Windows Linux Mac Tips » News/Reviews

Launchy: Keystroke Launcher for Windows (Windows Wednesday)

Michael — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:00:01 +0000

Have you ever used Quicksilver on a Mac? Or maybe GnomeDo on a Linux system? If not, then I will explain what these programs do. They are programs that allow you to search for files/folders and even execute programs by just typing the name of that program. Type in ‘Firefox’ and it will allow you to open your website. Type in a song file name and it will allow you to play song in a media player.

Launchy is essentially the cousin of the above programs. Only this cousin runs Windows (although Launchy does have a Linux version too). Launchy runs in the background of your system and only appears (or disappears) when you press ‘alt-space’. The dialog box will open and allow you to search for the application/file/folder that you are looking for.

thanks to CNET for the above image

You may ask, why on earth would you need something like this? The simple answer is that it’s an easy, more efficient way of finding things on your computer. The Windows search function is put to shame when up against Launchy. You can launch applications, so that means your desktop space won’t need to be cluttered anymore. Even the start bar will become useless to you.

TIP: To search for something on Google just using Launchy, type in ‘Google’ then press TAB and then type what you’re searching for.

Here is the CNET video review of Launchy:

For the CNET editor and user reviews, click here.

To download Launchy click here.

For some cool tips and tricks when using Launcy, click here.

Completely Uninstall Your Programs with AppCleaner (Mac Monday)

Eric — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:19:41 +0000

If you switch from Windows or Linux to Mac, one of the things you will notice is Mac OS X doesn’t have a utility to help uninstall applications. To try and make things simple, Apple didn’t include an uninstaller, instead all you have to do is delete the application files. The only problem with this is as applications began to get more complex, not all the files were located in the same place. Sure you can try and manually search for the files but there’s no way you’ll find all of them.

If you don’t like deleting only some of the application files, you should give AppCleaner a try. AppCleaner is a FREE program designed to find and delete all the files associated with an application. Below is a screenshot of the program in action.

Of course there are lots of other programs that will help you uninstall your applications. However, there are a few reasons I use AppCleaner instead of those other programs. First off, AppCleaner is completely FREE. There isn’t a free version and a paid version, or some crappy trial version, just the real thing. Secondly, the interface is clean and simple. All you have to do is drag and drop the application you want to remove and your done.

AppCleaner is even smart enough to recognize when you place an application in the Trash Bin and it will then offer to properly delete it. AppCleaner will uninstall more than just applications, including widgets and preference panes. Lastly, AppCleaner can protect your most important applications from being deleted. And of course a list of all deleted applications are kept in a log file so you can look back at what you’ve successfully uninstalled.

Microsoft to Stop Selling XP (Windows Wednesday)

Eric — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:34:38 +0000

When Microsoft first released Windows Vista, there was talk of fading out XP. As word got out about the problems with Vista, some people decided to stay with XP for a little while longer. Microsoft heard such and uproar about fading out XP that they decided to push back the end-of-sales date. Well, that day has finally come.

On June 30th, 2008, Microsoft will stop selling Windows XP. This means that you will no longer be able to buy XP as a stand-alone product at a store or from major PC manufacturers like Dell and HP.

Of course it will take months for places like Dell and HP to sell all the copies of XP in their inventory.

If you refuse to upgrade to Windows Vista and want to get your hands on a copy of XP, you might be in luck. Local PC makers known as “system builders” will continue to sell computers with XP pre-installed until January 2009. Also, ultra-low cost PCs (ULCPC) will still be allowed to carry Windows XP Home Edition until June 2010.

If you are worried about Windows XP support, you still have some time before it runs out. Microsoft will stop supporting XP in April 2009. If you have pay for Microsoft “Extended” support, you will be covered through 2014.

For more information:
The Future of Windows XP
Microsoft Support Cycle

Do you wish Microsoft would have delayed the end-of-sales for XP just one more time??? Let us know in the comments.

Download Firefox 3 Today – “Download Day 2008″

Eric — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:00:18 +0000

Starting later today (June 17, 2008) Firefox 3 will be available for download. To celebrate the release of their new browser, Mozilla (the makers of Firefox) is throwing a party.

Join millions of other Firefox fans for Download Day 2008. On this day Mozilla is hoping to set a Guinness World Record for the most amount of software downloads in 24 hours. This is a very smart advertising ploy by Mozilla to help spread the word about Firefox.

If you don’t use Firefox, or at least a browser based on Firefox, then you should look at some alternative browsers.

However, if you are Firefox user and haven’t tried FF3 yet, you are in for a pleasant surprise. I have been using the release candidate for a while and love it. It seems as if they have fixed everything that was wrong with FF2 as well as included some new features.

Some of these new features include: better performance, smart bookmarks, improved download manager and add-on manager. Some other notables are better security features such as malware and phishing alerts.

When the Firefox 3 release candidates became available not all Firefox 2 extensions worked with the new version. In fact, there are a few that still don’t work with Firefox 3. However, the majority of your favorite extensions have been updated to work with Firefox 3.

With all that being said, Firefox 3 is much better than its predecessor and is a joy to use. I strongly recommend you check it out (and tell your friends about it too). Happy downloading!

What do you love/hate about FF3? Are you just excited about Download Day 2008? Let us hear about it in the comments!

Apple Unveils the iPhone 3G

Kyle — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:10:48 +0000

As many already know, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the new iPhone 3G to replace the currently out of stock iPhone that was first introduced nearly a year ago. Pictured here, the basic design of the new device is remarkably similar to its predecessor but features a new glossy back in black for both the 8GB and 16GB versions, but also is offered with a glossy white back for the 16GB version. The keynote presentation, which can be viewed here, kicked off the 2008 WWDC was heavily centered around the iPhone 2.0 firmware.

Amongst the new features included in the new 2.0 firmware was the third party application distribution center known as the App Store. This feature is a remarkable way for third party developers to distribute their applications to all iPhone and iPod Touch users worldwide through the use of Apple’s extensive iPhone SDK. A few other firmware features that will make this a hit is the Enterprise features highlighted in a previous post here and in the March 6th Keynote. Apple has also upgraded the built in calculator by introducing a scientific version when the device is rotated into a landscape orientation. Apple has also taken the liberty to make the new firmware completely iWork and MS Office friendly, so that in all applications attachments can be viewed via the iPhone’s rich display.

Aside from updates with the firmware, the two biggest improvements to the new iPhone are of course 3G capabilities and A-GPS technology. Filmed demos shown during the WWDC Keynote presentation show the iPhone to perform up to 2 times faster downloading data than an iPhone on Edge and 3 times faster downloading email attachments. The new A-GPS technology is capable of tracking a user through the city and is used for various locational services such as the native Maps application and the new “Geotagging” feature.

All in all the new iPhone 3G is an amazing device when taken into account the browsing speeds and ease of use, not to mention the price has been drastically reduced. The 8GB model comes in at just $199 and the 16GB models are only $100 more. The new iPhone 3G is set to hit Apple Stores in 22 countries on July 11th, and with lowered prices there is no foreseen obstacles in the way to hinder the 10 million unit goal set by Apple.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

For more information on the iPhone 3G, please visit Apple’s website here.
All images taken from www.apple.com

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WWDC Coverage (Mac Monday)

Kyle — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:37:06 +0000

Less than 24 hours stand between now and the highly anticipated Keynote presentation from Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California.

Apple’s WWDC kicks off with this presentation at 10:00 A.M. PT June 9th and runs through the 13th in which development for OS X Leopard and OS X iPhone are expected to be the main focus.

Additionally, many believe the introduction of the new 3G iPhone will occur during Jobs’ Keynote presentation while the possible introduction of a new product may occur.

Check back later today and throughout the rest of the coming week for coverage of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. As new developments occur WLM Tips will provide coverage of news and/or new product descriptions.

Image taken from www.macrumors.com

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Amarok for Windows (Windows Wednesday)

Michael — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:00:57 +0000

Amarok, a familiar name from the Linux community, has decided it’s newest release will be available to all you Windows users. But what is Amarok? Amarok is an open source, extremely popular music player. It’s current version is only available in Linux, in fact I’m listening to my music through Amarok right now. Before I switched to Linux I was a heavy iTunes user but now I’d rather use Amarok. I can’t really pin-point anything that makes Amarok so much better than iTunes, I guess it’s just that I’m comfortable with Amarok now. For all you iTunes haters, Linux lovers, or people looking for a decent music app, Amarok is worth a good look. A list of what Amarok has to offer:

Quick and simple drag and drop playlist creation
Super eye-candy interface
Multiple backends supported (xine, NMM and Helix)
10 band equalizer
Automatic cover art download using Amazon services
The unique and powerful Context Browser
Automatic play-statistics generation (iRate style)
Full lyrics download
Funky visualisations from libvisual and XMMS
Streaming from any KIO source
Crossfading
Fully configurable translucent OSD for track changes
K3B (CD-burning) integration
KDE integration
Style your Context Browser with custom CSS styles.
Save space in your Context Browser with collapsable boxes
Show the Context Browser without amaroK open through the konqueror sidebar!
Full support for last.fm! Share your music taste with friends on the net
Generate dynamic playlists based on last.fm suggestions
Support for sqlite, MySQL and PostgreSQL databases ensuring fast collection access
Support for iPod®, iRiver® and generic UMS mp3 players with the all new media-browser
Powerful scripting interface, allowing for easy extension of amaroK
Complete DCOP access
Translated into more than 35 languages, thanks to the KDE internationalization team.

I know a few of these don’t apply to Windows users, but most of these features will be included in the Windows version for Amarok2.

Here’s a quick screenshot I borrowed from the Amarok blog:

For more information about the Amarok2 development for Windows, check out the Amarok blog.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (Windows Wednesday)

Eric — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:00:57 +0000

According to Microsoft, Service Pack 3 (SP3) will the be last service pack for Windows XP. This is part of the transition to Vista. In fact, a few of the new features in SP3 are also in Vista. While I hate to see the slow progression from XP to Vista, it is about time MS released another SP. It has been about 3 years since SP2 was released.

Why would I want SP3?

For starters, SP3 includes all of the patches and updates since SP1. Therefore, you can now install all of those updates via a single patch. Recently I completely wiped my computer and reinstalled Windows XP SP2 and Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04, and there were over 100 updates for Windows. These 100+ updates take a while to download and install, even on fast internet, and even take several restarts to finish.

If you are not going to upgrade to Vista, you should look into slipstreaming your Windows XP install cd with SP3. Basically, this allows you to add SP3 to your current XP install cd. This way, from now on when you install Windows, SP3 will be included.

Is there anything new in SP3?

Yes, and no. There are some new minor “features” in SP3 but nothing major. The main reason for the SP is to combine all the previous updates and patches.

A couple of the minor features are in networking, including Network Access Protection compatibility and “Black Hole” router detection algorithm. The NAP compatibility feature allows Windows XP machines to interact with the NAP feature in Windows Server 2008. This functionality is also available in Windows Vista. The latter feature allows XP to ignore certain network routers which drop packets incorrectly. This is also available in Windows Vista.

Another much needed feature is Product Key-less install option. From now on, all SP3 installs will NOT require the user to enter a product key during setup. This feature is implemented into Vista as well.

What versions of Windows does SP3 work with?

SP3 will work with all versions of Windows XP: Home, Professional, Tablet, and Media Center. SP3 does NOT apply to Windows XP Professions x64.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

When can I get SP3?

April 21, 2008: Microsoft completed XP SP3
April 29, 2008: SP3 released to the public. Supposedly, MS released SP3 to Windows Update as an optional update; however, I have not seen this in my Windows Update.
April 29, 2008: SP3 available for download at Microsoft Download Center
May 2, 2008: SP3 available for download at MSDN/TechNet
May 19, 2008: Windows XP SP3 fulfillment media (CD-based)
June 10, 2008: SP3 available from Windows Update/Automatic Updates

So, where can I download SP3?

I have searched the web and had a little trouble finding places to download SP3, since it was technically still a Release Candidate (RC). This just means that is still in beta testing to make sure there are no unforeseen problems. However, now SP3 is officially released (even on MS download center) so you should have no problems installing it on your own system.

Anyways, enough blabbering. Here are the download links.

Softarepatch.com – RECOMMENDED- I used it to download SP2
Microsoft Download Center

For much more information on SP3, be sure to check out the Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows.

Purchase Movies from Apple TV (Mac Monday)

Michael — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:28:31 +0000

Apple has now added a great new feature to the Apple TV. You will now be able to buy movies directly through the Apple TV interface. With Apple releasing new movies for download the same day they are released on DVD, the iTunes market share will grow even bigger. People will become even more interested in buying and using the Apple TV now that you can just download the newest movies instead of going to the store and buying them.

Picture taken from www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html

If Apple were to somehow create a deal so that iTunes could offer the movie before it was released on DVD, I would definitely buy more movies from iTunes and I might even consider buying an Apple TV so that I could watch them on my big screen.

Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 LTS Released (Linux Friday)

Eric — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:30:49 +0000

By now most of you probably know that the newest version of the Ubuntu has been released. Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 was released about a week ago. This is the second Long Term Support (LTS) version of Ubuntu. The LTS desktop versions are supported for 3 years and the server edition for 5 years.

I have installed Hardy on my laptop (HP dv2000t) and have had few problems so far. From what I can tell Hardy seems to be a step in the right direction. For me, the jump to Hardy came from Feisty (7.04) via a fresh install. I tried Guty (7.10) but had several problems on both my latop and desktop. However, I know several people who had no problems at all. I will be upgrading my desktop in a few days and I hope the transition goes as well as it did with my laptop.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

For those of you who don’t know whats new in Hardy Heron, let me give you a quick overview. For more information, check out the Ubuntu Features page.

To start off, Wubi is now on the installation CD, so you can install it without having to download it separately. Wubi is a way to install Ubuntu from Windows. Wubi is great for people who want to try Ubuntu but are afraid of messing up their Windows installation in the process. If you try Ubuntu via Wubi and don’t like it, all you have to do is uninstall it in Windows and you’re done.

There are updated versions of all your favorite software including Gnome, OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, Pidgin, etc. There is also a new bit torrent client named Transmission which is installed by default. If you are Mac user, you are probably already familiar with Transmission. There is also a new VNC viewer installed.

For the next several Linux Friday’s I will be covering how to setup and use Ubuntu Hardy Heron. These posts will include using everything from installing Ubuntu using a Wubi, to checking your system temperatures using lmsensors. So be sure to check back for our newest Linux Friday posts. Check out the WLMTips Extras section in the sidebar to be sure you don’t miss a single post.

For some more information on the newest version of Ubuntu, visit Linux Format: Hands on with Ubuntu 8.04.

To get your copy of the Ubuntu live CD, visit the download page.

Windows Linux Mac Tips » News/Reviews

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