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The List of Freeware I Can't Live Without

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:24:27 PST

You've probably scoured the Internet from time to time looking for those oh so elusive freeware utilities that make your life easier, and to an extent found some of the things you have been looking for. Regardless, the various lists that you find online seem to leave you wanting more.

Today's post will seem like I'm simply rehashing a tired old topic, but in reality I'm going to do one better for you, my wonderful readers. In this posting I will hook you up with the programs that I myself actually use and have installed on my own laptop.

You may be asking yourself why this is important, so I will explain in a bit of detail. When you come across those lists on the Internet that are titled "The [insert number] Best Freeware Programs!" the writers never tell you that they don't actually keep them installed or use them past an initial evaluation for the article.

Well, what the heck good is that doing you? What you want, and I agree with you totally, are great freeware applications that will be used on a daily basis and ones that even the writer of the article keeps installed.

So without further ado (thanks Jesse), I present to you:

Yeah, I know this is a no-brainer and is listed on just about every single freeware list on earth. But think about it... I used to use Internet Explorer until this came around and after switching I refuse to go back. I've also tried out Safari, Opera, K-Melon, and yes even Google Chrome.

The thing I like most about Firefox is that it comes across as versatile while allowing me to customize to my hearts content through the use of add-ons. So take a moment and install the latest version of Firefox, because the next part of this list will be the Add-Ons that I have installed which make my browser an elite and powerful program.

Download Latest Version of Firefox

Now, let's work on the essential Firefox Extensions. These are the same ones that I have installed by default and are the very same ones I simply cannot live without. Your tastes may vary, of course, but again we're focusing on the things that I have personally installed and refuse to live without.

Firefox Extensions:

404: File Is Not Found? Now It Will Be!

Download

I wish this extension was around about ten years ago... so what does this do? Well, when you hit a page that throws you a 404 error (file not found) it pops up a dialog in Firefox asking if you want it to check Archive.org to see if they have a cached version of it on their servers. So essentially, if the site or page is missing today, there may be a good chance that it wasn't missing awhile ago and there is an archived copy of it.

Very useful indeed.

Adblock Plus!

Download

This is a staple for me, and pretty much a god-send. Does essentially what it says: Blocks popups, pop unders, and even advertising banners (if you tell it to be totalitarian about things).

AutoAuth

Download

AutoAuth automatically submits HTTP authentication dialogs when you've chosen to have the browser save your login information. (If you've already told the browser what your username and password are, and you've told it to remember that username and password, why not just have it automatically submit it instead of asking you each time?)

If you don't have a username and password saved for a subdomain (e.g., foo.bar.com), AutoAuth will give you a list of suggestions for that domain, based on other saved usernames and passwords for similar subdomains (e.g., bar.com or *.bar.com). Just choose which username to use from the list, and hit the Autofill button. [This feature is only available in Firefox 2.]

Better Gmail 2

Download
Add useful extra features and skins to Gmail, like hierarchical labels, macros, file attachment icons, and more.

Better Gmail 2 compiles the best Greasemonkey user scripts for Gmail into a single package. All scripts copyright their original authors. Click on the script homepage in the About tab for help and more information. Only compatible with the new Gmail interface.

If you are a Gmail user like I am, you'll find this add-on invaluable. It has a settings interface which lets you further pick and choose which options you would like for it to apply to your gmail account when you log in. Some things I have enabled, others I've left out. Give this a shot and see if it suits your tastes.

GMail Notifier

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The original notifier for Gmail. Supports checking multiple accounts as well as Gmail Hosted accounts. It adds a GMail icon to the bottom right corner of the browser with a little number on it. Every 15 minutes or so it checks to see if you have new mail, and if you do, displays the number of new messages.

Clicking the little icon loads GMail in a new tab (if you set it to do so). Since you need to give it your login information to check for new messages, clicking it will automatically log you into your GMail account.

Again, this is a must-have for GMail users.

BlockSite

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BlockSite is an extension, which automagically blocks websites of your choice. Additionally, this extension will disable all hyperlinks to these websites, by just displaying the link text without the clicking functionality.

Ever run into a website that you simply do not want to see again? We'll say for example YTMND.com or maybe some stupid site you stumble across... This plugin allows you to literally stop it from ever loading in your browser again. It's that simple.

Colorzilla

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Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies.

With ColorZilla you can get a color reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program. You can Zoom the page you are viewing and measure distances between any two points on the page. The built-in palette browser allows choosing colors from pre-defined color sets and saving the most used colors in custom palettes. DOM spying features allow getting various information about DOM elements quickly and easily. And there's more...

If you are a designer like I am, or simply have a need to pick out colors for things, then this is uber-useful.

CustomizeGoogle

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CustomizeGoogle is a Firefox extension that enhance Google search results by adding extra information (like links to Yahoo, Ask.com, MSN etc) and removing unwanted information (like ads and spam). All features are optional and easily configured.

GoogleGears

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One of the few Firefox addons that aren't locted on the actual Mozilla site. GoogleGears allows web applications interact naturally with your desktop, store data locally in a fully-searchable database, and run JavaScript in the background to improve performance.

Something I can imagine uses this right off the bat is GoogleDocs, which comes in super useful when you get an email attachment in Gmail which is a document&183; Instead of downloading it, then opening it, you can simply open it right up in GoogleDocs and edit it - then send it back with revisions.

Google Preview

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Simply put, it adds thumbnail images to search results in Google showing you what the page looks like ahead of time. While I have this installed and have had it for quite some time, this function is a 50/50 mix for me.

Check it out and see if you like it. If not, no big deal :)

Download Embedded

Download

Downloads all or selected embedded objects on a webpage. Can be used for downloading movies, mp3s, flash, quicktime, or other embedded files (although this does NOT work on video embedded in flash [ youtube, video.google.com, etc.. ]

Of course, what kind of person would I be if I didn't hook you up with something that did actually work for places like youtube?

Video Download Helper

Download

DownloadHelper is a tool for web content extraction. Its purpose is to capture video and image files from many sites.

Just surf the Web as you are used to, when DownloadHelper detects it can do something for you, the icon gets animated and a menu allows you to download files by simply clicking an item

For instance, if you go to a YouTube page, you'll be able to download the video directly on your file system. It also works with MySpace, Google videos, DailyMotion, Porkolt, iFilm, DreamHost and others.

Thank me later

DownThemAll!

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You simply cannot live without this one, and neither can I.

DownThemAll is all you can desire from a download manager: it features an advanced accelerator that increases speed up to 400% and it allows you to pause and resume downloads at any time.

DownThemAll is fast, reliable and easy-to-use! It lets you download all the links or images contained in a webpage and much more: you can refine your downloads by fully customizable criteria to get only what you really want!

DownThemAll is absolutely freeware and open-source. No Adware, no Spyware.

Fission

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Fission combines address bar and progress bar (Safari style). This makes the progress bar more visible and allows for a nice visual effect.

FullerScreen

Download

This extension enhances the Full Screen mode into a really full screen mode, hiding the remaining toolbars and statusbar and making them visible again when the mouse pointer hits an edge of the screen.
It also offers a slideshow mode, enabling @projection CSS rules in a document when full screen mode is turned on. Navigation between slides in implemented in the extension and a slide manager showing thumbnails for the slides is available through shift-F11.

Grab And Drag

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Enables Adobe Acrobat-style grab and drag scrolling, Flick gestures, and Momentum scrolling in Firefox, Thunderbird, and Flock. Why worry about grabbing the scrollbar on the side when you can just grab the page itself and flick it up or down? This addon is my personal favorite.

Greasemonkey

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Well duh. Of course I have Greasemonkey installed! Cmon! This single addon for Firefox lets you literally go hog wild with the web and change sites around to your hearts content!

Allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript. Hundreds of scripts, for a wide variety of popular sites, are already available at Download.

IE Tab

Download

Ok, let's face it. Sometimes you absolutely positively are faced with a site that requires you to use Internet Explorer. I know it's not as often as it used to be in the days of old (thank god), but there are still times when you need to.

If you are using Windows (Apple and Linux folks can sit this one out), this usually means cranking up the Internet Explorer and staring in horror as it eats your sou- I mean resources.... But this is the answer to that horror.

Using IE Tab, you can integrate only the bare requirements of the IE Engine into Firefox in an "on-demand" manner. All the IE ability (like Microsoft Windows Website Downloads) and none of the hassle that actually running Internet Explorer brings.

Cooliris (formerly Piclens)

Words really cannot explain what Cooliris does. So what I will do is ive you a basic description, followed by a video of it in action. Hands down, this is the greatest plugin I have ever seen.

Full-Screen, 3D -- Cooliris (formerly known as PicLens) transforms your browser into a visually stunning experience for searching, viewing, and sharing online photos and videos. Our "3D Wall" lets you effortlessly search and zoom your way around thousands of images, videos, news feeds, sports feeds, and more. To share stuff with friends, just drag and drop.

Extended Statusbar

Download

Adds an Opera-like statusbar that shows:

percentage of the page loaded,
number of loaded images,
bytes downloaded,
average download speed,
load time.

Stumbleupon

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Think of Stumbleupon as an infinite improbability drive for your browser. You can click the button and it will randomly bring you to a website page that is in your defined interests. You can rate what it gives you with a thumbs up and thumbs down, which allows it to get to know what you like over time, thus bringing you more of what you like and less of what you don't.

This is definitely a great time waster, as well as an excellent way to be exposed to content that you normally would not have simply found through normal searching. One of my personal favorites.

Translator

Download

Don't let the simple name fool you, translator is web translation extension that allows you to translate any web page into nearly any language at the click of a button.

Currently supports the following online translation services:

Google Translation
Babelfish
PROMT
freetranslation.com
Altavista
Im translator

I have this installed and use it often, because let's face it, the Internet is not always written in your native language.

That's it just for Firefox... but of course this excludes the common things like the latest version of Flash, PDF Reader, etc that is an automatic installation.

Now it's time to move along and get to the rest of the programs that I recommend, and also have installed.

FileZilla!

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It's a free and open source FTP client. Over the years, this has proven to be not only the best in my opinion but also my favorite one to use. I also keep a copy on my USB Memory stick when doing random work on a computer that isn't my own laptop, because you never know when you'll need a digital swiis army knife.

Spybot Search & Destroy

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It's either this or Adaware, but in either case, spyware and other things that simply crap up your computer and make life a pain in the butt for you is a reality. Clear that stuff out of your system and keep it clean using this program.

AVG Antivirus

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Depending entirely on your personal preferences, a virus scanner is still a must. Personally I run AVG Antivirus, and haven't had an issue yet. Since anti-virus software for Windows is a must, I will not limit the recommendation to just AVG, an instead will offer a couple of leading free options to take care of this.

Alternatives to AVG:

Avira Antivirus: Download
Avast! Home Edition: Download
Clamwin: Download

Pidgin Instant Messenger

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What to do when you have friends who use YIM!, GoogleTalk, MSN, ICQ, AIM, IRC, and others? The first answer is usually to download and install all of the above seperately just to keep in touch, but I'm here to offer you an open source alternative.

Pidgin is a multi-messenger client that is lightweight and lightening fast. It allows you to connect to all of those networks in a single client, but also is stripped down so essentially all you get is a text mesenger. This means no Video or Voice functionality, of course, but in the end most people don't really need all of that bloatware to begin with. If you are looking for a multi-messenger, you may want to give this one a try - or one of the following:

Trillian: Download

Digsby: Download

OpenOffice.org

Download

The name says it all. It's an open source office suite made by Sun and features pretty much every office type program you will ever need. No need to run out and buy Microsoft Office, because this can do everything and more for free.

Irfanview

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This is my swiss army knife for converting image formats. It can open nearly any image format and convert it to nearly any other format. Also supports batch processing which makes converting whole folders a breeze.

Auslogics Defrag

Not like you needed a full explanation of why you should defragment your hard drives regularly, but there is a specific reason why I use Auslogics Defrag instead of the built in Windows Defragmenter.

Personally I think Auslogics is simply a better program for the job, and also it actually shows you what it's doing while it's doing it (which for some reason is no longer the case in Vista from XP). I'm an old school geek and still like to see those little squares lighting up and moving around like the old days of Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 Defrag.

Give it a shot and see if you agree with me on this one.

Auslogics Registry Defrag

Download

If you thought just your hard drive could get mucked up with adding and deleting things, think again. If your computer is running slowly, another culprit may in fact be a messy registry in your operating system. So grab a copy of Auslogics Registry Defrag and so some maintenance on your computer today.

Format Factory

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Ok, so we've covered the swiss army knife of graphics (Irfanview) but what about video and audio conversion? I cannot tell you how many times I've been around the Internet only to see innumerable posts all over the place begging for a good and free video converter.

Since nearly all available converters cost money or simply don't work, this can spell out a ton of downloading and uninstalling for the computer user who doesn't know any better. If this is the case, then see also the prior listing about Auslogics Defragger ;)

Format Factory is my personal choice for a Video and Audio Swiss Army Knife. It converts nearly anything to anything easily (at least within useful formats) and can even rip a DVD straight to AVI format if you want.

While it is true that I also have Goldwave Pro installed, Goldwave is an audio editing program and costs money so it is excluded in this list.

Inkscape

Download

Looking to create Scalable Vector Graphics? Inkscape is what I have installed just for this purpose. What can I say other than it just gets the job done and is free :)

Gimpshop

Download

Ok, so I lied. I do not have Gimpshop installed on this computer, but not because I wouldn't recommend it. What I use for general graphics happens to be Photoshop CS3 and Paintshop Pro 8. Both programs are not free and so would not work for this list So what I *can* offer is the rough equivalent for free which happens to be Gimpshop.

There is also Paint.NET which I actually have installed too, but do not use as much as Photoshop or Paintshop.

Skype

Download

The obvious choice if you want to do Voice chat online (and if you are a Pidgin user like I am).

ZScreen

Download

ZScreen is an open-source screen capture program that allows for region/window/full-screen screenshots. It can FTP screenshots and put the URL in your clipboard in a single keystroke. It supports automatic custom naming conventions with variables. It can also interface with image editing software. It is a C.NET 2.0 program hosted on Sourceforge.net and built by BrandonZ.

Reader Submitted: FastStone (Portable Freeware Version)

uTorrent

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If you are going to download torrents from the internet, I suggest uTorrent. It's lightweight and feature packed. Of course, I don't condone illegal file downloading... *coughs*.

What I would recommend if you didn't mind spending money

Hands down I would recommend getting your hands on Tuneup Utilities. I have a copy of it and it works wonders for keeping the hard drive cleaned up and purring like a kitten.

Also for website creation, I would recommend Dreamweaver CS3 and Flash CS3. While there are a handful of WYSIWYG website editors out there that are free, I haven't yet found one as good as Dreamweaver. If you have the cash to spend, I would also recommend Photoshop CS3 as well.

Of course there is the alternate method of just grabbing them from a torrent online using uTorrent, but you assume all risks involved with going this route and I wouldn't recommend it.

Well, that's it (finally) for my comprehensive list of things that I have installed on my computer that I recommend to you. This list of programs comprise what I actually have installed and use on a near daily basis, so you know they have to be pretty good. I know I've excluded things like the obvious media players (Winamp and VLC) or video editing software like Audacity, but Audacity isn't installed on this computer, while Winamp and VLC are both no-brainers.

I hope you've enjoyed this list, and the programs listed here come in handy for you in your daily routine.

Till next time...

Beginners Podcast Guide: An Intro to Making a Podcast

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:05:58 PST

Do you have a favorite podcast? There is a podcast out there for every type of personality. Regardless of whether you are looking for comedy clips, up to the minute news, church sermons, or the best YouTube clip of the day, there is most likely something for you.

But what if you can't find exactly what you are looking for? Maybe you found something, but you know you can do it better. Becoming a podcast publisher is perfect for you!

Creating your very own podcast may seem like a daunting and highly technical task at first, but once you learn the basics and download the right (and many times free) software, you'll have the first episode of your very own podcast up in a day!

First, you need to decide if you will be publishing an audio or video podcast. Both have very similar processes. Audio podcasts aren't as media rich, but video podcasts require more advanced equipment and come with a more detailed editing process. For the purposes of this article we will assume you are starting with an audio podcast.

You will need to begin with a program that captures the audio recording and converts it into the standard .mp3 format that is recognized by podcasts. The most basic program to use with the best functionality is Audacity.

Once you have your audio file recorded you need a place to store and publish you audio file. More advanced users can upload the file to their own web page along with an RSS feed. This feed is what the listeners subscribe to and use to find the audio files. An easier alternative is to use a free online service called Poderator. Poderator will store your .mp3 files, automatically create your RSS feed based on your preferences, and promote your podcast. All you have to do is tell iTunes the location of your podcast so it can be placed in the official iTunes Store Podcast Directory for searching.

Please bear in mind that this is a very basic podcast tutorial. There is a world of software and hardware out there to aid you in creating the perfect podcast. For a more detailed tutorial on each aspect of publishing your podcast, look for the other articles posted below. They contain a wealth of information the help you along your way.

Is this a product from an alien planet?

(Image source: Michael Tan)

I'm sure that every one of you may have watched science fiction movie of Minority Report 2002 directed by Steven Spielberg and starring by Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow, and Lois Smith. You would come across with numerous technologically advanced gadgets in this movie, but this gadget with a blue semi-translucent cap attached on its top is somewhat looks like the film projector in the science fiction films. Now, you will be amazed to learn that this is a high-tech product of a Caller Display invented by Olympia InfoGlobe, and it is a model of OL 3000 caller display device. Whenever there is an incoming call, the caller ID (or calling number identification) will be automatically displayed on its screen.

What're you saying? A golden ladybird is used for a computer?

(Image source: Michael Tan)

This golden ladybird gives me a good feel to look at it. Though it's not made of the pure gold, it's manufactured with an excellent artwork to give you a delicate and sophisticated sensation.

(Image source: Michael Tan)

It's not for MP3 as you couldn't find a headphone slot to fit its plug into your laptop or computer. If not, what's this? Please guess, dear friend! Hmm, this is a U-beetle or in a simple word, U-dish. It's attractive and yet strange, right?

What's this stuff then? Its transparent body is packed with many “top secrets.”

(Image source: Michael Tan)

A first touch on this stuff made me thinking that it's a USB hub. However, this couldn't be a USB hub as its circuit is designed to be more complicated than the USB hub. As this gadget has a D-Sub interface, then it must be a graphic card. However, this guess is not true. The graphic card is an important part of the computer, it couldn't be connected externally. Even for a modern computer nowadays, there isn't any standard I/O interface that could meet the data transmission speed in this manner. The next possibility guess is that it's a screen. Again, it's incorrect as the screen will require more than one D-Sub interface but this device only has one. In fact, this is an external graphic card designed by the Japanese. A bit incredible …….Well, this stuff is not manufactured for you to play games; rather it's a dual mode, enabling multiple displays with different contents via a computer or a laptop. I don't think it could meet the requirement for 3D data processing speed, as it uses USB 2.0 interface so its speed is far behind the former mentioned earlier.

Besides showing time, what can this stuff do?

(Image source: Michael Tan)

You need no my answer and you'll tell me that this is a watch. You're right! This is a simple designed watch judging from its external appearance. Of course, its function is to show time. But, wait, my friend; don't make this as your final conclusion. Let me telling you that this is not just a watch, it's a product resulted from a micro-electronic technology. Not only it's a watch, but it has a close link to a computer. Now, at this point, you may challenge me for talking rubbish here.

(Image source: Michael Tan)

This thing is not hard to guess instead. If you keep yourself abreast with the IT news, I'm certain that you'll know that this is a U-watch. Again, this is a U-disk which is cleverly made convenient and portable for you to bring along elsewhere but it has a limited capacity for data storage.

Is this an insect of Y2K?

Image source

I can't imagine that this gigantic insect got to do with a computer. It's amazing to find that it's a computer's mouse. When you lift up its wings, it doesn't show you that it's a mouse. Instead, it looks like a housefly or any types of insects with a typically known six legs.

(Image source: InTozgc.com)

It's regarded as an insect of Y2K. Because of this invention, I've to accept the fact that human thinking is complicated and beyond the imagination. Needless to say about this Y2K's insect, could you imagine that your computer hardware is invented as the smelly toilet ball as listed in Desmonrock21's article entitled Gizmo: Cool Computer Case Mods 2. Gosh, stink, it gets me vomiting to look at those disgustingly designed computer products!

Oops, something totally unknown!

(Image source: InTozgc.com)

Now, my brain is poor enough to guess what this device is. It's not appearing to me as a computer's mouse. If I was not told that it's a mouse, probably I'll mad at guessing at it. And, I may never be guessed it right, I believe.

It must be enjoyable watching these cute animals or pets crawling along the cables, USB flash drive, power cords, external disks, U-disks and other computer's components. The addition of these computer by-products will definitely refresh your feeling while sitting in front of a computer or a laptop.

These are very creative designs!

(Image source: InTozgc.com)

This luxurious car designed mouse will definitely add in a sense of fashion while contributing a constructive design to the IT world. It's so nice and beautiful that I'm going to have one as my new computer's mouse. It can move just as smooth as the sport car could move along its track.

Is anyone hungry here? Would you like some fast food or Japanese delicacies?

In the past, a USB flash drive was shaped into either a rectangular or a square shape. Its shape was limited to a fundamental pattern and design. But, nowadays, the USB flash drive has shaped into a strange, wield and extraordinary pattern to increase its sale in the market. The design of USB flash drive has appeared as a fast food menu that will definitely capture the computer user's attentions worldwide.

Hamburger, Pizza, and Hotdog Menu

(Image source: Korean Monthly Technology Magazine, March 2007)

These USB flash drives take a theme of a fast food menu. They can be ranged from hamburgers, pizzas and hotdogs that you are familiar at any fast food outlets. As their appearance are manufactured in a framework resembles to hamburger, pizza, hotdog and sandwich, and thus they sometimes tempt people to eat them. Presently, these types of USB flash drives have a capacity up to one gigabyte.

A strange Menu of KFC

(Image source: Korean Monthly Technology Magazine, September 2007)

This is not a real set of KFC menu, it is a strange design of USB flash drive. If you examine it closely, you will find that the rice is actually a USB 2.0 Hub with four openings. Each opening is connected to a chicken, pudding and prawns. They are furnished with a ready boost facility with their capacities up to one gigabyte.

Octopus Sushi Menu

(Image source: Japanese Monthly Technology Magazine, January 2006)

The main design of these USB flash drives is an octopus (or tako in Japanese). If you do not examine them closely, probably you will be perceived to believe that they are real octopus. The manufacturer made them so real to give people a convenience feel of their completeness. When you pull out the head of the octopus, you can see the body of the USB flash drive. Of course, the other part of its body is a protective casing for the USB flash drive. When you insert this USB flash drive into the slot of the computer, the body of the octopus will shine or glister in blue light. It is fun and interesting to look at, isn't it?

Sushi Menu

(Image source: Japanese Monthly Technology Magazine, January 2006)

These USB flash drives are shaped into a Japanese cuisine or Sushi menu. Sometimes, you may come across a variety type of Sushi found in a Japanese restaurant which includes kappa(cucumber), California Roll, makizushi (rolls), inarizushi(toppings stuffed into a small pouch of fried tofu), Chirashizushi(scattered sushi), temarizushi (ball-shaped sushi with a filling of fish) and omelette. These USB flash drives have a capacity as big as one gigabyte.

Hmmm, this one looks rather odd!

(Image source: Jackson)

Not everyone will prefer to have their computer designed in a conventional manner, some computer enthusiasts may prefer to have their computers looking weirder than others to show that theirs stand out to be more striking and extraordinary. Despite of this perception, they started modifying their computers in this weird manner as what you see in the above picture is one of the examples. What's your opinion? Do you like this skeleton's computer? Tell me your idea, perhaps someone is going to modify his or her computer in a rather odd manner than all the stuffs I've managed to list here.

10 Amazing Itunes Features

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:12:32 PST

Cover Flow

Cover Flow is a feature that lets you browse the cover art (of the albums) of your iTunes library. You can flip through your albums by dragging the horizontal scroll bar with your mouse, spinning the mouse wheel up/down, or even your arrow keys. Heck, Cover Flow even has a full screen option; this option makes your computer screen look like a sophisticated audio player.

Search

Although I am sure most people have noticed the search box, some might not know its full capability. The search box is capable of locating results in your library for the songs name, artist, genre, album, and even the equalizer setting. And for those of you who are too lazy to click onto the search box, all you have to do is start typing the name of the song you are looking for, and iTunes will automatically highlight the closest result.

Visualizer

Unless you have looked fairly deep, you may not have noticed that iTunes has a Visualization feature. For those of you who like to look at visualizations, when you've selected your song, press Ctrl + T, and it will switch to the visualization screen. Press Ctrl + T again to exit to the normal display.

Cover Art

I am sure everyone knows that you can add cover art to albums in iTunes, however, it is a fairly long process that can take a lot of your time if you don't use the convenient shortcut that Apple has provided. In the bottom left corner of iTunes, there is a box that you can simple drag images onto, and, just that like, that image is now set as the cover art for that album.

Mini-Player

Like all media players, iTunes has a mini player. This nice thing about this one is that it is very "mini". Most mini players of media players are still big enough, defeating the purpose of a mini player. The amazing thing about the iTunes mini player is that it is very small, meaning you can have it in a top corner of your screen, control it, and not have to worry about it getting in the way of your other programs. So if you are too lazy to switch to your iTunes window to change your song, then the mini player is for you.

Song Options

If you've ever wanted to make a quiet song louder (or vice versa), or wanted to cut out a slow ending or into, song options are something you will want to check out. Highlight the song you wish to edit, then press Ctrl + I, and click the Options tab. Here you can increase/decrease the volume, set a starting/ending point, and much more features solely for the selected song. Highlight multiple songs, and press Ctrl + I, to set options for all the selected songs; this beats doing this to each song individually if you are looking to edit multiple songs with the exact same changes.

Lyrics

For those of you with iPod touch's and iPhones, you will really like this feature. To access this feature, press Ctrl + I, then press the Lyrics tab. The lyrics feature is a simple feature that lets you write or paste lyrics for a song. Then, when listening to the music on your touch or iPhone, you can tap the screen and it will display the lyrics on the screen, then all you need to do is scroll down and read it. For those of you who are unable to sync notes from your computer, you can paste any text you wish into the lyrics section of a song, and you can put on a song, and then read through whatever text you added.

Locate File

If you're ever listening to a song, and want to find the audio file on your computer, for whatever reason, it is as simple as pressing Ctrl + R. This will immediately open up the folder containing the song, which is a faster method than looking for file manually, or even resorting to trial and error.

Preferences

Known in most programs as "options", preferences are something to check out for sure. To access preferences, press Ctrl + , (comma). Through preferences you can edit playback options, such as cross fade and shuffle, and simple preferences such as parental control and syncing.

Diagnostics

Diagnostics is a feature that checks important things such as your CD/DVD drive, network, connection, and iPod/iPhone connections. To access this feature, go to Help - Run Diagnostics. This feature takes literally less than a minute, and lets you know if all your drivers, etc., are working. This is good for anyone who is experiencing problems, as it can solve it fast and efficiently.

And there you have it, 10 iTunes features that you may have not been aware of. I hope this article has helped to improve your iTunes experience.

Gateway Drug to Creating Computer Music

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 03:49:28 PST

Okay, so you want to get started on making music on the computer. It's probably a lot easier than you think. I'll teach you how to for free using a set of programs found over the internet. The following tutorial is only for windows computers. However, you can find other programs of the same general type for Linux/mac.

Tracker

First, you'll need a tracker. Psycle is an amazing tracker, and can be downloaded here. It is open source and has VST capabilities (don't worry if you don't know what either of those mean.) Unless you've had experience with a tracker before, you'll want to read the tutorial or else it'll seem too confusing. You'll need this or another tracker.

Examples of Other Free Trackers

Sound Editors

These are not necessary, but it's very handy, mostly for clipping audio files and exporting sound files as other formats.

Examples of Sound Editors

Music Theory

Don't be skeptical about this one, even if you think you know a lot about music. Learning more (or anything) about music theory and composition can help bring out what you want to create onto the computer. It adds so many more colors to your musical palette. Sometimes it can be frustrating to learn, but it's rewarding and gives a lot more life to your music.

Sampling

Sampling is taking audio from another source and adding it into your own piece of artwork. It can bring your music to new styles, and add a lot of depth.

Taking it further

This tutorial is only to start you into making computer music. While you are able to make decent material using these, practice and study will complement your music further. Pretty soon (or right away) you'll be impressed with the things you are able to forge out of these tools.