"Organization and Efficiency" via Brandon in Google Reader

STDU Viewer: one-stop ebook reader for PDF, DJV, XPS, CBZ, CBR, TIFF, and TXT formats

2009-10-05T19:41:26Z

STDU Viewer is a free, all-around edocument and ebook reader that supports PDF, Deja-Vu (DJV), Comic Book Archive (CBZ, CBR), TIFF, Text, and XPS documents. It offers a good range of functions including a tabbed interface for multiple document views, a powerful search function, user defined actions for double-clicking on any of the four quarters of the screen, navigate by thumbnail preview, bookmarking, and versatile layout/zooming options.

If you’re interested in a single-stop ebook and edocument reader check out STDU Viewer. It offers support for many ebook formats, including PDF, Deja-Vu, as well as the comic book formats CBZ and CBR, and is an excellent program to boot.

If you’re wondering if STDU Viewer is a good PDF reader the answer is yes. Very good in fact, and makes for a great replacement to Adobe’s reader. Here are my top ten SIX things I like about this program:

One ebook reader to rule them all: I love the range of formats that it covers, which comprises the most common ebook formats on the internet.
Tabs: are not just for Firefox anymore, and the ability to work with multiple documents simultaneously each on its own tab is not only fashionable, it makes for a good user experience.
Search: what’s cool about the search function is that, unlike other readers, it doesn’t just jump to the next instance of the text but actually presents a list of results (see screenshot to the right)
User-defined double clicking action: STDU Viewer will divide the page into four quadrants and allows you to define an action to be performed when you double click on each quadrant. For example you could set it up such that if you double click on the bottom right of the screen the program would perform a page down.
Thumbnails: you could place page thumbnails and the left hand margin and use them to browse. Very cool (see screenshot at the top of this post). This applies to all formats and not just comic book archives.
Bookmarks: if you’re reading a document you need bookmarks right? Right. STDU allows you to set bookmarks for later use. It does not store these bookmarks within the document itself.

Wish list:

Support for: .LIT and HTML Help CHM files. This would REALLY make this program an indispensable install.

The verdict: a very nice program; install this one and use for all (or most) of your ebook / edocument reading needs.

I also like that the program is so well laid out from a usability point of view and that it is kept so simple and straightforward. Now if they would only extend their support to .LIT and .CHM files! Regardless, this reader is highly recommended.

Version Tested: 1.5

Compatibility: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 1.65 megs).

Use Google Docs to Convert Images to Text [Documents]

2009-09-29T11:40:00Z

It's not an official feature (yet), but Google Docs can perform OCR image-to-text conversions on high-resolution files you upload to it. They have to be pretty darned clear and crisp, but it's a nice freebie.

Those with webapps or services that upload to Google Docs can use this URL parameter to accept PNG, JPG, and GIF files for conversion, listed as an "experimental" feature at the moment.

Users, in the meantime, can try out a conversion using their own accounts at the Google Code Samples link. I tried uploading PNG screen grabs of Lifehacker and Wikipedia to Google Docs for conversion. Docs returned nothing with Lifehacker's text, and a somewhat muddled take on the Wikipedia entry for "life hack" with both PNG and JPG uploads (the full-quality JPG conversion, not pictured, fared just a bit better). Those were taken using nothing more than Ubuntu's screen capture tool and GIMP, however, so if you've got a better screen capture tool, or an actual camera shot of some relatively clear text, you'll probably do better.

Tell us how automatic Google Doc OCR might help you out in the comments.

DocList API OCR Demo [ via Digital Inspiration]

Google Book Downloader

2009-09-02T16:00:00Z

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Google

Google Book Downloader is a free utility that lets out download any book that's available in "full view" from Google Books. Of course, most of these books also feature download links right on the web page, but Google Books Downloader lets you queue up multiple jobs and convert all of the downloaded books to PDF files.

The application is available for Windows and requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. You can either install Google Book Downloader or download a portable version which you can simply unzip and run from your hard drive or a removable disk.

In order to queue up a book for download, just open the "add book" dialog in the file menu and copy an paste the book code, link, or ISBN number, click search, and then select the book that shows up. To begin downloading, right click a title and hit "start." and to export a file as a PDF, right-click and hit "export."

You can find more instructions in the tutorial.

[via Life Rocks 2.0]

Google Book Downloader originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sponsored Topics: Google - Download Squad - Google Book Downloader - Microsoft - Windows

Mendeley Desktop v0.9.0 released

2009-07-06T18:31:01Z

This update introduces a lot of new features, including a PDF viewer, OpenOffice.org integration on Mac OSX and Linux, and many more. Interface issues, and a number of bugs are also addressed in this release, as well as improvements to the overall stability.

Just to give you a teaser – this is how it looks like to add notes to PDF documents:

New Features:

Built-in PDF viewer for viewing PDFs directly in Mendeley Desktop
Support for annotating PDF files (syncing notes to and from Mendeley Web is planned for the next release)
Many additional online lookups (CrossRef, PubMed, Google Scholar)
Public document collections (reading lists) which can be embedded on other websites
OpenOffice.org Writer plugin for Mac OSX & Linux
Improved native user interface for Mac OSX
Individual synchronization and privacy settings for each document collection
Auto-save changes and undo functionality for quick document detail editing
Flagging documents as favorites
Marking a document as read, or unread
Detecting duplicate documents when importing library files or PDFs
Merging together document authors, tags, keywords or publications
Editing document details, or tags for multiple documents simultaneously
New “Trash” collection so you can restore deleted documents

Improvements to Existing Features:

Changes to the toolbar and terminology in light of usability tests
Better handling of documents with unconfirmed details
More robust synchronization between Mendeley Desktop and Mendeley Web
Search results are presented in a much easier to read format
Searching for documents now searches the document details, as well the PDF text

Bug Fixes:

Detect and handle duplicate citation keys being used when exporting to BibTeX format
Improved full-text indexing stability for search
Allow documents to be renamed without the file organizer being enabled
Clean up the formatting of exported citations
Handle tags and keywords properly when exporting to BibTex format
File organizer stability fixes
Corrections to various citation styles
Plus many more…

So no time to waste – visit our download page and give it a try, would be great to hear what you think! Also, thanks a lot for all the feedback from our leadusers who helped us polishing this new version.

Please note: As part of the upgrade process, if you have an online account already, Mendeley Desktop will need to perform a full sync when it next starts. This may take some time depending on the size of your library. It is a one-off sync that is required to ensure compatibility with an upgraded sync method.

If you have suggestions how to improve managing research papers with the Mendeley reference manager please let us know by visiting our feedback forum. If you encounter any problems using Mendeley or have questions to ask, please e-mail us at support@mendeley.com.

Battle of the Desktop Note-Taking Apps: OneNote vs. Evernote [Lifehacker Faceoff]

2009-06-22T22:00:00Z

Whenever we mention desktop note-taking applications, two apps always stand out among the competition: Microsoft OneNote and Evernote. One is a commercial Windows app; the other is a free application for Windows, OS X, and many mobile phones. So which is better?

We've danced around this question in our Hive Five Best Note-Taking Tools, but pen and pencil won that contest hands-down. Both tools have their strengths and weaknesses. Many staunch OneNote supporters are quick to point out that Evernote has an unfair advantage in the voting department because it's free. Evernote does, however, offer pro accounts ($45/year) that put it at least somewhat on par with OneNote's price tag ($100 for a license). On the other hand, OneNote integrates like a dream with every corner of your Windows desktop.

Both apps are serious about syncing your notes with the web and other computers with the software installed. Evernote wins the mobile war with support for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Palm Pre; OneNote, on the other hand supports only Windows Mobile devices. Both can perform optical character recognition (or OCR) for translating your handwriting into searchable notes.

We could go on, but ultimately both tools have a lot in common with subtle differences (the tablet PC-owner niche loves OneNote). So we want to throw it out to you:

Which Desktop Note-Taking Application Do You Prefer?(polls)

Let's hear your application-specific pros and cons in the comments.

DIY Magnetic Keyboard and Mouse [Space Savers]

2009-06-23T00:00:00Z

If our top 10 magnet hacks didn't tip you off, we appreciate clever magnet tricks. To that end, weblog Circuit Gizmos details how to reclaim much-needed desk space for your analog work with the help of—you guessed it—magnets.

More specifically, you'll need some strong magnets and glue. The article's DIYer also chose to place a magnet inside the keyboard and another on the inside of the mouse, specifically "on the bottom of the case front-and-center just ahead of the mouse wheel." According to the author:

I like to have a lot of desk surface when I need to spread out schematics and other multi-page documents. This time, though, I decided that the thin replacement keyboard and lightweight mouse could be modified to "stick" on the wall at the back of my desk for when I wanted to put them away.

I decided to use some strong magnets to keep them on that wall. The keyboard and mouse weight would rest, as you can see from the picture, on the "splash guard" on the back of my desk. (My desk is made from a counter top.) The magnets wouldn't need to bear the weight of the keyboard and mouse, but only needed to keep it upright against the wall.

Check out the full post for the step-by-step and, if you're inspired, take a look at our other magnetic hacks, like this Altoids case-inspired space saver.

Up, Up, and Away [Circuit Gizmos via Make]

Forty-Three of The Best Free Windows Enhancements That You Should Know About

2009-06-23T15:52:57Z

There is an impressive range of excellent freeware Windows enhancements and tweaks. This posting will present forty three excellent additions to Windows that you will like.

When I first thought of this post, I more or less knew what programs I wanted to list here. The common theme that brought these together was that they were all really cool Windows “enhancements”: i.e. apps that tweak or change the way we work with files, folders, applications, or the system environment itself (or, apps that brings functionality to the Windows environment that could or should have been a built-in option in Windows ).

Two more things to say before presenting the list itself; the first is that this list might not include some well known titles because in some cases I shied away from Windows enhancement apps that try to do many things at once in favor of simpler, more straightforward ones. The second is to be aware that many of these have overlapping functions and hotkeys that you wouldn’t necessarily want installed on the same system at the same time (you also dont want to overburden your PC, so install selectively).

Note: this post took a long time to write, so please Stumble or Digg!

Here’s the list:

1- Fences: do you ever wish that there was some way to organize your icons into general, clearly-labeled areas on your desktop that you could move or organize without needing to deal with each icon individually? If so, you’re in luck, as this is exactly what Fences does. You can create floating areas on your desktop, label them, and ove icons of any type into them; you can then re-arrange these by moving entire units around, etc. Fences will do two more things for you (1) it will preserve/save icon locations on your screen, and (2) it will allow you to double click an empty area on the desktop to hide all icons.

Note that Fences is still in beta and seems to exhibit some bugs on some machines. It works fine on my XP (with XP’s Dr. Watson debugger disabled).

2- QTTabbar: ever imagined using explorer windows in a Firefox style tabbed interface? This is essentially what this (terrific) freeware does, but it also manages to deliver a range of nice functions, including the ability to browse contents of folders without clicking into them (see screenshot), the option to bookmark groups of open tabs, a searchbox for filtering files, image previews on mouse-hover, as well as a slew of others.

QTTabbar is extendible through a handful of plugins that provide extra functionality, including a “folder memo” plugin to add notes to folders.

3- Filebox Extender: this one adds new buttons on the title bar next to the minimize, maximize, and close buttons that provide favorite folders and recent folders access anywhere (including file open/save dialogs). Other functions: a “stay on top” pushpin button, and a window roll-up button that hides all but the title bar of a window.

There are many apps that are designed to access favorite folders and files, but this one is one of the most original and innovative.

4- Desktop Media: this may be familiar to you if you’ve worked with Liunx. Desktop Media is a free program that creates automatic shortcuts on the desktop whenever you plug in a USB drive, CD, or other media. The shortcuts will automatically disappear when the media is ejected.

This program also provides an interesting option whereby hardlink rather than shortcuts can be (optionally) created on NTFS drives (see “Link Shell Extension” below for more on hardlinks).

5- Sizer: allows you to you right click on the “maximize”button on the title bar in order to quickly change the size and/or placement of the active Window using a selection of pre-set profiles. You can add your own user-defined sizes and placements.

While this function hardly sounds revolutionary, I will tell you that once you start using this one you will wonder how you managed without it. Sizer will prove to be very useful and is in fact one of my first installs on a new machine.

6- Folder Menu: this is a terrific little free app that displays favorite folders anywhere on Middle mouse click or using a hotkey. It can even invoke favorite folders in Windows and MS Office open/save dialogs.

This is a new Autohotkey-based program that deserves to be more well known; since installing it it’s become one of my favorites, and I am betting that you will like it as well.

7- Folder Size: ever noticed that Windows’ detail folder view does not display sizes for folders? Well guess what, this free Windows extension adds a column to Windows’ “detailed” view that displays folder sizes. Check out my review for how to get this set up.

The latest information as I write this is that a new version 2.5 is about to be released, so watch out for that.

8- WinSplit Revolution: a freeware program that brings instant, versatile docking and resizing of windows to the sides of the and/or corners of the screen. But what is really nice is that the program allows you to control the placement of your windows by using hotkeys, by using a “virtual numpad” control that is prompted by clicking on the app’s icon in the system tray, or by so-called “drag’n go”, which involves moving your window around the screen while pressing Ctrl+Alt (whereupon it will display visual previews of the resize area as you move your window around - see screenshot).

For another interesting program that offers a similar function check out PowerResizer, which is also excellent.

9- Q-Dir: is a free dual-pane file manager that is simply terrific. It offers a slew of nice functions, including bookmarking favorite folders, a search box for filtering files and folders, the ability to save configurations of open panes and folders, and a whole host of other nifty options. What is quite innovative about Q-Dir are the nifty buttons on the toolbar that let the user access multiple configurations of file panes, quickly and easily.

I personally use Q-Dir as a replacement for Windows explorer, such that clicking on a folder in Windows will open it using Q-Dir; In that sense it is the ultimate Windows enhancement. (See my original review of the program for instructions on how to do this, find favorite feature #6).

10- Taskbar shuffle: this freeware Windows extension gives you the ability to reorder the tabs in your taskbar (on the bottom of your desktop) by dragging them at will. Very cool!

11- Standalone Stack: this freeware allows you to create folder shortcuts that, when clicked, open up as Mac-style hovering icon stacks. It supports two styles of icons “grid” and “fan”. The screenshot here depicts a grid-style such shortcut that I strategically placed in the “Quick Launch” area.

12- TaskSwitchXP: this is a freeware Alt+Tab replacement. It’s my favorite because it is straightforward and simply scrolls across the different open apps and windows while (reliably) displaying a screenshot of the selected app. It strength is function rather than form, and I like the fact that it bucks the 3D vista-style and the Mac Expose trends (but if you must have these, check out WinFlip, Shock Aero, and DExpose2).

13- Link Shell Extension: is a freeware app that allows you to right click on files and folders and create instant (and effortless) hardlinked clones, with the single stipulation that your hard drive should be NTFS formatted.

A clone is NOT a copy. A little known piece of information is that a file in Windows XP and Vista can be in two places at once (as long as the hard drive is NTFS formatted and not FAT). Suppose that you keep videos of “The Sopranos” in their “Sopranos” folder, but that you had set up a “Favorite TV shows” folder where you wanted to keep a list of some of the TV-show episodes you like the most. If your hard drive is NTFS formatted, you can keep a clone of that video in that folder that does not occupy extra space on your hard drive (rather than create a duplicate copy.

14- Launchy: this is a freeware launcher for apps and files where, instead of clicking on shortcuts or icons of the programs or files you want to open, you type in the name of the program you are seeking in a search box and select it from a list of results (the program will refine the list of selections as-you-type, which is a very nice effect).

By default this program will monitor (index) the execs and shortcuts in your start menu but can be configured to look anywhere for any file type you want. Lastly I will say that once you start using this I guarantee you will not want to use your computer without it. Some good Launchy alternatives (also free): Find and Run Robot, Key Launch and Keybreeze.

15- Freesnap: ever wanted to snap just one or two edges of your window that you’re working with right to the side of the screen? Freesnap is a freeware that lets you do just that (see screenshot). It will also let you use hotkeys to quickly send your window to any of the 4 corners of the screen (or the center), and perform a number of window-resizing operations.

16- Everything: this one is a free desktop file search program that works ONLY on NTFS formatted drives. The reason: it relies on the Master File Table of the NTFS volume to build its index of files, rather than constantly scanning and scouring the hard drive. What this means is that Everything will always be up to date with all file changes that occur on your hard drive.

The reason this one is included in this post is that more than any other program it has changed the way I work with Windows (with the possible exception of Launchy, above). I now find myself constantly right-clicking “Search Everything” on folders in order to locate the files that I am working with. Being able to right click on my computer in order to find a file or files anywhere on my drives is an extremely powerful thing to be able to do.

17- 3RVX: this freeware allows you to control your system’s volume (up/down/mute) through hotkeys. Its not the most feature-packed utility of its kind (Volumouse might have that distinction), but it just may be the most pleasant to use, looks really pretty (emulates the MacOSX volume bezel, but is skinnable and comes with many other cool skins).

This is another one of those apps I have to have installed on my machine.

18- OSD Mute: a very simple free app that does a very simple thing: displays a “Mute On” message on your desktop near the system tray when the system volume is muted. While this is not quite revolutionary, it is so useful that I install it on all my machine, and is really an option that should have come built into Windows.

19- Dexpot: this is without a doubt the best, most feature rich and advanced freeware virtual desktop program for Windows. It doesn’t offer some of the eye candy that you might find in some others (animated 3D cube transitions between desktops, for example), but what it lacks in style in makes up for in substance (e.g. rules, hotkeys, icon placements on different desktops). If you are unfamiliar with virtual desktops imagine being able to work on, say, your Office applications in one desktop, then flipping to another that has your browser/webmail, and then flipping to a third that displays, say, your media player.

One thing you can do with Dexpot that I have not found anywhere else is to actually designate different icons to different desktops. This alone makes it the undisputed number one virtual desktop app as far as I am concerned.

20- Infotag Magic: a freeware shell extension that tweaks Windows to display informational tooltips when hovering over a range of filetypes, including audio files, text files, shortcuts, and executables (see screenshot).

File extension types supported: wp3, wma, ape, and Ogg Vorbis (for audio), txt, ini, log, bat, diz, bak, and que files (for text files), exe, dll, ocx and lnk (for executables/shortcuts). I would have liked to have tooltips support for video files; if that’s something you want it is provided in the latest beta of MediaInfo.

21- AudioShell: a freeware shell extension that allows you to view and edit audio files tags directly in Windows Explorer (for individual files or groups of files). It adds tabs in the audio file’s right-click “properties” dialog that enable you to edit tag information on the fly. (Including album art, which you can easily import into the Audioshell tab and save it into the audio file itself.)

Audioshell will also display your audio file tag information inside tooltips when you mouse-over your audio files, and will add additional audio related columns that can be displayed in Windows explorer’s folder “detail” view (e.g. Title, Album, Artist, etc.)

22- Stick: is an interesting freeware app that places dockable tabs on the sides of your screen that can contain a variety of functions, such as notes, RSS feeds, shortcuts for apps or favorite folders, etc.

The nice thing about this one is that the “dockable tab” effect works really well, and its a very interesting innovation on the typical Windows user interface.

23- Xentient Thumbnails: a freeware that automatically changes the icons for image files to appear as little thumbnail previews of the images themselves.

This means that the even in icon or tile view each individual image will display a thumbnail for its icon that reflects a preview of the image itself. It also means that your image files will display little thumbnails for their icons even when placed on the desktop (a nifty and rather unusual effect).

24- Thumbview: you might have noticed that some image file types (e.g. JPG, GIF, BMP and a few others). display preview thumbnails in Windows Explorer while others do not . What Thumbview does is provide support for 19 additional image file types such that Explorer is able to provide thumbnail previews for those as well. It also adds tooltips for image files in Explorer such that hovering over an image file displays its type, dimension, bitdepth, and filesize.

25- WinCDemu: a small, free, extension that adds to Windows the ability to mount disk images as virtual drives simply by double clicking on the image files. Supports .ISO, .IMG, .CUE, .BIN and .RAW disk images and an unlimited number of virtual drives.

Runs in the background with no user interface, and seamlessly integrates disk image files into Windows.

26- Allsnap: imagine that your windows had a little “magnetic field” around them such that if they came sufficiently close to each other they would simply snap together. This effect, which we have all seen employed by various apps (such as Winamp for example) is exactly what this freeware does. Very cool, and also configurable so that you could set exactly how many pixels around each window this “magnetic field ” should be in effect.

There is also, interestingly, a portable version of this app which I just discovered.

27- TeraCopy: this free program integrates itself with Windows to deliver accelerated file copying in many instances as well as the ability to pause and resume copy operations. It comes especially handy when copying or moving a large number of files such that the entire process will not break down if it encounters, say, a file error.

You have the option to set whether to have TeraCopy perform all file copy operations by default (which is what I do), just when invoked by the user, or only when the “Caps Lock” key is on.

28- HOBComment: this free Windows extension adds a context menu entry that allows users to instantly add a comment to files and folders (yes, folders, which normally you wouldn’t be able to add comments to in Windows). I’ve been looking for a long time and this remains my favorite way to add comments to files and folders (despite relatively sophisticated freeware general file tagging apps such as Tag2Find and Taggedfrog.

The one conspicuous drawback that afflicts HOBComment though is that it is sometimes unable to add comments to some file types, such as .MSI and MS Office files (forcing me to resort to right clicking properties/summary/comment in Windows to do so).

29- StyleFolder: this freeware adds a simple entry to the Windows context menu that makes it possible to change folder icons. And while there are a handful such apps, I like StyleFolder because it is simple and unassuming; but, more importantly, it saves the icon info within the folder rather than simply pointing to it, which means that folders retain their new, customized icons when they are moved to portable media or across the network, etc.

30- Unlocker: have you ever tried to move, delete, or perform other operations on a file or folder only to be notified that it is locked because it is being used by another process? Enter freeware Unlocker to the rescue. This software can (a) identify the process(es) that are using your files/folders and holding them hostage, and (b) will let you “unlock” these or optionally to kill the offending process so its no longer running.

Unlocker installs a convenient entry in the Windows context menu that can be used to right click any file or folder and investigate the processes that might be working with it, if any.

31- Send To Toys: this app will breathe new life into the “send to” entry in Windows’ context menu by making it extremely useful and customizable. There are a number of commands that “Send To Toys” can introduce into the send to menu, including send to clipboard, send to command prompt, send to run, send to trash, and send to quicklaunch. But what makes this program really useful is the ability to add your favorite folders to the send to menu, whereby you can quickly copy or move any item to them (pressing Shift as you use the send to folder command will move your files/items rather than copy them, while pressing ctrl+shift will copy a shortcut).

32- RBTray: minimize any window to the system tray by right-clicking on the “minimize” button. Simple with fairly low resource consumption.

What I like about this one is that is coexists very well with other Windows enhancements (aforementioned Sizer, for example), when some other apps like it do not.

33- Trayconizer: this interesting free app is for those programs that you use that you wished would simply minimize to the system tray every time by default. Trayconizer can create special, modified shortcuts to these apps that, when run, will make these always minimize to the system tray without any further intervention by the user.

34- Flashfolder: this freeware apps makes it easy to access your favorite folders in Windows’ open/save dialog (as well as that of MS Office). What is notable about FlashFolder, aside from it being extremely useful, is that in terms of coolness/form factor alone it scores extremely high points with me (check out the toolbar that add overlays on top of the open/save dialog in the screenshot to the right).

Aside from favorite folders, Flashfolder can also quickly access recently used folders and a number of other functions.

35- Folder Guide: this freeware lets you right click to access your favorite folders. Works on the desktop, in Windows’ open/save dialog, as well as the MS Office open/save dialog.

There are two ways to add your favorite folders to “Folder Guide”; from the settings, you could browse to the folder of your choice, or simply right click on the folder you want to add and use the “Folder Guide” context menu entry.

36- Shock Bookmark: another freeware app that, similar to Folder Guide above installs your favorite folders in your right click context menu and enables quick access to these on your desktop and in the Windows open/save dialog (but, interestingly, not in the MS Office open/save dialog for this one). Shock Bookmark goes one further in that it lets you access favorite apps as well as favorite files in the context menu in addition to folders.

Like Folder Guide, Shock Bookmark allows you to right click on a folder in order to add it to the app’s context menu. However, it also features “copy to” and “move to” functions on right click for quickly moving or copying your files to your bookmarked folders (similar to “Send to Toys” above).

37-Open Target Shell Extension: [XP only]. This extension adds a right click context menu entry to Windows that shows up when you right-click on shortcut files, giving the option to instantly open the target folder where the item actually resides. This saves the user a few steps that would otherwise be required right-clicking properties then “find target” on XP.

Vista users do not need this as this functionality is already built into that OS.

38- MenuApp: this tiny free app lets you create shortcuts to folders that, when clicked on, display a browsable, cascading-style menu similar to the Windows Start menu. You can create a shortcut folder any folder(s) you like and place them in all sorts of convenient places, such as the quick launch menu area, on your desktop, or within your favorite launcher app, etc.

39- Visual Subst: this freeware presents an interesting way to access favorite folders by mapping them as virtual drives that you could access from “My Computer”.

The idea is that this makes it easier to access these using on or two clicks from open/save dialogs or by navigating from anywhere all the way back to the root drive.

40- Visual Task Tips: [XP only] a lightweight freeware utility that brings thumbnail previews to minimized task bar items in Windows XP. Simply hover over a minimized taskbar button to display a preview pop-up (Windows Vista already has this functionality built in).

Check out my original Freewaregenius site design template in the screenshot!

41- Explorer BreadCrumbs: [XP only] a free Windows explorer extension that add a “breadcrumbs navigation” toolbar for folders in XP. The breadcrumb navigation method is already built into Windows Vista; it comprises a flat path structure whereby each “node” in the path is interactive and can be navigated at will in order to quickly move back and forth across the folder structure.

Note: QT Address Bar is another freeware that delivers the same functionality.

42- VSO Image Resizer: delivers image conversion and resizing as a function within the Windows explorer context menu. What is interesting about VSO Image resizer, aside from the fact that it does a great job, is that it allows for the creation of different size/format/quality profiles that make it easy for the user to right click and quickly perform multiple, different resizing operation while accessing their commonly used settings. Also allows for image processing in batch.

43- XnView Shell Extension: freeware that embeds a number of image-related operations into the Windows context menu, including an interesting image preview inside the right click menu. Other functions include the ability to edit image IPTC metadata and to resize image and/or convert them to other image formats on-the-fly.

Saving Desk Space with Serious Magnets [Magnets]

2009-06-05T14:00:00Z

Inspired by our roundup of 10 great magnet hacks, one vertical-thinking Lifehacker reader combined 10 seriously strong neodymium magnets and two Altoids tins to tack his desk-cluttering accessories right up on his metal desk.

To be specific, Con Seannery (very likely not his real name!) attached anything with a metal surface to the front of the filing cabinet face that makes up the left side of his desk. Non-metal objects, however, can still find a place, with some creative reuse of mint packaging:

In the attached picture, I have a keyboard brush, two knives, laser pointer in case, nail clippers, and two Altoids tins tacked to the desk with the power of magnetism. One tin is empty, the other is open and working in tandem with the drawer handle to hold my pens and pencils. This frees up the desk space these items used to take and places them on formerly wasted space.

The rare earth metals he's using are probably strong enough to keep those items tacked to the drawer face even when it's yanked out, but it's safe to say you could move items you only rarely need, but don't want to clutter a drawer with, on a desk face that isn't in plain sight. Lacking for a metal desk? Maybe a thin metal bar, two screws, and a portable powered screwdriver session can get you up and running.

Thanks for the tip and photo, Sean! Send in your own magnetic hacks to tips@lifehacker.com.

Microsoft SharedView

2009-05-12T20:38:57Z

Microsoft SharedView has been designed to share an application or computer desktop with a small group of people. The only requirement for Microsoft SharedView is a Windows Live ID to start a session in the program. The invited users on the other hand do not need their own ID only the ID of the session starter which is needed to join the session. A typical work scenario would look like the following. One user starts the Microsoft SharedView software and creates a new session after logging in with a Windows Live ID. An auto-generated email can be dispatched to invite users to join the session.

The session starter selects an application to share, for example a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The shared document will be displayed brighter in this case than the parts of the desktop that are not shared. It is furthermore possible to post additional files that every user can access. Lastly it is possible to preview the desktop how users who join would see it.

Several options are available:

A toolbar will be displayed on the top of the screen that can be used to start and join sessions and to access the options. An option to share documents is offered in selected Microsoft applications after installation of the software. Invited users can take control of a session to work on the document. Changes are automatically tracked and logged so that everyone can identify which user made the changes to the document.

Microsoft SharedView offers a way to quickly share and work together with multiple users on documents.

Tags: collaboration, collaboration software, microsoft, Microsoft SharedView, sharedview, Windows, windows software

CardStar Creates Scanner-Friendly Bonus Cards on iPhones [Downloads]

2009-06-04T11:30:00Z

iPhone/iPod touch: The (currently) free CardStar app replaces keychain tags and wallet-cluttering bonus/discount/rewards/"shopper's club" cards with scanner-friendly barcodes. If you've got the gumption to flash a phone instead of swipe your plastic, it could be a real space saver.

We've posted and suggested manual scan-and-save tactics to slim down your wallet with an iPhone, but CardStar's app takes the scanning out of the equation. It has pre-loaded logos for a wide variety of national and regional stores, but can create a scan-able "card" for any store. Simply create a new entry, name it, and punch in the numbers just below or above the barcode from your bonus card, and CardStar does the rest, creating an alphabetical list of stores when you open it up.

There are advanced options that let you customize the barcode style and even reverse the number order, but most of us are going to get by fine with just tapping in a few numbers. Looking for a non-iPhone card consolidation tool? Try our previously covered condenser KeyRingThing. CardStar is free for a limited time in the iTunes app store, normally costs $.99, and requires an iPhone or iPod touch running at least the 2.0 firmware.

CardStar [iTunes Store direct link via Consumerist]

CiteULike and Mendeley collaborate – it’s live!

2009-06-02T17:06:47Z

Roughly three and a half months after our announcement that we would plan to collaborate with CiteULike it’s even better news to announce that the first step is live – Mendeley users can now access their CiteULike data from within Mendeley. As we said in our previous blog post,

Your CiteULike account will show up as a “Document Group” in our Mendeley Desktop software, thus making your CiteULike metadata available to you in a desktop interface – from where you can manage them offline or insert citations and bibliographies into Microsoft Word, for example.

Follow these steps to activate the integration of CiteULike with Mendeley:

On your settings page, scroll to the bottom and enter your CiteULike username. Then click OK, and allow any pop-up blocking messages displayed by your browser — if any.
You will be taken to an activation message on CiteULike’s site — confirm this action.
This will take you to your Edit Profile page with a check-box displayed next to Enable Mendeley. You will find this at the bottom of the form, highlighted. Click Update Profile to save this.
You will now see your CiteULike profile page. Don’t worry if you don’t see any confirmation — this is normal. The synchronization is now set up successfully.

You can enable, or disable, Mendeley synchronization by going to your Edit Profile page on CiteULike, and checking, or unchecking, the check-box labelled Enable Mendeley. If you don’t login to Mendeley once every 30 days, this sync will be disabled. You can re-enable it by re-checking this box.

This is obviously just a first step – together with the guys at CiteULike we are now working on a two-way synchronization. Our reference manager Mendeley Desktop now already offers a wide selection of import/export options (plus a Web Importer to grab citations off the web), and if you have any additional suggestions or comments, have your say on our feedback page.

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Google Docs adds support for Word and Excel 2007 documents

2009-06-01T21:10:00Z

Filed under: Office, Google

Google now lets users import .docx or .xlsx files into Google Docs. In other words, next time someone sends you a document created in Word 2007 you don't need to convert it into a format that your aging copy of Microsoft Word 2000 can handle. You can just load it up in Google Docs and read or edit the document online.

This brings the complete list of file formats supported by Google Docs to DOC, DOCX, HTML, TXT, RTF, XLS, XLSX, ODS, CSV, TSV, TSB, PPT, and PPS.

Of course, Zoho Docs has supported Office 2007 files since last year. Zoho Docs also lets you export files in those formats, while Google Docs will only let you import Office 2007 files.

Google Docs adds support for Word and Excel 2007 documents originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Search for useful bookmarklets with Bookmarklet Directory

2009-05-30T18:00:00Z

Filed under: Productivity, Web services

There are lots of great things about bookmarklets. They're lightweight, compatible with any browser, don't require installing or restarting any apps, and they're just a click away in your bookmarks toolbar. If you're looking for some good bookmarklets, you might want to check out Bookmarklet Directory. It's a large (and growing) collection in the same vein as the Firefox add-ons directory or userscripts.org.

You can browse the Bookmarklet Directory according to the newest, most popular, or highest rated entries. You can also search for bookmarklets, or add one that they don't have yet. If you're making a move to uninstall a few plugins and get bookmarklets instead, don't miss this site.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Search for useful bookmarklets with Bookmarklet Directory originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 30 May 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plastic Logic: great for New Years gift

2009-05-30T20:45:00Z

WindowTabs Groups Program Windows into Chrome-Like Tabs [Downloads]

2009-05-29T14:10:00Z

Windows: You've got a web page, a file folder, and a chat window open, and they're all about the same project. WindowTabs, a free-to-try utility, can group together all those app windows with top-most, Google-Chrome-like tabs.

The system tray utility, which used about 11MB of memory to manage five open windows on my system, only does a few things, but it does them fairly smoothly. It adds a tab to the top of your Windows, either on the top-left corner when a window is sized, or as a drop-down, centered tab when maximized. Grab that tab and place it next to another window tab, and the two windows will group, no matter what programs they are. You can drag tabs out of the group again to remove them, and use a familiar Control+Tab keyboard shortcut to switch between open windows in each tab group.

The free trial of WindowTabs doesn't have a time expiration on it, but does limit you to three tabs per group. The fully-unlocked application goes for $19. That's pretty limiting in some ways, but WindowTabs lets you pick and choose which applications it allows tabbing for, either by an inclusive or exclusive list of program executable names. So if you already use Google Chrome, or don't think you want email windows stacked, you can add "chrome" and "outlook" to your exclude list. Alternately, you can use that three-tab limit only for applications where it would really help, like folder views and non-tabbed chat windows.

Here's what it looks like in action:

WindowTabs is a free download for, technically, XP and Vista systems, but it seemed to run fine on Windows 7 as well. Thanks Clem!

WindowTabs

Data Visualizations: 5 Amazing iPhone Visualization Videos

2009-05-29T13:45:51Z

Do you like data visualizations? How about visualizations on the go? Thanks to several very cool iPhone tools, you can turn your data into graphs, experience 3D worlds, or turn music into real-time visualizations in the palm of your hand. We bring you videos of five great iPhone visualization apps in action.

1. RoamBi

Probably the most useful of the applications listed here, RoamBi is a powerful tool that turns your data into dynamic visualizations on the iPhone. RoamBi works with several data sources, like Excel, Salesforce, Crystal Reports, WebIntelligence, and others; turn the data into a RoamBi View, and view, analyze, modify or share RoamBi visualizations directly from your iPhone.

2. Ziostation 3D

This demo shows Ziostation 3D, a system that renders high resolution CT images on a remote server. You can access the server from the iPhone, and view and interact with the rendered images in real time. The application, although in proof-of-concept stage, makes full use of the iPhone’s multitouch interface with some amazing results.

3. Audiogasm

Anyone who was ever hooked to WinAmp’s old-school visualizations will love this one. Audiogasm is a powerful visualization tool that uses the iPhone’s microphone to visualize music in real time. You can shake the iPhone if you want to switch to a different animation, and you can save the current image to your iPhone, and set it as wallpaper at any time.

4. iGrapher

iGrapher is an iPhone optimized stock market data analysis tool that lets you create visual graphs and comparisons for indices and stocks on the market. It still has a long way to go before it becomes usable in real life, but it promises a lot of neat features, including 3D data visualizations, in the future.

5. Augmented Reality

This one is really something else. Augmented Reality is a system that enables you to explore a 3D virtual world using special visual markers. In the video below, the user explores a 3D environment that shows various aspects of the Star Trek ship U.S.S. Enterprise, including its exterior, interior, warping etc. You can print the marker on a piece of paper, or you can download a special image on your iPhone, and place it in front of your webcam, and you can behold the Enterprise in all its 3D glory.

See another video that shows how Augmented Reality can be used on the iPhone here.

Tags: data visualizations, iphone, iphone apps, Lists

Could Google Wave Redefine Email and Web Communication?

2009-05-28T16:55:04Z

Google promised to deliver something spectacular on the second day of the Google I/O conference, and they did not disappoint. Google has just announced Google Wave, a new in-browser communication and collaboration tool that is already being hailed by some as the next evolution of email. Yes, Google Wave is potentially that disruptive.

Created by two of the guys behind Google Maps with a small team in Sydney, the concept behind Google Wave is to “unify” communication on the web. It’s a hybrid of email, web chat, IM, and project management software. It features the ability to replay conversations because it records the entire sequence of communication, character by character. Because of this, discussions are also live in Google Wave: you will see your friends type character-by-character.

The features don’t stop there, either. Google Wave also supports the ability to drag attachments from your desktop into Google Wave. It loads that file and sends it immediately to anyone in the conversation. It’s also embeddable, so you can embed Google Wave conversations on any blog.

As you can see, it looks very similar to a Gmail inbox, except it’s more focused on your contacts, whose faces you can see in your contacts sidebar on the left. As for conversations, well, it’s a bit different than anything we’ve seen before. You can reply and add your thoughts anywhere within a message. Communication within Google Wave is completely shared.

The key to it all is the faster line of communication. Attaching documents, like you do in email, is unnecessary in Google Wave. Real-time conversations and collaboration make it an ideal tool for business teams as well. Imagine an entire office having Google Wave open to quickly share and receive files. It combines some of people’s favorite aspects of many different web communication tools.

You’re going to have to wait a while though: Google Wave will not be available to the public until later this year. Right now it’s only available to a select group of developers, who will be able to create their own Wave servers. It’s also an open-source project with a lot of API integrations, so we can expect a lot of user-driven innovations and extensions for the platform as well.

So, back to the big question: could Google Wave really redefine web communication? Clearly it’s too early to tell, but we’re already very impressed with the client and its potential. We’ll be testing out its sandbox soon and giving you our assessment, as well as updating you with any more information coming out of Google I/O today.

Reviews: Gmail, Google, Google Maps, Google Wave

Tags: Google, Google Wave

Google Wave: A Complete Guide

2009-05-28T23:06:27Z

Today has been dominated by news and excitement surrounding Google Wave, Google’s new real-time communication platform that will launch to the public later this year. In fact, there’s been so much buzz that you might just not have enough time to read the thousands of articles being released on Google’s biggest product launch in recent memory.

To make sense of it all, we have compiled key information, definitions, and links related to the launch of Google Wave. This in-depth guide provides an overview of Google Wave, discusses the terminology associated with it, details information on Google Wave applications, (i.e. the Twitter Wave app Twave), and goes over ways to keep yourself informed. We know you’re excited about Google Wave, so here’s what we think you should know:

What is Google Wave?

While we suggest reading our article on the launch of Google Wave for more detailed information, here’s the sum of it: Google Wave is a real-time communication platform. It combines aspects of email, instant messaging, wikis, web chat, social networking, and project management to build one elegant, in-browser communication client. You can bring a group of friends or business partners together to discuss how your day has been or share files.

Google Wave has a lot of innovative features, but here are just a few:

- Real-time: In most instances, you can see what someone else is typing, character-by-character.

- Embeddability: Waves can be embedded on any blog or website.

- Applications and Extensions: Just like a Facebook application or an iGoogle gadget, developers can build their own apps within waves. They can be anything from bots to complex real-time games.

- Wiki functionality: Anything written within a Google Wave can be edited by anyone else, because all conversations within the platform are shared. Thus, you can correct information, append information, or add your own commentary within a developing conversation.

- Open source: The Google Wave code will be open source, to foster innovation and adoption amongst developers.

- Playback: You can playback any part of the wave to see what was said.

- Natural language: Google Wave can autocorrect your spelling, even going as far as knowing the difference between similar words, like “been” and “bean.” It can also auto-translate on-the-fly.

- Drag-and-drop file sharing: No attachments; just drag your file and drop it inside Google Wave and everyone will have access.

While these are only a few of the many features of Google Wave, it’s easy to see why people are extremely excited.

Google Wave was the brainchild of a team based out of Sydney, Australia. The core team members are two brothers, Jens and Lars Rasmussen, and lead project manager Stephanie Hannon, all of whom were involved in Google Maps previously. Google Wave was announced today at Google’s I/O Developer conference, although the product will not be available to the public for several months.

Terminology

Google Wave actually has its own lingo - yes, you have to learn a few definitions if you’re going to really understand this new communication platform. Having knowledge of these terms will help you understand more about Google’s newest project.

- Wave: A wave, specifically, refers to a specific threaded conversation. It can include just one person, or it can include a group of users or even robots (explained below). The best comparison I can make is that it’s like your entire instant messaging (IM) history with someone. Anything you’ve ever discussed in a single chat or conversation is a wave.

- Wavelet: A wavelet is also a threaded conversation, but only a subset of a larger conversation (or a wave). It’s like a single IM conversation - a small part of a larger conversation and a larger history. Wavelets, though, can be created and managed separately from a wave.

- Blip: Even smaller than a Wavelet, a Blip is a single, individual message. It’s like a single line of an IM conversation. Blips can have other blips attached to them, called children. In addition, blips can either be published or unpublished (once again, it’s sort of like typing out an IM message but not yet sending it).

- Document: A document actually refers to the content within a blip. This seems to refer to the actual characters, words, and files associated with a blip.

- Extension: An extension is a mini-application that works within a wave. So these are the apps you can play with while using Wave. There are two main types of extenisons: Gadgets and Robots

- Gadgets: A gadget is an application users can participate with, many of which are built on Google’s OpenSocial platform. A good comparison would be iGoogle gadgets or Facebook applications.

- Robots: Robots are an automated participant within a wave. They can talk with users and interact with waves. They can provide information from outside sources (i.e. Twitter) or they can check content within a wave and perform actions based on them (i.e. provide you a stock quote if a stock name is mentioned).

- Embeded Wave: An embeded wave is a way to take a Google Wave and the conversation within it and place it on your website. Users could use this as a chatroom, as a way to contact you, or for something more.

Wave Gadgets

A Wave Gadget is one of two types of Google Wave extensions. Gadgets are fully-functional applications. According to Google, gadgets are primarily for changing the look and feel of waves, although this seems to only scratch the surface of the potential of a wave gadget.

First: almost any iGoogle or OpenSocial gadget can run within Google Wave. That means thousands of applications that have been already created will work in Google Wave. Second: a gadget built within Google Wave can take advantage of live interaction with multiple users. This means something like a live online game with active participation from all users. In that way, it has similarities to Facebook or MySpace applications, which take advantage of your friend network to make games, quizzes, and applications more meaningufl and useful.

Gadgets are specific to individual waves, rather than to specific users. Thus, it’s not like having a Facebook app on your profile - the gadget belongs to everyone within the wave. They also do not have titles, to better integrate with the actual conversation. Some of the gadgets already built include a Sudoku gadget, Bidder (which turns your wave into an auction), and Maps (which allows for collaboration on a Google Map).

For a more technical explanation, be sure to check out Google’s Wave Gadgets Tutorial.

Wave Robots

Robots are the other type of Google Wave extension. Robots are like having another person within a Google Wave conversation, except that they’re automated. They’re a lot like the old IM bots of the past, although far more robust. Robots can modify information in waves, interact with users, communicate with others waves, and pull information from outside sources.

Because it acts like a user, you can define its behavior based on what happens in the chat. You could build one as simple as “change the word dog to the word cat” or one as complex as a fully-functional debugger. We’ll probably start seeming some very advanced robots in the near future.

Some of the robots already in service include Debuggy (an in-wave debugger), Stocky (which pulls stock prices based on stock quote mentions), and Tweety (the Twave robot, which displays tweets inside of a wave).

A more advanced explanation is available at Google’s Wave Robots Overview.

Wave Embeds

Wave embeds are a little more complex than embedding a YouTube video onto your blog, yet in the end, that’s really what Google Wave Embeds are: a way to take Google Waves onto a third party website. Embedded Waves support many of the functions of the actual Google Wave client, including dragging-and-dropping files.

While the Wave Embeds is still very early stage, Google has already built two: YouTube Playlist Discuss and Multiple Extensions Embed. The former allows you to discuss a YouTube video via a wave and the latter allows for interaction with multiple waves on the same page.

One possibility: Google Wave Embeds may be a real-time replacement to static comments. If Google perfects wave embeds, you could even see YouTube.com comments replaced with waves, although it is way too early to make any calls on the potential of this.

Google’s Wave Embed Developer’s Guide has more advanced information embedding waves.

Furthering your Google Wave education

The Google Wave Logo

Still can’t get enough of Google Wave? While information is sparse, hopefully this collection of links will help you understand this new product even more.

- Mashable’s Google Wave Coverage: We highly suggest bookmarking our Google Wave coverage and checking Mashable consistently for the latest information on Google Wave.

- Google Wave Federation Protocol: Google has provided some community principles, architecture information, and more detailed definitions on their Wave protocol webpage.

- Google Wave API: For developers interested in building applications for Google Wave, be sure to check out the Wave API website.

- Google Wave Updates: Want to be informed the second Google Wave is available? Here’s the sign-up form.

Reviews: BLIP, Facebook, Google, Google Maps, Google Wave, Mashable, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube

Tags: Google, Google Wave

Seesmic Desktop

2009-05-04T23:49:30Z

Seesmic desktop is the new desktop Adobe AIR client by Loic Le Meur’s company. They previously purchased the Twitter AIR application Twhirl.

This time around Loic has clearly gone after Tweetdeck. Columns are in and so is Facebook integration using the new Facebook Open Stream API.

You can add multiple Twitter accounts and Facebook accounts which is nice and you get the ability to share an image. Choosing from an existing image on your drive or take one from your attached webcam you can then upload to Twitpic, nice.

User lists which are simply basic column groups like Tweetdeck are available to help keep track of your friends.

Seesmic desktop videos

Design eye

The design is neat and clear. What I really don’t like is the interactions. The columns are just so confusing and frustrating, with no ability to seemingly close a column. After playing with it I came to the conclusion that there is a main column that you can then ‘push’ it’s contents into an overflow column area – weird. Simple works just have a button to add a column and one to remove it.

The font kerning is too close for my personal taste and can lead to some words being hard to read consistently.

Technical eye

Seesmic desktop is built using Adobe Flex with the Open Stream API from Facebook and of course Adobe AIR.

Summary

Has some features that the other desktop Twitter clients don’t have currently. I liked the image options and ability to have multiple Twitter accounts.

That said the package is let down by some strange interactions and excessive button clicks to achieve a simple outcome. For example columns are easier to use on Tweetdeck.

If you are constantly on Twitter and Facebook then you could do a lot worse by not trying this and seeing if it is for you.

Tagged with: facebook, twitter, productivity

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Search Wolfram Alpha from the Firefox Search Box [Downloads]

2009-05-18T20:00:00Z

Firefox only (Win/Mac/Linux): So you've taken a look through Wolfram Alpha's impressive computational knowledge engine and find yourself using it constantly? Save time with a Firefox search plugin to make it easier to search.

The Clickable Resources web site created a search plug-in so you can easily use the built-in search box for your knowledge-gathering addiction—combine that with the previously mentioned Context Search extension and you've got a right-click, quick-and-easy information collecting setup.

If you got rid of the Firefox search box to save some space or make it look more like Google Chrome, you can still use the art of keyword bookmarking to search the site—just right-click on the search box and use "Add a keyword for this search".

Hit the link for the search plugin, or check out our first look at Wolfram Alpha's impressive computational engine for some great examples of exactly what it can do.

WolframAlpha Search Plugin [Clickable Resources]