Oct 26

Manage Multiple Connections: Remote Desktop, VNC, Citrix, and More

Posted in: Features, Freeware, Software, Today's Chili, Windows, Windows Vista, Windows XP

This article was written on October 20, 2008 by CyberNet.

terminals.jpg
(Click to Enlarge)

arrow Windows Windows only arrow
Everyday when I’m at work I’m dealing with dozens of different servers that I have to connect to using the Windows Remote Desktop. If you have just one computer that you need to manage the standard Remote Desktop Connection application serves the purpose, but it can become tedious when dealing with numerous machines.

To solve this problem I began looking around for a app that has a nice tabbed interface for handling multiple connections. What I wasn’t expecting was to find something as good as the free Terminals program. This can not only manage Remote Desktop Connections, but also VNC, VMRC, RAS, Telnet, SSH, ICA Citrix, HTTP, and Amazon S3. Plus you can accomplish basic tasks like pinging, trace routes, whois lookups, and more all from within this single program.

I’ve quickly become impressed with everything Terminals can do. Anytime you make a connection to a machine it will be added to the Favorites menu for easy access in the future. You can then go through and rename the entries for easier recognition (especially handy if you’re connecting via IP addresses), or even apply tags.

And we can’t forget about security. Naturally you won’t want a program like this to save all of your passwords because a lot could be lost should it ever fall into the wrong hands. At the same time it can be tough to remember all of those different passwords for the various machines. Terminals, much like any browser, will let you establish a master password that is used to protect all of your saved passwords. That means you’ll have just one password to remember from now on!

This probably isn’t a program that will be handy for everyone, but it can definitely save some time and frustration for those of you who work with dozens of different connections day in and day out. It’s completely free, and doesn’t require any installation for you to start using it. Just download the ZIP file, extract the contents, and run the executable.

Get Terminals for Windows

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Oct 26

Sunbird 0.7 is Impressive

Posted in: Features, Freeware, Mozilla, Newly Released, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on October 25, 2007 by CyberNet.

Sunbird 0.7
Click to Enlarge

For some reason I’m really impressed at how fast Mozilla’s Calendar duo is progressing. They just pushed Lightning & Sunbird 0.7 out the door, and they include a completely redesigned event interface along with hundreds of bug fixes. You can see what the new event manager looks like above, and it is much less cluttered than the older version.

Tip: Lightning is the addon for the Thunderbird email client, whereas Sunbird is a standalone application. Only use Lightning if you want your calendar and email all in one program.

Before I get into the other good news why don’t we take a look at the new features for Lightning and Sunbird:

  • It is now much easier to switch between the mail and calendar parts of Thunderbird thanks to a user interface redesign
  • A redesigned event/task dialog has been enabled to gather feedback from the community. It offers a much cleaner user interface and additional functionality including:
    • Events/Tasks can be created in different timezones
    • Attendees can be added from a local or corporate LDAP directory
    • Free-Busy information is available for users of the Sun Java Calendar Server
    • Integrated display of recurrence patterns, reminders and attendees
    • Custom recurrences and reminders
    • Clear separation between tasks and events
  • The new event summary dialog lists all the details of tasks and events for calendar which are read-only
  • The Today Pane gives a quick overview over your current tasks and upcoming events. The Today Pane can be enabled/disabled by a toolbar button
  • Colliding events (events in the same time slot) are shrunk so that they fit into the display of a day. This no longer affects other events on the same day
  • Localized releases of Lightning and Sunbird in Chinese (simplified), Georgian, Lithuanian, Portuguese (European), Spanish (Argentina) and Turkish

Sunbird and Lightning weren’t the only big calendar-related releases at Mozilla today. Remember the Google Calendar extension we wrote about? That also got updated today with several bug fixes, and it now supports synchronizing event attendees.  The new Google Calendar extension only works with Sunbird/Lightning 0.7, so you’ll have to upgrade before installing it.

Congrats to the Mozilla Calendar team on another fine release, and I can’t wait to see what further developments bring to the table!

Mozilla Calendar Homepage

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Oct 26

OpenSUSE 10.3 Review (Release is Tomorrow)

Posted in: Features, Freeware, Linux, Newly Released, Release Date, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on October 03, 2007 by CyberNet.

For the longest time I was always a huge fan of OpenSUSE. Up until about a year ago that was all I used on the Linux side of things, but Ubuntu’s quickly rising popularity caused me to start using that more. Tomorrow, however, will mark the release of OpenSUSE 10.3, and I flipped through a lot of documentation today to see what it was going to include.

I started over at the TuxMachines.org review of the first release candidate, and then moseyed on over to the OpenSUSE news page to see what they’ve had to say the last few weeks. From what I’ve seen I think it will be time to rekindle the old flame when OpenSUSE 10.3 is released tomorrow. :)

–One Click Install (More Info)–

SUSE engineers recognized the hassle that installing some applications presented. They understand the burden of needing to locate packages, add repositories, and then perform the install process. The solution? One-Click Install! There is a package explorer website setup that will aid users in finding packages, and once they have found what they are looking for they just press the One-Click Install button to initiate the installation. A wizard will automatically begin, and the necessary repositories will be added:

OpenSUSE One Click Install

The installation process will then continue, and in no time at all you should have your new program running. I like how this works, and it’s nice to see that more steps are being taken to make software installation easier.

–Compiz & Compiz Fusion (More Info)–

I’m a sucker when it comes to eye candy, and OpenSUSE 10.3 is putting a lot of it at your fingertips. Compiz features will be available out-of-the-box, and Compiz Fusion can be installed using the One-Click Install that I mentioned above. Before diving into enabling these features let’s drool over a collage showcasing the Linux goodness:

OpenSUSE Compiz 

To get Compiz up and running just enable Desktop Effects in GNOME, or type gnome-xgl-switch –enable-xgl (in GNOME or KDE) into the terminal.

To get Compiz Fusion installed you’ll have to take advantage of the new One-Click Install. Click here for more information on doing that.

–KDE 4 and GNOME 2.20–

OpenSUSE KDE Games OpenSUSE 10.3 will have the latest version of both the KDE and GNOME desktop environments. KDE 4 and all of its glorious features will be included. For the players out there you’ll be pleased to know that there are several games bundled with it: KMahjongg, KMines, KPatience, KReversi and KSudoku. Many of these had been included in previous versions of KDE, but now in KDE 4 they have been revamped to include better graphics! Suddenly I have an urge to play Reversi. :D

And we can’t forget about the inclusion of GNOME 2.20! Normally I’m more of a KDE fan myself, but the SUSE engineers have found ways to make me yearn for a sampling of what GNOME has to offer. It started with the unique Start Menu, called SLAB, that they created (pictured below), and now they have a sweet World Clock Applet that can be retrieved from the tray. Among other elements of the GNOME Desktop, SLAB has received some minor updates to the appearance.

OpenSUSE GNOME

–And More–

You thought that was it? I don’t think so! OpenSUSE 10.3 has hundreds of improvements, bug fixes, and enhancements that will please users in ways they didn’t even know was possible. ;) Take a look at some of the other significant enhancements:

  • There have been a lot of changes to the bootup process, and the result is phenomenal to say the least. You should find that your computer reaches the login screen in about half the time that it did in OpenSUSE 10.2.
  • You only need to download 1 CD for installation! There will now be a CD for KDE, and another for GNOME that will be used for installing OpenSUSE. Prior to this there were 5 CD’s available, three of which were required for installation. Now you just have to pick the desktop environment you want, and then download only that CD.
  • Better multimedia support, which prompts you to install codecs that currently aren’t on your system.
  • Includes the latest OpenOffice.org 2.3.
  • Includes a program called Giver that can be used to transfer files with other Giver users. Any Giver users on the network are automatically recognized, and the transferring works without any extra configuration.
  • And there’s still more!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Oct 26

CyberNotes: How to Rotate Background Wallpapers

Posted in: CyberNotes, Features, Freeware, Photos, Software, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili

This article was written on May 29, 2008 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Tutorial Thursday

arrow Windows Windows only arrow
One of the things that I thought was pretty cool with my Mac was that it lets you rotate your desktop backgrounds at set intervals using images on your computer. That got me wondering what kind of solutions are available for Windows users that do something similar, and what I happened to stumble upon is a real gem.

John’s Background Switcher is a free application that does exactly what you would expect it to, but likely goes a step further than anything you’ve seen before. It’s not only capable of grabbing images directly from your computer, but it can also interact with multiple online services including Flickr, Phanfare, SmugMug, Picasa, and Yahoo. What’s really nice is that it even supports retrieval of your private images for nearly all of the online services either through authorization or by providing your username/password. Heck, you can even mix and match the sources you want to pull images from. Neato!

Need a calendar on your desktop? No problem! Background Switcher has an option to display a monthly calendar directly on your wallpaper, and it will highlight the current day. Now how convenient is that?

Oh, right, but you use multiple monitors. Yeah, it supports that, too. You can have it show the same picture on each monitor, one picture for the entire desktop, different pictures on each monitor, or only show one picture on the main monitor. I think you get the point… this is a very full-featured background rotation utility.

background switcher.jpg
(Click to Enlarge)

One thing that I do want to point out is that you can obviously specify the interval that the backgrounds will rotate, but it can also be done manually. To do that just double-click on the System Tray icon, and it will immediately begin processing a new background to use.

–Very Impressive Layouts–

Not only can this flip through your images, but it can also take multiple photos and lay them out in a way that is sure to make your friends go “wow.” Take the “Snapshot Scrapbook” mode for example, which takes a handful of your photos and lays them out in a polaroid fashion. It also takes one image and converts it to black and white to be used as the background. The number of images shown on the screen at any given time are dependent on your monitor’s resolution, and here’s what it looks like using images tagged as “flowers” from Flickr:

Note: The application does place some text in the upper-right corner of the background with the program’s name. I didn’t see any option to eliminate this.

snapshot scrapbook-2.jpg

If you want to see more images at a time just switch over to the mosaic mode where it will grab a lot of thumbnails, and then tile them on your desktop. Here’s what that looks like once again using images tagged as “flowers” from Flickr:

mosiac background.jpg

–Performance–

One of the questions that I frequently get asked when writing about apps like this is what kind of performance hit a PC will take for running this. As you can see above there are a handful of multi-image layouts that you can choose from, and Background Switcher has to generate the background each time the wallpaper is switched out.

On my Vista machine the memory usage for the app sat around 13MB when idle, and 21MB when hard at work. The processor usage obviously spiked while putting together the background, but the highest I saw it go was 65% (it only did that for a split second, too). That’s not all bad for what the program accomplishes.

The nice thing is that Background Switcher is actually a performance-conscious app, and offers several different settings to make sure it doesn’t interrupt your work. Here are some of the things you customize:

  • On start up don’t switch the wallpaper for a specified number of seconds. This gives the rest of your apps a chance to finish loading before it starts working on the background.
  • Stop switching the background when the screensaver is running.
  • Stop switching when running over terminal services (ex. remote desktop).
  • Only switch when the system has been idle for at least 15 seconds.
  • Stop switching if any programs you specify are running. Great for games or applications that require extensive use of your computers resources.

–Overview–

To be honest I haven’t gotten this excited about an application in a long time. The interface is very intuitive and simple, but at the same time there are tons of things you can customize. And the fact that it supports so many online photos services is astounding. Plus it’s free! The developer is even very active in the support forum in case you need help using it, or just have a feature request. It’s not often that you see an application and developer of this caliber that doesn’t charge a dime.

Get John’s Background Switcher

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Oct 26

Adobe Air-based Xdrive Desktop Lite Launches

Posted in: adobe, Features, Newly Released, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on February 25, 2008 by CyberNet.

Adobe AIR 1.0 has officially shipped and now we’re already starting to see applications built with the new platform. One such application is AOL’s Xdrive Desktop Lite. It was designed for uploading and downloading files from AOL’s Xdrive storage solution.  As a quick reminder, Xdrive is a service that allows users to store (for free) 5GB worth of data. It’s particularly useful for Windows users who can install Xdrive as a virtual hard drive and ends up being a backup solution.  The new Xdrive Desktop Lite works for Windows users but also Mac users now for the first time.

Xdrive Desktop Lite Features

  • Queue multiple files/folders for simultaneous upload and download
  • Easy-to-use file organization tools to create, move, and rename your folders
  • Preview of supported media files on the fly with built-in players
  • Browse files and your desktop, hard drive, or USB device, not just your Xdrive account
  • Drag-and-drop uploading

xdrive desktop lite

If you’d like to try Xdrive Desktop Lite, you’ll need to do the following:

  • Install Adobe Air (get it here)
  • Install Xdrive Desktop Lite and launch it (get it here)
  • Login to Xdrive Desktop Lite (using a AOL or AIM screen name) and begin using it

We’re excited about Xdrive Desktop Lite, especially because Windows Live SkyDrive which launched last week wasn’t all that we expected it to be. While they offer 5GB of storage like AOL does, Microsoft didn’t integrate it into Windows as well as they could have. AOL’s solution isn’t perfect, but with Adobe Air behind it now, the application looks great which is always a plus. And with competitors like omnidrive, mozy, box.net, and SkyDrive, AOL needed something to set themselves apart from the others. For those who need more space, AOL offers 50GB of storage for $9.95 per month or $99.50 for the year.

Eventually AOL intends to say “adios” to the PC only desktop version and stick with an application built with Adobe’s Air platform.

Source: Download Squad

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Oct 25

EverNote 2.2 Free for Today Only ($49.95 Value)

Posted in: Features, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 15, 2007 by CyberNet.

I know that many of you are already EverNote users, and the latest release added some great new features. This note taking application is handy for jotting down grocery lists, clipping information from websites, or managing expenses.

Giveaway of the Day has the full EverNote program available for free today only. The advanced version of EverNote ($49.95) includes searching within images, handwriting recognition, shape correction, and digital ink support. If you’re not a Table PC user it’s probably not that valuable to you, but it’s still free.

The only catch with all “Giveaway of the Day” offerings is that they can only be installed today. It will not let you run the installer after today, which means you’ll have to fork out the money for the advanced version should you ever format your computer. I guess you could always monitor the installation process, and then backup any registry and/or file changes that take place. ;) That might be more work than it’s worth though.

Download EverNote for Free [via jkOnTheRun]
Hat tip to “S”!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Oct 24

GoPro launches HD Hero2 helmet cam, announces video streaming Wi-Fi pack for winter

Posted in: 1080p, Features, release, Today's Chili

Want to catch every frame of your next extreme sports wipeout in all of its grotesque glory? GoPro knows where you’re coming from, and has updated its line of high definition helmet cams to help you capture every bone-breaking moment. The HD Hero2 competitively boasts that it’s twice as powerful its 2009 predecessor, the original HD Hero. The new helmet cam promises to capture 1080p 16:9 footage from atop your sweaty noggin at both narrow (90-degree), wide (170-degree) and medium (127-degree) angles, and can snap up to ten 11 megapixel photos per second. The camera’s mini-HDMI port, composite out, USB, SD card and HERO ports will help you share the spoils of your spills when your adventure ends — at least until this winter, when GoPro’s WiFi BacPac promises to enable live broadcasting and camera control over WiFi. Best of all? The Hero2 kills the original HD Hero’s confusing 3-digit code interface in favor of a simple language-based menu.

The HD Hero2 comes in three $300 configurations: outdoor, motorsports, and surf editions, all of which are compatible with existing accessories. Too rich for your blood? Then you’ll be happy to know that the previous models are getting price drops — $200 for the original HD Hero and a paltry $150 for its “960” variant. Hit the break for the official PR and a full list of features.

Continue reading GoPro launches HD Hero2 helmet cam, announces video streaming Wi-Fi pack for winter

GoPro launches HD Hero2 helmet cam, announces video streaming Wi-Fi pack for winter originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 22

FileZilla 3 – FTP Client for Windows, Linux, and Mac

Posted in: Features, Freeware, Linux, Mac, Newly Released, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili, Windows

This article was written on September 10, 2007 by CyberNet.

FileZilla 3 FTP Software

FileZilla 3 was just released and I have to admit that I’m pretty excited to see my favorite FTP client hit this big milestone. This version has spent several years in the making, and even though it doesn’t have many new features over the previous version there is something that is definitely worth noting: it’s now cross-platform! That’s right, it doesn’t matter whether your a Windows, Linux, or Mac user because FileZilla runs on them all.

Making FileZilla 3 cross-platform was no easy task, and it required a complete code rewrite. Unfortunately they also weren’t able to bring back all of the features from FileZilla 2, but I believe that most casual FTP users won’t notice much of a difference. The only thing I’ve found so far that FileZilla 3 is lacking is the synchronization capabilities that FileZilla 2 offered. If you never used that feature I think you should be pleased with the new version.

One of the other great things that I noticed in this version is the organization of queued, failed, and successful transfers into separate tabs at the bottom. This makes it much easier to see how your transfers are going.

Interestingly enough the developer also decided to refresh the FileZilla icon by choosing a different color scheme. It’s not a drastic change from what it was, but it’s enough to make me look twice when trying to find the program in the Start Menu.

FileZilla Homepage

Note: The Mac OS X version is currently experiencing some delays.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Oct 22

iPhone Firmware 1.1.3 Features

Posted in: Apple, Features, Gadgets, iPhone, Screenshots, Today's Chili, videos

This article was written on December 31, 2007 by CyberNet.

There has been a lot of buzz around the next iPhone firmware upgrade that is expected to be released as early as this week. At first there was some speculation that this is just a hoax, but if that was the case there has been way too much work put into it. A video has been provided, which we’ve embedded below, that demonstrates the various new features.

First lets take a look at the two big areas that are the most revamped:

–Customizable Homepage–

Apple is showing us the first signs of how things will work when users are allowed to install native applications on the iPhone in the future. With the new firmware users will be able to rearrange any of the icons (including the ones along the bottom dock), and they will also be able to add their favorite bookmarks to the homepage. The video below demonstrates how this works, but here are a few screenshots:

iPhone 113 Homepage

–Google Maps–

Since the iPhone doesn’t have a built-in GPS Apple is giving the Google Maps app the next best thing. It will have Google’s new My Location feature integrated, which uses the proximity to nearby cellphone towers to calculate an estimate of the user’s position.

Aside from that the Google Maps app will also include a hybrid map view (satellite + street labels) which it has definitely been lacking. Naturally all of these new features to Google Maps means more buttons, but Apple has decided to keep the interface clean by putting some of the buttons on a “new page”:

iPhone 113 Google Maps

–The Video Demonstration–

If you’re wondering exactly how it works here is a video that GearLive put together demonstrating all of the new features:

GearLive [via Gizmodo]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Oct 22

Organize Your Desktop with Fences

Posted in: Features, Freeware, Software, Today's Chili, Windows

This article was written on February 11, 2009 by CyberNet.

stardock fences.jpg

arrow Windows Windows only arrow
Most of the time I use my computer’s desktop as a temporary holding place for things that I need to organize later on. It’s normally filled with attachments that have been downloaded from emails, apps I’ve downloaded to try out, and more. My goal is to always have a clear desktop because that means I’ve filed everything away, but that rarely happens.

Stardock has released a free program called Fences that focuses on de-cluttering your desktop. Basically what it does is make it possible to group the icons on your desktop into self-contained areas. You can then hide all of the groupings simply by double-clicking on your desktop. If you’ve got certain icons you always want visible (like the Recycle Bin) you can specify them within the settings, and those will never be hidden when double-clicking on the desktop.

To top it off the application will also let you take snapshots of how all your icons are organized at any given moment. These will serve as backups in case you ever want to revert back to a previous state of organization.

Stardock Fences is completely free, but they do have a professional version in the works that will add more features if you’re willing to pay for them. The free version, however, will always remain available.

This has become a must-have app for me, and I highly recommend it for anyone that has troubles managing their desktop.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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