Google AJAX Libraries

This is terrific! Check them out! @ http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxlibs/
The AJAX Libraries API is a content distribution network and loading architecture for the most popular open source JavaScript libraries. By using the Google AJAX API Loader's google.load() method, your application has high speed, globaly available access to a growing list of the most popular JavaScript open source libraries including:

jQuery
prototype
script.aculo.us
MooTools
dojo

Google works directly with the key stake holders for each library effort and accept the latest stable versions as they are released. Once we host a release of a given library, we are committed to hosting that release indefinitely.

Spybot Search Destroy and Alter Ego

I read about this free software from spybot to clean your spyware in the system. They also come with a immunization software to kind of take precautions about some web sites. What I also like about is the software once installed monitors any changes to the registry and checks with you before applying any changes.

While in the page I also found something called Alter Ego. Alter Ego is an application that makes your browser, email application, instant messenger and multimedia player run safer by running the applications by a user with lower privileges. I thought it was cool check that as well while you are there.

Periodic table for Data Visualization

This is a cool web page that displays various forms of data visualization using a periodic table. Mouse over the blocks and you can see previews. Page @ visual-literacy.org

Picnik - The Online Photo Editor

My hobby is Photography and I keep some of pictures out in flickr. I use professional photo editors like Photoshop, Capture NX etc. Sometimes I like to edit photos quickly and I was looking for something online. I always thought of Photo editing as something you would do with a software that is installed in your machine. Picnik changed my thoughts ... they rock at simple and some advanced photo editing! You can crop, rotate, resize, edit exposure, edit colors, sharpen, fix red eye, and auto fix. You can also do other stuff like adding borders water mark and recently they even added HDR type capabilities. They integrate to the various online photo sites as well. I think they are going to charge for premium features with something like $25 for the entire year which I think is affordable considering what you will pay for other photo editing softwares (again it is just my opinion, once you add advanced features you have to use your own judgment).

Anyways for week or so they are giving premium features for free. Just sign up for free and try it out!

Sharing family media; only limited by your bandwidth

So for a while now, we have been sending family media files using CD/DVDs, or splitting files into 2MB/10MB or whatever your email provider assigns you. Some tech savy people and people who can afford to get their own site up can upload files to a server and share it from there. To sum it up the free ones had size limitation and the paid ones were expensive to share large files.

There is a free solution now that I have been using from a software and service called Qnext. Qnext uses private P2P (Process 2 Process) technology to share files right from your computer to your contact/family members. There is no limit on the size of the file. They support the three leading OS’s Windows, Linux and OSX. The software allows you to share by using their client program or by using HTTP address. The HTTP address is kind of cool because you send the private link to all your friends and they can download it right from the browser (no-client install needed). However, if you are looking to share with your family and friends on a regular basis then I recommend downloading the client and creating a free account with them.

The software also comes with universal instant messaging client, photo gallery, music streaming etc. The photo gallery is also kind of cool, because you get to share the pictures right from your home computer (no uploads). Go check them out or read reviews like the ones below.

Here are others talking about this product.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,120232-page,1/article.html
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1638931,00.asp

Vista theme for Firefox

Firefox add-ons group has Vista theme for those of us still working in the Windows XP. I tried it and looks pretty close to how you see it in Vista. You will not get the whole 3D like appearance but you get the colors and the aero background for the browser.

Free Remote Access and Desktop Control

I own a old Mac Power PC based system and have not upgraded to the Intel based Mac yet (I guess I am waiting for Leopard to come out). So anyway, I wanted to use my Windows Laptop and remotely connect to the Mac and have the feel of running Mac in my laptop :) The free software from LogmeIn does exactly that!

If you are looking to access your Windows based PC at home or Mac at home, you must give this product a try. The user interface refresh sometimes takes time, but has been mostly good for me. They also have a full-screen mode that will make you feel like you are right in front of the remote computer. They also have some paid versions which you can compare here.

Personally I use the free version it works great for remote access. If you want file sharing and other features you might want to try it out.

(MSN + AIM + ICQ + Yahoo + Gtalk + Jabber) – One browser, Any Browser

If you are not allowed to install softwares at your work, but allowed to browse Internet then you must pay a visit to these guys called Meebo. They have done an amazing job in extending instant messaging to a pure web based experience. So when I am at a friends place or when I don’t feel like home in a different computer, I use Meebo to communicate with others.

Now for the people who enjoy talking encrypted they also provide a HTTP(s) channel to chat, which can be accessed by adding an “s” to the http Secure Meebo.

Virtualization - Open and Free

Few weeks back a friend of mine was amazed (Non-IT) that you could run "two computers in one", at least that is how he called it. What he saw was Virtualization Technology in my laptop being able to run both Windows and Linux concurrently. He was looking for a cheaper alternative to run an almost virus-free operating system and somehow came to know about Linux (maybe through the recent Dell Linux Laptops). Yes, he is also aware of the "Get a Mac" TV Ads, but budget constraints prevents him from getting one.

So anyway, he was looking at my VMWare workstation and was asking if there is a free alternative to VMWare workstation where he can install Linux and enjoy the "almost virus free browsing for a while". I gave him two options.

(1) VMWare Free Player - and use the Browser Appliance
(2) VirtualBox - A nice free virtualization product.

VMWare Free Player I think is great if you just want to use their version of the operating system and your usage is limited to just browsing using firefox. If you are looking for a full fleged free virtualization product that allows you to install Linux using DVD/CD then VirutalBox is definitely worth a try.

Launchy - The open source keystroke launcher for Windows

Recently I came across this product called Launchy - The open source keystroke launcher for Windows. I find this product to be interesting if you like to just type the name of the program to launch the program. For example, Vista has this thing in their default search application above the task bar. Launchy works in Windows XP also.

Once you install this and run, do not expect to see a menu or settings. The application runs in the background. Press "ALT+SPACE" combination to open the application window. Just start typing and you will see launchy offering you application to start. If you like what you see, just press "ENTER" to launch the target application.

UPDATE:
I just came to know that this also does a lot of other things. For example if you type 1+2 it actually calculates :) If you type a web address it knows to take you to the site with your default browser. You can type "Weather" and tab and then type your zip code it takes you to weather.com ... Well thought out application!

Task Freak!

I am not saying I am a "Task Freak" :) but if I were one, I think my recent discovery of this web based tool would be a lot of help to manage and syndicate tasks. The user interface is one of those "cool" web2.0 Ajax-ified ones and supports RSS feeds as well. They give you scripts for both PHP+MySQL or PHP+sqlite.

Support for single user and multi-user available. If you ask me, one of the neat features of this tool is that it provides RSS feeds of your task. From a user experience standpoint, I like the fact that you click on those grids and update your task completion by 20% 40% etc. If I were managing a team, I can get up-to-date information thorough the feeds (provided they update it). Go check them out at http://www.taskfreak.com/

Installation is simple and documented with the download. If you do not have a PHP/MySQL /sqlite environment just go to portableapps.com and get yourself a XAMPP; is an integrated server package of Apache, mySQL, PHP and Perl (the AMPP in XAMPP) that all run from a removable drive. Everything is pre-configured and ready to go just by unzipping or installing it.

My Browser in My Thumb Drive

I have been using Firefox one of my favorite browsers in a thumb drive for quite sometime. When I first started using it I thought this is one of those experimental things that I will overtime, relinquish. Its been more than 6 months now and I seem to enjoy the comfort of carrying around a browser with me wherever I go. Corporate trips, back home (laptop+desktop) and more importantly the comfort of carrying your favorites, cookies and temporary files with you. Well, think of it like you have a roaming profile you carry with you all the time.

If you want to try this out take a look at Portable Apps. They also have bunch for Portable IM, Portable Office. Now looking at the way they are releasing applications I think I might have to upgrade my thumb drive from 1Gb to maybe 4GB? The idea of carrying a browsing tool and an open office solution all in a thumb drive entices me!