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Dec 30

SimplyTweet: Best Twitter Client for the iPhone

This article was written on September 30, 2009 by CyberNet.

It’s not often that I write about iPhone apps, but there are a few reasons why I want to point out SimplyTweet [iTunes links: free or paid]. First, I have to say that it hasn’t gotten nearly the amount of recognition that it deserves. It has one of the largest set of features out of any of the Twitter clients on the iPhone. If you decide to spring for the $4.99 version you’ll even get push notifications for mentions or direct messages, which is surprisingly something very few Twitter apps offer at this point.

The thing that originally drew me to SimplyTweet was one particular feature that I had been longing for. I wanted a way to load all of the unread tweets regardless of how many that was. Yes, I realize that the Twitter API has a restriction on how many requests can be made each hour, but if I want to max out those requests then, well, do it. And SimplyTweet does. It won’t load just 100 or 200 tweets, it will load as many tweets as it needs to in order to get back to the point where I left off. So when I go for 8-10 hours without loading the app it will grab all 400-500 tweets that I have yet to read. This is, of course, optional.

The main reason, however, that I wanted to cover the app is because of the developer himself. I’ve interacted with a lot of application developers for desktop apps, iPhone apps, and websites. I do my best to give useful feedback, and often reach out to my friends to get their feedback as well. I’ve also been involved in a good number of Beta programs for iPhone apps including the one for SimplyTweet. What makes this developer stand out is that he promptly responds to feedback. I’ve made several recommendations and requests, and the developer has acknowledged all of them… regardless of whether it was over his Twitter account or through email. His responses, however, weren’t just the common “that’s a great idea and we’ll look into adding it.” I’m pretty sure all of the things I’ve asked for have been implemented at this point, and, heck, some of the things I asked for were things that were already in the app but I just didn’t realize it.

The only other thing I want to see this app include is the ability to cache tweets. That way if I open SimplyTweet to load up my tweets, close the app, and reopen it all of the tweets will still be there without having to fetch them again. There are a few apps that do this, but SimplyTweet loads them fast enough that it doesn’t bother me too much. It would still be nice to have though.

I’ve bought other iPhone apps like BirdFeed, Twittelator, and Tweetie. Most of them have their own niceties, but SimplyTweet takes the cake. Robert Scoble also seems to agree.

SimplyTweet [iTunes links: free or paid]

Dec 30

Windows Media Center Users Can Download Update Rollup

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on January 25, 2006 by CyberNet.

Windows Media Center Users Can Download Update Rollup

Microsoft has released an update rollup for all those Windows Media Center users out there (like me). The update fixes video issues that Windows XP Media Center 2005 has, as well as issues with suspend/resume, video freezes, and black screens. Make sure you get this update to keep things nice and tidy!

Download Source: Microsoft

Dec 30

Fitbit iPhone 5s update teases wearable data without the band

Posted in: Today's Chili

In a move rather similar to Nike’s efforts with their own wearable sports tracker and app, Fitbit has updated their app to give basic fitness data without the Fitbit band … Continue reading

Dec 30

RemoveMe Is the Easiest Way to Unsubscribe from Spammy Email Lists

Posted in: Today's Chili

I remember subscribing to an email list a few months ago because the site was hosting a giveaway. Normally, I don’t mind a few emails a month, especially if they’re promoting something that I’m interested in. However, one email a day isn’t cool, and that just encourages people to unsubscribe, if you ask me.

That’s what I tried to do and failed at horribly because even after submitting a request to unsubscribe, I still received the emails on a daily basis!

What eventually worked for me was RemoveMe. It’s a free browser extension that adds an “Unsubscribe” button beside email subjects right in your inbox. All you have to do is click and be done with it. It’s compatible with Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Hotmail, so if you use another service, then you might have to wait a while before it’s available on the platform that you’re using.

RemoveMe is part of a suite of tools called PowerInbox, which adds a few other handy features to your email box, such as security icons for verified senders, and the ability to preview content without opening emails. You can check out and install RemoveMe for free here.

[via C|NET]

Dec 30

Hide the Safari “Update” Notification in Windows

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on April 07, 2008 by CyberNet.

safari troubles Remember how Apple is pushing out Safari to anyone with iTunes or QuickTime installed? The “update” notification was really starting to get on my nerves. I swear I was getting prompted at least once a week to install Safari, and that was regardless of whether I unchecked the box. It was almost enough to make me want to install it just so that I would get rid of the prompt. That was until I got a little wiser and realized that if I went to the Tools menu that there was an Ignore Selected Updates option. EUREKA!

And businesses… well, it’s a headache to say the least. An article by ComputerWorld was really an eye opener as to what corporations are enduring because of Apple’s distribution practices. They interviewed a network administrator at a bank who came in one morning to find Safari installed on 30 of their machines. The users of the computers likely just clicked “OK” when prompted by Apple’s Software Update service, which would then install Safari automatically. The end result was an unnecessary security risk at the bank.

Judging from March’s Safari stats pushing out the update this way didn’t help Apple out much. After all, just because Safari is installed doesn’t mean that people will actually use it. So how about we cut the shenanigans, Apple? It would make many lives easier including the already overworked network administrators.

Thanks to Storytellerofscifi for the tip!

Dec 30

Macworld 2008 – MacBook Air, Movie Rentals, iPhone Firmware, Time Capsule, and more…

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on January 15, 2008 by CyberNet.

A lot of sites decided to go the Twitter route this year for providing fast updates to their readers who wanted to keep up wit Macworld. The excess traffic must have caused an overload because ironically, Twitter has been down (they weren’t the only ones either… Engadget was crawling!). For those of you who tried to follow Macworld and couldn’t get the complete details, we’ve got the full scoop..

All rumors can be put to rest. Steve Jobs’ Keynote is over and what came out of it was a brand new MacBook Air, the much anticipated movie rentals, Time Capsule, and more!

iPhone

To date, more than 4 million iPhone’s sold
That equals out to 20,000 iPhone per day on average that are sold
During the 1st quarter it was on the market, it garnered 19% of the market share

New iPhone Features with Firmware Update (Press Release)

Update available today
Maps with location – find your current location in maps and then have a route calculated for you based upon your current location
Text message multiple people at one time
Create up to 9 different home screens and organize the home buttons the way you want them to be

Time Capsule (Press Release)

Time Capsule is a companion to Time Machine that will allow users to backup their computers wirelessly — all Macs in your house can be backed-up. They’ll be going on sale come February in two different versions:

500 GB priced at $299
1 TB priced at $499

Leopard

Mac OS X has been out for about three months now and over five million copies have been sold. It’s the most successful release ever and almost 20% of the OS X install base has upgraded

iPod Touch (Press Release)

The iPod Touch also received some TLC with new apps being added like mail, weather, maps, stocks, and notes. Just like the iPhone, iPod Touch users can reorder their homepage. iPod Touch users can pay $20 to receive this upgrade.

iTunes

Jobs gave a quick rundown on some iTune’s stats:

20 million soungs were sold on iTunes on Christmas Day alone
Last week they hit their 4 billion mark for songs sold
125 million TV shows have been sold in all
7 million movies sold

After Jobs mentioned that they had sold over 7 million movies, he said that it wasn’t good enough for them and this was his perfect lead-in to introducing the much rumored iTunes movie rentals.

Movie Rentals! (Press Release)

As we all expected, Apple has jumped into movie rentals. Somehow they managed to get every single major studio on board like Fox, Walt Disney, Universal, Paramount, Sony, MGM, and more. Here are a few important key details you need to be aware of:

Movie rentals launches today in the US and internationally later this year
By the end of February, 1000 films will be available
30 days after DVD’s are released, they’ll have them available for download
Watch movies on your Mac, PC, and all current generation iPods, and iPhone
Watch them instantly if a great Internet connection

Movie rental rules:

You’ll have 30 days to start watching the movie when you rent it
After you start watching it, you’ll have 24 hours to finish it
Regular movies will cost $2.99 while new releases will be priced at $3.99
Movies are transferable– from your computer to an iPod or wherever– it’s very simple to transfer the movie to multiple devices

Apple TV Take 2 (Press Release)

Jobs said that this was Apple TV Take 2 — it can sync to your computer but no computer is required. From it you can rent movies directly on your TV and rent them in DVD quality. You can also rent them in HD quality with Dolby 5.1 surround sound. Other important info:

View audio and video podcasts as well
Get photos from your computer or view photos from Flickr and .Mac
Expanded selection of YouTube – 50 million videos

The interface was redone as well and is much improved with one menu. Users can read about the movies, see the actors, directors, etc. They can also get recommendations based upon what others have viewed.

HD movie rentals are priced at $4.99
The unit itself was received a drop in price from $299 to $229
Existing Apple TV users will get the free software update in about two weeks

MacBook Air (Press Release)

Jobs described the MacBook Air as “The World’s Thinnest Notebook. It features a full-sized keyboard, full-size display, but it’s an unprecedented 0.76 inches in its thickest part. and 0.16 inches at its thinnest. It can even fit in a manilla envelope which Steve pulled out and demonstrated.

Macbook Air

iSight
Multi-touch track pad
13.3 inch widescreen display
Magnetic latch
80 GB hard drive is standard but you can also get a 64 GB Solid State Drive
LED Backlit display
Processor is as thick as a nickle and as wide as a time
45 Watt MagSafe
1 USB 2.0 port
Micro-DVI
Audio Out
802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1/EDR
5 hours of battery life
Doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive but you can “borrow” an optical drive from a MAC or PC or purchase one for $99
2GB Memory standard

Pricing is $1,799 and it will be available in just two weeks or you can pre-order today.

They also pointed out how this computer was easy on the environment:

Fully aluminum case which is good for recyclying
First fully mercury and lead free display
Circuit boards are BFR free
Retail packaging is small– 56% less volume than that of the MacBook.

Dec 30

Dexpot 1.6: Mac Exposé and Spaces Brought to Windows in Style

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on July 31, 2012 by CyberNet.

Dexpot expose spaces

Over a month ago I wrote about a Beta version of Dexpot that was packed with some very polished features that emulated the Spaces and Exposé features from the Mac OS. The developers have since put the finishing touches on the app, and have pushed it out the door after 3-years of development. The Spaces clone, pictured above, provides an interactive way to manage multiple virtual desktops. When you first enter this view, called the “Full-Screen Preview”, you’ll see all of your virtual desktops in a grid layout. Just start dragging windows between desktops to see how well Dexpot handles itself.

When in the Full-Screen Preview you can also tile the windows on any of the desktops by right-clicking on a particular desktop. Alternatively if you right-click in the space separating the desktops it will tile the windows in all of the desktops. If you find yourself tiling the windows every time you open the virtual desktop manager there’s a handy little trick to have that automatically happen. All you have to do is assign a keyboard shortcut to the “Window Catalog (all desktops)” option in the settings, and then use that shortcut for pulling up your virtual desktops. This is where you’ll find the setting:

Windows virtual desktops spaces settings

While in the settings you should also check out the plugins section of Dexpot. I enabled the MouseEvents plugin which lets me specify actions to be performed when my mouse travels to the corners of my monitor. For example, I can have it execute the “Window Catalog (all desktops)” action that I mentioned above any time I move my mouse to the upper-left corn of the screen.

Aside from the virtual desktop management Dexpot also has a great Exposé clone built in. They call the feature a “Window Catalog” which may not make it immediately obvious what it does, but it’s basically the best Exposé clone I’ve ever used on Windows. If you’ve been itching for an alternate way to switch between applications Dexpot probably just became even more valuable to you.

Dexpot Homepage (Windows only; Free for Personal Use)

Dec 29

Screenshots Of Microsoft Office 12 Beta 1

Posted in: Today's Chili

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

The Windows SuperSite which is ran by Paul Thurrott has screenshots of Microsoft Office 12 Beta 1. It has many different galleries: Installation, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, FrontPage, and OneNote. Microsoft Office 12 is going to be a very powerful application but will have a learning curve to it. I have already given my review on this Beta version of Office and listed the bugs I found.

Photo Gallery: Windows SuperSite

Dec 28

Automatically Sort Files by Extension (Vista Gadget)

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on November 06, 2007 by CyberNet.

I just stumbled across a Vista Gadget called Magic Folder, and after seeing that it had been downloaded over 100,000 times I thought it should be something to look into. As it turns out this gadget is really amazing, and can save you a bunch of time.

What it does is add a folder (pictured to the right) on your Desktop or in the Vista Sidebar. Where you put the gadget is up to you. Then when you drag and drop files onto the Magic Folder gadget it will automatically sort through the files according to the file extensions. Images (jpg, png, gif, etc…) will be put in your Pictures folder, documents (doc, xls, ppt, etc…) will be put in your Documents folder, and so on.

Of course this gadget isn’t going to have every file extension pre-programmed the way you want it, so it comes with a fully customizable system where you can specify any extension to be moved to any folder. You can also change where the pre-programmed extensions get moved to.

In case that’s not enough for you Magic Folder can also do one other awesome thing. It creates a “watch” folder in your user directory cleverly called The Magic Folder. When this feature is enabled Magic Folder will automatically scan that directory for new files. Anything it finds in there will automatically be sorted and moved to the respective directories that you’ve specified.

–Settings–

I’m sure one thing that many of you want to see are screenshots of the different configuration options. The developer doesn’t really have any on his site, so I snapped some of my own:

(Click to Enlarge)

Magic Folder Vista Gadget

Dec 28

Mozilla Thunderbird 2 Beta 2 Released

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on January 23, 2007 by CyberNet.

I was surely surprised this morning to wake up to news that Thunderbird 2 Beta 2 has been released! I knew that it would be sometime this month but I figured it wouldn’t come until next week.

Here are all of the new features that they list, but it is the same as the Beta 1 list…

Message Tags: Create your own tags for organizing email. Messages can be assigned any number of tags. Tags can be combined with saved searches and mail views to make it easier to organize email.
Visual Theme:Thunderbird 2′s theme and user interface have been updated to improve usability.
Session History Navigation: Back and Forward buttons allow navigation through message history.
Folder Views: Customize the folder pane to show favorite, unread or recent folders.
Improved Support For Extensions: Extensions can now add custom columns to the message list pane in addition to storing custom message data in the mail database.
Improved Offline Management: Thunderbird (Linux and Windows) automatically adjusts the offline state based on current network connectivity.
Improved New Mail Notification Alerts:New mail alerts include information such as the subject, sender and message text.
Folder Summary Popups: Mouse over a folder with new messages to see a summary of the new messages in that folder.
Saved Search Folder Performance: Search results for saved search folders are now cached, improving folder loading performance.
Find As You Type
Improved Filing Tools: Recent folder menu items for moving and copying folders to recently used folders. Move / Copy again functionality.
Updates to the extension system: The extension system has been updated to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions.
New Windows installer: Based on Nullsoft Scriptable Install System, the new Windows installer resolves many long-standing issues.
MacOS X Universal Binaries

I think that a majority of the work was under-the-hood since there were 78 bug fixes since the last Beta. If you are still using Thunderbird 1.5 you might be surprised at the refreshing appearance that version 2 offers:

Thunderbird 2 Beta 2

As we mentioned a few months back, Mozilla still plans on doing tabbed messages. Of course, I’m pretty skeptical that it will be able to make it in time because the Beta builds, which are now done, are supposed to represent all of the new features. Then the release candidates only focus on fixing bugs introduced by those new features. So don’t be surprised if we don’t get tabbed messages.

As for future milestones the two release candidates should be coming in February and then the final release of Thunderbird 2 is expected sometime this first quarter (it has already been more than a year after 1.5 was released). Then it looks like they want to get things moving again because Thunderbird 3 is projected to be released the first quarter of 2008.

Go Thunderbird! 😀

Windows: Installer
Linux: GTK2 + XFT
Mac OS X: Universal Binary

Thanks for the tip wipeout140 and Claus Valca!

Hasta La Gadget!

SimplyTweet: Best Twitter Client for the iPhone

Windows Media Center Users Can Download Update Rollup

Fitbit iPhone 5s update teases wearable data without the band

RemoveMe Is the Easiest Way to Unsubscribe from Spammy Email Lists

Hide the Safari “Update” Notification in Windows