Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Technobrief #5

Summary: Recent discoveries of software, articles, videos, and more.

Here are some things worth checking out:

Software
  • AutoCollage allows you to create beautiful collages of your favorite pictures in a few clicks of a mouse.
  • AIMP2 is a capable audio player with many options including Unicode support, multilingual interface, audio grabber, audio converter, tag editor, and more.
  • BareTail is a real-time log file monitoring tool, which can handle very large files (over 2 GB), highlight lines with errors, monitor changes in multiple files, and do more.
  • Bullfighter helps you find and eliminate jargon in your Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents.
  • BurnAware Free burns CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs.
  • Core Temp monitors CPU temperature (including individual cores).
  • Media Converter SA Edition converts media files (audio, video, documents) from and to different formats (types).
  • Windows System Control Center (WSCC) makes it easier to use system utilities offered by SysInternals and NirSoft. (Note: WSCC does not support access to the Internet over a corporate proxy server, so its usability is limited to organizing local utilities.)
  • UpdateStar informs and makes it easier to find and install software updates for over 135,000 programs.
Firefox add-ons
  • All-in-One Sidebar lets you quickly switch between sidebar panels, view dialog windows (downloads, extensions, and more) and websites sources in the sidebar.
  • CiberSearch adds advanced Google Search capabilities to the Firefox 3 address bar.
  • DownThemAll! lets you download multiple targets (pictures, audio files, etc) referenced on a web page.
  • FoxyProxy offers a better proxy support than the built-in capability.
  • Locator displays highlighted address in a Google Map popup.
Web
  • Dial A Human! explains how to reach a real person when calling support (toll-free) lines of various companies.
  • ErrorKey search engine for error codes and messages.
  • Media Converter allows you to convert audio, video, and document files to different formats online. The free service is limited to 100 MB files and "standard" output quality.
  • MixTurtle is a music search engine.
  • MP3Tunes offers free 2 GB of online space for storing and steaming music. In addition to upload and download capabilities, MP3Tunes offers tools for automatic synchronization of your music between your computer and online storage.
  • MyPictr can convert your uploaded photo(s) to the profile avatars for various social sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, and more.
  • RapidShare offers free file sharing and hosting for files upt to 200 MB.
  • ShoppingNotes sends you alerts when a price of your bookmarked item drops.
  • Shrink2One converts multiple links into one small (shrinked) link which you can share via an instant messenger service, twitter, email, and so on.
  • TunesBag offers free 5 GB of online space for storing and steaming music. You can upload and download your music tracks to and from TunesBag. (Note: The service is currently in private beta, so you need to submit a request and wait for an invitation to use it.)
  • Twitter Search lets you see what people are talking about, which can be handy if for checking if other people are complaining about technical difficulties with popular web sites (e.g. GMail or Bloglines being down).
  • YopMail gives you a disposable email address for online registrations; you can access this email account without a password or registration.
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