RGdot

Author: Reza

  • StartUp Is A Launcher…And An AppManager?

    StartUp is described by its author as

    WPF tool to help you launch your programs easily.

    To start off the developer page does not mention the name ‘StartUp’. The only place this program’s name is visible is in the solitary screenshot. One can easily confuse its name to be ‘AppManager’ as that is the domain URL and also the title of page. That minor quibble aside, on to the program itself.


    StartUp
    Upon installation StartUp looks up or indexes the system’s start menu, quick launch and recent documents entries and presents them in a rectangular interface (see image) and also groups them into areas. Right clicking anywhere on the program window or clicking the + icon one can create groups for additional shortcuts. The program supports dragging and dropping shortcuts, executables or almost any file to create links to them. It is also possible to drag a file over a program icon, while holding the Alt key, to force the file to be opened with that particular program.
    The program is minimized to the system tray using its X or close icon or by just pressing the Esc key. By default the program window can be maximized by using the Alt and ~ keys or by what it calls “mouse activation”. To activate the program using the mouse single click the top left hand edge of the screen. This activation feature can be turned off using the program’s preferences.
    Perhaps the best part of StartUp is the integrated search feature. Click anywhere on the program interface and just start typing, a search box narrows your choices as you type (see image).
    StartUp requires, at a minimum, the .NET 3.0 framework and is a 164KB download. It is released under the Microsoft Public License.

  • Visualizing Carbon Emissions

    Burning fossil fuels has contributed immensely to the problem of climate change or global warming as some call it. It is clear that some countries have contributed far more in terms of pollution and emissions. One of the big political debates hampering progress in the ‘climate debate’ is the acceptance of the share of responsibility and any extra costs for those more responsible. In the final analysis important conferences like the upcoming Copenhagen 15 or COP15 need to produce near term and tangible results if we are to survive.

    The Washington Post science section has produced an interactive global emissions chart. Using the chart it is possible to visualize pollution levels per country or region since 1950 and track changes through the decades to the present time by using a slider. No prizes for guessing the present top 2 or top 3 polluters.

    Click to view the chart: Explore changes in carbon emissions from fossil fuels for G-20 countries, selected developing nations and others critical to the climate debate.

  • Text Block Writer Organizes Notes And Thoughts

    Text Block Writer is described by its author as

    …a virtual index card program for writers

    Text Block Writer works similar to the way one would write notes on one or several pieces of paper. By using Text Block Writer one can organize the notes in pages and columns cleanly. It is also possible to export all notes to the standard *.rtf format or keep using the program’s own *.tbwml format which in itself is simple *.xml.

    Text Block Writer

    Each note is saved in a square or rectangular block, within a page. Each page contains at least three (by default but can be changed using the program’s options) columns and a side column (situated to the right of the numbered columns) for extra and unclassified notes. A title can be set for each page using the text box just under the program menu. A block shelf to the bottom right of the program’s interface holds temporary notes that are not exported when notes are backed up. The scratchpad area at the bottom performs a similar function as the block shelf and holds temporary notes. The utility panel that slides open on the far right of the program window provides the index or titles of all pages. Its groups action setting is for such tasks as moving panels or blocks between pages and changing their colors. Its live preview is one long text file of all saved notes. The utility panel also features more options for such things as a panel size and export syntax.

    Text Block Writer also supports a number of useful shortcut keys that are listed in its helps file, for example viewing a previous page is done via the Ctrl and left keys. The program requires version 2.0 of the .NET framework, however it is useful for keeping records and notes.

  • STDU Viewer Eases Document Viewing

    STDU Viewer is described by its author as

    View all most popular documents formats by one program.

    STDU Viewer supports many text based formats and can present them in an unobtrusive and somewhat attractive interface. It tries to centralize the task that may require several programs. For example notepad to open *.txt files and a PDF viewer to open *.pdf files. To that end STDU Viewer supports TXT, TIFF, PDF, DjVu, CBR, CBZ and XPS file formats.

    STDU
    The program has some interesting and useful features that perhaps make it more useful for some. Using the View menu it is possible to enable navigation tabs (see image) which will appear to the left of the document. Here one can search the document, view thumbnails of its pages, view its contents or bookmark a page. The latter is possible via a right click on the desired page or location of a document. Also within the View menu is the ability to rotate pages of the document. Perhaps more interestingly the Setting option, again residing under the same View menu, lets the user change the brightness, gamma or contrast of a document, this can prove useful when viewing poor quality documents or getting a better view of embedded graphics.

    STDU Viewer works on Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. It is free for non-commercial use.

  • PlainText Is True To Its Name

    plaintext

    PlainText is another alternative lightweight and no install software to make copying and pasting text more efficient and useful.

    In much the same way as PureText featured earlier on RGdot.com PlainText removes formatting from text copied from such sources as the web. This includes removing the likes of font sizes, colors, images, tables and borders. The program let the user choose any combination of the Windows, Shift or Ctrl keys along with any one letter or number to use for pasting the text unformatted. This key combination would be used as an alternative to the traditional and standard Ctrl and V keys.

    PlainText sits in the system tray, consumes less than 5MB of memory, is a 486KB download and is GPL GNU General Public License v3 software.

  • DragTargets Makes Moving Files Convenient

    DragTargets is a desktop tool that is similar to DropIt featured here on RGdot.com.


    DragTargets
    DragTargets makes the task of moving or copying files more efficient by providing an interface that acts as alternative of opening instances of Windows or alternative Explorers and then navigating to a particular folder.
    When installed DragTargets presents a small window on the desktop, right clicking the window one can browse to a drive or folder and create a new dragtarget. After a new dragtarget is created any files dragged and dropped into the interface or target will copied to that destination or chosen folder. The default action here is to copy the files but checking the small square (see image) at the bottom of the program interface changes the action to move instead of copy.

    Additionally, clicking on any of the saved targets opens the destination folder so targets are also alternative shortcuts to folders and drives on the computer.

  • DropIt Organizes Files And Folders

    DropIt is a small portable download that helps manage the process of moving, copying and organizing files and folders. When installed DropIt adds a floating image or icon on the system desktop. Dragging and dropping files or folders over or into the icon moves or copies the files or folders into a configurable destination.

    DropIt
    Right clicking on the floating image one can access the program Settings where one can choose to move or copy files when using DropIt and to activate the feature which treats folders in the same way as it does files.

    Managing the main settings of the program is done via the same right click but instead choosing the Manage option. Here one can use the Search File button to find a file with the extension (*.jpg for example) one wants to work with or type the extension in the small box to the immediate right of the Search File button. After doing that one should press the Folder button to browse to the folder where the *.jpg (or other) files will be moved (or copied) to when ‘dropped’ on the DropIt icon. The chosen extension will then appear in the far right Extension List box. There after one can edit the association or setting for each file extension by highlighting it and editing the settings that appear in the Edit Associations area.
    DropIt is a useful tool for cleaning up the desktop or indeed any other folder.

  • Raindrop Is A New Messaging Experience From Mozilla

    Raindrop is one of the latest attempts to centralize all messaging and social netwroking activities on the web. It is an as yet unavailable prototype from mozilla messaging,  the people developing the Thunderbird email client.
    At first look at the early screenshots and concept videos available at the above site it looks like the developers are trying to aggregate all activity, twitter, email, youtube etc. into one place. As such this is not necessarily a new idea and places like Friendfeed (the link is to RGdot.com’s Friendfeed page) come close to doing that right now. I think what Raindrop tries to improve on is that experience but by allowing better syncing between devices, promising more customization and above all using an engine that can decide and help the user divide messages between the important or personal and the bulk or the spam – without going through filters or forever browsing through junk –  it can be even more. Not to mention that this is an open source project which goes beyond supplying an API, like most services like twitter already do. Raindrop aims to allow it to be used to store info locally or on a server. All these therefore make it really fully extensible and customizable.
    A promising new tool which may be able to stake a place on many desktops and gadgets.

  • PureText Clears Text Formatting

    puretext

    PureText does a simple task and does it well. It clears any formatting from text that is copied from such sources like the web.

    There are many occasions when a text needs to be copied without the original color, font face, font style or character margins and spacing. PureText does this without the need to follow any extra steps. For example pasting text in Notepad and then copying it again will clear all formatting but using PureText it is possible to use Windows+V (or other configurable keys) instead of the traditional Ctrl+V keys and paste any text unformatted.

    PureText does not require installation and when it is run it sits in the system tray. Right clicking its icon allows the user to configure any combination of keys by choosing any of the presented variations or to use the “Capture the next key typed’ button to choose and configure other variations. PureText should run on any Windows versions up to Vista.

  • Notes Organizer AllMyNotes

    Another interesting notes organizer is AllMyNotes. It stores notes in the familiar tree structure and boasts drag and drop and rich formatting as its features. It is also possible to password protect notes. AllMyNotes does both within notes and also global search. via ghacks