Dec 09

Download Mozilla Thunderbird 2 and View our Screenshots

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

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

Mozilla has hit another huge milestone, this time with their email management software called Thunderbird. The newest Thunderbird 2 contains a whole list of new features that I normally just point out really quick. This time I wanted to go a different route and visually walk you through Thunderbird 2 so that you can better determine if it is right for you before installing it.

Before I get into my review, I wanted to first point out that the release notes page for Thunderbird 2 is up but still refers to the last release candidate. Mozilla hasn’t officially announced the release of Thunderbird 2, but they have already begun prepping their FTP mirrors for the big release.

To download Mozilla Thunderbird 2 straight from one of Mozilla’s mirrors, just select your language below and choose the appropriate operating system:




Alright, let’s go ahead and jump into everything that makes Thunderbird 2 so great!

Account Setup

As soon as you start Thunderbird 2 you’ll be prompted to setup email accounts or RSS feeds. The wizard is pretty self explanatory and walks you through everything you will need to do.

Mozilla Thunderbird Setup Mozilla Thunderbird Setup Mozilla Thunderbird Setup Mozilla Thunderbird Setup

 

Reading Emails & New Mail Notifier

Mozilla has redesigned the user interface to not only make it more pleasant on the eyes, but also more usable. The notifier (as seen in the first screenshot below) has been revamped to give the user much of the information they need to recognize whether the email needs to be viewed immediately. The only thing that I have found it lacks is a way to pin the notifier so that it does not automatically retract itself.

Mozilla Thunderbird Interface and Notifier Mozilla Thunderbird Reading Emails 

 

Tagging Emails

Tagging is becoming a more important way for users to keep photos, files, and emails more organized. Thunderbird 2 is the first version of Mozilla’s email client to offer a tagging feature.

Mozilla Thunderbird Tagging Mozilla Thunderbird Tagging 

 

Find as you Type

Finding a specific email can be pretty tricky when you get hundreds a day. Luckily Thunderbird 2 offers a great new feature to instantly search for emails as you type in the Search Box.

Mozilla Thunderbird Find as you Type

 

Options

Like always, we enjoy being able to customize an application to our every whim. This is actually one of the most important features for me when trying to find just the right application for the job. That is why I made sure to capture nearly all of the different options you can change in the screenshots below. Oh yeah, and the options page received a nice facelift as well!

Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird OptionsMozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options Mozilla Thunderbird Options

 

Account Settings

There are a lot of settings (as always) when it comes to managing your email accounts as well. You can do everything from attaching a signature, to configuring which account Thunderbird uses to send your emails by default.

Mozilla Thunderbird Settings Mozilla Thunderbird Settings Mozilla Thunderbird Settings Mozilla Thunderbird Settings Mozilla Thunderbird Settings Mozilla Thunderbird Settings Mozilla Thunderbird Settings Mozilla Thunderbird Settings Mozilla Thunderbird Settings

 

Other

There were a few last things that I wanted to throw in screenshots in for, and pictured left to right you’ll see the Composition Window, adding a contact, the Address Book, and the About Page for Thunderbird.

Mozilla Thunderbird Composition Window Mozilla Thunderbird Add a Contact Mozilla Thunderbird Address Book Mozilla Thunderbird About Page

 

I know that Mozilla put a lot of time and care into this release, so I wanted to make sure I did Thunderbird 2 justice by providing as many screenshots as I could. This email client is among the best out there, and if you haven’t tried it out for yourself then you haven’t experienced the simplicity and power that Thunderbird has to offer.

 

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Dec 06

Apple Releases iTunes 7.0.1

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

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

It has only been a few weeks since Apple announced the release of iTunes 7 but there were some serious complaints with it. To please everyone they have made iTunes 7.0.1 available which sounds like it has a nice list of updates. They don’t go into the gory details about what is new but it sounds like they touched on a little of everything:

iTunes 7.0.1 addresses stability and performance issues with Cover Flow, CD importing, iPod syncing, and more.

I have it running on Vista and it seems to be okay (it does run a little sluggish compared to XP). I haven’t used all of its spiffy new features but as long as I can put music on my iPod I’m happy.

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Dec 02

New Google Talk Officially Released With File Sharing

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

This article was written on August 16, 2006 by CyberNet.

Google Talk File Transfer Google has officially launched the new Google Talk chat client that has file transfer and voicemail capabilities. The test version of this build was available about three weeks ago and I have been using it ever since.

My favorite feature that it has is the file transfer capability. The best part about it is how it handles images that you share with others. If you drag 10 photos into the chat window they will instantly appear as thumbnails for you and the person you are chatting with. If you make your window larger then the images will also become larger to expose more details. However, the photos will only get so big which means you will eventually have to download them if you want to get a full screen version. The Google Talkabout Blog has a nice screenshot of how this works.

I am yet to use the voicemail because I don’t have a microphone hooked up to my computer at all times. It sounds pretty neat since you can leave messages that are up to 10 minutes long and it will get delivered straight to your friend’s GMail Inbox…whether they use Google Talk or not.

There is also a feature that will show other people what you are currently listening to. The concept is cool but this is one feature that I will never use. I don’t think anyone really cares what music I am listening to. :)

Download the NEW Google Talk

Update:
I forgot to mention that Google also started a Music Trends site that, if you choose, will share your music listening habits with them. That way everyone would be able to see what the hot songs are!

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Nov 30

Test Websites in Internet Explorer 5.5, 6, 7, and 8

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

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

Windows Vista.jpg
(Click to Enlarge)

arrow Windows Windows XP/Vista only arrow
As a web designer one of the things that is difficult to do is test a site in multiple versions of Internet Explorer, especially if you’re running Vista which doesn’t really include an option to run prior versions of IE. A significant amount of computer users still use Internet Explorer 6 as their main browser, and it renders sites rather differently than Internet Explorer 7. And then there’s Internet Explorer 8 which is currently in the Beta stage, and yet again that renders differently than any prior version.

To make things a little easier a nifty free application called IETester has been developed. With it you can test your website in Internet Explorer 5.5, Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, and Internet Explorer 8 Beta. The best part is that the application has a tabbed interface (as seen above) so that you can quickly switch between website renderings in different versions of Internet Explorer.

A nice feature that I didn’t catch at first was that you can actually view them side-by-side by dragging one tab into the content area of another tab. It will “split” the window so that both tabs are next to each other, which is really handy.

I played around with the program for about 15 minutes, and it does what it’s advertised to do, but it definitely has some bugs. In that 15 minute period the application crashed three times on me, but I think I was pushing it too hard. I was trying to open multiple websites simultaneously using different versions of Internet Explorer, and it buckled under the pressure. So it’s obviously not designed to be a day-to-day browser, but it’s fine for testing a website here and there.

What I don’t get is why Microsoft doesn’t take matters into its own hands and start a project like this one. Web developers would probably still be bitter because of their non-compliance of standards in the past, but an application like this would help regain a little respect. We just need to keep our fingers crossed that Microsoft doesn’t go the opposite route and shutdown this project for redistributing the IE DLL’s. ;)

Get IETester
Thanks to Yansky for the tip!

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Nov 24

OpenOffice 2.02 And Firefox 1.5.0.2 Unofficially Released

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

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

OpenOffice 2.02 And Firefox 1.5.0.2 Unofficially Released

EDIT: Firefox 1.5.0.2 is still a TinderBox release which means it is not 100% official! However, most TinderBox releases do not get changed before their official release.

It looks like some opensource companies have released their software while it is still behind the curtain. The downloads of Firefox 1.5.0.2 and OpenOffice 2.02 have not been ‘publicly released’ so there is no information yet on the changes that have been implemented. I am sure within the next 24 hours there will be some official information out on these, but why wait?

OpenOffice 2.02 Download
Firefox 1.5.0.2 Download

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Nov 10

Google SketchUp 6 Released with Nice New Features

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

This article was written on January 09, 2007 by CyberNet.

SketchUp Google has brought another huge milestone to the table by releasing SketchUp 6, which is developed by a company that Google acquired back in April 2006. Here are the goodies that you’ll find jam packed in the new release (according to the user guide):

  • Photo Match – Lets you match up a photograph with a modeling environment, and you can even setup a photo so that you can trace it in 3D.
  • Styles – Styles can be created to save display settings on models. That way if you have several different models with similar settings, you don’t have to go through the trouble of personalizing each of them…just apply a style that you’ve created!
  • Watermarks – These can be used to create backgrounds or for placing logos on the screen.
  • Sketchy Edges – This will make the edges of the model look like they were hand drawn.
  • Fog – Adds some haze to the model to simulate a fog effect.
  • 3D Text Tool – Create 3D text to be used anywhere in SketchUp.
  • Text and Dimension Improvements – The quality of the models when printing or viewing them on the screen has been improved.
  • Speed – SketchUp now runs up to 5 times faster.
  • Force Inference Directions – Use the arrow keys to tell SketchUp exactly which direction you want.
  • Component, Materials, and Styles Browsers – The browsers have been streamlined to improve the usability.
  • Intersect Tool – Two new tools for selecting intersections: intersect selected and intersect context.
  • Paste in Place – The precise location of cut, copy, and paste operations are remembered for quick placement of pasted selections.
  • Two-Point Perspective – Allows you to recreate this classic style used by draftsmen and illustrators.
  • Better Modifier Keys – Use the modifier keys to start operations like copy at anytime during an operation.
  • Google Earth and 3D Warehouse Plugins – share your plugins using 3D Warehouse and place the models in Google Earth.

That is a really great list of features, but I haven’t messed with SketchUp a whole lot previously so I’m not exactly sure just how productive these new things will make people. I have, however, spent a lot of time browsing through models at Google’s 3D Warehouse where anyone can upload the things they design. I was curious how many models there were but I couldn’t find a way to have all of them listed…so I resulted to a normal Google Search. That search returned 74,000 results which only includes individual model pages, so it should be decently accurate as to how many models there currently are.

If you want to be amazed at what people can do with SketchUp make sure to checkout the top 100 page of the 3D Warehouse. You’ll find awe inspiring models like these:

Those are just some of the great models that I found by searching through the top 100. If you see any other great models make sure you let us know, but in the mean time I may have to get crackin’ at SketchUp to see what I can make for myself. Has anyone here made any cool models?

News Source: Googling Google

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Nov 09

A Better Speed Dial for Firefox

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

This article was written on March 14, 2008 by CyberNet.

firefox fast dial
(Click to Enlarge)

One of the things that I absolutely love about Opera is the Speed Dial that was introduced back in Opera 9.2 almost exactly one year ago. It basically adds thumbnail images of your 9 favorite sites to the page that is displayed when you open a new tab.

Well, like most great features it didn’t take long for a Firefox extension to appear that offered a similar concept. The extension fell short in a lot of different areas, and I didn’t feel as though it stacked up very well against what Opera was offering. It turns out that there is a better one available called Fast Dial that is much much closer to Opera’s Speed Dial, and actually has some rather unique aspects to it:

  • Up to 36 different sites can be added (6×6).
  • Hotkeys! Just like Opera you can use hotkeys to access your first 9 sites. However, with this extension you can actually customize the hotkey that’s used in conjunction with the number.
  • Specify a custom image to be used for the thumbnail. This way you can just use a site’s logo if you don’t want to actually have a screenshot.
  • Customize the appearance so that it looks the way you want it to. For example, I changed the background color in the screenshot above from being white to a darker gray. You can also change the font and several other colors used in the extension.
  • You can add files/images from your desktop! For example, you can add a link to a PDF or a DOC file that you frequently need to access. You’ll want to specify a custom image for the thumbnail image though because it won’t be able to generate a preview. Note: Firefox will prompt your with the open/save box assuming that the file can’t be displayed within Firefox.
  • Right-click on a site or tab to quickly add it to the Fast Dial.
  • Drag and drop to rearrange the different items.

The only thing that I’ve found this extension to lack is dragging and dropping bookmarks/URLS onto a blank square which I believe eases the setup process. Admittedly this extension is the closest thing I’ve seen to Opera’s Speed Dial, and it even has some aspects that I like better. From now on I don’t think I’ll be using Firefox without this extension.

Get the Fast Dial Firefox Extension

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Oct 26

Convert Extract Audio from Videos

Posted in: Features, Freeware, Music, Newly Released, Software, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili, Windows

This article was written on September 26, 2008 by CyberNet.

pazera.png
(Click to Enlarge)

There have been a few times where I’ve wanted to extract audio from video files, but it’s not always easy to find a free tool that can successfully do that. I highly recommend grabbing the free Pazera app if you ever find yourself in a similar situation. To make it even more useful the program also doubles as an audio conversion utility.

What are some things you can do with this? One great example is taking an FLV video (such as one from YouTube), and turning it into a standard MP3 music track. Think of all the free music you could get by doing this! It’s important to note, however, that the audio quality of a YouTube video isn’t exactly the greatest.

Here’s a list of video and audio formats it supports during the conversion process, and also some great features you should know about:

  • Video conversion: AVI, DivX, XviD, MPEG, MPG, WMV, ASF, MOV, QT, FLV, SWF, MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, RM, RMVB, MKV, VOB, VCD DAT, OGM, AMV to MP3, AAC, AC3, WMA, FLAC or WAV.
  • Audio conversion: WAV, MP3, AC3, AAC, M4A, MPC, MPA, MP2, WMA, FLAC, SHN, APE, OGG, WV, AMR to MP3, AAC, AC3, WMA, FLAC or WAV.
  • Profiles. Users can create custom profiles, or you can select from one of the many already available.
  • Doesn’t need any installation. Just extract ZIP archive and click AudioExtractor.exe file. All of the settings are stored in a single file so that it can be carried around with you!

I guess if Super doesn’t do the trick that this just might.

Get Pazera [via Lifehacker]

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Oct 19

Real Desktop… Remember BumpTop?

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

This article was written on February 05, 2008 by CyberNet.

Real Desktop Do you remember back in 2006 when a 3D desktop called BumpTop was buzzing around the Internet? A prototype was supposed to be available “soon,” and the middle of last year we were awestruck once again when BumpTop was demonstrated at the TED Conference. Here we are a year and a half later and we’re still not able to download it.

Hope is not lost though! A new product, called Real Desktop, aims to do what we expected from BumpTop. You can drag/throw your icons around to relieve some anger organize the desktop, and the surface is reflective to add some extra eye candy.

Performance wise it’s not bad, and the system requirements are pretty reasonable. I just don’t feel like a program like this is for me. I’m normally a sucker for eye candy, but not when it affects my productivity. I think this is one of those things that you show your friends, and then don’t really use after that.

It costs $26 (can be installed on 3 computers) if you want all of the bells and whistles, otherwise a freeware version will ease the burden on your pocketbook. Real Desktop will run on both Windows XP and Vista.

Real Desktop [via TechnoBuzz]

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Oct 11

Notepad++ 3.8 Available – A Great Notepad Replacement

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

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

Notepad++ 3.8 Available - A Great Notepad Replacement

Notepad can be a great tool for those people looking for simplicity and no formatting, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could get a few more features? Notepad++ is based upon the ease-of-use of the Windows Notepad but has an extensive feature set. The most useful feature that it has for me is the syntax highlighting for many types of programming languages:

Supported languages : C, C++, Java, C#, XML, HTML, PHP, Javascript, RC resource file, makefile, ASCII art file, doxygen, ini file, batch file, ASP, VB/VBS source files, SQL, Objective-C, CSS, Pascal, Perl, Python, Lua, TCL, Assembler, Ruby, Lisp, Scheme, Properties, Diff, Smalltalk, Postscript and VHDL.

That is a pretty exhaustive list! You can also create some macros or view multiple documents at the same time with the use of the split-screen feature (pictured above). Don’t worry about cluttering up your taskbar either because Notepad++ has built-in tabs so that opening multiple files isn’t such a pain.

The list of features goes on and on but you can check out more screenshots or just head on over to download Notepad++. The new version that was just released is Notepad++ 3.8 and if you would like there is a list of bug fixes and new features available for your viewing pleasure.

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