it’s because of special software or security that was too tricky to do in more than one browser at a time. With IE Tab you don’t have to leave Firefox, just click the IE tab button and Internet Explorer will render that tab instead of Firefox. You can even tell it to always show certain websites with IE.
StumbleUpon
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/138/
For all those times when you’re bored online and don’t really know what you want to do, StumbleUpon can take you to a random website you might enjoy. I’ve found many interesting websites even if some of them were unexpected flash games.
Web Developer
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/60/
If you do any work on websites, you need this one. It’s like built-in diagnostics that lets you control the rendering of a page. Turn off Javascript, css, outline divs, show the ID’s of elements, and all that good stuff.
Download Statusbar
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/26/
After using this one for a couple years, I find the downloads window annoying. With this Add-on, downloads appear across the bottom of the browser instead of in a pop-up window. You can keep tabs on all the downloads you have going, double click to run, and it’s smart enough to remove images after a few seconds.
Performancing
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1730/
If I don’t have my normal blogging tool, BlogDesk, Performancing is the best browser-integrated blogging tool. It acts similar to a frame across the bottom of the screen so you can browse while composing a post. It’s one of the few that supports categories and multiple blogs as well as technorati tags.
HTML Validator
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/249/
Another tool for web developers that validates the source of every page you visit. This is especially useful with large websites where it can be a pain to go through every page with the w3c validator. Instead you can just browse the site and watch for errors.
ColorZilla
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/271/
This one is for any designers out there. If you know what the eyedropper tool is, you’ll appreciate this. This add-on lives in the statusbar and lets you grab the color codes for any pixel in the browser. Great for matching the theme of a new page with the rest of the site – if you didn’t create a style guide that is.
MeasureIt
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/539/
Again for designers – this one will measure the size of any object in the browser in pixels. Just lasso a square around something and it will tell you the size. I use this most often for finding the width of a fixed layout or the content area after padding and margins.
del.icio.us Complete
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2354/
I’ve been using del.icio.us for almost a year now with Flock but when in Firefox I used to feel cut off from my bookmarks. Not anymore – this is one of the best add-ons for delicious, especially with the tag cloud.
Roboform
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/750/ or http://www.roboform.com
Everything you could want in a password manager. It works with almost every browser, know which fields to fill, and has some of the best encryption out there. While it’s not free for more than 10 passwords, it’s very easy to use. I have the portable version on my USB flashdrive and always have all my passwords with me. Also, the billing support is fast and friendly. Well worth the money for peace of mind.
iTunes 7.0
Posted by admin | Filed under Apps
While the real reason behind the iTunes updates was probably Movies support, there are a couple new features that can make windows feel more like a Mac. The store has a different shade of blue in the background now and I assume movies will be coming soon. iPod w/video users can take advantage of 
.
They’ve also added a couple new views, one including album covers next to a track listing of each album:
And another view featuring the eye-candy dubbed coverflow:
One feature I do like is the new iPod view:
I should warn that all the fancy effects add a slightly greater strain, so you may want to avoid coverflow on slower computers.
myFairTunes6
Posted by admin | Filed under Apps
For those who think DRM has gotten out of control, there is some temporary relief from iTunes song restrictions. I haven’t tried this program, but it looks much more friendly than some other solutions I’ve seen with lengthy conversions.
myFairTunes6
Tags: Freeware, General, mac, Software
RSS Readers Roundup
Posted by admin | Filed under Apps
For anyone not accustomed to RSS yet, it means “Really Simple Syndication”. It’s basically a way for websites to tell the world that they have added new content. Both users and other websites can view the summary of fresh content, and with a feed reader you skip most of the ads… for now.
In my quest to stay informed I’ve tried many a feedreader, but I’ll say right now that Bloglines is working the best for me. The main reason for this choice is that it’s entirely web-based but still has many features of desktop clients. With my desktop pc at home “undergoing maintenance,” I’m forced to live online until I have a hard drive to save everything to again.
Another bonus of an online app: you can always access it. I can be at work or a friend’s place and bring up anything I’ve seen in my feeds. There is broadband almost everywhere I go, so I can even get to the mobile version through my ppc.
Now to cover some of the free rss desktop clients I’ve tried:
I was using Flock’s rss reader until I was forced off of my computer, and it works pretty well. I’m still using Flock for reasons I’ll save for another post, but it was cool having the reader built into the browser I already had open. It’s easy enough to learn that anyone can figure it out, and well integrated with the browser. If a site has an rss feed, it shows up as an icon in the address bar where you can subscribe to it. I also like the ability to see folders down the side and how many new items are in each… something Google Reader is lacking. I do wish the front page would show more than 1 entry per folder however, maybe the newest entry from each feed.
Before Flock I was using Feed Reader, which has recently been upgraded and given a really nice look. It’s a fairly small program with all the standard features and more. Sometimes the pop-up alerts next to the tray are good and other times annoying, but you can customize those. One rare feature in Feed Reader is Smart Feeds, where you can specify criteria much like a search folder in Outlook. The views are also very configurable as shown on the screenshots page.
Next we have my breif stint with Google Desktop’s Web Clips in the sidebar. Depending on your level of interest with RSS, this may be enough for you. While google is scanning through your browsing history it adds rss feeds for websites you visit. This is great for people who don’t want to go through the hassle of finding the rss feed url and adding it and so on. There aren’t any folders to organize feeds, and the posts are displayed as text-only, but its a good light-weight reader.
Google Reader is another web-based application for reading RSS feeds. It has its merrits, but I’d rather use a scroll wheel to go through 20 new posts instead of clicking over and over. Especially if you finish reading a long post that made you scroll the page – then you have to go back up to click on the next post, etc. They probably have keyboard shortcuts by now but I prefer the mouse most of the time. It probably sounds pretty bad, but the rest of the features are pretty strong, such as labeling feeds, starring items, viewing feeds on a cell phone…
I’ll briefly mention a lot of the portal pages are starting to support rss feeds too. I expect this is the most common way for users to access rss as they gravitate to whatever the big companies make them use. Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and more are providing users with ways to customize their page and make it worth setting as a homepage.
Another freeware program i briefly tried was Klipfolio, which lives on your desktop and more closely resembles a desktop widget. Personally I prefer a full-fledged reader as opposed to a panel of numbers, but again this might better suit your news needs – it is awful purdy.
This is only the tip of the iceberg summarizing some of the readers, but as you can see there is something for every taste.
Readers:
- Bloglines
- Flock
- Feed Reader
- Google Desktop
- Google Reader
- Personalized homepages from Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google.
- Klipfolio
Tags: Freeware, Software, Web Apps 2.0
Blog Desk
Posted by admin | Filed under Random
I’m pretty picky when it comes to blogging software, but BlogDesk is working very well with my WordPress blogs so far. I was using Performancing, but I occasionally have crashes with Flock.
BlogDesk has all the standard features of a WYSIWYG editor plus Spell Check and HTML source editing. It even supports uploading images and when you insert one, gives you a lot of control for changing image formats, size and other options. There is a built-in Technorati tags generator and a field just for trackbacks.
One feature that is great for managing multiple blogs is the ability to check off the blogs to send the post to and then the categories in each blog. There are even tabs for editing the post, “more”, and an excerpt.
I’ve gotten so used to these types of programs wanting to live in the tray, but the closest thing with BlogDesk is a quick launch icon – which is all you really need for this tiny app.
ZuluPad Personal Wiki
Posted by admin | Filed under Random
You’ve probably heard of Wikis, and you must know what Windows’ Notepad is. Zulupad is a combination of both, and calls its self a personal wiki. It’s a simple application because it’s all plain text like notepad, yet it hyperlinks to other pages in your wiki as you type – no codes to learn! Store tons of text with links to anything you want. Plus the entire wiki is stored in 1 xml file, and you can save and open the wiki files like any other document.
You could have one page titled Bob and have information about him there. Then whenever you type the word Bob, it will be instantly linked to the page titled the same. Even though it doesn’t use real webpages (making it really fast), there are back/forward/home buttons for navigation, as well as a drop-down box for every page you’ve created.
It sounds like the perfect program, right? Well this is a very basic version, which a lot of people love. It’s the KISS (Keep It Simple, Silly) theory, right? Well as with most basic programs there are a ton of feature requests for things as simple as being able to change the font used everywhere in the program, though you can already change the size of the text. I’d like to see aliases for pages so abbreviations/nicknames go to the same place as the full name, as well as the ability to link to a heading in a page.
I have tried many, many programs to try and organize my thoughts, but this one is the best yet – and free. If I was capable of existing on a Mac, I’d probably already have Voodoo Pad for $30, but for now this program is working great from my USB Jumpdrive.
Tags: Freeware, Software, Web Apps 2.0
Dell Axim’s Crippled Bluetooth
Posted by admin | Filed under Random
For anyone considering a Dell Axim with Windows Mobile 5, don’t count on your Bluetooth devices being supported. Dell has disabled many Bluetooth profiles on the device. While it’s true there is a new stack (program for managing Bluetooth connections) in WM5, it works fine on devices from other manufacturers. The only profiles left working are Activesync, Dial-up networking, and Dell’s bluetooth keyboard. I assume Dell has done this to sell more wired heasets or something. Before finding this out, I had hoped to be able to use my bluetooth headset with Skype and the Axim, or to get photos from my cameraphone onto the Axim, but alas Dell denied me.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. My Dell Axim X51V is currently downloading pictures from my cameraphone, and has just played audio through my BT headset. By replacing the stack with Broadcomm’s stack used in Windows Mobile 2003, some awesome people have solved my Bluetooth woes. It’s now as easy as installing a cab file like any other program, and they claim that you can uninstall it from Remove Programs. It even includes a new dialog when you press the wireless button which allows you to toggle the wifi and bt independantly. There are of course warnings such as back up the device first and that using the software may void warrenties or deny you support, but for me its worth it.
http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=122247
Tags: Axim, Freeware, Gadgets, Software
Web 2.0 Solutions for all your needs
Posted by admin | Filed under Random
I’ve been using web applications a lot more recently, and I’d like to spread the word a bit about what is out there and what can be done online. I access my information from many different places so I prefer these websites that I can access from anywhere.
Flickr (Photos)
http://flickr.com
Any good photos I want to keep get put on flickr. I liked it so much, I’ve paid for a pro account. The only problem with something like flickr is many of us tend to store copies of images from websites that aren’t ours. For personal use, that’s fine – but flickr is designed to share photos we’ve taken. Basically, flickr is fantastic for shutterbugs, and not so much for web clippers. Flickr’s recently had an interface facelift too; the organizer is looking a lot better. And don’t forget to tweak the settings at http://flickr.com/account/ to fit the way you use the service – you might even discover things like posting by email or auto-rotate.
Del.icio.us (Bookmarks)
http://del.icio.us
The best-known social bookmarking website out there, and also now owned by Yahoo, I use delicious for all my bookmarks. Not only does it use tags to make it easier to find things, you can discover related sites and have your bookmarks with you all the time. While I was testing Flock, a firefox-web2.0 hybrid, delicious bookmarks were integrated into the browser, which I’m sure is the way of the future. Flock is still in beta so it was just for previewing the future, but I can’t picture anything else catching on as well. The second-place for online bookmarks goes to Windows Live Favorites (still in beta) which syncronizes your IE bookmarks with the website via the Windows Live Toolbar. I won’t open that can of worms now, but if you use IE, try the betas
Gmail (Email)
http://mail.google.com
Almost everyone knows about gmail, so this is more of a confession that I have gone with the flow and adopted it for my personal mail. Something you may not have known however is that you can keep your old email address with gmail. I have my personal @foogoo.com address setup to forward to gmail and gmail setup to show my @foogoo.com as the sender on outgoing messages. Part of the reason I use gmail is for the integration with Google Desktop (now in version 4!), which shows the latest messages on the side of my screen, all the time.
Google Calendar
http://calendar.google.com
If it wasn’t for Google Desktop, I wouldn’t be using any calendar outside of Outlook at work. Google Desktop version 4 now shows events from google calendar, which are backed up online. Plus I have an iCal address and rss feed for my calendar which I can use at other websites. The only problem so far is the lack of syncronization. There is import/export functionality, but nothing automatic – nothing that would syncronize with my pocket pc easily.
Box.net (File Storage)
http://box.net
I’ve been with box.net for a few years now and they have been reliable and lately really working hard to innovate and create. A few months ago they launched a redesigned website, and currently are the best they’ve ever been. Navigating folders and executing operations is almost instant, uploading has a variety of methods to get through, you can publicly share any file or folder, plus they are almost ready to release a desktop sync application. They’re even planning to allow posting files via email. I was lucky enough to have paid before the new version and slight price hike, but they are now offering free accounts. On top of everthing else they have been doing, they have an api now which has allowed box.net to integrate with other websites such as goowy and netvibes just for starters.
Netvibes (Homepage)
http://netvibes.com
Speaking of netvibes, they have become my new homepage. I’ve played with many customizable homepages but this one does it the best. I currently have my homepage showing my Google Calendar, new Gmail, the weather, my newest flickr photos, my box.net files, and my newest delicious bookmarks on the first tab. I have another tab for all the news. This may not be the best site to use as an rss reader, but it’s great to start the day off with.
43Things (Goals)
http://www.43things.com
Keeping with the social nature of web 2.0, 43 things aims to share goals among people and provide support for completing those goals. My goals aren’t updated as often as I’d like, but I think that’s because a list of 43 things gets to be overwhelming. Maybe I should start thinking smaller.
Tags: Freeware, Photography, Web, Web Apps 2.0
