Say "Hello" to My Little Friends

My little friends are small Mac and Windows freeware apps without whom my life would be much less efficient. Most of these apps have been long-time buddies in good standing, having been culled from numerous trial relationships with a large number of wannabee friends.

My Little Mac Friends. (I'm a Mac user by choice.)

Skitch is a free screen capture and markup tool. You can capture the full screen, a selected region, or an iSight camera shot then use Skitch's markup tools to annotate the image. You can drag the capture onto the desktop or upload the capture to skitch.com or other image host.

RapidoWrite makes it easy to type full sentences or paragraphs using abbreviations. This is great for signing your emails with a signature, inserting your address into a form, or typing a long, easy-to-misspell word. Simply type the abbreviation you chose and RapidoWrite expands into the full text.

ClipMenu can manage clipboard history. You can record 8 clipboard types, from plain text to image. To paste a recorded item, you just pop up the menu by invoking the shortcut key or toolbar icon, and select an item from the menu. You can also register texts you frequently use, like e-mail addresses, user IDs and so on, as snippets which you can then paste from the menu, too.
Jumpcut ia another clipboard manager that works almost identically to ClipMenu without the Snippet feature.

Google QuickSearch Box can be used to find the following: programs and files on your computer, search results on Google, bookmarks and websites, calculations, site-specific results, weather and definitions, and contacts. You can even post to Twitter.

Magic Pen is a simple application that gives you the power of an interactive whiteboard to draw on top of content displaying on your screen.

My Little Windows Friends. (I'm a Windows user by necessity. Some of these apps are tools to supplement the functionality which is native on a Mac but missing from XP.)

Easy Capture is a powerful and easy-to-use free screen capture software. It allows you to capture screen shots, including windows captures, scrolling windows, and selected-regions. It also allows you to edit and markup the screen captures.

Texter saves you countless keystrokes by replacing abbreviations with commonly used phrases you define.

xNeat Clipboard Manager is handy and very simple to use. It captures clipboard items as they are copied to the Windows Clipboard, and you can simply bring up a menu containing all the previously copied items and select the item you want to paste. For regularly used text you can make it permanent in xNeat Clipboard Manager's menu by right clicking on it, then select Make Sticky.

EditPad Lite is a general-purpose text editor, designed to be small and compact, yet offer all the functionality you expect from a basic text editor. EditPad Lite's features include opening multiple documents in tabs, unlimited undo/redo, reopen recent files, highly configurable, and much more.

ScreenMarker is an application used for drawing on the current screen using a variety of tools. It gives you the functionality to draw on the screen to highlight existing or provide further information to all those viewing. Screen Marker provides some of the features of an interactive whiteboard without having one.

QuickMonth Calendar adds a tiny calendar pop-up to the clock icon in your Windows XP tray. Just hover your mouse over the clock and up it pops, ready to serve. That's it. Nothing more dramatic. But definitely a bit useful.

Launchy is a free windows utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager. Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes!

SumatraPDF is a slim, free, open-source PDF viewer for Windows. Portable out of the box. Sumatra has a minimalistic design. Simplicity has a higher priority than a lot of features. It's small and starts up very fast.
FoxIt Reader is a free PDF document viewer, with incredible small size, breezing-fast launch speed and rich feature set. Foxit Reader currently has over 50 million users all around the world.

PrimoPDF is a completely free PDF creator. Create PDF files from 300+ file types. Make 100% industry-standard PDF from virtually any files that print. Create PDF files optimized for print, screen, ebook, or prepress.

Learn How To Use Google Voice

Google Voice gives you one phone number for all your phones, voicemail as easy as email, and many calling features for free. I got my invitation last weekend and have been exploring its features for a few days. I've collected several mini-tutorial videos on many of the Google Voice features. Links to these short (60 sec or less) videos follow this brief overview of the service.


How To Use Google Voice

Placing Calls
Google Voice calls you on your phone and connects you to any US number for free. Call directly from your contacts list.

Taking Calls
Decide what phones ring and whether you answer when your Google number is called.

Call Screening
Know who's calling and screen unknown callers before you answer.

ListenIn
Hear why someone is calling before you decide whether to take the call.

Voicemail Transcripts
Voicemails are automatically transcribed to text and stored in your inbox. You can also have them sent to you via email and/or SMS.

Listen to or Read Voicemail
Voicemail as easy as email. View and listen to voicemail online or from your phone.

Share Voicemail
Forward a voicemail via email, embed it in a website, or download a copy to your computer.

SMS Messages
Receive and send SMS and store a copy of all your SMS in your online inbox.

Conference Calling
Join multiple people into a single conference call.

Phone Switching
Switch phones in the middle of a call.

Assigning Phones
Add and update the phones that ring when your Google number is called.

Phone Routing
Have all, some or none of your phones ring depending on who calls your Google number.

Managing Groups
Add individuals to groups and set call preferences by group.

GOOG-411
Connect to GOOG-411 directory assistance by calling your own Google number and choosing option 5.

Call Recording
Record whole or parts of calls on the fly and access recordings online.

Block Calls
Unwanted callers wont be able to reach you anymore.

Public Wi-Fi Hotspots in Altoona

Updated map of public wi-fi hotspots in Altoona, PA

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Daily Video #9 - All I Wanted Was the Hard Drive

Don't ever think you'll open up an iBook to pull out the hard drive and then put it back together. What an adventure! Thank goodness for the interwebs. I'd have never figured this out on my own. I thought it was just going to be "pop off the enclosure, pull out the HD, put it back together". Oh, no! This monkey is not going to be reassembled, at least not by this guy.

You'll find it on eBay being sold for parts. However, I did get a nice little USB external hard drive as originally planned. It was a learning experience.

Secure Your MacBook

iAlertU from SlappingTurtle Software is a free application to secure your MacBook computer in public places like cafes or meeting rooms. iAlertU is like a car alarm for your laptop which uses the built-in sudden motion sensor device of the MacBook.

iAlertU can be armed using either the keyboard or the remote. Movement of the MacBook or keyboard/trackpad activity will trigger an audible alarm that will continue sounding even if the computer is closed. The MacBook's built-in iSight camera will snap a photo of the villain and email it to a specified address.

Cybersecurity: Where do McCain and Obama Stand?

"It is no longer sufficient for the U.S. Government to discover cyber intrusions in its networks, clean up the damage, and take legal or political steps to deter further intrusions," Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell noted in a February 2008 threat assessment.

Information systems have become the backbone of our economy, our government agencies, energy, healthcare, food supply, and nearly everything else we do. As such, these systems have become the targets of both criminals and terrorists, and perhaps even foreign governments.

What are the positions of the presidential candidates regarding this very real emerging threat to our national security?

Senator Obama has stated that he will make cyber-security a top priority, appointing a national cyber advisor to synchronize policy. Senator McCain has said that a much greater investment toward the federal responsibility for cybersecurity is needed.

For more information:
Cybersecurity and the National Campaign, SC Magazine
US Pesidential Candidates to Tackle Cybersecurity, Softpedia
A plea to McCain and Obama: No Cyber Security Boondoggles, NetworkWorld
Which Presidential Candidate Has the Better Cyber Security Position, Hybrid Consulting Group

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RoboShooter

Need a solid shooting guard for your team? Check out this guy from Pittsburgh. He never misses!

What's Better Than Good Stuff Free?

What's better than good stuff free?

This is an extensive list of The Web's best free stuff compiled by Preston Gralla and Erik Larkin of PC World and IDG News Service

Free Online eBook Reader

Book Glutton launched today in public beta. Book Glutton features an online reader which you can use to read public domain titles from their collection on your own or in groups with others reading the same book.

Watch the video to learn more ...

Use an Empty Soda Can to Boost Your Wi-Fi

According to this video from Green Baby Productions via Metacafe you can boost your wireless for virtually nothing using an empty soda can

Caffeine Boost Your WIFI - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

 I have not personally tried this tip so proceed at your own risk. Exercise caution when cutting the soda can as the edges may be sharp.

A Military Solution to HP Printer Problems

I stopped using HP printers a long time ago and will never buy another one. I just discovered this morning that the expiration date on HP inkjet cartridges is on a chip on the cartridge which reads your computers clock. If you manually turn back the calendar on your computer, the cartridge still works.

Here's a fine militarily expedient solution to HP frustration --

Is Your Computer Safe?

This FREE Symantec Security Check tests your computer's exposure to a wide range of online threats.

It's a free and an effective tool that helps determine your Internet security needs.

It takes only a few minutes to check your computer's vulnerability to hackers, trojan horses, and so forth.