This tool generates Ribbon code, DLL, and Code Snippers for sample usage. It requires Visual Studio 2005 or 2008 and Windows 7 SDK. The app creates standard Windows 7 Ribbon using Win32 only and is very different than Visual Studio 2010 editor which creates MFC/Office Ribbon.

Please note that you should use this tool only and only if you are doing Win32/x64 directly.

There are three versions available, free, standard, and professional. The free version includes all the features and can generate ready-to-use Ribbon DLL but will include an additional tab with copyright information. This shouldn’t be much of a problem for most users.

Download Visual Ribbon Creator

You will also be interested in Windows 7 Ribbon Explorer. A tool that allows developers to view the result of the ribbon markup(XML). The app complies the Ribbon XML(UICC.exe, RC.exe, Link.exe) and then loads it showing the resulting Ribbon.

It includes lots of additional features, such as, enable editing, set various application modes, change Ribbon colors, set property of Ribbon command, and much more.

Download Windows 7 Ribbon Explorer

Please note that they are two separate apps, Visual Ribbon Creator creates the Ribbon while Windows 7 Ribbon Explorer views the Ribbon, allows developers to play with it and much more. You can export the Ribbon XML from the first app and test it on the second app.

Suppose you have a borrowed laptop or netbook, how would you Skype with your friends without having to download, install, and finally uninstall the desktop client? What if you are sitting on a public computer and need to quickly voice chat with someone over Skype?

The desktop client of Skype for Mac, Linux, and Windows is now history. Meet Imo.im, the latest web service that is silently building a killer platform. We reviewed it last week, but the need didn’t arise until today.

Select Skype, enter the username/password, and hit Sign On. Wait a few seconds and you are in. Login time for Skype desktop client is more than 30 seconds on my side with a 4Mbit connection, while Imo.im was able to login within 10 seconds. Should we call this impressive?

Select the friend with whom you want to voice chat or video chat from the right-sidebar and hit the respective link given on top of the chat dialog window. You can also share a file in just two clicks.

So how was the voice quality? In my friend’s own words, “Voice quality is a little low when compared with desktop client but is very understandable.” and I tend to agree. This could be either because Imo.im is trying to make voice chat seamless(by reducing quality) or due to the fact that my friend was using Skype on his iPhone.

In conclusion, I would stay that it is one great way to make a quick voice or video call without wasting any further time. The minimalist design combined with great functionality makes Imo.im a sort of online Skype messenger.

Imo.im

If you know of any other service that supports Skype, do let us know and we will give it a shot. Enjoy!

What if you want to synchronize the foobar2000 playlists with various audio devices which come with restrictions, such as codec, artwork, and directory structure?

Synchronizer for foobar2000 is a tool developed exactly for this purpose. Officially it supports Palm Pre, Volkswagen Rabbit build-in audio, B&O BeoSound 2, and Sony but you can use it to sync with any audio device provided you can create a simple XML file for it(which is quite easy).

By default it doesn’t know the playlist’s root path and device’s root path. You have to manually enter the paths inside the XML file under Libraries folder. At first you might feel this to be a complicated step but you just need to edit the XML file and enter the correct path, it is that easy. To see an example, go here.

Update: Editing can be done by opening the XML file in notepad, no other tool is required. You can also create a new XML file by changing the extension of the notepad from .txt to .xml.

Once you have entered the path for the playlist and the device that you want to sync, run the executable file. Now select the device that you want to sync and hit Next. It will then detect the device, here you have to click Next again. Finally it will show you the number of songs that were detected, hit Done and the wizard will close.

On the main window you will see all the songs along with their encoding, status, and action. Here you can review the songs and remove the the ones that are “Junks”. Hit Copy To Device button to begin synchronization.

What can this program do? It can convert FLAC and OGG files into MP3 files, embed artwork in MP3 file, and flatten directory hierarchies.

Download Synchronizer for foobar2000

The only additional tool that you require for this app to work is the COM Automation Server for foobar2000. It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. .NET Framework 3.5 or higher must be installed. Enjoy!

Win7Shell is an unofficial plugin that adds full Windows 7 taskbar integration. It will show you the status of the song while it is playing. You can add bookmarks, recent played songs, etc to the jumplist. There is an option to control the basic playback when you hover your mouse over the taskbar icon.

To quickly open a file, visit preferences, or play the playlist from beginning, right-click the taskbar icon and choose the options given under Tasks. There are tons of other features which we haven’t mentioned here. To see the complete list head over to the plugin’s official page.

Download Win7Shell

It is a plugin for Winamp in Windows 7. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the OS are supported. Enjoy!

You can use this app in Outlook 2010 as well but you don’t actually need it. This is because Microsoft has now introduced a system tray icon in Outlook 2010, it is a small yet huge improvement.

When you start Outlook 2010, you will see a small system tray icon. Right-click it and select “Hide When Minimized” option from the context menu.

Now the next time you minimize your Outlook 2010 window, it will be minimized to the system tray rather than taskbar.

The icon will be updated from time to time, for example the Outlook 2010 icon shown in the screenshot above tells that it is synchronizing folders.

It has two modes – Video Output and Motion Sensor. You can turn on Video Output and choose to record at any time or you can turn on Motion Sensor and it will automatically start recording when a motion is detected.

As you can see in the screenshot below, I moved the PSP device towards the monitor and it immediately detected the motion and took the photo. You can set both the Record Interval and Record after Motion Detected in milliseconds.

Before the start of the app, it asks for the destination folder where you want the output to be saved. Images are saved in 640 x 480 resolution. When you close the app, the program will still be running in the background, you will need to end the process from the task manager. It is intentionally set like this by the developer, so that it can run in the background. IMO, having a hotkey to vanish/restore would be better.

This app is in it’s first release, expect to see loads of new features in future releases. Planned features include:

• Automatic file management – Autodelete old images
• Choice for saving in jpg or png images
• Settings for image quality and size
• Possibly video recording
• Email notification
• Upload of images to server

Download iSurveill

Since it is developed on top of Adobe Air, it works on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Please note that it will fail to run on Adobe Air 2 beta, it requires Adobe AIR 1.5 to run seamlessly.

There are two cases where a user might want to end a certain process. In the first case if the program is not responding, the user will kill the program’s process and then restart the program again(losing all the work). While in the second case most users kill the program process because it is taking a large amount of memory(again losing all the work).

For the first case we can technically do nothing, since killing the process is the last resort to end the program. But for the second case, you could use Free Process Freezer.

What this app does is to allow the users to suspend the process(that is taking large amount of memory) and then resume it later. Thus, restoring all the work and preventing the loss. Sounds great, eh?

I was able to test it successfully on both Windows XP and Vista. It was however giving exception error on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. I was not able to test it on 32-bit version of Windows 7. You can try it for yourself and let us know if it works.

Download Free Process Freezer

To begin, first select the root key and then enter the exact key name. You can choose to either watch for all changes, changes to the keys, values, or security only. Further you can choose the event action – Do nothing(just write to log), show a pop up notification, or execute a program. For the latter, there is an option to select the program that you wan to execute.

Once ready, hit the Start Monitor button. Clicking the Tray button will minimize it to the system tray.

You can either save the log or clear it if you want to check for changes in some other key.

Overall, Registry Live Watch is one complete app that will greatly help the advanced users, system administrators, and programmers.

Download Registry Live Watch

It is a portable tool and works on all versions of Windows, including both Windows Server 2003/2008 and Windows 7. Enjoy!

If you could preview the document before saving it, it would have saved you lots of headache and time.

The problem is that this preview feature is not available in most writing tools for Mac. For example Ulysses is a great document writing tool and editor but lacks the option to preview the documents. Proof has been developed as a companion app that can help preview the documents.

So you must be wondering if it embeds inside various writing tools and document editors? The answer is No. The working of the app is a bit unique. First you need to put Proof in any dedicated folder for proofreading. Now when you export a document, save it to this folder. Now launch Proof and open this folder. You don’t need to open the folder over and over again every time since it can remember the first time.

Once Proof is running, you will switch between the documents easily using the < and > arrows or pressing [ and ] keys on the keyboard. When you are satisfied, hit Accept and it will prompt you for the folder to move documents to. It’s that simple.

Download Proof

It works on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Enjoy!

The ease of use combined with fast one-way and two-way sync speed makes it stand out from the rest. Just hit Sync, choose the source directory, destination directory, and the sync mode. There are five sync modes(see screenshot below).

You can also exclude a certain directory from the Exclude tab. The Rules tab is for Pro version(paid only) which allows users to define specific rules.

Hit Sync button and it will show you the scanned result from where you can select which files to perform action on. When ready hit Sync and it will do the rest.

Download Sync Breeze

Sync Breeze is not an advanced synchronization tool, but would suit to most novice users who prefer fast sync speed. If you are looking for a free advanced sync utility, check out FileMyster.

It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003/2008, and Windows 7. Enjoy!