Top 5 Adobe Air Apps for Webmasters
Adobe AIR is a really nifty software enviroment developed by Adobe, It lets developers use Flash, HTML and javascript to create lightweight desktop applications. These can add some great functionality without causing a big burden on system resources. These are the Top 5 Adobe Air Apps I have found useful for Web Designers and Web Developers alike.
5. Shrink-O-Matic
Shrink O Matic is a very nice batch image resizer, You choose your output settings like size and output format (jpg, gif, png). Very quick and easy to use, Simply drag and drop the image into the application window and it resizes it according to your settings.
URL: http://toki-woki.net/p/Shrink-O-Matic/
4. Desktop Color Finder
This fine little app called the “Desktop Color Finder” lets you search the entire COLOURlovers database, With nearly one million named colors and over 300 user-created color palattes. This is an essential tool for any web designer.
URL: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&loc=en_us&extid=1468018
3. WebKut
WebKut lets you easily clip and snip from webpages in a nice, simple interface. Type in the URL of choice, Choose from 3 different clip settings (Whole page, Current View, Selection) and cut.
Firefox 3 Releases June 17th
The date for the next major release of the great, open source browser is set for this upcoming Tuesday, June 17th. Mozilla has been publicizing this with some pretty good marketing schemes, The most influencial being the “Download Day 2008″. Mozilla is trying to set the world record for most downloads in a 24 hour period, This should be an easy enough feat to achieve since their isn’t currently a record set for this exact thing. Nonetheless its good publicity, Wonder how long before the record is broken.
Everyone should download Firefox 3 on June 17th, Help be a part of the record breaking attempt.
“$100 Laptop” v2. The best is yet to come
The successor to the “$100 Laptop” (Also known as the OLPC - One Laptop Per Child) Is currently in the works, A prototype was released last month and gives you a great peek at what is yet to come for not just the revised $100 Laptop but laptops in general. The laptop itself has no keyboard or mouse pad area, Both halfs of the machine are touch sensitive screens. Depending on how you fold and angle the laptop, It will work a different way. Their are 4 main modes that can be used.
Laptop Mode:
Fold the laptop at an angle like your typical laptop and the XO2 will adjust like so. No keys to click, Tap the screen and type like you usually would. F and J homerow knotches will be gone but I believe it’s a small price to pay.
Book Mode:
Hold the laptop like you would a book and the screen will automatically adjust to read like so (Or the developers are hoping). You will be able to virtually “Flip” to the next page by shutting and opening it once again.
2 Person Mode:
You can have a friend join in for some fun two player games, Pong is a great example of what might be included with the laptop. Dragging your finger along to move the pong slider.
Tablet Mode:
When layed flat and in Tablet Mode the screen will be one continuous connected screen, Great for viewing photos, watching movies or using interactive maps like shown above.
This is what the Laptop manufacturers should be working towards. The Wii brought stuff like this mainstream, A machine that interacts with the way you move and how you hold it. So much can be done with this, Will surely be exciting just what they will offer.
Sources:
Photos courtesy of the OLPC Wiki (OLPC Wiki Click Here)
Info taken from OLPC Wiki and a Computer World.com article (Computer World Source)
Gmail Labs: The Google E-mail Laboratory
Google has unveiled a new set features in it’s gmail service. It’s called Gmail Labs, This is where they test all their future updates for an open beta. Currently they have 13 new features that you can play around with and test. You can check them out by logging into your Gmail > Click the settings tab > and then the Labs tab. Alot of them I personally don’t find that useful, But some of them are really cool. Like Mouse Gestures, You can read your next e-mail, the previous message or back to your inbox by holding the right mouse button and moving a certain direction.
Here’s the rundown on all the current features released: (Taken from the labs descriptions)
Quick Links: Adds a box to the left column that gives you 1-click access to any bookmarkable URL in Gmail. You can use it for saving frequent searches, important individual messages, and more.
Mouse Gestures: Use your mouse to navigate with gestures. Hold right-click and move the mouse left to go to a previous conversation, move it right to go to the next conversation, and move up to go back to the inbox view. Works best on Windows.
Superstars: Adds additional star icons. After enabling this feature, you can choose which icons you wish to use in the “General” Settings page.
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Time Warner Cable limits bandwidth usage. 40GB/$55 month
Starting today Time Warner Cable will put monthly bandwidth caps on all new subscribers to there service. They are running as a test right now, The only place affected is Beaumont, Texas. The highest level plan offers 40GB monthly usage for $55 a month and offers 15mbs download speed. The lower the plan, The lower the download speed and usage cap. If a customer goes over their bandwidth cap, They will pay $1 for every 1gb used there after.
People who frequently visit sites like YouTube or are download-a-holics will find themself surely going over this usage limit. I have a program I use to track how much I use and for the past three months have used over 60gb a month. Thankfully I don’t live in Beaumont. It seems like they are taking business techniques from the cellphone industry. I’m sure all the other major ISP’s will be watching how this plays out for Time Warner, This could potentially make them ALOT of money. Great for business, Horrible for the customer.
Firefox popularity continues to grow. Watch out Internet Explorer.
Looks like people are noticing and taking advantage of a good thing. Is this particular instance, A better internet browser. Mozilla Firefox is the most popular browser alternative available, and for good reason. It’s an amazing browser, It is easily customizable to work just the way you want it.
Net Applications, A company that gathers and lists web statistic data project that Firefox will account of 20% of all web traffic by July.
Firefox currently accounts for 18.41% percent of all web traffic, That’s up from 17.76% in April. This 20% milestone sounds very likely to come true.
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New camera technology may change the way you shop forever.
Recently I was browsing on digg and on the frontpage I see something titled “How Android Will Change Your Shopping Experience Forever”. This caught my eye and had to check it out. Basicly what this does is using a camera you take a picture of a barcode and it is does a search at sites like amazon.com. Then brings up information on the product scanned, Stuff like prices, Where you can buy it, Even phone numbers for places you can buy it locally.
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Unlimited local and long distance calling for less than $2/month!
No that’s not a typo, Its real. A new gadget now allows you to make unlimited calling to anywhere in the US and Canada for $20 a year, That’s about a buck and a half per month. That’s incredible. This revolutionary piece of equipment allows this, It’s called the MagicJack. It’s really simple. Their are only 3 things required. A home phone, The MagicJack and broadband internet service.
How this works:
This thing couldn’t be easier to use, You plug it into your windows computer USB port. The software takes 30 seconds to load
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Welcome everyone.
I’d like to take this time to welcome you to my tech blog. I love everything about computers and advancing technology. I’ll be using this space to review some cool upcoming products and post some big news as it comes.
