Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on January 07, 2009 by CyberNet.

About 6-weeks before the end of each year some DonationCoder members start planning out what kind of app they’d like to create for the NANY (New Apps for the New Year) challenge. The end result has to be offered for free, and this year 44 coders pledged to release a program. Out of those coders 35 different apps have been created.

After browsing through all of the apps I have to say that there are a few that could actually prove to be useful. Here are the ones that we really like, and I’ll tell you my favorite at the end of the article.

• Auto Cursor Move – I remember using apps like this to keep my dial-up connection alive when I was younger. With it you can “schedule” mouse clicks or keyboard strokes, which can save a bunch of time. In my case back when the Internet was in its infancy apps like this would auto-click the “stay connected” dialog that would annoyingly popup to disconnect an idle connection.
• Crazy Little Fingers – When little kids get in front of the computer all they want to do is poke around the keyboard. They don’t care what data they erase or what critical files are removed. With this app you don’t have to worry about that happening. It will lock the keyboard, and will actually interact with the kids depending on which keys they pressed.
• DropCommand – This will let you drag and drop files onto the Vista command line to have it automatically enter in the file’s path for you.
• Fried Babelfish – A quick desktop tool that uses the Google Translator to convert text from one language to another. The nice thing is that it is designed for a two-way conversation where you’re constantly translating back and forth between two languages.
• Multi Photo Quotes – This is a screensaver that shows off photos in your collection along with some quotes. It supports multiple monitors, has panning/zooming effects, and much more.
• PowerCircle – This is a unique way to show the remaining battery power left on your notebook. It definitely earns my “clever design” award.

And I’ll save what I consider to be the best for last. It’s called JustCloseSomeTasks, and it’s designed to monitor how often you’re using the programs you currently have open. With a quick press of a hotkey you can see all applications that have been inactive for a specified period of time, and in a few clicks you can close them all. This is a great tool for anyone who finds themselves overwhelmed with the number of windows they have open.

Congrats to DonationCoder for another successful NANY challenge, and a big thanks to all of the developers who took the time out of their busy lives to make contributions! You can checkout all 35 of the entries here.

Copyright © 2010 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:

Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary2008 CyberNet Awards RecapDonation Coder’s New Apps for the New YearWhy I Jailbroke My iPhone 3GWhy Google Apps Falls Short