Hasta La Gadget!

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

Microsoft/Mac Monday

Lately we’ve been finding ourselves discussing applications that we really like for one operating system, that would be great on another. We decided to put these discussions into an article about all of the applications we’d like to see for Windows, but are only available for Macs, and then visa versa, the applications we’d like to see available for Macs, but are only available for Windows. We’re also going to mention a few applications that would be perfect for merging together.

Applications we’d like to see for Windows, but are only available for Macs:

Adium

Mac OS X comes with iChat which we were happy using until multiple people mentioned that we just had to try Adium. It’s your all-in-one instant messaging application that connects to Jabber, Yahoo, MSN, AIM, and more. In some ways it reminds us of Digsby which is becoming a pretty popular all-in-one messenger for Windows. Digsby and Adium are two applications we’d love to see merge together and be offered for Windows and Mac OS X. If a merger isn’t possible, it would be a great offering for Windows users as well as Mac users.

Parallels

We’re not saying that specifically Parallels should be available for Windows, but the idea. If only Apple would loosen the reigns a little and allow their operating system to be used on PC’s. There are hacked versions of OS X that are designed to run in VMWare for Windows, but legally, it is not possible to do.

iPhoto

Those of you who read our iPhoto vs. Windows Photo Gallery article back in May are probably wondering why we’d like to see iPhoto for Windows. We complained about many aspects of the application like the fact that you have to import the images and iPhoto takes control over how things are organized. We ended up taking the advice of people who said to let iPhoto do the work for you, so we started using it and giving it control over how our library is organized (much like how iTunes is capable of organizing your music library). Once we got used to it, we really started to like how easy everything was and how adding new images to the library is so simple and effortless.

Skitch

Skitch is the best screen capture service for the Mac that we are aware of. It’s not that it’s far superior to, say, SnagIt for Windows, because it’s not. But it does have some really great elements to it. For some reason, the process of taking screenshots is sped-up while using Skitch, but it lacks some of the editing features we enjoyed with SnagIt. This is one of those applications we’d love to see merge with SnagIt and be offered for Windows and Mac OS X.

Name Mangler

Ryan has mentioned Name Mangler before as a tiny app that does a great job of taking care of bulk file renaming on a Mac. The interface of Name Mangler is more intuitive and clean compared to some of its Windows alternatives. It doesn’t have all the features of those Windows alternatives, but it’s easier and more natural to use.

Photo Booth

Photo Booth is an app that comes with Mac OS X, and it is used for snapping photos with iSight or another webcam. It’s not something you use often, so where’s the benefit? For one, for those who like to change their images on Facebook and MySpace, this provides an easy way to snap your pictures. It’s also fun because it’s one of those apps that you show people when they come over to, just to impress them. The built-in effects that can be applied really add a lot to the photos you take.

Automator

It’s a built in program that comes with Mac OS X. We like to think of Automator as a Macro. For example, in Microsoft Office you can use Macros to automate repetitive tasks. Automator does the same type of thing, but implements a point-and-click interface for creating workflows that work across the entire operating system.

Applications we’d like to see for Macs, but are only available for Windows:

Office 2007

One of the applications we miss the most since switching to Mac OS X is Office 2007. Office 2008 for the Mac simply does not compare. If only Microsoft was able to develop a version of Office 2007, with the ribbon, for Mac users. One of my personal biggest pet peeves is with the Toolbox because it’s inconvenient and never seems to be where I need it to be. If I move the window I’m currently working on, the toolbox doesn’t move with it. Are there any other Mac users who previously used Office 2007, that despise the Toolbox too?

Windows Live Writer

Microsoft really did a great job when they developed Windows Live Writer. It has an intuitive interface that is easy to use, and there are very few bugs. On the Mac we have yet to find a blogging client that we are completely satisfied with. The one we have been using lately is called Ecto and while it has some nice features, it pales in comparison to what Windows Live Writer offers.

Paint.NET

Paint.NET is a Windows only application for digital photo editing. It’s great because it’s feature-packed, yet free! For those who want to touch-up their images, Paint.NET is a simple solution. Photoshop is expensive and includes way more features than the average person needs which is why Paint.NET comes in handy. Any time I reformatted my hard drive, this was one of the first apps to get installed. I would love to see this for Macs.

Windows Media Center

Apple has Front Row, but it’s really meant to be a hub for watching movies and TV shows from your computer while Windows Media Center has a strong focus on recording television. Despite the fact that we use MacBook Pros for working, we still have a Vista machine with Windows Media Center that records the television shows that we want to watch at a later date. Apple has yet to venture down the route of providing software for recording TV but it could be something their users would enjoy.

Digsby

Like Adium above, Digsby is one of those applications that is really starting to take off and has some great features. We’d love to see Adium and Digsby merge together so that users get the best of both worlds whether they are using a Mac or a PC, but that probably won’t happen. Sure Digsby has its flaws, but the application continues to improve. Just last week on the Digsby blog they announced that they were preparing for a major new release that has some big performance and RAM optimizations.

SnagIt

SnagIt is truly an amazing application for capturing screenshots. While it’s not a free application (it costs $49.95), it is worth every penny that it costs, particularly because of its editing capabilities that have come in handy while capturing and preparing screenshots for CyberNet. SnagIt also makes it easy to combine images with their latest version which is nice as well. They’re sporting a new interface these days that reminds me of Microsoft Office 2007.

As we mentioned above, the features of SnagIt combined with the features of Skitch would give you one mean application for capturing images.

Applications We Would Like to See Merge

Here’s a quick run-through of the applications we would like to see merge to get the best of both worlds for both operating systems:

• Adium (Mac) and Digsby (Windows)
• Skitch (Mac) and SnagIt (Windows)

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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

Time Saving Tuesday

When I try and create a website or a document the main thing that I am always conscious of is the appearance. I want it to look professional and slick, but I don’t want to spend ages working on it if I don’t have to. So when I am looking to design something the first thing that I turn to are templates!

Templates can save you an unbelievable amount of time but you just have to know where to find them. I’m not just talking about Microsoft’s site for Office templates because there is a whole world of Photoshop templates, HTML, CSS, and so much more out there. I definitely haven’t found them all but there are several different ones that I have bookmarked along my quest to save time.

–Office Templates (Text, Spreadsheets, etc…)–

• Microsoft Office Templates – Microsoft has an amazing selection of templates that are available for Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and many other of their products. Microsoft was recently supposed to implement Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) when downloading templates but I haven’t noticed that taking effect.
• HP Online – They offer Word, Powerpoint, and Publisher templates that are professionally designed. You’ll find brochures, flyers, presentations and much more but the most useful thing that they offer are the “Business identity kits.” There are currently two of those kits put together and each gives you flyers brochures shipping labels, postcards, newsletters, presentation templates, and a few other things!
• Paper Mill Store – There aren’t many Office templates here but there are a few such as a label design. There are several other templates available but most of them are graphical and require Adobe Illustrator.

–Photoshop/Graphic Templates–

• Paper Mill Store – As I mentioned above there are a ton of templates at this site and most of them require Adobe Illustrator. That is because they are heavily graphics based but they did all of visual appeal for you so you’ll just have to change a few words. They have all kinds of things like greeting cards, calendars, wedding announcements, and a lot more.
• Zymic – There are a few different packages that Zymic offers: buttons, logos, banners, and splashes. Each one of those packages come in a single ZIP file so that you can easily flip through all of the designs to see which one you like the best, for example, the buttons package has 70 button templates inside of it.

–Website Templates (HTML, CSS, etc…)–

• Open Source Web Design – This is always the first place that I go when designing a new website. There are almost 1700 templates available which makes it pretty easy to find something that you’ll like. I normally don’t look for “what looks the best” because I really just want something that is laid out similar to what I want to design. That way I can utilize most of the CSS and just customize the graphics to what I need.
• Open Web Design – I know, a very similar name to the site above but they are a little different. Here you’ll find around 2000 high-quality templates that are sure to save you some time.  Many of the templates on this site are also on the Open Source Web Design that I listed above, so I would just pick one of these two sites to look at.
• Templates Box – There are some really unique templates here and they do offer premium ones that cost money but their selection of free downloads isn’t bad either. What really makes this site unique though is that they have free Flash templates available.
• Zymic – Back to Zymic! They may not offer the largest selection of templates but the ones they do have are very high-quality. Many of the ones that they have available include HTML pages, CSS, images, Photoshop PSD files, blank images files, and even fonts. My favorite is probably Template 72 which can be seen in this live preview. Zymic also has these templates available if the site is more for a business.
• WordPress Themes – If you’re looking to give your blog a fresh new look then this site has over 980 WordPress themes gathered into a single location. It lets you know which ones work with WordPress 2 and how many columns the design has.

–Overview–

The thing you have to remember with templates is that they may not exactly be what you are looking for, but they will hopefully save you some time from having to start from scratch. The website templates are especially useful if there are live examples so that you can see what would be the easiest for visitors to use on your site. Just dig around a little bit and I’m sure you can find a template to give you a helping hand.

There are probably other sites that offer free templates that I may not have mentioned, so please let me know so that I can add them to the list.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on August 19, 2008 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

Windows only
Searching for files on your computer was something that was once a tedious process, but in the last few years it has been one of the most talked about features in new operating systems. Sure you could always search for files on your computer, but do you remember when you’d have to sit there for several minutes while the computer scavenged everything on the hard drive looking for files and folders matching your search.

The benefit that search applications have these days is that they can index files on your computer so that search results are retrieved nearly instantaneously. Mac OS X 10.4 started doing this back in 2005 when Tiger it was released, and Vista followed it up with its own indexed search capabilities. Making search a strong focus of the operating system is a smart thing to do as it becomes harder and harder for users to find the files they are looking for. Without being able to search it can almost be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

What about the other operating systems like XP? Many of you have probably turned to Google Desktop or Copernic to do your searching, but I believe both of those programs use more resources than they need to. They’re constantly monitoring and indexing results on your computer, and Google Desktop even comes bundled with their own gadget/widget system.

Today we’re going to take a look at two excellent applications that focus on quickly searching for files on your computer without the unnecessary bloat. Both of them are free, use very little memory, and aren’t constantly indexing files on your computer… although they do use an index/database for retrieving results. Sound nice?

–Locate32 (Homepage)–

This is one of my favorite search applications for Windows XP, and it is always getting better. Locate32 is capable of indexing all of the files on your computer in no time at all, and after it’s done you can use the intuitive interface for searching and viewing results. It’s not the most snazzy-looking application, but functionality is more important than appearance when it comes to searching.

What does Locate32 have to offer? Take a look at some of my favorite features:

• Search the contents of files (takes longer since the content is not indexed)
• Save frequent searches as presets
• Long list of customizable keyboard shortcuts
• Pressing the Windows Key + F while in Windows Explorer brings up the search dialog, and sets it to search the current directory you were viewing
• Huge list of options
• and more…

The developers of Locate32 are currently on the homestretch to releasing version 3.1, and with it comes a lot of bug fixes and features. Things like find-as-you-type are automatically enabled making searches even faster and more natural.

Interface (Click to Enlarge):

Options (Click to Enlarge):

–Finder (Homepage)–

Finder, not to be confused with Mac OS X’s Finder, is a program that accomplishes the same goal as Locate32, but with a different interface. It will index your files and put search results on your screen in the blink of an eye.

There are some things that I like better about Finder, such as the wider interface, but generally speaking it’s not as powerful as Locate32. The more unique aspect of the program would be the things you can do with the search results:

• Perform operations on files and folders (copy, move, etc…)
• Designate default applications for specific extensions. You can customize what program is used to execute, view, and edit a particular type of file.
• Copy path(s) or name(s) to the clipboard
• and more…

A new version of Finder is in the works, but the developer is shooting for a November 2008 release. I can’t wait to see what good stuff is in store for Finder 3.

Interface:

Options (Click to Enlarge):

–Overview–

There’s one thing that I didn’t cover yet, and that is the performance of the two applications. Both of them are nearly identical coming in under 6MB of memory usage when they are active. That is significantly lower than most desktop search applications, and a large part of that is thanks to the on-demand indexing rather than trying to monitor your computer for new files. Both offer an option to only index the files that have changed since the last time the database was updated, which means the first indexing operation will be significantly longer than the others.

Let us know in the comments how you go about searching for files and folders on your computer. We are always interested in trying out new software!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on September 13, 2007 by CyberNet.

Microsoft apparently pushed out a Windows Update a few weeks ago of which no one had been notified. There were 9 files, on both XP and Vista, pertaining to the Windows Update process which were modified. The files are listed below, and all of them reside in the Windows\System32 folder on your machine.

So why is this such a big deal? As it turns out this update was sent to all Windows computers, even those that have the automatic installation of Windows Updates disabled. There isn’t supposed to be anything harmful with the files, and it is expected that the update is needed if you want to receive further Windows Updates. But what about those people who didn’t want to receive any updates in the first place?

The reason why this concerns me is that Microsoft was able to get onto my computer and modify my system files without me even knowing. How is that supposed to make me feel safe knowing that some hacker could probably do the same thing?

Here was Microsoft’s response on the matter:

Any user who chooses to use Windows Update either expected updates to be installed or to at least be notified that updates were available.  Had we failed to update the service automatically, users would not have been able to successfully check for updates and, in turn, users would not have had updates installed automatically or received expected notifications.
…
Before closing, I would like to address another misconception that I have seen publicly reported. WU does not automatically update itself when Automatic Updates is turned off, this only happens when the customer is using WU to automatically install upgrades or to be notified of updates.

To see if your computer has received the updates just head on over to the Windows\System32 folder and look for one of the affected files listed below. You should see the date that the file was modified (probably around August 24th), and the version number should be 7.0.6000.381:

In Vista, the following files are updated to version 7.0.6000.381:

1. wuapi.dll
2. wuapp.exe
3. wuauclt.exe
4. wuaueng.dll
5. wucltux.dll
6. wudriver.dll
7. wups.dll
8. wups2.dll
9. wuwebv.dll

In XP, the following files are updated to version 7.0.6000.381:

1. cdm.dll
2. wuapi.dll
3. wuauclt.exe
4. wuaucpl.cpl
5. wuaueng.dll
6. wucltui.dll
7. wups.dll
8. wups2.dll
9. wuweb.dll

Source: Windows Secrets [via Slashdot]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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

Right now the Mobile World Congress is going on in Barcelona, and sites like Gizmodo and Engadget are there taking in all of the gadget goodness. Google Android is, as expected, a hot topic of the show. Although still early in development there are some devices available that have been whipped up to serve as a development platform.

Before you get all excited I should let you know that there’s nothing yet that will leave you in awe. Gizmodo’s video demonstration of a device does open the browser, but there’s currently no way to input information so that you can actually browse the web. Heck, most of the prototypes available at the show are still just screens attached to circuit boards, and have yet to be placed inside any sort of casing.

I was hoping to see some more of the touch-screen goodness that we saw in the previous video demonstration provided by Google, but that device apparently wasn’t available at the show today. I guess we’ll have to leave all of our iPhone comparisons for the future. What are your initial impressions of the Android platform?

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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