google

Apr 27 2009

Software Update

Updates are almost as inevitable as inertia. And with the new features they bring, we should appreciate them. Some of the best freeware has become even better.

mu Software UpdateCamino

A favorite of mine, this Mozilla browser has matured to version 0.8b which includes a Safari-esque search box on the menu bar and a new bookmark interface. If you are brave enough to edit your .plist, you can add all kinds of search engines (in addition to Google and Google images) to the newly added box. The new theme isn’t to shabby either.

mu Software UpdateImageWell

This tiny app has always been big on image handling features. In version 2 it adds watermark and drop shadow support in addition to a slew of new image modifying and server options.

mu Software UpdateNetNewsWire Lite

Version 1.0.9b1 of what is probably the best news reader for the Mac introduces support for Atom feeds. If you follow blogs published on Blogger, you’ll want this update.

That’s the latest from these fine free applications. Come back next week for another set of freeware’s best.

Brian

mu Software UpdateDownloads provided by MacUpdate

By admin • Articles, Freeloader Friday Download of the Week • Comments Off • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Apr 27 2009

Web 2.0.1

Just like the beta-filled days of ’99, we have an ever growing crop of new web services out to win your hearts and clicks. Some of them are good too. This week we’re looking at some new services that could become regulars.

Pageflakes

The idea of the AJAX portal isn’t new. In fact, NetVibes already has a great one. But there is always room for improvement. And this month we have Pageflakes.

pageflakes Web 2.0.1

With an emphasis on community contribution, this Web 2.0 start page gives you always updated, no-need-to-refresh access to your web accounts and services including Gmail, feeds and ZohoWriter documents.

30 Boxes

This AJAX online calendar has an awesome interface. Adding and managing events is a breeze, and there is support for advanced functions like email notifications of events and sharing.

30boxes Web 2.0.1

You can also load your 30 Boxes calendar right into iCal via a remote calendar link.

Turbo Admin

For users who manage their MySQL databases via the web, this solution is great. Edit a configuration file, upload the php to your web server and view, edit and add values to your database tables with a smooth click-where-you-want-it interface. It is not nearly as comprehensive as phpMyAdmin, but it’s the easiest way I’ve seen to directly edit your database.

Bloxor

With Bloxor – a web-based feed reader – you get the best of both worlds: you can subscribe to the service on their servers, or install it on your own. The Open Sourced project has a streamlined in-browser setup for following your news feeds and supports OPML import for easy migration from your current reader.

There’s the latest on the greatest in new AJAX web services. In a month they could be Yahoo or Google’s newest acquisition, or dead and gone for that matter. Better sign up today!

Brian

By admin • Articles, Freeloader Friday Download of the Week • Comments Off • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Apr 27 2009

At Your Service– Third Party Services for Mac OS X

One of the most unique and unused new features of OS X is support for “services”.
While OS X comes with it’s own set of services, today we’ll look into several free third-party system additions.

The same architecture that brings a system wide spell checking feature opens the door for a slew of enhancement for your Cocoa applications.

First, a note on “services”. These handy little applications live in their own little Services folder. Where that folder is located determines who gets to use the service. If you want all the users on your system to have use of the service, place it in the (hard drive)/Library/Services folder. To limit a services use to one user, place it in the /users/(username)/Library/Services folder.

cocoAspell

As mentioned, OS X comes complete with a spell check. If your experience is anything like mine, you’ve found the spell check useful, but not always as capable of supplying useful alternatives. This is a weakness cocoAspell addresses. This alternative to the built-in spell check comes with a preference panel that lets you set a slew of options.

SearchGoogle

This handy service takes highlighted text from any Cocoa application and opens a Google search results window for it. Nothing complicated here. The service will use your default browser defined in your Internet pane of System Preferences. You can access this command from the application/services menu or with it’s keyboard shortcut shift-command-G.

OpenService

As simple as the previous, this service takes a highlighted URL and sends it to your browser. The keyboard shortcut got this service is command-/. A note for OmniWeb users: you don’t need this as OmniWeb comes with its own “open with OmniWeb” service.

AntiWordService

A very useful service for anyone, well, anti-Word. This service enables a text editing Cocoa application to open Word documents. Now, before you get too excited, realize that the service only handles text, and throws out formating and images. In truth, AntiWordService only strips out the formating and Word specific file data. Good for recovering text from Word documents, but not much more.

Thanks for joining me for a fresh load for freeware. Come back next week for more.

Brian

By admin • Articles, Freeloader Friday Download of the Week • Comments Off • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 »