Tracking Down Great Software For You!

Back in November we wrote an article that walked through the usefulness of a free application called CrossLoop. In some ways it is like Remote Desktop where you can remotely control a computer, but it has a lot of features you won’t find anywhere else.

The application uses a unique access code that is generated every time you run the program. You can give this access code to another CrossLoop user who can then use it to gain access to your computer. I use this with my family all of the time, because they install this simple application, and when they need help they just give me the access code and I can instantly access their computer.

They can then watch me work on their PC, which is extremely nice for explaining how to do something. And since the access code changes each time the user starts the computer they can rest assured that no one will be able to connect in the future without the new code.

The newest version of CrossLoop, version 1.1, is currently in a closed-beta but I got the chance to play with it (at the end of the article I explain how you can download the Beta). With CrossLoop 1.1 you can share files between the host and the joiner, enable a "View Only" mode, or switch control between the two parties. Here are some more details on how that works:

If you’re joining a session you can:

• Send/receive files from the person hosting.

If you’re hosting a session you can:

• Send/receive files with the person joining the session.
• Switch to "View Only" mode where the person connected to your computer cannot actually take control of anything. They can see what you are doing, but that is about it.
• Switch control – the host becomes a joiner, and the joiner becomes the host. Both parties will have to approve the switch, but only the host can initiate it. I was impressed that doing a switch took me less than 15-seconds.

Now I’m sure that you want to know what the new version looks like, so I have some screenshots for you! I’ve divided the screenshots up into two categories so that you can see what it looks like when joining a session, and when hosting a session.

Note: Just click on a thumbnail to see a fullsize version. It’s a lot easier to view the screenshots if you have JavaScript enabled, because you’ll be able to navigate through all of the screenshots using the left/right arrows.

–Joining a Session–

(more…)

Copyright © 2012 CyberNetNetNews.com
CyberWare: CrossLoop 1.1 Receives File Sharing Capabilities

Tracking Down Great Software For You!

WireNote is a free application that’s available which will manage your to-do list, sticky notes, reminders, and lots of other things. It has an overabundance of configuration options that are almost overwhelming at first, but you’ll come to grips with them.

After I got it up and running the first thing that I wanted to try out on it was the sticky note feature. It is unique because you can attach individual sticky notes to an application, and as you can see in the screenshot below doing so is just a click away. Attaching it to a certain program means that the note will only be displayed when that window is open, and if it isn’t attached to anything it just shows up on the desktop.

One thing that I quickly noticed was that you can create a new note via a customizable hotkey or the System Tray icon. As soon as the new note window popped up it automatically inserted whatever text is on your clipboard, which is a nice touch. With that I can quickly create notes of things I find online.

If that sounds appetizing take a look at some of the other things this can do:

• ToDos: You can prioritize your ToDos, calculate an exact time you spend for each ToDo, or can view a report with what was done during last few days.
• Reminders: Reminder can start any program you want, play a sound, shutdown a computer, send a net message to other users, show ToDo or Note, or just show a small window with text.
• Messages: WireNote can be used as LAN messenger application, instead of standard Windows messaging service for example.
• Address book: Address book can hold information about other users – their nickname, computer name and additional info.
• Links: This additional feature can be used for fast reaching different documents and locations. You can create any link (to the web-site or any document from your hard disk, for example) just by dragging file from any file manager or other program and dropping it near the corresponding ToDo or note (or independent "Links" folder) in main window.

This is a lot of stuff to manage, so WireNote includes a central Organizer that keeps tabs on everything for you:

WireNote Homepage & Download
Thanks for the tip Radu!

Copyright © 2012 CyberNetNetNews.com
CyberWare: WireNote – Sticky Notes on Steroids

Tracking Down Great Software For You!

Note: This software is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP, and Windows Vista. It also does not require any installation to use it, just download the files and run the program.

It’s been a little while since we have come across freeware software that made us all giggly inside, but Nubs (Download Mirror for version 1.1) is just that. It essentially puts tabs (which the program calls Nubs) around the border of your screen so that you can quickly access all of your applications.

It appears that this Windows application gets the idea from a Mac application called Sticky Windows, which will cost $16 to purchase. The video on the site for Sticky Windows actually demonstrates how Nubs works since it is so similar, but this screenshot should explain it all:

As the screenshot demonstrates, dragging a window to the edge of the screen creates a “Nub” out of it. You can then drag the Nubs around to position them how you like, but they’ll always remain attached to one of the edges.

Just like on your Windows Taskbar, clicking on a Nub will alternate minimizing and maximizing the window. A Nub won’t appear until you drag a window to the edge of the screen, but once it is created it will remain visible until you right-click on the Nub to close it. And if you choose to, there is an option available to hide a window from the Taskbar once a Nub has been created for it.

Here is a list of things that you can customize in the application:

• Enable/disable a fade effect when minimizing/maximizing windows.
• Hide “Nubbed” windows from appearing in the Taskbar.
• Hide the Nub icon from the System Tray, but you’ll probably want to leave it there because it is a convenient way to restore all of your Nubbed windows.
• Pick your font type and size.
• Choose from several themes that are included, but you’ll first have to follow the instructions in the ReadMe file that’s included so that you know where to place the themes. Otherwise they won’t show up in the list.

Here are a few screenshots that demonstrate all of the available options:

  
Click any screenshot to enlarge

Quick video demonstration of how Nubs works
Nubs Homepage (Download Mirror for version 1.1)

Copyright © 2012 CyberNetNetNews.com
CyberWare: Nubs adds Tabs to your Desktop

Tracking Down Great Software For You!

There is no doubt that 3D is going to be the way of the future when it comes to software as we have already seen with XGL in Linux. Windows seems to be falling behind in that respect, but there is a free program available to Windows users that offers a unique minimizing effect to the programs currently running on your computer.

The free program that I’m talking about is called Mandotate, and is found over in the Neowin forums (download mirror). The program, which was made available nearly 3 years ago, has begun to resurface as a popular freeware application. One thing that you should note before trying it out is that there is no installation of the program required, however, it does need you to install a registry key by double-clicking on the install.reg file that’s included. This registry setting is used to save your settings for the program.

So what does Mandotate do? It is similar to the Project Looking Glass in some sense, and is essentially another alternative to minimizing your computer. When you have it running there will be a button with a trapezoidal shape next to a window’s minimize button:

After you press that button is when the magic happens. Windows will begin to angle themselves so that you can easily see what lies behind them. You can then drag them around and reposition them so that they are exactly where you want them:

As you drag windows closer to the middle of the screen they will get thinner and thinner until they essentially disappear. You can kinda see this happening in the screenshot I took above, where the bottom Firefox window is “thicker” than the one located above it. Even though the windows may disappear there will still be the little tabs that stick out which make it easy to identify which windows are which.

So what have I noticed bad about the program? I have had it crash on “minimizing” certain programs which kinda sucks, but it doesn’t crash my whole computer or anything. I just see an error box popup in some other language and I press OK which closes the application. The other thing that I have noticed which is very annoying is a shadow box that shows up around the title box for the “minimized” window. Sometimes even after returning the window back to normal the shadow still appears, and I haven’t figured out a way to get rid of it besides restarting the computer. Those little tags can be disabled though, which is what I have done. I am running this on Vista which isn’t mentioned as a supported operating system and could be my problem, but it is still really cool.

I am hoping that a similar application will eventually emerge that uses Vista’s Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). If that happened then we would probably be able to see live previews of applications as they were angled, such as watching a movie play. In order to take advantage of any program using WPF will require that you have a graphics card capable of running Aero. As Vista gets more popular we will surely see WPF applications popping up left and right, and I am anxious to see what ideas developers can come up with that really showcase the power Vista harnesses.

Download Mirror

Source: Neowin [via Digg]

Copyright © 2012 CyberNetNetNews.com
CyberWare: 3D Desktop for Windows is Sure to Impress Friends

Tracking Down Great Software For You!

Calgoo is a calendar application that interacts with your online Google Calendar so that you can manage your life without always being connected to the Internet. While it sounds very appetizing having a software application that prevents you from having to manage your calendar only online, in the past (first release and second release) I have not been very fond of Calgoo. The biggest reason that I didn’t like the application was that the interface seemed a little clunky and the amount of screen space available for the calendar itself was not very much on an averaged size monitor.

For the last several months I have been involved in a closed Beta process that consisted of around 275 participants. We were able to see new features as they were rolled out and I’ll be the first to say that the things they implemented along the way were really great. However, the interface for the most part remained the same and I never felt as though I could use the application on a daily basis.

When I downloaded the newest version of Calgoo that was released today I was shocked to say the least. They had removed the right sidebar from the screen and combined it with the one on the left side! I couldn’t believe what a difference that made and honestly Calgoo has just taken a tremendous step forward. If that right sidebar had still been in place like previous releases I am confident that this review would not be a positive one.

Despite what I consider to be a huge visual change, there are also a lot of new features included with this release of Calgoo:

• Add/manage tasks – Very cool, but the tasks don’t synchronize with Google Calendar.
• Synchronization with Outlook Calendar
• Subscribe to iCal calendars
• Compatible with Google Apps for your domain (both free and Premium versions)
• Modify Calendar options – Right-clicking on a calendar will present you with some quick-access options, such as changing the color of a calendar.
• Dragging and Dropping – Drag and drop madness! Everyone loves being able to drag and drop things around the screen and now you can do it with Calgoo. This makes things feel more natural I guess you could say.
• Minimize to System Tray – Took me a little while to figure this one out, but then I realized that the “Close” option in the File menu will actually minimize to the System Tray. I would have expected it to say “Minimize to Tray” instead.
• Themes – There are now 3 themes available: Blue, Silver, and Black. I like them because they’re not very overwhelming and I would be happy using any of them. Personally though, I have chosen the black one.
• Mini Day Summary – I really like this Mini Day summary thing. I was confused at the purpose initially, but after learning about it I have really grown to love it. So what is it? Basically when you click on a day in the month view it will show you a list of everything scheduled for that day in the Mini Day sidebar module. I originally didn’t think this was useful, but then I found a day that had more items scheduled than could actually fit in the small calendar space in the month view. I guess it is hard to explain, but when you click on a day that has 5 or 10 appointments scheduled I’m sure you’ll see what I’m talking about.
• Appointment Dialogue – This is pretty cool…now you can schedule your appointments in a popup window instead of having to used the cramped sidebar item. Sure the sidebar item let’s you add things a little quicker, but everything is spaced out a lot better with the popup window.
• Reminders – Calgoo now supports the use of reminders. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m wondering what kind of notification it gives a user when displaying a reminder.

Overall, this version of Calgoo not only has a more simplified interface, but it also has a large list of new features that make managing your calendar easier and more powerful. The calendar is cross platform (runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac) because it is written in Java, but there is one thing you should know if you’re using Vista that I had to find out the hard way. Calgoo needs to have Java Runtime Environment 5 installed and by default Sun wants Vista users to install version 6 since it is newer and more compatible. Once I manually installed Java 5 I got Calgoo up and running without any issues.

Now for the screenshots. Below are thumbnails of screenshots from Calgoo Beta version 0.34 so click on any of them for a fullsize version. From left to right you’ll see the main calendar display, appointment editor, task list, task editor, and the preferences:

If you’ve yet to try out Calgoo, I would say there hasn’t been a better time. Head on over to the Calgoo site to sign-up and download their latest Beta release.

Copyright © 2012 CyberNetNetNews.com
CyberWare: New Calgoo Beta…They have Finally Impressed Me!

Tracking Down Great Software For You!

JAlbum is an application that I have been using for a long long time as an easy way to share personal photos on our website so that our family and friends can easily access them. I’ve been stuck using version 6 for a long time, and even though the interface was nothing to gawk at ,it got the job done, which was what mattered the most. Now however, JAlbum 7.0 brings a whole new look and some new features…

Besides for the fresh new look, here is a list of new features:

• User interface completely redesigned. The new user interface is intended to be easier to use and more extendable, but not less powerful. Parts of the old tab-based user interface is now hidden under settings windows with only the most frequently used options (skin and style selection) on the main window.
• Now co-developed on Mac and Windows to ensure that JAlbum should look good and work perfect on both systems
• Completely redesigned publish section. The new publish section is also intended to be easier to use, but also more powerful. One can now visually browse a remote server using a directory tree control and manage directories like in any full featured FTP client (add, rename and delete directories).
• JAlbum now allows you to build virtual album structures. You can pick images and folders from anywhere on your harddisk to your album. Just drag and drop them onto JAlbum!
• Improved publishing robustness. JAlbum will now reconnect and reattempt several times if a file fails to be published before giving up
• High quality image scaling now considerably faster
• Minor improvements to file sharing user interface
• JAlbum now supports variable image sharpening natively (not just via filter plugin)
• Several languages updated. Thank you all translators!
• Bundled Chameleon skin updated to v4. More powerful and 3 times as fast!
• Bundled the popular Flash based BananAlbum skin (v5.0)
• Bundled BluPlusPlus skin updated to v3.12
• Compiled for Windows with updated Excelsior Jet 4.8 compiler
• Packaged for Mac as a standard dmg distribution

If you haven’t used JAlbum before then you will be amazed at how easy it is. All you have to do is pick a skin that you like, and this is probably the best place to find them. After you download the skin (or use one of the included ones) you just select the folder where your images reside and it will generate another folder complete with scaled thumbnails for your image viewing pleasure.

One of the changes listed above in JAlbum 7 is the inclusion of BananAlbum skin 5 which is completely Flash based. It is the only skin that I have seen that’s Flash based and you can view a live demo here if you want to see how it works. The other skins that I have worked with normally generate static HTML pages and don’t need PHP or MySQL running on your server. Of course if you upload large galleries that also means there will be a lot of HTML files (typically one for every full-size image).

One thing that you should try to remember when looking through the skins is to focus on finding a layout that you like. Most skins will include a number of different color schemes that you can choose from or some you can even customize yourself. If a theme is really well developed, like the BananAlbum one (it’s Flash based), it will have all sorts of features included as well:

It has a lot of features; choose your own colors, select a typeface, place the thumbnails at the top, bottom, left or at the right, support for movies, browse through your images using the cursor keys, image preloading, background image (full screen or tiled), auto hide the thumbnails wherever they are, advanced positioning possibilities of all elements, improved slideshow functionality, improved download functionality (php), crop the thumbnails, possibility to create your own typefaces, etc. BananAlbum also features a high-tech hierarchical menu (the BananaTree) and auto scale functionality, which creates high quality images.

As for other themes you should checkout, I would like to point out this Windows XP theme (demo)I like just because it is simple and nearly anyone who has used a computer will be able to understand it. The one that I currently use is PhotoDawg (demo) with some personal customizations that I have done to it. It hasn’t been updated in quite awhile though so I think I’ll be switching to the cool BananAlbum Flash theme soon.

Of course when creating a website, one of the big things you have to think about is whether it will work in everyone’s browsers. On the JAlbum’s skin site every skin will have a list of known browsers that it works with and in the case of BananAlbum it is compatible with every browser that’s available on every operating system, so that is probably one of the wisest choices (I’m sure you’re quickly seeing why it is one of the most popular skins).

That pretty much sums it up for JAlbum and anyone who is looking to share a photo album with family or friends will more than likely find this to be the best tool to do it.

Download JAlbum 7.0 (note that you can skip the registration page by clicking the appropriate button at the bottom of the download page)

Copyright © 2012 CyberNetNetNews.com
CyberWare: JAlbum 7.0 Just Released!

Tracking Down Great Software For You!

A few weeks ago I was introduced to a free media player called Foobar2000 by MetaMan. He gave me a link to a portable version (called FoobarRemix) that was put together so that I could try it out without having to install the application. For some reason I haven’t been listening to a lot of music lately, but when I did crank up the tunes I made sure to use Foobar2000. The result…it’s quite impressive.

At first glance it looks like a program that is way too simple since it even sports some “ASCII art” for some of the display items, such as the progress bar. My first reaction was that this was just whipped up real quick, but the real gems lie under the hood. Not only that, but the progress bars that I once saw as amateurish I now look at as stylish. I’m not quite sure why I like them now, but it probably has something to do with my inner geek coming out. 

One of the things that really struck me as cool was that when I played a song it would actually retrieve the lyrics and display them on the screen while the song was playing. It would also highlight the words in a karaoke style as the song went along. Unfortunately it wasn’t able to retrieve the lyrics for all of my songs, but it was successful about 75% of the time.

The shock didn’t hit until I opened up the Preferences under the File Menu. In there was a wonderfully large selection of options that I could customize and tweak until the pitter patter of my heart was just right. It appears that the portable version that I was using already had all of the additional components installed, and therefore added an extreme amount of customizability to the application. There was even an XM plug-in installed that let me stream my XM Radio without needing to use Windows Media Player like I previously did…that’s what won my heart over.

The only downside that I found to the entire application was that it wasn’t skinnable. That didn’t really bother me because they let you customize fonts, background colors, and a lot of different aspects of the current theme. Not only that but I really warmed up to the existing color set that came with the application.

So below you’ll find the option to download Foobar2000 from the official site or you can give the portable version (called FoobarRemix) a shot. I highly recommend using the portable version because your experience will be a lot better with all of the components already downloaded and installed for you. In case you’re wondering I did monitor the registry while running the portable version and didn’t see anything being written to it, so it should be fine to take with you on your USB Drive wherever you go.

Download the Portable FoobarRemix
Official Foobar2000 Homepage

Update:

MetaMan pointed out that they have done a lot more to customize Foobar2000 which is why they renamed it to FoobarRemix. Here is his post on FoobarRemix which briefly mentions version 0.2 that they are working on to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

Thanks for the tip and portable version link MetaMan!

Copyright © 2012 CyberNetNetNews.com
CyberWare: Foobar2000 is a Small Media Player with a lot of Options

Tracking Down Great Software For You!

Sometimes there is a key on your keyboard that just doesn’t do what you want it to. Unfortunately you can’t configure what each key does without the help of an external application. Thank goodness that the program  needed to change the settings is free and really easy to use.

To remap keys on your keyboard just download the free KeyTweak application and go through the short installation process. After that is done you will be able to configure almost any key. On the right-side you’ll even notice some of the special keys that your keyboard may have for doing things like controlling your media player or web browser. After you have altered the keys you can click the Apply button in the bottom right corner to commit the changes. It’s that easy.

Why would you ever want to change the keys on your keyboard? One reason I used it was because my PC had a problem with a keyboard I was trying to plug in using a PS/2 to USB adapter. It would somehow get confused anytime that I had the NumLock enabled and whenever I pressed an arrow key it would perform a Print Screen. The arrows still worked fine so it was pretty bizarre but it would always do a Print Screen before performing the arrow operation. It quickly got annoying because I couldn’t use the arrow keys after I copied some text. Otherwise it would erase my clipboard and place the screenshot in its place. Not only that but I also noticed a huge performance decrease if I tried holding down the arrows to do something. KeyTweak saved the day because it let me disable the Print Screen key…and then I no longer had the problem.

I have since replaced that keyboard so I don’t have to worry about that problem anymore, but KeyTweak sure helped out. Another instance that I can think of where it would be useful is if your keyboard doesn’t have a “Windows” key. You could then replace one of the Alt or Ctrl keys to be mapped to a Windows key. One thing KeyTweak doesn’t do, however, is assign multiple keystrokes to a single key.

KeyTweak uses the Windows Registry to make the alterations so you don’t have to keep the program running in order for the changes to be active. If you screw something up or don’t need the changes just use the Restore All Defaults button to reset your keyboard back to the way it was. It is practically dummy-proof so you don’t really have much to worry about!

Copyright © 2012 CyberNetNetNews.com
CyberWare: KeyTweak Lets You Remap Your Windows Keyboard

Tracking Down Great Software For You!

Turning off or restarting your computer will no longer be a pain when you can’t get to your PC. Thanks to a freeware program called Shutter you’ll be able to remotely shutdown a computer or even schedule the computer to turn off after it meets certain criteria.

The image above shows the different options that Shutter has for each drop-down menu. Yes, there are many different things that you can choose from but here is a nice listing of the options:

• Events you can choose from:
  • Countdown
  • On Time
  • Winamp Stops
  • Low CPU Usage
  • User Inactive
  • Battery Low
  • Window Closes
  • Process Stops
  • Ping Stops
  • File Size Limit
• Actions you can choose from:
  • Shutdown
  • Reboot
  • LogOff
  • Lock Workstation
  • Sleep
  • Hibernate
  • Monitor Turn Off
  • Mute/UnMute Master Volume
  • Hang Up
  • Alarm
• It is able to play a custom sound and/or run a program of your choice in addition to the simple shutdown message.
• Optionally, Shell Links can be created to immediately execute any of the supported actions from the desktop.
• Web Interface – allows Remote Execution of any Action, it also displays some run-time information about the computer:
  • Logged In User
  • Up Time
  • List of Processes
  • Screenshot of a Desktop
  • Command Line Execution

How is that for an exhaustive list of features? In case you were wondering the Web interface looks like the screenshot to the right.

I mean really, what more would you want this program to do? I’m normally not too picky about freeware applications but this one goes far beyond what I would have expected it to do.

You can view more screenshots of Shutter or download the full program. On the site you’ll find an installation download so that it will run through the typical setup in Windows or you can just download the ZIP file if you don’t want to install anything. That way you can also throw it on a USB drive and use it on whatever computer you want in a matter of seconds!

Copyright © 2012 CyberNetNetNews.com
CyberWare: Shutter Will Schedule Or Remotely Shutdown A PC

Tracking Down Great Software For You!

The holidays are coming up and wouldn’t it be nice to know how many days there are until they arrive? To keep track of those upcoming events you should get Timeleft. It will give you a countdown so that you can see how many years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds are left until the event.

Timeleft is free but there is also a paid version available. The main difference is that the free version only lets you have one countdown clock while the paid version will give you an unlimited number. For many people one should be enough but a few years back I decided to purchase the software because they offer free lifetime upgrades, something that is very rare for a software company. For that reason I figured it would be well worth my money and it has been. At the time I only paid $16 for it but it has gone up a little bit to $20 for a single license. Still, for lifetime upgrades that is a bargain.

The free version also lets you have one reminder, clock, sticker, timer, and stopwatch so it is a pretty comprehensive utility. I find it to be both useful and entertaining being able to do the countdowns. I don’t use other portions of the program that much, like the stopwatch, but I have found the timer to be helpful. When you stick something in the oven you no longer have to walk over to see how long is left before it has finished cooking, because the timer can be sitting right on your desktop!

The idea for Timeleft is simple: let people keep track of their most valuable thing, time! It does just that but it does it very well.

Copyright © 2012 CyberNetNetNews.com
CyberWare: Countdown To Events With Timeleft