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Google Wave aims to revolutionize digital communication/collaboration
May 28th, 2009
Today, Google announced a revolutionary new product that might just revolutionize the communications industry.
The ideology of Google Wave is to tie in all forms of communication and collaboration– IM, Email, Video, Pictures, Documents, etc. Into a single integrated environment–accessible completely from a browser using HTML 5. Google Wave will also be extendable and open source… the source will be hosted and maintained on Google Code (a sort of equivalent to SourceForge.net).
Unfortunately, Google Wave is not yet available to the general public… but Wave is slated to be available for download sometime "later this year".
[Google Wave] overview
NetMeter is a powerful but easy to use bandwidth monitoring program
May 11th, 2009
Have you ever wanted to know just how much bandwidth you are using, complete with daily reports, projected usage, as well as statistical reports?
If so, NetMeter is for you. NetMeter is everything it says it is–a small and free utility that monitors and meters all of the packets (data flowing in and out of your computer) going in and out of your computer. The nice little window that pops out of your taskbar (you can easily remove it or show it whenever you want) shows a nice and completely customizable graph of various types of packets (downloaded, uploaded, totals–you choose what you want to show on the graphs). In my tests, NetMeter preformed very well in all departments– from the minimalistic interface, unobtrusiveness, and accuracy of the information shown, to the easy customizability of the graphs, elements, etc.
I especially love the "Totals" feature that NetMeter provides— which aggregates the total Download and/or Upload usage categorized in days, weeks, months, ever since install, etc. Of course, you can reset the statistics or export them to a .CSV (coma separated values) file for importing at some other time (e.g., fresh install of OS).
NetMeter [overview and download]
Here are some screenshots that I have taken of NetMeter in action:
Five simple but effective April Fools’ Day computer pranks you can pull
April 1st, 2009
So today is April Fools’ Day, and it’s time to pull off some err, spectacular but otherwise harmless (almost always, at least?) pranks on your coworkers or friends and family. Sure, we all know about the more conventional April Fools’ Day pranks— tarantulas in phony presents, fake phone calls about dead relatives, among others. However, these "common" April Fools’ Day pranks often get dull and friends and family are more likely than not to be on the lookout for anything fishy going on— so what kind of prank can you pull that will catch your victim(s) unawares and scare the heck outta them? Simple! You hit them where they least expect—the computer.
Below I have come up with a list of what I think are the best pranks that you can quickly and easily pull on a victim’s computer without actually causing any actual damage (that is, to the computer 
).
News Flash: SezWho has been discontinued
March 31st, 2009
That’s right—one of the most popular social blogging tools for bloggers is pulling the plugs on it’s servers because it "has been unable to continue [...] service and [must] shut down the site."
But for existing SezWho users, all is not lost, as SezWho has apparently made a deal with with JS-Kit (which claims to be the world’s largest distributed social network) that makes transitioning from the SezWho service almost painless— the usernames, passwords, settings, and almost everything else remains intact… other than the fact that the service has changed hands (from SezWho to JS-Kit).
So what does this change mean to you? What other services such as this one have you used? Let us know in the comments!
Undo Send lets you unsend that email
March 24th, 2009
Ever sent an email to the wrong person, or sent an email a little too hastily? If you are using GMail, you might want to enable this new GMail Labs feature.
Simply click on the GMail Labs tab under Settings and scroll down until you see the Undo Send labs feature. Click the Enable radio button, and click Save Settings (at the top or bottom of the page).
You’re all done! Now when you send a message, you will have a few seconds to grab back that email before it is sent for good.
What do you think? How is this tip useful or not useful to you? Let us know in the comments!
YouTube goes green
March 17th, 2009
Today when searching YouTube for some videos on DNA Transcription, I noticed that the famous red YouTube logo 
was changed to a new green
logo. Is YouTube (being owned by Google) now changing their logos in the spirit of holidays/major events like Google has been doing for quite some time now?
Let us know what you think in the comments!
News Flash: Google launches Google Voice
March 12th, 2009
Today, Google tentatively launches a new service called Google Voice, a powerful service that allows you to unify all of your phones and phone numbers into one phone number, one voicemail box, and with many other handy features (such as the ability to block certain phone numbers, conference calling, voicemail transcription, and more). Unfortunately, however, Google Voice is currently only in closed beta—that is, it is only available for existing Google Grand Central users, but don’t fret to soon—Google says it will have GVoice ready “in a matter of weeks”.
While you’re waiting, here’s a brief list of features I like must about Google Voice:
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Blocking Calls (yay, no more phone soliciting?)
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Phone Forwarding (the ability to make decide which phone rings and which phones don’t)
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Call Switch (means I can switch phones in the middle of a conversation!)
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Forward, download, transcribe voicemails (it says it all…)
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Free calls to U.S. numbers (…and with international calls at about 2 cents? WOW!)
So what do you think? Do you think Google is getting to know too much? Share your thoughts in the comments!
PDF Converter converts PDF documents into many other formats, free today only
March 2nd, 2009
PDF Converter does exactly what it says it does—converts PDF files into RTF (Rich Text) documents, HTML, Plain Text, Image(s), and even SWF (Adobe Flash) files! Although I was skeptical at first when I read what PDF Converter could do, after I installed it and converted a few graphic intensive PDF documents into HTML, RTF, and SWF, I was shocked by how accurately the software had carried out the conversion. Now I cannot live without it. Just imagine—I can convert all those research paper sources quickly into a format that I can use easier than Adobe’s proprietary PDF format—perfect for bookmarking my progress in a PDF file (something that Adobe Reader does not allow), or making excerpting from a PDF easier, and preserving the format almost perfectly each time.
All in all, PDF Converter is a great, lightweight program that does exactly what it says with amazing output quality—I definitely recommend it!
Since MediaVigor is running a brief promotion, PDF Converter is free today only (3/2/2009). That means you have to head over to the Giveaway of the Day site and grab your copy while it is still free.
[PDF Converter] Free today only.
So what do you think? Do you like this software/use it? What other software do you recommend? Let us know in the comments!
Photology let’s you effortlessly search your photos based on things like time of day, color, content, and more
February 28th, 2009
Photology is a truly unique photo searching app that let’s you sort effortlessly through all of your photos in a most unconventional manner. For example, you can search for pictures by how blurry they are, what lighting conditions they are in, what type of object(s) they contain (flowers, people, water snow, etc.), text, date, groups, or a combination of any of the previous. Photology also allows me to categorize photos into groups, delete photos, and edit my photos with the nifty photo editor to make quick adjustments (rotation, color adjustment, red eye reduction, cropping).
In my testing of Photology, I found this original app to be snappy and quick when searching—surprising given that it was searching thousands of photos and looking for various features (content, color, brightness, etc. as defined in my search filters). Although it took awhile (10 minutes) initially to index all 10,000 of my photos, I could immediately begin to search, rearrange, group, and edit my photos during the indexing process.
All in all, Photology is a great app that makes searching your entire photo collection a quick and simple affair, while providing powerful although a bit unorthodox search filters through an easy to use and simplistic interface.
[Photology] Overview and Download
TINKER WITH THE ONLINE DEMO TO GET A FEEL OF PHOTOLOGY
What do you think? What other tools have you used before to search your photos? Tell the world in the comments!
LINUX 101 HACKS is a free ebook that gives you a head start on Linux
February 19th, 2009
The Linux book LINUX 101 Hacks is a nice handbook that does a great job at priming you if you want to start using Linux. It mainly covers the command part (kernel) of Linux, and I have found it to be a reference that I keep referring to whenever I get stuck in the Linux Kernel.
[LINIX 101 HACKS] requires subscription to download.
