In Windows 7 Microsoft has finally decided to revamp the built-in calculator so that it's a bit more useful for people. There is, however, already a free super powerful calculator available to all Windows, Mac, and Linux users. It's called SpeedCrunch.
CodeWeavers are the people behind the free and open source implementation of the Wine project. Most Linux users are familiar with this project because this is how they can run Windows programs in Linux without needing any kind of virtual machine. Well, the same people behind Wine also develop a more professional-grade product called CrossOver Pro that's available for both Mac and Linux.
Keeping up with everything that you need to do can be a rather exhausting task. An open source project called Chandler is looking to ease the burden by giving you an intuitive way to leave notes, manage tasks, and organize your calendar all from one central location.
It was only about 6-weeks ago that TechCrunch decided they wanted to build a $200 web tablet, and they were trying to recruit all of the talent they could to get the job done. The image above is showing off the first prototype that has been assembled, but it won't be nearly as thick as what you see:
It's always surprised me that Google has a few desktop applications (Picasa, Google Desktop Search, Google Talk, etc...), but for one reason or another they don't have any programs that leverage some of their other big services. Having a program for Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and several others would all make a lot of sense in my book.
One of the things that's always nice to know is what you can remove from your hard drive to quickly regain hard drive space. Maybe there are some enormous games on your computer that you don't play anymore, or files you've downloaded that have never gotten deleted? By using hard drive visualization tools you'll be able to pinpoint exactly what is eating up your hard drive storage.
The weekend is here, and I'm sure you're wondering how you can burn through hours and hours of your precious time by doing productive. Like always, we've got you covered. Go download the free Phun program, and let your imagination run wild.
Panoramic photos seem to be becoming more common these days as people carry cameras with them wherever they go. In the past we've shown you tools like AutoStitch and Windows Live Photo Gallery that make assembling panoramic photos effortless, but the free Hugin program is much more customizable.
A few months ago we wrote about a free application that was able to track stolen computers, and today we've got an open source alternative for you. It's called Adeona, and it's interesting how it works. After setting it up you'll be given a file that is used to identify your computer in the event it gets stolen or lost.
Whenever I do programming I tend to use some form of text editor, and so far my favorite app for that is Notepad++. Ever since they added in the code auto-completion it has been a great tool for the projects that I've worked on.
I've been a big fan of the open source 7-Zip application, and it has served me well over the last few years. Today, however, I came across a new program called PeaZip that looks like it is just as nice, and the great news is that it works on both Windows and Linux.
I know that Launchy has won the hearts of many Windows users out there as being one of the best applications launchers available. The good news is that it's not a Windows-only program anymore! Launchy 2.1.1 was just released today, and with it comes full support for Linux (both KDE and GNOME desktops). How cool is that?
VLC is one of the most well-known media players out there, and it's been almost 4 years since they've released a major new version. VLC 0.9.0 is on the horizon, and it packs in 2 years of development... so you can expect some great things. There's just one gotcha: Windows 98/ME and Mac OS X 10.3.9 are no longer supported operating systems.
Now that the month of June has wrapped up we can see what browsers and operating systems have emerged as victorious. In both segments Microsoft is still dominating the market according to Net Applications, but there are some competitors that continue to crawl up behind them. In fact both Windows and Internet Explorer dropped in market share for June 2008.
One of the the most frequent comments I hear from new Ubuntu users is that the default theme for the operating system is a tad too brown. I kind of like the current Ubuntu theme, but it was supposed to get an overhaul with the last release. The new default theme has got pushed back to Ubuntu 8.10, and we're getting our first glimpse of the new theme now that Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 1 has shipped.
Compiz Fusion on Linux has definitely received a lot of attention because of their innovative thinking, and the latest thing to come out of their lab is a plugin called Stackswitch. To put it simply it is an application switcher, but it comes packed with pizzazz.
Back in October 2007 openSUSE 10.3 hit the streets in style as it always does, and it came packed with the features that keep geeks on the bleeding-edge. In true Novell style openSUSE 11.0 is busting down the doors with over 200 new features including a redesigned installer, faster package management, KDE 4, GNOME 2.22, Compiz Fusion, and more!
It took an astonishing 15 years to complete, but Wine 1.0 has finally been released! Wine, for those of you that don't know, serves as a way to run some Windows applications in Linux without the need for an emulator. The team has done their best to recreate the Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL's) that are used in Windows, and it all had to be done without an ounce of code from Microsoft.
Supercomputers have always been interesting to me because of the sheer power that they harness, and someday I would like to see one first-hand.
Editor’s Note: This post was written by guest author Pieter De Decker, who is also the developer of the free USBsyncer and iPodCALsync! Feel free to read past articles that Pieter has written.
