Gnomie Intrepid writes:

Chris,

I did a search on your blog and noticed you haven’t blogged about this yet. I’ve been using a widget-creating Web app from Widgetbox.com to link to my blog on blogspot.com (to see my “blidget” in action, visit my MySpace page [the profile is NOT set to private], and to view the blog, go here). The site calls widgets for blogs “blidgets,” which is the app I will be describing here. There are other type of widgets you can create there, but I’m only using the “blidget.”

The “blidget,” in summary, allows you to post a widget on a site that lists the recently blogged posts on your blog in a wonderfully looking, easy to read widget. The widget has clickable links back to your blog, so this helps network your blog out to more readers. If they like your blog enough, they can click the “Get Widget” icon at the bottom of the “blidget,” and they can throw it up on other sites, or even their own, and they all link back to your blog.

The shining glory of this Web app is its convenience. The widget automatically knows when you post to your blog and updates the widget automatically, which makes the upkeep of the widget very minimal. If your blog is supported, and most major blogging sites like Blogspot, LiveJournal, and WordPress are, then you just fill your blog link in and start creating (I believe the code is RSS-based). Also, there are several great looking soft gradient colors to choose from, and options varying from showing titles only, or titles with a preview of the blog post. You can also throw a custom icon into the corner of the “blidget” instead of the few selections they have for you via direct URL link to the image. I haven’t made a symbol for my blog yet, so I’m using the default Blogspot “B” icon.

They also allow you to select from a variety of code types, including but not limited to making the “blidget” flash, and a special MySpace code to get around the problem with links in Flash on MySpace. When you click “Get Widget,” a window appears with the several different Web site-specific code types, and the HTML code. It is automatically copied to your clipboard so that it is only a matter of pasting the code where you would like the widget.

There are two incredibly useful tools you can use after you create your “blidget.” After you create a widget, click on the “My Widgetbox” tab from the homepage and then select your widget. Scroll down a little, and this is where you see the first bit of information in an easily readable format. They have a graph that shows how many hits your widget has and on what days the hits occurred. This helps to see how many people have been reading your blog and actually using your widget! The other nice tool they have is the pie chart that shows where people have been clicking on your “blidget.” This shows on what domains your “blidget” has been recieving the most traffic! This helps you see where most of your traffic is being directed from. To get to the pie chart, click on the “View more details” button to the bottom right of the graph.

As far as I know, there’s no limit to how many times you can hotlink the widget or a bandwidth limit, so you can toss it up on several sites without worry. Best of all, its free!

Enjoy your blidget!

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PKware Inc. began giving away fully licensed copies of SecureZIP Standard v11 today. The package, which runs on Windows, supports passphrase — and digital signature-based encryption, or both, simultaneously. The application also integrates with popular e-mail clients, such as Microsoft Corp.’s Outlook, to let users encrypt and digitally sign both the message body and any file attachments.

Product information is here, free download is here. It’s a limited time offer, so grab a copy today!

Tags: pkware, pkzip, zip, security, encryption

FlyakiteOSX (visually) transforms your Windows XP desktop environment into a a complete simulation of a Mac computer, including cursors, sounds, visual styles, login screen, and other details. The program bundles a variety of individual tools to add additional Mac functionality such as colored folder icons, taskbar, dock, and much more.

FlyakiteOSX is not a simple desktop skin, but makes extensive changes to your system - it can automatically create a Windows Restore Point, allowing you to safely revert any changes. If you are a fan of the Mac interface but prefer the Windows operating system, this is a must-try software.

[31019k] [WinXP] [FREE]

Schmap Player is a dynamic travel guide that allows you to download interactive city maps that contain virtual tours with photos, city search, trip planning features, and more. You can also print your own map views and choose which points of interest to include in the printout.

You can browse the maps by region or neighborhood and also review additional information, including historical data, reviews, attractions, events and other topics. The current inventory of available maps is somewhat limited and only includes major metropolitan areas within the US and Europe, and some of them appear to be rather incomplete as the Orlando map we tested only showed very few attractions and pictures.
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Finally!

Now all of us not lucky enough to be Microsoft MVPs or rich enough to pay for a rather high-priced MSDN subscription ($2000+) will be able to get our hands on a copy of the new baby from Redmond. At this point, Microsoft must have less than three months to get the final release candidate out the door, IF it can keep to the schedule it’s still defending.
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Security company CA is bringing out a free beta version of eTrust EZ Antivirus for Windows Vista Beta 2. This is not the first time the company has handed out free software.
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Alice Hill of RealTechNews writes:

I own a few Dell PCs and have to say they sure do come loaded to the rafters with trial versions of everything from Quicken to lame graphics programs, and music organizers etc. It’s an embarrassment of riches. Or it is just a bunch of junk? Luckily you can start fresh with the Dell DeCrapifer Utility.

The script was created for a Dell Inspiron 1300, but it should work just fine on many other Dell computers. I’ve also written the script in a modular way so that it can be easily expanded to uninstall additional programs. I’m really hoping that through additional contributions, that this script would be enhanced to cover just about any standard Dell installation. It could also be used as a baseline for other PC manufacturers. Source: YorkSpace

Try It Here.
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RunIt! allows you to launch your favorite programs, files, or Internet shortcuts by typing a custom keyword into a small dialog that can be called with a keyboard hotkey (F2 by default).

Unlike similar programs, RunIt does not go and index your entire hard drive or programs menu, but only responds to the keywords that you actually define, allowing you to completely control the functionality of the commands. You can assign multiple keywords to an entry, add Web page shortcuts directly from Internet Explorer, and if your keyword has multiple matches, you will be presented with a list of all associated items. You can easily add new files to the index by drag and drop or right-clicking in Windows Explorer. RunIt also provides quick access to popular Web search engines.

[861k] [Win98/ME/2k/XP] [FREE] [SnapFiles]

PhotoMeister helps you to process, edit, and publish photos from your digital camera.

Import your photos from your digital camera or local folder and easily edit them to remove red eye, make color or other adjustments and, rotate them more. You can then choose from a variety of options to further process your images - they can be published as a HTML photo gallery or printed, or even packaged for email delivery. You can also create screensavers from your image collection, create PDF files or Palm albums, and more.

PhotoMeister can also burn your image collections or album creations directly to CD-ROM without the need for any additional burning software. The program comes with an easy to use interface and step-by-step wizards for every task. Additional features include batch processing, Web publishing support, custom templates, album search, and more. A very feature rich and user friendly imaging tool at a great price. Check it out!

[11682k] [Win98/ME/2k/XP] [FREE] [SnapFiles]

More and more people are buying and loving Macs. To make this choice simply irresistible, Apple will include technology in the next major release of Mac OS X, Leopard, that lets you install and run the Windows XP operating system on your Mac. Called Boot Camp (for now), you can download a public beta today.
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Opera Software today announced that GrameenPhone, the largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh, has chosen Opera Mini to bring the full Internet to its mobile phone subscribers. GrameenPhone has a 62% market share in Bangladesh and will be offering a customized and localized version of Opera Mini as a free download to its 5.5 million subscribers. The company is also responsible for promoting and distributing the browser through its own channels in order to maximize its market penetration in Bangladesh.

“We are very happy to see this great interest for Opera Mini, and teaming up with operators and content providers around the world is of key importance when it comes to spreading the word on this powerful little browser,” says Timo Bruns, executive vice president, mobile, Opera Software. “More and more operators are discovering the benefits of offering Opera Mini with customized start pages to their customers in order to grow Web browsing and stimulate the use of premium services in the mass market.”
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Comodo Inc., a global leader in Identity and Trust Assurance (ITA) Management solutions, has announced the release of Comodo BackUp. Comodo BackUp is the automated file duplication and recovery tool for Windows XP/2000 that allows users to quickly and easily schedule ongoing backups of critical files. Free of charge, the release addresses a security hole for many users who, whilst acknowledging that regular backups are important, have not yet implemented a solution due to concerns over difficulty and cost.
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If you’re like me, you worry about your computers running too hot or too loud. Either can be very annoying whether it’s the whirring of fans or your very own space heater.

In my case, I had a Dell laptop that was doubling as a kotatsu, heating the underside of my desk while I worked and played on the machine.

With SpeedFan, you can solve these problems choosing the speed of your fans and thus control the amount of noise or heat you get from your machine.
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HD Tune is a wonderful piece of software for anyone wanting to monitor their hard drive’s health, check it for errors, monitor heat, or benchmark its performance.

It’s simple and easy to use. Performance is quick and accurate and very well supported with new versions being released every few months with fixes.
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For the good and for the bad, television has been one of the most influential factors in the development of our present day culture and world view. While the reality and illusions television has created may not be perfectly marching the ideal world you may have been dreaming about, not all is lost.

From the moment in which television can be transformed from a top-down medium, where few “players” decide and determine what everyone else can select to see to an open medium where everyone has the right and ability to contribute her video-based content, television is doomed to be transformed for good.

That historical moment may be getting one definite step closer today, with the upcoming launch of Democracy Player, the final component of an open video access and publishing platform that truly allows anyone (on Macs and PCs) to view, vote, subscribe, show, share, publish and distribute video-based content online at no cost at all.
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Welcome to Celestia, the free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions. Celestia runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn’t confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy.

All movement in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A ‘point-and-goto’ interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit.

Celestia is expandable. Celestia comes with a large catalog of stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft. If that’s not enough, you can download dozens of easy to install add-ons with more objects.
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Version 1.5 is released for Windows, Linux, and Mac and is out in most language specific versions. Dawn Kawamoto of ZDNet.com writes:

Mozilla released on Thursday its updated e-mail application, Thunderbird 1.5, which is designed to deliver improved security and functionality.

Thunderbird 1.5, which can be downloaded for free, has been retooled to offer improvements in four main areas: updates, security, RSS and podcasting.

“Thunderbird enhances the overall e-mail experience, adding antiphishing capabilities to help keep people safer, while also integrating and simplifying access to new technologies, such as RSS,” Christopher Beard, Mozilla’s vice president of products, said in a statement.

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Jody Gilbert of TechRepublic.com writes:

Why should IT pros be the only ones looking at ways to do things better in 2006? End users have a little room for improvement, too.

IT professionals worth their salt are constantly striving to develop their skills and expand their knowledge and talents - so it only makes sense that end users set similar goals for themselves. TechRepublic editor Jody Gilbert has identified some of her own user foibles and converted them into resolutions for the coming year. In 2006, she says, I resolve to…
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The same guys who have recently launched Skylook, the cool Outlook-based Skype recorder, have given me the honour of uncovering first its latest free audio recording and messaging tool that is being released today: WaxMail.

With WaxMail, you can start replying to your Outlook e-mails via your own voice. At no additional cost.
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