Dec 26

Microsoft SharedView Beta Available (Codenamed Tahiti)

Posted in: Apple, Freeware, Microsoft, Pre-Release, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili, Windows Vista, Windows XP

This article was written on May 11, 2007 by CyberNet.

Microsoft has finally opened the doors to the project that was codenamed Tahiti. When this was first released back in March there was such an overwhelming response to try out the software that Microsoft quickly rejected anyone else trying to use the service. Now they have launched it for everyone to play with, and the new name is SharedView.

This free application makes it easy to share applications and desktops with up to 15 users in real-time. Here’s what Microsoft says is so great about SharedView:

  • Microsoft SharedView Beta is a fast, easy way to share documents and screen views with small groups of friends or coworkers; anytime, anywhere. Use SharedView to put your heads together and collaborate.
  • More effective meetings and phone calls
    Connect with up to 15 people in different locations and get your point across by showing them what’s on your screen.
  • Work together in real time
    Share, review, and update documents with multiple people in real time.
  • Use anytime, anywhere
    SharedView is easy to use, from anywhere, at a moment’s notice.

When trying it out myself I wasn’t disappointed, but then again I was just playing with it to see what it was like instead of actually trying to put it to good use. Here are a bunch of the screenshots that I took of SharedView in action (click any of them for a full-size image)…

Choose how you want to invite people:
SharedView by Microsoft SharedView by Microsoft

Here are the configuration options:
SharedView by Microsoft SharedView by Microsoft SharedView by Microsoft

And then here is the main interface where you choose exactly which applications you want people to see, or you can show them your whole desktop:
SharedView by Microsoft

The new version got a nice facelift, as you can see in the screenshots. One of the cool things that I found was being able to share files between users (called handouts), and soon you’ll also be able to talk and chat just like you would at a normal meeting.

Of course, there is no reason why this would only be useful for business, because it could also be used to do other helpful things. Maybe it will be useful when connecting to a friend’s computer to help them solve an issue or walking them through a new application. There are a lot of things that this could be used for that aren’t business related, and hopefully Microsoft will try to promote the software that way as well.

Download Microsoft SharedView Beta (Direct Link – requires no WGA validation)

Source: Webware, Digital Inspiration, & Download Squad

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Dec 22

Vista SP1 and XP SP3 in Testing

Posted in: Features, Microsoft, Release Date, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili, Windows, Windows Vista, Windows XP

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

There has been a lot of talk lately regarding the status of Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), but Microsoft has stayed clear from confirming both the expected features and release date. Several different sources have confirmed that Vista SP1 is indeed being tested by a small group of people, but it’s not in the form of an update yet. Testers reportedly have to use an installation disc that contains the full Vista operating system in order to test Vista SP1, which is probably why they haven’t made it available to the public yet. In fact, the screenshot below even shows that the current SP1 is treated as an evaluation copy that expires in April 2008.

Vista isn’t the only one with a new Service Pack in the works though. Windows XP SP3 has also been spotted in the hands of testers, and it weighs in at 350MB. It includes over 900 fixes for the operating system, some of which have already been provided to XP users via Windows Updates. With XP SP3 being tested at the same time as Vista SP1 it is expected that the two will have the same release date.

Below are the build ID’s and screenshots from the XP SP3 About screen and Vista SP1 About screen. By reading those ID’s you are able to extract the date of the builds, with Vista SP1’s being June 28, 2007 and XP SP3’s being July 18, 2007.

  • XP SP3 ID: 5.1.2600.3180 (xpsp.070718-2058)
  • Vista SP1 ID: 6001.16549(longhorn_sp1beta1.070628-1825)

Vista SP1 & XP SP3

Source: WinBeta & AeroXP

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Dec 18

Post2Blog: Free for Today…and Even Longer with this Trick

Posted in: Apple, Microsoft, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili

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

I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with the Giveaway of the Day site, but I subscribe to it in my feed because I’m always looking for a great (free) download. Basically, the site legally offers a download each day that would normally cost you money. There is one catch though, you have to download and install the application that same day! You’re sorely out of luck if you ever have to format your hard drive.

Normally on Giveaway of the Day, the software doesn’t seem to be that great, and I actually haven’t downloaded any of their offerings. After you download one of their programs you have to run their activator before you install the program, and I assume that their activator only works for the day that the download is available for. If you try and activate it anytime after that you’ll probably receive some sort of warning stating that you cannot activate the software yada yada (although I’ve never tried so I’m not sure what the activator would do).

I’m sure that is the only way they can get these companies to offer the software to them for their readers, because this way they get their software on the computers of a variety of people. Then, when a user clears their computer they’ll realize that the software can no longer be installed so they might actually go and buy it if they grew accustomed to it.

Post2Blog

Today the software available is Post2Blog which is exactly what the name implies: blogging software. It normally costs $39 but it is available for you to download and install for free during the next 7 hours from Giveaway of the Day. I was a little skeptical about giving the software a trial run because I didn’t want to cozy up with it, and then later on down the road want to buy it since I have become so used to it. However, we write a lot of articles so I was curious what a commercial blogging application had to offer that other free alternatives, like Windows Live Writer, didn’t have. Here are the features that the site boasts…and there was one that really caught my attention in regards to the activation scheme (see if you can find it before I point it out):

  • WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor with complete hot-keys support
  • Built-in "Live" spell checking
  • "Portable Mode" support
  • Images are uploaded automatically (supported uploading types: Flickr, file area of your blog, imageshack.us, picturelli.com, custom FTP server)
  • Post text and/or images from Firefox or Internet Explorer to your blog with 2 clicks only using plug-ins for Firefox (check example) and Internet Explorer
  • Compose new posts in MS Word and post them to your blog using Post2Blog toolbar for MS Word
  • Integration with RSS Bandit (rssbandit.org) and Sharp Reader (sharpreader.net) – you can post selected items from these RSS readers using Post2Blog plug-in
  • Post files, images, documents from Explorer or any other program using "Send To -> Post2Blog" command
  • Add Technorati, Del.icio.us, Buzzwords, 43 Things tags to your posts
  • Automatically send trackbacks, ping web-services to notify about updates in your blogs
  • Earn money using "Insert Amazon Link" feature
  • Use built-in smiles for use in your blog

Post2Blog PortableDid you see it? The third option down mentions a "Portable Mode" that I was intrigued to see how it worked. Very rarely have I seen commercial software offer a portable version, and I was excited to see this. Being able to have a great blogging utility on my USB drive wherever I go was an appetizing thought, so I was excited to give it a shot.

After installing the program there is a new option in the Start Menu entry called "Create Portable version" that you use to put the application on your USB drive. All it does is copy the files for the program and your settings into a single folder (that you specify) so that you can run the app from anywhere. Pretty slick, but that also brings up the big point that I want to make…this portable version has your settings, files, and registration info! If you save this folder you’ll never have to install the program again, and it will always be registered. So if you reformat your computer, there is no risk in having to go and purchase the program.

I was thinking to myself that this might be against the terms of Giveaway of the Day somehow, but I don’t see how it could be since you are just taking advantage of features the program has to offer. The download only has 7 hours left so you have to download and install it before that time expires. Then you can go about creating the portable version whenever you feel like it, as long as you do it before you format your computer!

Hope this helps any bloggers looking for a nice commercial application to use! I really like it, but I’m not sure if it is worth the $39. Oh yeah, and for those of you who like Web standards, this does have an XHTML option to generate XHTML code.

Thanks to Radu for pointing out that this software was available.

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Dec 17

Delicious 2.0 Preview Shows Off New Name

Posted in: Features, Screenshots, Today's Chili, Web Sites

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

Delicious 2

Techcrunch managed to get an exclusive look at the upcoming Delicous 2 site. There are numerous new features, and Delicious says that they have done a complete code rewrite this time around. One of the most notable things, however, is that they are dropping the Del.icio.us branding: they are moving to Delicious.com instead of the Del.icio.us that we’re all used to.

Here are some of the new features aside from the upcoming name change and new layout:

  • There are four main categories on the Delicioius site: Home, Bookmarks, People and Tags
  • New sorting options
  • Bulk tag editing…thank goodness!
  • Autocomplete on the tag bar
  • Organize and sort your friends
  • New search engine with contextual search – search your own bookmarks, all bookmarks, or a network of bookmarks

The Delicious 2 preview page is available, but you have to be invited before you can login. I wouldn’t search around too hard for an invite though, because any changes you make on the preview service will be lost once the new design goes live.

So I think the more important question is what do you think about them changing the name?

More screenshots are available over at TechCrunch

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Dec 15

Make Better Use of Your Mouse’s Scroll Wheel

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

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

volumouse.png

arrow Windows Windows only arrow
You know that scroll wheel on your mouse? It’s pretty handy to have when you’re navigating around documents quickly and whatnot. But did you know that there is a lot more that you can use it for other than just scrolling?

An awesome freeware utility called Volumouse will breathe new life into your scroll wheel. As seen in the screenshot above you can configure different uses of the scroll wheel based upon certain criteria. For example, when Windows Media Center or iTunes is focused you can have the scroll wheel adjust the volume levels rather than actually scroll. Alternatively you can have Volumouse adjust the screen brightness or window transparency instead of just the volume.

To make things a little nicer Volumouse will also show a visual indicator whenever you are adjusting one of the various components using your scroll wheel. Features like this can all be configured on a per-rule basis by clicking on the “More” button located at the end of each row.

When it comes down to it this is a pretty incredible app, and I’m left wondering whether there is any other values this could be useful for adjusting? They do have a handful of plugins available on the Volumouse homepage, one of which will let you resize windows using the mouse wheel. Are there any other things you can think of that you would like to change using the scroll wheel?

Volumouse Homepage
Note: Volumouse has a version available that doesn’t require installation, but it’s not portable since it uses the Windows Registry to store settings.

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Dec 15

CyberNotes: A Minimalist Firefox

Posted in: CyberNotes, Firefox Extensions, Screenshots, Software, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili

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

CyberNotes
Web Browser Wednesday

Are you one of those people who like to conserve every square inch of screen space when it’s possible? If so we have a treat for you today! We’re going to demonstrate how you can become the ultimate Firefox minimalist with the help of some extensions and themes. If you implement everything that we have listed below you’ll wonder where half of your browser has gone. You might also go cross-eyed… don’t say we didn’t warn you. ;)

–Themes–

compact firefox.pngThe first major step that a minimalist Firefox user takes is often in changing their theme. By choosing a more compact theme you can eliminate nearly any and all spacing found throughout Firefox, and the end result can save a lot of area in your browser.

The screenshot to the right shows the Classic Compact Firefox theme laid overtop of the classic theme. The double-ended arrows indicate how much space you save by simply applying this theme. There are a few other themes (like miniFox) that are similar, but Classic Compact is really the one that has won the hearts of minimalists around the globe.

–Toolbars & Menus–

There is a lot of “fat” that lies within the toolbars and menus in Firefox. The themes aim to take some pounds off the toolbars, but there are some extensions that can take the minimalist design to a whole new level:

  • Searchbar Autosizer [Homepage]
    Keep the browser’s search box small when it’s not being used. This will let you have a really small search box that expands as you type. That means your Address Bar gets even more room!
  • Faviconize Tab [Homepage]
    You’ll be able to double-click on a tab and have it collapsed down to only it’s icon. Now you won’t feel like such a pig when you have 40 different tabs open.
    faviconize tab.png
  • Personal Menu [Homepage]
    How often do you really use those menus (File, Edit, etc…) anyway? If it’s not very often you can stuff them into a single icon by using this extension. All of the menus will still be accessible, but they will just take an extra click to get to them.
  • Smart Bookmarks Bar [Homepage]
    If you’re not ready to give up your Bookmarks Bar then maybe this extension will help keep things a little more tidy. By default it will only show the icons for the sites located on the Bookmarks Bar, and then when you hover over them it will expand to show the name as well.
    smart bookmarks bar.png

–Status Bar–

I wouldn’t say that the Status Bar is the hugest space consumer, but hey, we’re trying to scrounge up every pixel that’s possible. Right? So we’ve got a few specialized styles and one extension that can clean up your Status Bar a little bit.

  • Mouseover for Clutter [Homepage] Requires Stylish
    This will hide the excessive number of icons that you probably have in the Firefox Status Bar, but they will reappear each time you hover over the bar. That way you’re not really losing any functionality, unless of course one of those icons also serves as some sort of notifier (such as a new mail notifier).
  • Autohide Status Bar [Homepage] Requires Stylish
    Get the Status Bar completely out of the way with this style. Once installed it will create an area that is just one pixel in height, and when you hover over that it will show the Status Bar.
  • autoHideStatusbar [Homepage]
    This is an extension that’s similar to how the previous style operates, except that it goes one step further. With this extension you can set it so that when you hover over hyperlinks it will show the Status Bar, which means you can still see where the links point to. The Status Bar can also be shown when the page is loading so that you can monitor the progress.
    Note: This extension is currently experimental, and you’ll need to login to your Mozilla account before downloading it.

–Overview–

I think you have a pretty good set of tools to work with so that you can be well on your way to becoming a Firefox minimalist. I’m sure many of you have trimmed down your Firefox in one way or another, and I would love to hear how you’ve managed to conserve space in Firefox! Shoot us a comment below with your thoughts.

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Dec 14

Apple iTunes to offer Monthly Subscription?

Posted in: Apple, itunes, Microsoft, Screenshots, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on April 12, 2007 by CyberNet.

ITuneslogoApple iTunes which launched in 2003, has managed to turn themselves into an extremely successful media store.  Up until this point, Apple has always said that they would never consider turning to a subscription service.  Now rumor has it that they may be changing their tune.

Other music services on the web like Yahoo’s Music Unlimited have taken the subscription route, but yet none of these services have become too popular. Why is that?

Some analysts are saying that subscription models haven’t worked yet for other services because iTunes hasn’t gone that route yet.  Is iTunes really THAT influential? Or are these other services just lacking something?

Phil Liegh who’s a senior analyst with Inside Digital Media spoke to CNN Money and said:

“The number one factor regarding the acceptance of the subscription model is the dominance of Apple. The idea of subscribing to music is new to most consumers so when the dominant player doesn’t talk about it, the idea seems out of the mainstream for most consumers.”

While some are saying that an iTunes subscription is definitely a possibility, others are saying that this isn’t very likely.  Dan Moren over at MacUser.com says:

I think the deluge began in my newsreader sometime last night: “Apple to consider iTunes subscription service!” You’d have thought that perhaps the clouds had parted and the smiling visage of Steve Jobs had blazed forth, sending down word from on high that Apple would offer iTunes subscriptions. Not exactly.

The whole rumor of Apple starting a subscription service came from the CEO of Intent Media Works who works with peer-to-peer networks.  If Apple was going to start such a service, I doubt they’d be telling them their plans first.

Whether or not this rumor is true, I think most people would be happy with a subscription service, particularly if they purchase media regularly.

—

As a side note, you just might be able to purchase your favorite Beatles songs from iTunes soon. The Beatles recently settled a $50 million royalty dispute with EMI that has kept their music from the iTunes store thus far.

 

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Dec 14

Change Your Google Talk Status to Away

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

This article was written on October 29, 2007 by CyberNet.

I absolutely love Google Talk because of its simplicity, and the fact that I’ve got all of my friends using it is a huge plus. There is only one thing that I really dislike with the instant messenger, and it’s that I can’t change my status to away.

A free program called gAlwaysIdle is looking to solve that problem. It provides an option in the Google Talk right-click menu that will let you always have your status set to away, whether or not your are using your computer:

Google Talk Idle

It has three different modes that you can choose from:

  • Normal Idle – Uses the default Google Talk settings
  • Always Idle – You’re always set to idle
  • Never Idle – Makes sure you are never set to away even when you’re not at your computer

As you can see from the screenshot above I was using this on Vista, but anytime I tried to change the status I got a fatal error. The only way to get around this is to run Google Talk as an administrator, or to disable the User Account Control (UAC) all together. My guess is that this program adjusts registry settings on-the-fly, and without the proper permissions in will crash and burn. As soon as I ran Google Talk as an administrator it worked as expected.

I wish that Google Would just implement this feature themselves … it would be so much easier. ;)

gAlwaysIdle Homepage [via Life Rocks]

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Dec 13

FastAero: Vista-like Transparency (with Blurring) on XP

Posted in: Apple, Freeware, Hacks, Microsoft, Pre-Release, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili, Windows XP

This article was written on May 24, 2007 by CyberNet.

When we mentioned the Vystal software a month ago I was pretty excited. It was the first solution to come forward which offered Vista-like visual effects in Windows XP. Now there is another one called FastAero (Download Mirror) which hopes to do the same kind of thing, but it looks much more promising.

On FastAero’s homepage you’ll find several downloads available, with the latest claiming to be pretty unstable. I decided to give build 0510 a go (Download Mirror) on my only remaining XP machine, and getting it to run couldn’t have been much simpler since you don’t have to install it.

Unfortunately it didn’t work quite right probably because my graphics card in this machine isn’t the greatest, but I was still able to see the blurring effects in action. There were no borders to the windows though, so I took the liberty of outlining the borders in red so that they were a little easier to see:

FastAero
Click to Enlarge

I tried multiple versions of FastAero, and the latest one was the best. None of them put the minimize, maximize, and close buttons on the top toolbar for me though. If you do get it to work properly it would look something like this:

FastAero
Click to Enlarge

I recommend trying it out just for giggles if for nothing else. A new version is expected next month that takes advantage of the Mirror Driver. This will mean that a direct link can be made between the video driver memory and FastAero, effectively bypassing the CPU for much of the processing.

After you get done trying it out leave a comment letting us know how well it worked.

Note: This will not “skin” windows that you currently have open, instead it will only skin windows that are opened after enabling FastAero. And after closing FastAero, it will automatically restore the normal Windows XP borders so there should be no concern with it screwing up the appearance of your operating system.

FastAero Homepage (Download Mirror)

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Dec 10

iPhone Reviewer Says Internet “Excruciatingly Slow”

Posted in: Apple, Gadgets, iPhone, Microsoft, Reviews, Screenshots, Today's Chili

This article was written on June 27, 2007 by CyberNet.

It’s time for your daily fix of iPhone updates!  The first reviews are in from The Wall Street Journal (Walt Mossberg), The New York Times (David Pogue), USA Today (Ed Baig), and Newsweek (Steven Levy), and overall I’d say the reviewers were pretty impressed and generally had nothing but good things to say about the phone. My biggest concern after reading the reviews however, is that they mentioned that AT&T’s Edge Internet service is slow. I’ll get more into that later, but first we’ll start with the areas where they were all in agreement.

Areas of Agreement :

Worth the hype?

Is the iPhone worth all of the hype that it’s been receiving lately? The general answer is absolutely! Pogue of the New York Times says, “most sophisticated, outlook-changing piece of electronics to come along in years,” while Baig of USA Today says “This expensive, glitzy wunkerkind is indeed worth lusting after.”

Design, Screen and User Interface

Good news! All four pointed out that it’s practical, but more importantly fun to use. And in a nutshell, it’s slim, sleek, and comfortable in the hand to use and touch.

Regarding the screen, many people including myself were wondering how the screen would stand-up to heavy use. I was thinking that users would end up using a screen-protector of sorts to keep it scratch-free, however that may not be needed. All four reviewers noted that the screen doesn’t scratch easily, and after weeks of use, it was nearly as good as new. Now, whether or not the phone will look “as good as new” a year from now we have yet to know.

Edge Internet/Wi-Fi

While they were all in agreement here, they’re not agreeing that the Internet is great. Instead, the resounding agreement was that it was slow. Not good!

  • Excruciatingly Slow (Pogue)
  • Pokey; far slower than Verizon or Sprint networks (Mossberg)
  • Pokey, compared with 3G data networks (Baig)
  • Feels like dial-up

The one thing that will help compensate with the slow Internet is the Wi-Fi access which Levy notes is partial compensation, and Baig says is iPhone’s savings grace for data. Mossberg says that it doesn’t fully make up for the lack of a fast cellular data, but Pogue says it is fast and satisfying.

I have a feeling that users will be quick to switch to a Wi-Fi network for data when one is available if the Edge Internet is as slow as all four said it was.

Areas of Disagreement :

Typing

I had already been hearing that the keyboard is difficult to use for typing, however it may be one of those things that just takes getting used to. The reviewers didn’t all agree here with Pogue saying it was frustrating, especially at first, and Mossberg saying it’s a non-issue because of smart software.

Apple has actually put together a video specifically for typing on the iPhone.  I must say, it does look like there is pretty amazing technology behind the keyboard. While they recommend getting started with just one finger, I don’t think it’ll be too difficult before you’re using both of your thumbs to quickly type emails and text messages (unfortunately, no instant messages).

Battery Life

Just a couple of weeks ago, Apple surprised everyone with battery life details for the iPhone saying that it will get 8 hours of talk time, 6 hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback, and 24 hours audio playback. While those numbers are impressive, how did the reviewers rate battery life?

Well, three of them thought it was great with comments like “impressive,” “so far so good,” and “generally lasts the day.” Pogue however, said that it was not quite as impressive.

I think we’ll wait for the masses to give their opinions on this one, because I’m sure it will widely vary depending on what people are doing with their phones.

Overall

Overall, I’d say wait for the masses to give their opinions. While I think all four reviews had a lot of great insight in them, I tend to find the average-joe review to be more accurate, and I’m sure we’ll be reading plenty of those within the coming weeks. From the sounds of it, the iPhone will in fact live up to its hype and really change the cell phone industry.

Note: Gizmodo has a great iPhone Review Matrix for quick, easy referencing.

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