Technology

Critical Apps

So I have spent some time over the past few days building a new(ish) machine for myself and I thought that I’d take a few moments to get techy on you guys and talk about the apps that I need to survive. these are programs that I install on any machine that I will use for any purpose. Even on this machine will will not be my primary internet and entertainment box, there are certain tools that I never want to be without.

Bear in mind, people, that I’m a PC user… I haven’t gone Apple yet. (Sorry, Mr. Jobs!)

1) Firefox: Yep. I use it and I love it. Of course it’s not the same without a couple critical addons:
a) Adblock Plus: It’s a must.
b) Tab Mix Plus: Tab browsing on steroids, people. This helps you make the most of the tabbed interface.

2) Open Office: Documents of any format that I’ll have to worry about; All of the features that I need from an office suite; PDF creation; Free…

3) Acrobat Reader: Did someone say “PDF”? Gotta have it.

gimp

4) Gimp: You can do anything with this product. Why buy Photoshop?

5) Foobar2000: Plays any audio file. Handles conversions and so much more… Oh! It has a tiny memory footprint, taboot. Free.

6) VideoLan Player (VLC): Also plays most audio files and most video files… for free. I only use it for video, though (see #5)

7) WinRar: This app will compress/uncompress pretty much any file (.zip, .rar, .tar, .cab, etc…)

Seriously. These apps are my life’s blood. What’d I miss?

Withdrawal…

You know you are an internet junkie when…

You try to go to one of your favorite sites and get this:

failure.png

and, as the shakes settle in, you repeatedly click reload, you try retyping the url  in hopes that, somehow your bookmark has gotten screwy (never happens, btw.)

Anyway, if you know what I’m talking about, feel free to post a comment sharing your frustration…

This Blog Will Self-Destruct

Ok, maybe not.
But now, it seems that if you want to send a text message with personal or incriminating information, there is a service for you.

Stealthtext is a new application for UK cell phone customers that will allow you to send a message that automatically deletes itself after it has been read.

Of course, nothing is perfect. So, you wannabe spies or crooks out there beware, the messages are maintined by the vendor on a ‘secure’ server. (Just like our personal identity information, right?)

Read More.

Also…Would you go swimming if these were in the water? Me neither.

Did that commercial with Lee Majors get you thinking about a new laptop with a fingerprint scanner? Think again.

Remember The XLII-S?

Maxell Shines A New Ray Of Light on the Storage Game
Blu-Ray and HD-DVD Makers Left Twisting In The Wind

Well, the long dreamed-of holographic storage medium is becoming a reality. Maxell has broken through with an announcement that it has developed a technology that will, on a 5.25inch disc, store 1.6 TeraBytes of data with transfer rates as high as 120MB/s. In case you’re uncertain, thats big AND fast. Yowza.

The first implementation will be released in late 2006. It will hold a piddley 300GB and a sluggish transfer rate of 20 MB/s.

Sweet fancy Moses, how quickly things develop.