Jan 29

Extend Firefox 3 Winners

Posted in: Firefox 3, Firefox Extensions, Freeware, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on August 21, 2008 by CyberNet.

extend firefox.jpgMozilla has announced the winners of the Extend Firefox 3 add-on contest. This is where extension developers submitted their add-ons to try and win prizes like a MacBook Air, and the winners definitely deserved it. I did submit our CyberSearch extension to see if it’d win, but it looks like it didn’t make the cut. :(

What extensions did scoop up the win? Here they are sorted by category:

Best New Add-ons

Best New Add-ons Runners Up

  • Webchunks – Firefox implementation of the Internet Explorer Webslices feature, plus more!
  • Badges on Favicons – Add informational badges to the tab favicons.
  • Devo – A command launcher for Firefox.
  • Close ‘N Forget – Close the current tab and forget about the visit.
  • Callout – Makes the notification services of the Operating System available for web pages and Greasemonkey scripts.
  • Reasy – An RSVP reader.

Best Updated Add-ons

Best Music Add-on

  • Fire.fm – Direct access to the Last.fm music library.

Congrats to all of the winners! There are some other extensions I believe deserved to win, such as Foxmarks in the “best updated” category, but there’s not much any of us could have done since a panel of judges was designated to make the decision.

If you’ve tried out any of the extensions mentioned above let us know which ones you think deserved the win, and which of your favorites should have taken home the crown.

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Jan 25

New Digsby Getting Huge Performance Boost

Posted in: Freeware, Pre-Release, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili, Windows

This article was written on August 11, 2008 by CyberNet.

digsby performance-1.png

arrow Windows Windows only arrow
A few months ago we tried out Digsby, and our verdict was that it’s one of the best cross-network messenger clients available. The only downside was that when it came to the performance of Digsby things weren’t so pleasant. Some of the commenters on our article noticed RAM usage spiking to 70MB and above as they were using the program, and this disappointed a lot of people since they liked the appearance and functionality of the messenger.

I’ve been closely following the Digsby blog, and they posted some great news last Friday night. Right now they are preparing for a major new release that has both performance and RAM optimizations that should solve the remaining qualms. This all comes due to a reworking of the application’s architecture, which I’m very grateful for!

My first-hand experience is that the new version cut my memory usage by over 50% as seen in the screenshot above. I use Google Talk, Windows Live, and Twitter services with Digsby, and overall it only used about 27MB of my memory. That’s not bad considering the previous release ate up over 50MB with the same accounts.

Before we tell you how you can get this pre-release version checkout what the developers had to say about this big milestone:

  • RAM Optimization: Many people have reported that Digsby is taking 70MB – 110MB during normal use. If you leave Digsby running for a while, the memory leaks caused RAM usage to climb to 150MB+ on some systems. We completely reworked the architecture to use less memory and also improved the memory management by releasing objects when they are no longer needed. We also hunted down and eliminated numerous memory leaks. All in all, these changes lower Digsby’s RAM usage by over 50%. It should now hover in the 20MB – 50MB range depending on how many accounts you have and what you are doing at the moment. There is still more we can do and our goal is to get RAM utilization down even further!
  • Performance: The changes in architecture improved the performance of simple user interface elements like buttons and menus; they now draw 2x – 3x faster! Digsby should be much more responsive now than ever before. However, while this build focused on RAM optimization, the next 1-2 builds will have a strong focus on improving “perceived performance” even more, including things like GUI response time, CPU utilization, etc.
  • Firewalls and Proxy Servers: Those who have not been able to use MSN or other IM protocols due to firewall/proxy restrictions should now be able to connect without any issues.
  • Crash Reporter: The new release includes a crash reporter that will ask you whether you want to send a crash log to us if Digsby should crash.
  • Bug Fixes + Enhancements: Over the past two months we have added a large number of bug fixes and enhancements. There are too many to list here but we will include a full Change Log when the release is pushed to everyone.

You can grab a “testers only” version of the new Digsby from their forum, but be aware that it might not be stable (I didn’t have any problems with it though). They plan to have a full public release soon, but I’m sure some of you won’t want to wait. ;)

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Jan 20

Run Downloads in Firefox Instead of Saving Them

Posted in: Firefox Extensions, Freeware, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on April 01, 2008 by CyberNet.

firefox open run download

One of the things that has always bugged me about Firefox is that when you go to download a file it will only let you save it to your computer. Some other browsers, such as Internet Explorer, also give you an option to “run” the file. The difference is that a file you run is downloaded and stored in a temporary folder that is periodically emptied by the operating system as opposed to being placed in a directory of your choosing.

It’s nice being able to run a file immediately because as soon as it is done downloading I know that it will be opened in the default application. Often times I only want to use a file just once, and so I don’t really need it cluttering up one of my other folders.

If you feel the same way as me you’ll want to checkout the OpenDownload extension for Firefox. All it does is add a Run option to the dialog that appears when you go to download a file (as seen in the screenshot above). Who would have thought that something so simple could make me so darn happy!

Note: This does work fine in Firefox 3 even though it is not shown to be compatible.

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Jan 17

Some Of The Features Planned For Firefox 3

Posted in: Freeware, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on December 08, 2006 by CyberNet.

Firefox 3 One of the questions that I receive quite frequently is what new features are expected to be in Firefox 3. Well, I have never seen a set-in-stone list but one thing that I certainly expect to see is the Places that was removed from Firefox 2. That will replace the current bookmark system with one that is more powerful and customizable.

I did, however, go searching around the wiki with the intent of pulling up some meeting notes here and there that listed expectations for Firefox 3. I didn’t exactly find that but I came across the Product Requirements Document that appears to have been carried over from Firefox 2. In there it lists some of the features that they are hoping to implement in Firefox 3 but I’m not sure on the accuracy since some of the features still say Firefox 2 as the target release.

One thing that is listed there that really caught my attention was the “Floating icons/toolbars.” I currently find it to be quite troublesome to move icons around to condense my toolbars and I hope that “floating” also means you can put multiple toolbars together on the same row. Typically when I hear of a floating toolbar that would mean something that I could actually “pull out” of the browser window and have it move independently from the browser itself. I’m not sure if that is what they are really referring to but any tweaking to the movement of toolbars would be nice.

That’s all I could really find that refers to future features of Firefox (whew, what a tongue twister). I think a lot of the work in the new version will be under-the-hood optimization, unlike the recent Firefox 2 release where there was a noticeable difference after upgrading from Firefox 1.x.

Download Firefox 3 Alpha 1

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Jan 17

CyberNotes: How to Monitor Software Installations

Posted in: Apple, CyberNotes, Freeware, Microsoft, Screenshots, Software, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili

This article was written on June 07, 2007 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Tutorial Thursday

One of the things that Windows is notorious for is not completely uninstalling an application when you go through the Add/Remove Programs. There just always seems to be some junk left behind that is impossible to get rid of, well, almost impossible.

ZSoft Uninstaller (Download Mirror) hopes to conquer all of your uninstallation woes by providing a more advanced method for keeping track of the applications you install. Normally when you install a program it creates an uninstall log that monitors where all of the files and registry values are stored. That way it can reference when a user wants to uninstall it later on.

Some things, such as registry values associated with your program settings, aren’t removed in case you decide to install the program again later on. That way you won’t have to reconfigure it all again. I don’t know about you, but when I want to uninstall a program I want everything it created to be removed.

That’s where ZSoft Uninstaller comes into play. It will scan your hard drive and registry both before and after installing a program. Then it will compare the differences so that there are no worries about everything not getting removed. All it takes from you is a few clicks…

  1. Download and install ZSoft Uninstaller (Download Mirror).
  2. Click the Analyze button in the toolbar. Press Next when you see the popup on the screen.
    Uninstaller
  3. Click the Before Installation button to begin the hard drive analysis. Depending on the speed of your hard drive and how many files are on it, this could take several minutes.
    Uninstaller

  4. Begin the installation of your application, in our case we are installing Google Earth.
    Uninstaller
  5. After the installation completes, press the After Installation button on the ZSoft Uninstaller. This will reanalyze your hard drive and Windows Registry looking for changes. When it completes it will ask for the name of the application.
    Uninstaller
  6. Now the comparison between the before and after will take place, and then the window will close. If you want to see the differences just switch to the Analyzed Programs tab, right-click on the program, and choose Show Recorded Info.
    Uninstaller
  7. Similarly, you can go to the Analyzed Programs tab and click the Uninstall button to truly remove the application from your computer.
    Uninstaller

One thing that you want to make sure when using this program is that you promptly perform the before and after scans without doing anything “extra” in between. If you create a file in between the two scans, ZSoft Uninstaller will think that the application created it during the setup routine, and if you try to remove the program later on, that file would also be removed.

Thanks to Radu for the tip!

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Jan 15

Box.net Releases Microsoft Office Plug-in for Easy Uploading

Posted in: Freeware, Pre-Release, Software, Today's Chili

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

Save to Box.netBox.net is an extremely popular file storage site that offers 1GB of storage for free, and some Web services like Netvibes even have modules to make accessing your files super easy. Following Zoho’s lead, Box.net has announced a new add-on for Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Access in Office 2003 and 2007.

The plug-in adds a button to save the current file you are working on to the Box.net servers. It does require that you login to your account, which then makes the saving process virtually painless. Although it’s not as great as what I expected.

As of right now there is no way to open the documents that have been saved, nor is there a way to select sharing/privacy options for the files. Maybe I’m asking for too much, but I don’t think so when there are other file hosting services that offer much more…

Xdrive, a service that AOL acquired, not only gives 5GB away for free but they also have an amazing desktop application that integrates very well into your computer. Once installed Windows will treat your Xdrive account as if it was just another external drive, which means you can save and open all remotely stored files in any application you’re using! Going even further Xdrive lets you scheduled automated backups so that you can have the piece of mind that you won’t lose your important files.

Of course, Box.net isn’t owned by AOL which is something holding many people back from trying Xdrive. That’s the same reason that people don’t want to use the free Active Virus Shield antivirus despite it ranking quite highly, but everyone is entitled to their own opinions and judgments I guess.

Source: Box.net Blog [via Webware and Download Squad]

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Jan 12

CyberWare: Paint.NET 3.0 Released…Breaks the Mold

Posted in: Apple, Features, Freeware, Microsoft, Newly Released, Reviews, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on January 28, 2007 by CyberNet.

CyberNet's CyberWare
Tracking Down Great Software For You!

Paint.NET is an photo and image editor that is about as feature intensive as you can get while still keeping it a fast (and light) application. When you start Photoshop you have to wait 10 to 30 seconds before you can start using it, but Paint.net is ready to go almost instantly…which is why this is one of my favorite image editors. Most of the time I am looking to do something quick, and Paint.NET can do 95% of the tasks that I need to do, which primarily consists of cropping or rearranging an image.

The new Paint.NET 3.0 just made things a lot better with my two favorite additions being the “tabbed” interface and a new gradient tool:

  • Simple and intuitive tab-based multi-document user interface.
    Tabbed Interface
  • Now available in 8 languages: English, Chinese (Simplified), French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish.
  • Interactive Gradient Tool that makes it very easy to draw and then fine-tune placement and coloring of a gradient.
    Gradient
  • User-definable color palette (as opposed to just the color wheel).
    Color Selector
  • New effects: Clouds, Median, Unfocus, Outline, and an improved Sharpen.
  • More intuitive and more powerful toolbar.
  • Generally improved and cleaner user interface.
  • History files are now compressed to save disk space, reduce disk activity, and improve performance.
  • “Merge Down” layer command.

The only thing that I would like to see now is a right-click menu for a lot of the various options. For example, when managing layers I would like to be able to right-click on one of them and select “Delete” to remove that layer. I find myself right-clicking expecting a menu to popup in Paint.NET since I have become so accustomed to Photoshop’s right-click menus. Maybe they’ll work on that for the next release. ;)

Overall though, I would hate not having this application installed on my PC now. I haven’t looked into being able to put this program on a USB drive and take it with me, but it would be really nice to have it wherever I go so I might try that out to see what happens.

Congrats to the Paint.NET team for making such a great application…I think this should be included with Windows. :D

Download Paint.NET 3.0
News Source: CyberNet Forum [thanks javasharp]

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Jan 02

Mandriva Metisse Linux Takes 3D to a New Level

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

This article was written on February 01, 2007 by CyberNet.

This morning I’ve been watching videos of the Mandriva Metisse Linux that, in my opinion, puts some amazing 3D features features at your fingertips. All of this XGL and 3D stuff is often shrugged off as merely being eye candy, but there are four video demonstrations that really show the usability that these features can really offer.

–Copy and Paste Done Right–

There is probably nothing simpler to do on your computer than copy and paste, right? Mandriva Metisse makes it a little easier to do that operation by using a “folding” desktop when copying and pasting between multiple windows.

 

–Side-by-Side Windows–

Putting two large windows side-by-side is not such a chore with Mandriva Metisse. It is able to place windows on an angle so that you can see both of them next to each other, and you are still able to interact with both of them.

 

–Multiple Desktop View–

I think this is probably the best virtual desktop manager that I have seen. You can tile your desktops and actually interact with the windows by dragging and dropping them around.

 

–Mirror Windows–

I think this is one of the less useful features out of the ones listed above, but it is one of those things that you can show off to your friends. Basically, you can mirror any window so that any action you perform on one window will actually show up on both.

 

–Overview–

I always thought that openSUSE Linux was always the furthest advanced version of Linux since they often implement the latest technology. However, Mandriva seems to be taking that crown away and I have really considered switching to it as my primary version of Linux that I use. I like the look and feel of their operating system, and it is obvious that they are exploring new ways to make it the best it can be.

Download Mandriva Metisse

Thanks for the tip Chris!

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Jan 02

Editra: Free Cross-Platform Code Editor with Syntax Highlighting

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

This article was written on August 18, 2008 by CyberNet.

editra.png

arrow Windows Win; Mac Mac; Linux Linux arrow
Whenever I do programming I tend to use some form of text editor, and so far my favorite app for that is Notepad++. Ever since they added in the code auto-completion it has been a great tool for the projects that I’ve worked on. The only downside is that it won’t exactly work if you’re looking for a free cross-platform solution.

That’s where Editra comes in. It’s a Python-based program that has many of the features that are nice to have when programming like syntax highlighting and code folding, and as an added bonus it’s also cross-platform. Don’t worry, just because it’s Python-based doesn’t mean it’s a pain to install… it all comes bundles in a single download just like a typical app would.

The only thing I wish it was capable of is auto-completion of code for languages besides Python. That’s the biggest downside that I’ve found, but other than that it does everything I’d expect it to:

  • Auto-Completion/Calltips (for Python only)
  • Bidirectional Find/Replace w\Regular Expression Support
  • Bracket Highlighting
  • Built-in Plugin Downloader/Installer
  • Code Folding
  • Drag and Drop (tabs/file opening/text)
  • Editable User Profiles
  • Highlight Style Editor
  • Line Bookmarking
  • Session Saving
  • Syntax Highlighting (60+ Languages)
  • Tabbed Windows

This app is pretty tough to beat when it comes to cross-platform code editors. It’s updated every month or two, and so I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that a future version will support code auto-completion for more languages.

Get Editra for Windows, Mac, or Linux

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Jan 01

Jing: TechSmith’s Free Screencast and Screenshot Software

Posted in: Freeware, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili, videos

This article was written on July 17, 2007 by CyberNet.

JingTechSmith is undoubtedly known for their screencast and screenshot software, dubbed Camtasia Studio and SnagIt. They’ve now started a free project called Jing that provides an alternative for making a screencast or taking screenshots.

They don’t really provide screenshots on their site and curiosity was getting the best of me. I downloaded the Windows version (also available for Mac’s) and had it installed in about 30-seconds.

So how well does it work? It was surprisingly nice although it lacks any advanced functionality. Here is a quick tour of what you can expect after setting up the software:

–Starting Jing–

After I started Jing I was a little confused because there was no window that popped up. After looking around the desktop I noticed a small yellow orb protruding from the top of my monitor. When I clicked on it there were three options that became visible: capture, history, and preferences.

Jing

–Select the Region–

Choosing the "Capture" option brings up some yellow crosshairs on the screen. You use these to select the region of the screen that you want to either record, or take a screenshot of. After selecting the area you will be asked what you want to do:

Jing

–Save as a Screenshot–

If you choose the "Image" option you can add certain things to it, such as text or arrows:

Jing

–Record a Video (a.k.a. Screencast)–

If you go the route of recording a video it will instantly start recording:

Jing

–Saving a Video or Uploading it–

Obviously the point of making a screencast is to share it with someone else. So TechSmith lets you upload the screencast to Screencast.com which costs some money to do a commenter below says is free. Alternatively you can save the screencast as a SWF file, but sites like YouTube, Google Video, and DivShare don’t support that filetype in their video players. You would have to use something like ZippyVideos to host the SWF video or Media Convert to save it as another format.

Jing

–Overview–

I really think that this project can turn into something big, but I have a feeling that they will be keeping the feature-set quite limited to ensure that Jing doesn’t compete with their other products. The thing that I would like to see the most is the ability to save the screencast in another format, but that isn’t going to happen because they want to limit users to what services they can use.

For the casual user the software is quite nice, but power users will notice it lacks options like framerate adjustments, file format choices, and advanced editing capabilities.

For more free screencast software checkout this post we wrote.

Visit the Jing Homepage
Source: Digital Inspiration

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