Month: December 2008

  • Total Text Container PIM

    Total Text Container PIM

    Total Text Container is a PIM (Personal Information Management) software described by its author as

    Store Documentation, Notes, Passwords, Images, Bookmarks, Contacts, Spreadsheets, Money Transactions, Calendar Events & Tasks, iCalander events, CD/DVD/Movie catalogs, Multi layer encryption, Portable, xml database, all in one powerful PIM app.

    Total Text Container is a pretty complete and feature rich software that allows you to do a lot and organize your information all in one folder.

    ttc

    It has many interesting and valuable features.  It can store all sorts of lists, such as movies, bookmarks, confidential information and images. Syntax highlighted code and snippets can be saved as well. It is possible to add clipboards and even tasks to Total Text Container and access them via the program’s tray icon without actually wading through the program itself. There is also a ‘Mix Frame’  feature which allows the user to work on different ‘frames’ such as notes, spreadsheets, code and others at the same time, though it seems to be a work in progress in my tests, I got a few access violation errors while attempting to add or show frames.

    TTC is worth checking out and though at alpha v0.a070 as of this writing it can prove useful with a bit of caution because as mentioned access violation errors can pop up from time to time. The author claims that

    As long as TTC is below version 1.00 then its still in beta stage, I use TTC almost every day so i def want it to be error free myself. I fix errors as i find them but if I don’t know about an error i can’t fix it so let me know on my forums on sourceforge.

    so one should be able to get some help just in case. Have a look at http://mtirnanic.googlepages.com/

  • AdiIRC IRC Client

    IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is one of those methods of communication that dates back to the early days of when the world wide web was working its way to the mainstream. mIRC and to some extent PIRCH became the more popular client (stand alone program) based ways of using IRC and entering the many channels available on the many networks around the internet. Browser based means like java applets and to a lesser extent flash embeds achieved the same through browsers but sometimes made IRC use awkward.

    AdiIRC is one of the more recent entrants but is at version 1.8 now and includes a feature that most IRC clients support only through add-ons or plugins. ‘Now Playing’ display of songs being listened through the likes of WinAmp has a been a mainstay of IRC and AdiIRC has that built-in. Additionally it supports SSL connections, DCC File Transfers, Logging, Tab key cycling, and many other commands and shortcuts to ease its use and expected by those who still call the many IRC networks home. A couple of more impressive additions worth mentioning are what is called ‘Easy Message Search’ where the user can right click in the channel window and search the conversation inline. The other addition is a google search which can be had through customizing the toolbar. After all this it is important to also mention that themes and plug-ins are supported but very few ready made ones are available as of this writing.

    The only possible negative that may be attributed to AdiIRC is the .NET (2.0 and above) requirement but otherwise this is a very promising IRC client and very much worth a look.

  • Green thoughts

    As you may have noticed I have a ‘Green’ category set up here. My intention is to not post about software only but also to add my thoughts about the environment and may be even politics sometimes. This site may or may not seem like a personal blog as opposed to a tech or software review blog. If you have any thoughts on this please leave a comment. I hope that this site or blog will evolve into something interesting for most.

  • 8start Launcher

    8start is decribed by its author as

    A free Application Launcher to make your desktop clean, with Tree Notes feature to keep and share your notes fast and easy. Portable, skinable, customizable, innovation…

    Using it you can keep notes in trees with additional features recently added like tree shortcuts and favorites. One can customize skins and backgrounds or download a few more available on the developer’s forum. Most importantly one can make rows and rows of shortcuts to launch application, documents and sites and divide them all into categories. On a XP system tested and used for months it has never surpassed 10MB usage and can be made portable as well. The tiny graph to monitor drive space is a useful little tool too.

    Take a look at screenshots and a more thorough explanation of 8start’s features. It is free for any use and can be downloaded from here

  • TeamViewer remote desktop

    TeamViewer remote desktop

    TeamViewer is a Desktop Sharing, Remote Control and Support software described by its author as

    TeamViewer establishes connections to any PC all around the world within just a few seconds. You can remote control your partner’s PC as if you were sitting right in front of it.

    TeamViewer makes it very easy to connect to a remote computer for remote control, file sharing or just making presentations. It is even possible to control unattended computers if the software is used as a service. It easily bypasses routers without the need for port-forwarding or other unnecessary and perhaps complex tweaks. teamviewer

    After installing and running the full version the window seen here opens which is ready to give access to the host computer or to connect to a remote computer once the ID and password of the said computer is received.  A host or client computer may also download and run without installation a ‘quick support’ version making it very handy for quick help or just help to the less experienced computer user.

    Security should be very important here because pretty broad access is given to computers using TeamViewer. Here encryption is based on RSA private/public key exchange and AES (256 Bit) session encoding. Plus the password is re-generated for each time the program is used adding another layer of protection.

    TeamViewer is free for private/non-commercial use is only 1.8MB for the full version.

  • Dexpot virtual desktops

    Dexpot virtual desktops

    Dexpot is a virtual desktop manager and is described by its author as

    Dexpot 1.4 turns your monitor into up to 20. It creates and manages virtual desktops and enables you to work far more efficiently and comfortably with many simultaneously opened windows on Windows 95/98/ME and NT4/2000/XP/2003/Vista (incl. x64).

    What it means is that by using Dexpot you can increase the number of Desktops you have and reduce clutter.

    dexpotsettings

    The Dexpot Settings window allows you to configure the number of desktops, set  the initial window and also how the program starts and exits.

    The second image below is the Dexpot Windows one and allows you to distribute icons on the desktops  and perhaps is the most important in so far as playing around goes, here you can copy or cut icons to various desktops for example.

    The program is very customizable and among it features is one additional and powerful setting called Desktop Rules, using it you can set rules or triggers so that applications are opened in certain desktops automatically.

    All settings are accessible by right clicking the program’s taskbar icon.

    dexpotwindows

    Lots to discover and play around with but one note of caution. The program requires the user to right click on the desktop and uncheck  Align To Grid, this will mess up your icon layout if you exit and/or stop using Dexpot. I recommend you download a layout restorer such as Icon Restore and save your desktop layout before using Dexpot.

    Dexpot is available at http://dexpot.de/ and is free for private use. A good deal of tutorials and more is available on the publisher’s site.

  • Car of the future?

    A modular car that gives you the option of a gas-electric, battery electric or hydrogen fuel-cell drivetrain. Developed by Mercedes Benz the Concept BlueZero cars will take the next step towards ditching the gas guzzeling monstrosities on the road today.

    bluezero

    Via Wired

  • Hello world!

    Welcome. I am planning to start something new here. See you soon!