Dim Background Windows Using Jedi Concentrate

This article was written on October 02, 2006 by CyberNet.

Ghoster

When I was over at Lifehacker I found this pretty cool program that someone developed called Jedi Concentrate. The point of the software is to dim all of the windows behind the one that your working on. That way it will help you focus on only that window.

That software comes from the App A Day website which is constantly launching new open source software. Someone had taken his Jedi Concentrate and threw a few options on it such as opacity and color of the dim. That version is much better in my opinion.

However, I got to reading through the comments and there were a few recommendations for making the software better. The first thing that half of the commenters pointed out was that it doesn’t work on a multi-monitor display. The second thing is that the dimming effect is removed as soon as you switch windows…and you have to press F12 each time you want to reapply the effect.

Then someone in the comments referred to Ghoster which is a similar freeware program that, just like Jedi Concentrate, does not need to be installed. However, I find it to be much better because when you switch windows it will constantly dim anything in the background. One option that I changed right away with this is the “showontop” option otherwise the taskbar is always dimmed as well. I have been using it for a little while now but there appears to be some bugs in it.

So those are three pretty good solutions to helping you focus on the window that you’re working on. I don’t think that I will continue to use this software because if I need to focus on a window I will probably just maximize it. 😉

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Konfabulator Is Converted To Yahoo Widget Engine

This article was written on December 12, 2005 by CyberNet.

Over the summer of 2005 Yahoo had aquired the widget company Konfabulator. Since then, the software has not had any updates but to me didn’t really seem to need any. Well, the time for updates has come and with the software updates comes a new name: Yahoo Widget Engine. New widgets from Yahoo were also added, totaling 9, which included Yahoo services like maps and photos. Is the update necessary? I am not quite sure if I am going to give it a go, but I am sure I’ll give in after a matter of time. Visit the Konfabulator & Yahoo Widget Engine Home Page

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RocketDock: Free Mac-Like Dock For Windows

This article was written on August 23, 2006 by CyberNet.

RocketDock - Mac Dock for Windows A long time ago I used to use ObjectDock which gave me that Mac-like dock to place all of my shortcuts. I must have decided not to install the software again after reformatting my computer at some point. I haven’t really missed it too much but after seeing RocketDock I decided to give this a try.

I have to admit that the only reason I was trying RocketDock was because they offer it for free as compared to the ObjectDock which will run you nearly $20! It looked pretty nice and after using it for a day I will definitely keep this installed!

I took a screenshot to the right after I had it installed and got it running. I did change from the default theme to the “Vista Black” one because I really like the transparency effect. I just have the dock autohide itself on the side of the screen and when I need a shortcut I can have it pop back out.

Maybe you are an ObjectDock user and you have that perfect skin that you like. No problem! RocketDock lets you use skins from MobyDock, ObjectDock, RK Launcher, and Y’z Dock. You probably won’t have to go hunt for one because RocketDock already includes about 20-30 skins.

Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention that it even does that little “bouncy” animation that the Mac’s do. You know, the one when you click on the shortcut and the icon will bounce up and down. That may not be necessary but it is awfully cool. 😀

Download RocketDock
News Source: Neowin

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Download Notepad++ 3.9 And Ditch The Regular Notepad

This article was written on October 04, 2006 by CyberNet.

Notepad++

I used to use the standard Windows Notepad for a lot of different things until someone made me aware of Notepad++. It is a light text editor that is a great replacement for the Notepad that comes with Windows. It does everything from syntax highlighting for many of the popular programming languages all the way to letting you view two files side-by-side.

If you love to have a bunch of text files open then you’ll love this even more. Notepad++ has a built-in tab system to help reduce the clutter in your taskbar. It seems like everything is getting tabs so your text reader shouldn’t be any different, right?

Here is a list of what’s new in Notepad++ 3.9:

  • Remember the bookmarks, zoom level and visibilities of white space/EOL characters in each saved session. 
  • Add the capacity to clear read only attribute. 
  • Fix the reload bug for read-only file. 
  • Add the capacity to write the files which have the system attribute. 
  • Backup file on each save (optional : verbose mode & normal mode). 
  • Add the close button for each tab like Opera (optional). 
  • Add double click on tab to close document feature (optional). 
  • Add word completion (Alt+Space) feature. 
  • Fix the line number margin display bug. 
  • Add Opera style task list tab switcher (Ctrl+Tab or Mouse Right Click + Mouse Wheel).  
  • Add Ada, Caml, AutoIt, KixTart, Matlab, Verilog language support. 
  • Add TeX folding support. 

Download Notepad++ 3.9 (Windows Installer)
Download Notepad++ 3.9 (Windows ZIP)

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

Kodak Teams Up With Skype To Provide Photo Sharing Service

This article was written on January 07, 2006 by CyberNet.

Kodak Teams Up With Skype To Provide Photo Sharing Service

Kodak and Skype have apparently joined forces to give users a photo sharing service that you can put your own voice behind. Kodak gives users the ability to show a slide show of pictures to someone else in a different location all while narrating the whole show. It’s like flipping through an album with someone you are sitting next to.

View Kodak/Skype Service
News Source: The Digital Photography Weblog

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New Street Atlas USA 2007 Mapping Software

This article was written on September 01, 2006 by CyberNet.

Street Atlas USA 2007 I have been using Delorme’s Street Atlas for years now with my GPS unit and my laptop. It always works really nice and the number of GPS features that it has is really amazing. It popped into my head today that they should be updating their software soon because a new version is released just about every August. Sure enough they didn’t let me down because Street Atlas 2007 is now out.

I bought the 2006 version last year after I found Streets & Trips to lack the GPS capabilities that I had wanted. I really like the software but I don’t know if I am convinced enough to upgrade my version. It does have 133,000 new streets but I am sure the ones missing for my town aren’t updated. I just wish they would steal acquire Google’s map database…or Google could come out with their own mapping software that didn’t require an Internet connection to use it.

The only other feature that I want is something I have never seen in a pc-based GPS system. That is the ability to snap your position to the closest road. My GPS unit isn’t the most detailed equipment and often times I find myself located in the middle of a farm field. Several cars that I have been in that have an integrated GPS unit will snap the position to the closest road but why doesn’t any computer software do that?

So I’m curious what mapping software you use, if any, so that I can decide whether to upgrade to the newest version of Street Atlas or try something else. Street Atlas costs $40 for the regular version and that seems like a reasonable amount. Any suggestions?

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

Free ZoneAlarm Firewall Released for Vista

This article was written on June 14, 2007 by CyberNet.

ZoneAlarm on Vista
Click to Enlarge

The free ZoneAlarm firewall program just received a welcomed update that includes Vista compatibility. To the best of my knowledge this is the first free firewall that has been released for Vista, although Comodo did just reach the alpha stage with their’s.

For those of you who think that Vista is secure and doesn’t need a firewall, you might want to rethink your decision. It is true that Vista has a built-in firewall which can protect users to some extent, but it isn’t much different than the one included in Windows XP. It is designed to be unobtrusive to the user, which is nice because you don’t get bombarded with confirmations, but at the same time a malicious application could easily circumvent the protection it enforces.

While I prefer Comodo over other free personal firewalls, ZoneAlarm might be earning a spot on my PC simply because it is both stable, free, and now Vista-compatible. Once Comodo gets a more mature Vista-compatible release (for me that means a Beta release) out I’m sure I will be switching back over, but you’ve gotta take what you can get. And it’s not like ZoneAlarm is all that shabby…it has gotten great reviews in the past, although Comodo has beaten them in several different areas when it comes to testing.

The free Vista-compatible ZoneAlarm actually isn’t available on their site yet, but it can be downloaded directly from the ZoneAlarm server or from our download mirror. I’m sure they’ll get the site updated shortly with the most recent version, but for now you’ll need to use those links if you want to give it a shot.

Download the Free Vista-Compatible ZoneAlarm Firewall (Download Mirror)

Source: Washington Post’s Security Fix
Thanks CoryC!

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

Microsoft Equipt Subscription for $69/year

This article was written on July 02, 2008 by CyberNet.

A few months ago we were racking our brains trying to figure out what a reasonable price would be for a subscription-based version of Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007. In the end I estimated that Microsoft would charge at least $5 per month, but probably not more than $10 per month. The software suite itself retails for about $150, but with a little shopping around you can find it for about $110.

Good news. Today Microsoft announced that in the middle of July 2008 over 700 Circuit City stores around the United States will be selling their subscription-based product dubbed Microsoft Equipt. With it you get full access to Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 in addition to the Windows Live OneCare antivirus software. The price? It will be $69 per year, which works out to just $5.75 per month. Not too bad considering you’ll always get the latest version of Office and OneCare as part of the subscription.

Here are some screenshots of what the service will look like:

(Click to Enlarge)
microsoft equipt 1.jpg microsoft equipt 2.jpg microsoft equipt 3.jpg microsoft equipt 4.jpg microsoft equipt 5.jpg microsoft equipt 6.jpg

Naturally I began crunching some numbers to see whether this was as good of a deal as you might think it is. As I mentioned earlier you can go buy Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 for $110, and OneCare is already a subscription based program that will cost about $30 per year (MSRP is $50 a year). So the real value depends on how long you’ll have Office 2007 for. Here’s a breakdown for you:

If you have Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 for [insert number of years] before upgrading it will cost…

  • [1 year] = $30 + $110 = $140 per year
  • [2 years] = $30 + $110/2 = $85 per year
  • [3 years] = $30 + $110/3 = $67 per year
  • [4 years] = $30 + $110/4 = $58 per year

What does this all mean? If Microsoft releases a new version of Office at least every three years (and you always upgrade right away) the subscription package is actually a reasonable deal.

Don’t forget the fact that both Office Home & Student and OneCare come with licenses that are good for up to three computers, and the same goes for your Microsoft Equipt subscription. If you have three computers that you would use the software the price-per-PC actually isn’t all that bad.

The interesting thing is that Microsoft hasn’t said anything about this being offered in other countries besides the United States, and for that matter it appears that only Circuit City will be selling it. I’m not quite sure why Microsoft wouldn’t offer something like this for download online?

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

Microsoft Messenger Released For Mac 6.0

This article was written on September 27, 2006 by CyberNet.

Microsoft has recently released Messenger for Mac 6.0, the first universal application with the capability to run on Intel and Power PC based macs. Overall, it offers the users more choices and customization. With this version, they’ve integrated the cabaility to:

  •  Chat with people on Yahoo!’s messaging service
  • Create custom emoticons with “Personality Plus”
  • Feature to tell others what you’re listening to on iTunes
  • Add status messages
  • Spell checking
  • Spotlight integration

If you’re a business user, you’ll be able to benefit with the option to launch Live Communications Server only which should make your job easier.  The new Messenger for Mac 6.0 will requires Mac OS X v 10.3.9.

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

Windows Vista Tweaking Software Released

This article was written on September 15, 2006 by CyberNet.

Tweak Vista

Totalidea Software has released a program called TweakVI which will let you customize Windows Vista without the need to dig through the registry. They do have a free version available that has the ability to tweak several different features but they also have subscription-based versions that you can purchase for one year at a time.

Here is an overview of what the software can do:

Activate hundreds of hidden Windows Vista settings, clean your registry, activate system and software restrictions, display detailed system information, create a 256 MB RAM drive, protect your privacy, clean your harddrive, manage TrueType fonts, improve your internet connection, optimize your CPU, optimize your RAM, manage system updates, and much more …

If you are like me you will want to checkout what the difference is between all of the versions. Unfortunately you can only compare using this chart because they do not have a trial version of the Premium and Ultimate editions (and the free version is cleverly named Basic).

I thought about downloading TweakVI but I’m not sure if I will really find it useful. I already seem to like Vista the way it is but I’ll be considering it.

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