Notable App is a web app used in conjunction with a Firefox extension or IE bookmarklet (or even an iPhone app) in order to create and upload web clips or screenshots that can later be shared for feedback with friends, colleagues, or collaborators.This program seems to be geared towards creative teams of designers, webmaster, usability designers, developers and SEO practitioners interested in dissecting websites and sharing knowledge not just on the content of websites but on the way they were put together.

However, you can use Notable App any way you want, as a web clipping app or a platform to simply share sites that you find, like, and choose to clip. Up to three people can use Notable for free; adding more will require paid licenses.

The best way to get a feel for what this app is about is to view this demonstration video:

The concept here is fairly simple: a web-clipping tool with online storage where you can share your clippings with others on your team, and where they can respond and/or look at the shared websites in a number of different ways that help them comment on the design, metadata, and source code. A fairly innovative and noteworthy concept in theory, except I am not quite sure who this tool is targeted to, who these teams of fanatical website-analyzers would be, and how many of them are out there.

Which may not matter too much, because as with any tool you can create your own uses for it. You could also use it simply as a web-clipping tool with online storage and sharing options. The web clipping component is generally a good one, except it really needs to get a lot better (see wish list below for more on this).

More notes on this program below:

• Types of ’views’ available: (1) a straight screenshot of the clipped website; (2) a text-only stripped version, (3) the source code of the page, and (4) the metadata/SEO tags. Strangely, there is no “normal” view where you view a straight, functional webpage that you could interact with, click on functional links, etc.
• Ways of capturing data: by using a Firefox extension or IE bookmarklet, by uploading an image into the web app, by specifying a URL to capture, or by using the iPhone plugin to capture and share iPhone screenshots.
• Giving feedback: you can give feedback within any of the different views available; i.e. the screenshot view, the text-only view, etc. See the above video for a demonstration.
• Workspaces: you can create workspaces (which are similar to categories) and, once you’ve added feedback on something you can add to a workspace. Strangely, there doesn’t seem to be a way to add clips to workspaces without giving feedback first.
• Sharing: once you give feedback on something you can make it public or keep it private and share with your contacts. An easy way to share-in-batch is to create a “set”, add multiple entries to it and then share the set as a whole. Or you can give a contact access to a workspace so that they will always be able to view its particular contents.
• iPhone app: I didn’t test this myself, but the iPhone app seems to be designed for capturing screenshots from your iPhone and uploading these to your account. I am unclear as to whether you can use the iPhone app to browse clippings and feedback.

Wish list (or how this app can be even better)

• The ability to clip a ’normal’, ’functional’ site: i.e. a site where you can click on the links and preview any functionality, such as being able to see what the options are for dropdowns in a form. I know that both Evernote and my favorite desktop-based “Local Website Archive Lite” will let you do this.
• Categorization and/or tagging: is not really supported in any way (you can use workspaces as categories, but only after you add feedback to your clips).
• A “visual” interface: i.e. the ability to drag thumbnails to workspaces or sets, etc. (this is a wishlist after all).

The verdict: this is an innovative and generally well-designed application. However, like I said previously I am not entirely sure who the intended audience is. The free version allows you to share feedback with up to 3 people, which further limits its usefulness.

Still, I am guessing that for some readers this may be exactly the app that they were looking for, and if that is the case for you please leave a note in the comments section below and let us know how you are using it.

My 2 cents: I really think they should focus on (1) making Notable App out to be the best online web clipping app out there, which is to say a direct competitor of Evernote. This will broaden its audience while still maintaining the differentiating aspects of sharing feedback; and (2) doing away with the 3-contacts limit for the free app, because it will merely stand in the way of this application ever achieving a critical mass.

Compatibility: a modern browser. Firefox extension available but you can use a Javascript bookmarlet for IE (and potentially other browsers).

Go to the Notable App site to signup and download.

[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com].

Beyond the good looks, Seesmic look also presents Twitter information in a more useful, more presentable way than the Twitter website. Things like Channels, Interests, and “playback mode” all channel information into a usable, eye-catching way. First, however, we’ll need to install Seesmic Look. Its installer runs under a megabyte (669 KB) and requires .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. From what I’ve seen, the Seesmic.Look.exe process runs right around 100MB while in use.

After installing Seesmic (which is a very fast process), you’ll get a little tutorial to explain Seesmic’s interface and features. It was fairly straight-forward but I found the interface to be intuitive enough that I skimmed through the tutorial and was able to find my way around just fine.

When you first launch Seesmic, you’ll be greeted with bubbles fading in explaining current trends. It’s a pretty interesting visual display of the information, but you can also have it displayed in a list by chronological order or alphabetical order. You can also choose to see current trends, trends of the day, or of the week.

You can update your status or perform a search at any point using the text boxes at the top of the screen. You can also easily do a public reply or direct message to a person or retweet something by using the buttons on the right side of the screen.

You can use Seesmic to filter all of the information on Twitter down to things that interest you. Clicking ‘Interests’ on the left side will bring up another list of categories that you can use to filter down to your interests. You’ll then be viewing tweets that are relevant to your interests to help immerse you in the “real-time web”.

Channels are similar to Interests, but they are branded channels deriving their content from Twitter accounts associated with particular companies. There are a number of different channels like Time Magazine, Huffington Post, New York Times, and more.

Seesmic helps you delve into the Twitter-verse and find out lots of information going on in our crazy world, but Seesmic Look does it in a visually appealing way. If you’d like to download Seesmic Look, you can find it on the Seesmic Look Download Page.

If you’re looking for the Seesmic organization of Twitter, but don’t need the visual components of Seesmic Look you should still investigate other products by the same developers:

• Seesmic for Windows
• Seesmic Desktop (for Mac or Linux with Adobe AIR)
• Seesmic Mobile for BlackBerry or Android phones

VUE (Visual Understanding Environment) is a free, open source mind mapping and data visualization software developed by the Academic Technology group at Tufts University in Boston. VUE is unique in that it offers a range of innovative functions such as tagging of nodes and of relationships, support for images, videos, and other objects within the mind map structure, and the ability to import and analyze datasets (from CSV files, XML files, and even RSS feeds) using semantic mapping. It also functions as an innovative Powerpoint-style presentation tool, allowing users to define “presentation pathways” on top of the mind map structure, and to create presentation-style content that is associated with the mapped concepts.

VUE can also be used in conjunction with the Zotero Firefox extension to map out and visualize online documents and web clippings.

Imagine an environment where concepts and notes, images, as well as URLs, file objects and datasets of rows and columns can all be placed together on the same page and governed within a single structure and metadata (tags, relationships), and you will get an idea of what VUE is all about. VUE is a very ambitious project whose simple in interface belies the power and potential that it has to offer.

VUE is also a full-fledged, Powerpoint-style presentation software. Admittedly, the conflation of concept mapping and presentation software seemed a bit strange to me at first, until I considered that the likely objective of creating and mapping out knowledge is to share it. VUE makes it simple and easy to create a presentation out of your concept maps without having to jump to Powerpoint or another presentation software to do so. It enables your concept maps and your presentation itself to be a single, unified whole instead of being fragmented across different files and platforms.

Here are more notes on this program:

• Node behavior: if you’ve tried other mind mapping tools you will appreciate the ability to place elements within elements. For example you can place a node or multiple nodes within other nodes, you can define associated, clickable URLs or files for nodes, and add local or online images. (You can even browse and link to Flickr images on-the-fly from the program’s context menu). Lastly, you can group nodes and relationships together and even create “layers” of elements that can be switched on or off (Photoshop style).
• Objects: aside from text, URLs, and images, you can use any file(s) as objects that you simply drag and drop into the interface, including videos and documents. VUE can import CSV files, XML files, and even RSS feeds, and can use elements within these files (such as column/fields in the CSV file) to define relationships and to group nodes. Web clippings and documents can be mapped via the Firefox Zotero plugin (see below).
• Tagging and ontologies: both the concepts (nodes) as well as the relationships (arrows) can be tagged. These tags are used to give structure and overall meaning to your maps, and are also searchable. The set of tags you might create for your maps, termed an ontololgy, can be exported or imported for sharing or for use in other maps.
• Zotero: is a Firefox plugin that can be used to collect web documents and clips. Once you’ve built a Zotero collection, you can use the VUE plugin to create map them into concept maps. See this video on a tutorial on how to do this. The VUE plugin for Zotero for VUE 3+ and Zotero 2.0 b6+ can be found here.
• Analysis: the main thrust of doing concept map analysis with VUE’s is the ability to use semantic linking “i.e. tags” to re-organize your concepts on-the-fly in a variety of ways and in a semi-automated fashion. But there’s more: the “connectivity” analysis tool instantly exports your mind map into a sort of number grid that can be used for statistical analysis, while the “SEASR” content analysis parses resources (documents, URLs) to automatically generate metadata (what SEASR is or stands for is a little unclear to me; it appears to be some method of tagging documents in the humanities; more on SEASR in VUE in this YouTube video).
• Ease of use: there is a learning curve which is not insignificant; however there is a breadth of tutorial videos on the VUE site itself and on YouTube; spend a half hour or so looking at these and you’ll be up to speed in no time. There are also a great many demo maps that can be freely downloaded and perused and that can illustrate
• Presentations: you can overlay your mind maps with presentation “pathways”. Your presentation screens can display nodes or relationships from your mind map that you outline (see the pink blocks in the right-hand screenshot at the top of this post). Alternately, you can create custom “slide” content that is associated with each of your nodes (this is illustrated in the image to the right; the slides are visible as black blocks in the map). Presentations can be linear or non-linear. It works remarkably well.
• Keyboard shortcuts: feature prominently, and make this program much easier to use.

Wish list (or how this program can be even better)

• Multiple tabs within a single file: one thing I found myself wishing for is multiple tabs within a single file (Excel-stlye); currently VUE does support tabs, but each tab represents a completely separate file and mind map . Once a mind map grows and grows it can become unwieldy and it would be nice to be able to span a mind map over multiple tabs that nonetheless remain searchable as a single unit and have the same tags.
• Pre-defined structures: on right-click, such as tree right/left, fishbone right/left, org chart up/down, logic charts right/left. I switched to using VUE from xMind, and the latter has better support for these pre-defined structures in my opinion, and I found myself missing them.
• A full fledged RSS reader: while the RSS mapping feature is nice it is not very practical and seems experimental. I feel that you really need a full-fledged reader associated with VUE that can act as a springboard for mapping RSS items (or, if not, a VUE plugin for a good open source RSS reader, similar to the one for Zotero).
• For URLs (or Zotero items clipped from the web), it would be great to be able to right click “grab URL screenshot” or somesuch (next to the “add most relevant Flickr image”option for example). Ironically the “Node Info” context entry for a URL includes a URL screenshot, but will not allow you to save the screenshot to the mind map for some reason.

The verdict: VUE offers a good balance between complexity and ease of use, and between offering the simple building blocks needed to create mind maps of all kinds, on the one hand, and sophisticated tagging, analytical, and presentation tools on the other.

But more than this, VUE is a very ambitious program that aspires to be no less than a comprehensive data visualization environment. And although it does a terrific job at accomplishing this, it still feels like it has some ways go. It is very sophisticated and accessible; however, it is not a perfect program (yet), and I frequently found myself wishing that some details or features were done differently (see wish list above). Moreover, it seems that in order to become a comprehensive information visualization tool VUE plugins would need to be developer for many programs where information is gathered, such as an email clients, RSS readers, notes apps, etc.

Having said this, VUE is without a doubt a terrific achievement and a very unique program, and is rapidly getting better and better. I highly recommend you try it!

Version Tested: 3.0 beta4b2. Requires Java 1.5+

Compatibility: Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7), Mac (OS X 10.4+) , Linux (JAR only version)

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 55.9 megs). Note that you will need to create an account with a valid email address to access the download link.

Ninite is a revolutionary new way of installing the software you want. Instead of having to download and install each program individually Ninite will do it all for you. Simply go to the Ninite website, choose the programs you want, download the installer and run it. That’s it. That simple. You can now go off and do something less boring whilst Ninite downloads and installs the programs for you.

[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Carbonize. Check out his tech blog here].

Ninite is also clever and it will not install toolbars or anything else that the programs try to install. It also checks what language your PC is using and whether it is 64bit or not and then installs the correct version of the software.

Ninite has only supports a limited number of programs at present (66) but does offer some of the more popular and better known software. The software is ordered in sections such as web browsers, messaging, media players and security. The software featured includes popular titles such as Firefox, Opera, , Pidgin, Thunderbird, iTunes, KMPlayer, Aimp, Paint.NET, GIMP, Irfanview, Open Office, Microsoft Security Essentials, Avast, Spybot, Flash (both IE and non IE), Silverlight, uTorrent, Dropbox,CCleaner, CDBurnerXP and 7-Zip (and one of my favorites, Digsby).

The only problems I have with Ninite are just little niggles. The first is that it installs software with it’s default settings. Whilst this is not a bad thing it does mean that you get everything that Spybot does including security center integration and it’s system monitoring. Also, whilst it does install the appropriate version of the program for your language, it does not always install the correct version of your language. So for me here in the UK I get the English version of things like Firefox and Thunderbird but it is the US English and not the British English. As I said only minor niggles and not major show stoppers.

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the program home page to download.

If you need a personal calendar app with tasks, notes, and contacts functions you should take a look at this program. Something about this is highly appealing: it is built to be a workhorse not a showhorse. Here are more notes on this program.

• The interface: is quite nice. Aside from the tabs, which are great, there is an economy to the interface that makes this program easy to use, without sacrificing complexity in function. Osmo minimizes to the system tray, making it quickly and easily accessible.
• Calendar view: is my favorite. It will display all kinds of info which can customized in the settings, including tasks for the selected day, week numbers, previous and next month, etc. You can add a note for each day that is separate from the main notes tab. The Calendar tab offers iCalendar export/import functions.
• The task list: tasks can have a due date or not, and you can request an alarm or set a recurrent task if you need to. You can categorize, set the priority, and add notes to tasks, and print them out as a task list. You can right click on any day in the calendar view and create a task for that date, which is cool. There’s also date-dependent task coloring,
• Notes: you can create a note for each day in the calendar, which is actually quite useful, or otherwise use the "Notes" tab for proper notes functionality. There are some formatting options for the text, such as styles, highlighting, separator and date insertion. Notes can also be categorized (and filtered by category) as well as password-encrypted.
• Contacts: there is a comprehensive array of informational fields used for contacts, and you can import and export these from/to a CVS file. Tagging is implemented for contacts as well as a search function.
• Keyboard shortcuts: if you like the efficiency that keyboard shortcuts provide then you’ve just won the jackpot, as every single function in Osmo can be performed via hotkeys.
• Google Calendar integration / iCalendar subscriptions: this is NOT implemented in the version I tested but mentioned in the TODO section on the Osmo site.

Wish list (or how this program can be even better)

• Global search: is strangely absent. It is possible to search contacts in the contacts tab or search within each individual note, but there really needs to be a separate global search function, perhaps in its own tab.
• Tags: implementation of tags would be great (tags differ from categories in that an element, such as a note or task, can be associated with multiple tags rather than a single category).
• Applying categories across the board: I was surprised to find out that I had to define my categories for the notes tab then re-define the same ones for the tasks tab.
• Clickable URL links inside notes: was surprised that URLs were not clickable, which is a disadvantage if, like me, you do a lot of internet research.
• Make the column heads clickable: for sorting purposes, in the task list. Although you can set rules for default sorting of tasks in the settings, its nice to be able to sort by clicking column headers.

The verdict: a very nice program overall, with a simplicity that gives it considerable appeal. I quite like the ability to switch off modules to focus on the functions I need. For example I only want to use the task management and calendar functions, and can simply switch the other modules off.

However, Osmo can (and should) be much improved (see wish list above). iCalendar and especially Google Calendar integration would take this program to the next level and significantly broaden its potential target audience.

If you’re looking for a nice, clean and light PIM give this one a shot; you will probably like it.

Version Tested: 0.2.8

Compatibility: Windows, Linux

Go to the program home page for more info, or the Osmo project page at Sourceforge to download the latest version (approx 4.8 megs).

If you’ve been reading this blog then you likely have seen previous posts about converting PDF to Word using free software or services (see the comparative test of free PDF to Word options). Generally speaking there are some good solutions for performing PDF to Word conversions for free; however, the best ones tend to be free web services where you upload your document to a web site and download the converted file. For local conversions on your own PC, gDoc Creator is without a doubt one of the best free options available.

This program has a number of notable features, as follows:

1. Can convert to multiple formats: DOC, PDF, XPS. You can use it not just to convert PDF to DOC but vice versa, or convert other Office formats (e.g. PowerPoint) to DOC, PDF or XPS. The program installs virtual PDF and XPS printers that can convert any printable document into these two formats.
2. Multiple conversion profiles: gDoc creator will give you several options for how a document is to be produced. For PDF for example, it offers the following profiles; Retain Page Layout (which is my favorite), Retain Text Editability, and Retain Text Flow. You can alternate using these depending on your needs.
3. Installs MS Office add-ons for saving as PDF or XPS. Although it may be noted that Microsoft has such an add-on for Office 2007. The gDoc creator add ons are supposed to work on Office 2003 as well.
4. Excellent conversion: although you CAN get better conversions (see the ’verdict’ section below), generally speaking the conversions are excellent. Image handling could be much better though; see the test below for more information on quality of conversion.
5. Blazing fast conversions: I could not believe just how fast I was able to convert PDFs and other documents containing several dozen pages.
6. Download size: is a whopping (and somewhat puzzling) 120 megs.
7. Installs browser extensions: that handle PDF files when reading them online. Not bad, but most likely not needed if your browser already opens PDF files; I would recommend unchecking this option when installing the program.

gDoc Creator Free vs. gDoc Fusion Trial: note that while gDoc Creator is free (which is the conversion engine that adds the real value), it comes bundled with a trial version of gDoc Fusion, which is a document viewer and editor in the style of PDF Split and Merge 2, and which for some reason takes way too much time to load. While you do not need gDoc Fusion for conversions, and you do not need to use it in place of your current PDF viewer or editor, gDoc Creator has the annoying habit of using it to open your documents after each conversion. You can certainly live with this, but to go around it I simply renamed the “gDocFusion.exe” executable to something else, and would click “ok” at the end of a conversion when notified that the program was not found.

gDoc Creator’s PDF to DOC conversion tested:

I performed my 4 usual document conversions: (1) the US Form W-4 Tax forms; (2) a typical “read-me” type PDF containing text, images, and links, (3) a table with embedded images and other formatting, and (4) a PDF that is entirely generated from an image source. Here is a summary of the results.

• General layout: excellent; especially using the “Retain Page Layout” profile.
• Image handling: will convert ALL images and formatting in a page to a single big image, which depending on what you need can be very annoying, but it works and keeps the text editable.
• Handling of tables: does not create actual Word tables, but your final output will approximate tables using text boxes and images. Not creating tables is typical of most PDF to Word conversion software. Note that web services PDF to Word Free and PDF to Excel Free will render actual tables in Word and Excel, respectively.
• Handling of text boxes: is generally excellent. Three pre-set conversion profiles that gDoc offers differ in their treatment of text. “Retain Page Layout” renders both the page and text boxes fairly well, “Retain Text Editability” is supposed to do exactly that, except as far as I could see it did the exact same job for the text as “Retain Page Layout”. Finally, “Retain Text Flow” will produce ta single, continuous editable text, but will not convert images, layout, or formatting.
• Handling of text formatting: very good in general, such as font style and shading, although in one of my tested numbered lists were converted into bulleted points.
• Hyperlinks: amazingly, there were working hyperlinks in the output DOC files right were they were supposed to be.
• Handling of special characters: I did not test for this; let me know how gDoc Creater fares with this in the comments if your documents contain these.
• Fast performance: I converted multiple documents containing dozens of pages in a matter of seconds.

The verdict: I would say that generally speaking this software does a terrific job converting PDF to Word, and offers the added benefit of converting MS Office documents to PDF and XPS formats as well. As a local, desktop-based PDF to DOC converter this software is one of the best available. It probably is better or as good as Smart Soft’s Free PDF to Word Converter, although compared to that one the huge 120 meg download and the large local footprint (not to mention the annoying trial version of gDoc fusion) are disadvantages.

And while generally speaking the PDF to DOC conversion is not as good as that provided by the PDF to Word Free web service, especially when it comes to image handling and to handling actual tables in the output DOC, gDoc Converter would be the better choice if (a) you do not care to upload your business or private documents to a web service but prefer to perform the conversions on your own machine, (b) if you have many documents to convert, and would like to get it done quickly, (c) if your primary conversion objective is to get the text into Word so you can edit it, and (d) if your documents are fairly straightforward and not and the layout not too complicated.

Version Tested: 2.1

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7.

Go to the program page to download this program (approx 120 megs).

This program provides an interesting way of looking at information, displayed within semitransparent windows that look like they are embedded within the desktop wallpaper. Note, however, that the windows are not part of the active desktop but in fact are semitransparent floating windows. More information as follows:

• Customization: you can optionally have a title bar or scroll bar for your windows. You can also customize the font color, two background colors that constitue a gradient, as well as the level of transparency.
• Interaction: you can move these windows about (whether or not they have a titlebar), scroll up or down using either the scrollbar or up/down arrows, or select and copy text. You cannot edit and/or add text though.
• Multiple windows: one nice thing about Klogshow is that you can have a number of windows on the desktop simultaneously.
• How to use: right click the tray icon, go to the "files" tab, browse to the desired file(s), then add the file(s) to the list. Next, right click the tray icon, go to log select, and check the files you want to be displayed on the desktop.
• Memory usage: about 18 megs, which is not quite lightweight but not too large either.

Wish list (or how this program can be even better):

• The ability to set a transparent background: strangely, while you can create a two-color gradient for your background, it does not seem to allow for a simple transparent (non) background.
• Hiding the program entries in the taskbar: for each text window that you display the program will have an associated taskbar entry. Which is kind of strange. Although the program allows you to hide it altogether (text windows and taskbar entries both), it would be better if you could hide the taskbar entries without hiding the text windows themselves.
• Always on top, or always on bottom: for each individual window, would be great.
• The ability to render a window non-interactive; i.e., to affix it to a spot without being resizable or movable.

The verdict: depending on the circumstances (and how creative your are), this could be a really useful program, although it can be much better (see wish list above). Note that there are other programs that provide a similar function, such as multi function system monitoring and desktop enhancement tool Samurize.

Version Tested: 1.0.4

Compatibility: Windows, Linux.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 5.6 megs).

Are you interested in stocks? Do you invest or want to invest? Whatever your need, if you’ve ever wanted to put a stock ticker on your desktop this is the program that will do it. Here are more notes on this app:

• Data source: stock prices and news headlines are downloaded from Yahoo Finance.
• Info provided: stock price and difference from last price in dollars and percentages, color coded.
• Interactivity: hover over your stock price and a balloon tooltip with the latest related headlines from Yahoo Finance will be displayed.
• Regular RSS feeds: can be defined in the settings. You can then right click on any of the scrolling lines and select an RSS feed to view it. You can also randomize regular RSS feeds or randomize RSS feeds and stocks (see image to the right).
• Number of lines/tickers: you can have up to six bands scrolling simultaneously.
• Placement: top or bottom (which can be defined in the setup)
• Customizable: you can customize text and background colors, opacity, and scrolling speed.

Wish list (or how this program can be even better)

• The ability to switch interactivity on and off. I noticed that I would inadvertently trigger tooltips during my normal computer activity without intending it. It would be great if, for example, the stock ticker optionally responded to shift+clicking rather than just clicking, to avoid unintended triggering.
• The ability to remove Fox news and CNN RSS feeds, which are predefined.

The verdict: a nice little app for sure. I like (a) that it can display regular RSS feeds as well as stock, (b) that the scrolling is nice and smooth, and (c) its general look and feel, which is quite nice (see the screenshots). But Free Stock Ticker can be even better (see wish list above).

Note that there are a number of free programs that deliver the same function, such as another app with the exact same name (Free Stock Ticker) and TickerTape. If you want to try another program that is just an RSS news ticker and dont care for stocks check out Easy Desk Ticker which I mentioned previously in my posting entitled "Nine Ways to Check RSS feeds".

Version Tested: 1.2.2

Compatibility: WinAll. Requires MS .NET Framework 3.5. Download it here.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 319K).

[Editor’s note: this post was written by Freewaregenius contributor EngineerHead. Check out his tech blog here].

TV channels listings are called Electronic Program Guides (EPG), also known as Interactive Program guides (IPG) or Electronic Service Guides (ESG). These are provided by TV distribution services or through newspapers, but if you are looking for a utility that can bring the schedules of your favorite TV channels right to your desktop then TV-Browser is the program that you’re looking for.

Here are more notes on this program:

• Ease of use: initial configuration and selecting network settings and TV channels is pretty easy. If a problem occurs, there is a setup assistant to guide the user.
• Reminders: you can add reminders for your favorite program. By default, the program displays a notification at a specific time interval before the program’s scheduled time. It can be modified to launch an application depending upon the requirement.
• Calendar Support: The favorite TV listings can be added to the preferred Calendar application. TV-Browser supports MS Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, iCal, and vCal files.
• Add Favorites: a program can be added to favorites based on your defined filters such as actor, subject or program. In the Favorites wizard, an alert can be activated to inform you whenever a matching program is found.
• Genres View: in tree view, the user can navigate through a list of programs based on Genres. This option provides an easy way to find a program depending upon the taste of viewer.
• Recording Option: recording control is enabled for systems with digital receivers. TV-Browser can interact with common hardware and software configurations; check this link for a list. There is some support available to enable the user’s recording configuration, if it is not listed.
• Extensibility: the application’s functions can be enhanced and refined through plug-in development. Users can also customize the look of TV-Browser with themes and icons.

The verdict: this program is a one-stop destination for all of your favorite TV channel information, but it also offers advanced features like reminder, recording control and calendar export, making it a rich application. Last but not least, if your favorite TV channel is not present in the list, you can request to add it. Rush and Grab it and you will never again miss your favorite program.

Version Tested: 2.7

Compatibility: multiplatform Windows, Linux, Mac. Requires Java 5 Run Time Environment or higher. Get latest version of Java here.

Visit the TV-Browser’s website for more information. The download links are on this page(approximate download size ~ 2.7 MBs).

You likely have a reason for having multiple browsers installed on your PC (assuming that you do!). I use IE7 at work, for example, because most of the people who browse our work sites use that browser and I prefer to have their same browsing experience. But I also have Firefox installed because of the many interesting extensions and plugins that it has, etc.

Whatever your reasons for having multiple browsers, BrowserMaster is a small app that becomes, in effect, your default browser, and once it detects a request to open an internet link it briefly flashes browser icons on screen and allows you to quickly select the browser that you want to use. More notes below:

• Applies to links clicked outside a browser: for example shortcuts on your desktop, in a notes program, in an email notifier app, in an Office or PDF document or an email client, etc. Links clicked inside a browser behave as normal.
• Links: works for HTTP:\\ or HTTPS:\\ links.
• Default wait time: it gives you 2 seconds to choose your browser before going with the default. This can be changed in the settings file, but has to be done manually using a text editor. The settings file is in “C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Application Data\BrowserMaster\BrowserMaster.xml”; find the “delayin seconds” tag and change the value from 2 to something else.
• Other settings: from the settings file mentioned above, you could also enable/disable specific browsers. Find and change (Enabled=”true”) to (Enabled=”false”) for each listed browser.

Wish list (or how to make this program even better)

• Force a choice: I wish that BrowserMaster could be set to force the user to make a choice rather than the few seconds that this version waits for a decision.
• Set a default browser: it does not seem possible to set a default browser choice. It will default to whatever browser is open, but if no browser is open it defaulted to something and I couldn’t figure out how it made its decision (or whether that can be changed).
• Present a choice when opening local links: for pages that were stored on my hard drive, it didn’t give a choice, which I thought was strange.
• GUI interface: to quickly change the settings. Would be great.

The verdict: an original, clever little app that has a lot of potential. As it is it can be very useful, but they can really push this one and make it a lot better in my opinion. Check it out for yourself.

[Via: Umair from Crispytech tipped me off about this one; check out his BrowserMaster writeup here]

Version Tested: 1.1.0 Beta (note: I STRONGLY recommend installing this one over 1.0)

Compatibility: WinAll

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 376K).

[Editor's note: this post was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com].

Text 2 Mind Map

Text 2 Mind Map is listed as a work in progress, but it’s very complete in what it does. While it’s not as advanced as the other sites on the list, it is the most simple to use. You just make an outline of the text that you want in the left pane. Use Tab to indent and Shift+Tab to outdent to make the order of your thoughts. You can easily edit the list while you’re working on it or after the chart has been made.

The toolbox on the right is also straight forward and you can move it around to if it’s in your way. You can make the screen go full size in order to accommodate your chart if it’s too big. By default the chart will move around whenever you update it or drag nodes around so that everything is mostly equidistant. You can turn this off by checking the ‘Freeze map’ and then drag everything how you want it to look. You can change the size and the color of the text from the Toolbox and you change the color of each node level by clicking on the node and then the small arrow that appears. You can also change that coloring from the Toolbox under the Colors section. You can also choose to have each branch a separate color instead of each level if you’d prefer it that way under Coloring Method. Finally, you can change the line color and width as well.

You can save the Mind Map for working on later by just manually copy/pasting the outline to a file for yourself and you can save the image by hitting the ‘Save map…’ button in the toolbox to render a .jpg version of it.

Lovely Charts

Lovely Charts allows you to make flowcharts, sitemaps, wireframes, organization charts, network diagrams and pretty much anything else by allowing you to import .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, or .png images as symbols. Lovely Charts has a Basic, free version and a Premium version at $29 Euros a year. You can see what the version differences are on their FAQ page and judge for yourself if it’s worth the upgrade. The Basic version allows you to create diagrams with the full symbol library and the ability to export as .jpg or .png files. The diagrams will have a Lovely Charts logo with the free version. The free version allows you to have one editable document that can be collaborated upon with others.

To get started with Lovely Charts, just create account and enter the verification code that’s e-mailed to you. You’ll have to have Adobe Flash installed for your browser, but you can quickly start creating diagrams for whatever purpose you need. Some cool features of Lovely Charts includes opacity control for each symbol and the ability to quickly select a different symbol in the same library group from the right-click menu. You can also control the line width and arrow end of any pointing lines and align the symbols to a grid.

Lovely Charts uses a different type of control to create symbols that I didn’t quite find intuitive although I believe if I got accustomed to it, you could very quickly create charts if you had a specific purpose in mind. You start off by dragging a symbol from the toolbar onto the grid. You then drag that object to where you want the next object to be and a copy will be made with an arrow pointing back to the original object. You can then right-click the new object to change it to a different symbol if needed. While an interesting method that seemed very smooth, I think I would prefer a more static system where I could just drag an object, drag a different object, and then drag an arrow from one to another.

Creately

Creately is the full-blown experience and the best tool out of this list. It is a data driven, online diagramming & design suite all in one sharp web application. With Creately, you have a package that is much more comparable to the full-blown commercial suites like Microsoft Visio. You can sign up for an account to get started immediately. Creately gives you a lot for free: unlimited public diagrams, 5 people collaborating on a diagram at most, the ability to publish/export, 10 megabytes of storage, and SSL protected connections. With the basic account, all exported documents are watermarked with the Creately logo. You can upgrade to the Creately Plus! account at a ‘pay what you want’ price. But back to the features you get with the basic account (free):

You can collaborate with people over flowcharts, mockups, network diagrams, presentations, sitemaps, and a lot more. You can easily create your charts using the drag and drop interface, resize shapes, and easily undo any mistakes you make along the way. In your collaborating, revisions will be made and your co-workers can leave comments on the revisions. As far as the visual display is concerned, you can style your charts or even make graphics out of the tools available at hand including gradients, style, text size and font, and the alignment of nodes.

You can export your diagrams as an image, a PDF file, an XML data file, or send through e-mail. Your diagrams can all be saved under your account for easy access from any Flash-enabled browser. Creately also uses tabs to allow you to work on multiple files easily at the same time.

See their demo video for a tour and a display of its awesome ability to intelligently work with network diagrams and other features:

This is one of those programs that are difficult to write about just because they contain so many functions and do many things. In some ways Signo is comparable to such automation tools as AutoHotkey, although it is less complex and more accessible. However, unlike AutoHotkey Signo does not have a scripting component so it is not a full fledged macro engine and development environment.

Aside from its accessibly what I also like about Signo is that it is very small (occupies a mere 9 megs in memory); I also like that it can give you a sort of "shortcut report" for your system that displays all of its keyboard shortcuts as well as ones that are used by other apps and by Windows (part of which is in fact pictured in the screenshot above).

Here are 7 (Seven!) cool things that this program can do:

1. Snap windows to the edges of the screen: in the style of Windows 7, using keyboard shortcuts (Alt+Win+Up/left/right/top/bottom).
2. Minimize to tray: (Ctrl+Win+T) will minimize the current window or app to the tray. Interestingly, you can minimize all windows to the tray in one fell swoop by pressing (Ctrl+Win+Z).
3. Launch apps and URLs: from the system tray or via hotkey.
4. Auto corrections (and abbreviations): we’ve seen this before with AutoHotkey; you can add frequently misspelled words to a list such that every time you type in a misspelling it is automatically corrected for you.
5. Insert predefined text: you can either set a custom hotkey that would insert a specified text, or define a "textkey" that you can type in and watch it magically being transformed to your predefined text (e.g. you can set "#sig" to automatically insert your signature/name/etc. inside the text you’re writing).
6. Optimize applications’ memory utilization: this program is by the same developer who released Minimem, an excellent memory optimization utility designed to reduce the memory footprint of individual programs. It would appear that they have incorporated that program’s functionality into Signo such that you could add any app from within Signo and create a shortcut that would optimize its memory use. Super cool!. For browsers use the predefined Shift+Win+B if your browser starts gobbling up large amounts of RAM.
7. Context menu of functions, anywhere: Ctrl+Alt+leftmouse will display a handy context menu of Signo functions anywhere you happen to be at that time.

Wish list: (or how this program can be even better)

• Disabling functions: although it is possible to delete functions you don’t want, I found myself wishing I could simply de-activate them without deleting (as it is you have the option to export them then delete, which keeps the option to re-import later if you want to).
• The screenshot function: needs to be improved. I was not able to capture a screenshot of a context menu (the program kept releasing it for me), wasn’t able to define a quality setting for my saved JPG, wasn’t able to attach a suffix or prefix to filenames. A "Repeat last capture" function would also be good.

The verdict: a nice program overall. If you find that it contains a bit too many functions and shortcuts you can always remove the ones that you don’t want and customize the keyboard shortcuts if needed. And at 9 megs in memory, Signo manages to be both powerful and small. Check it out.

Version Tested: 1.4

Compatibility: Windows 2003, Vista, Server 2008, 2000, XP, Windows 7.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 2.46 megs).

[Editor’s note: this review was contributed by blogger Ishan of ILoveFreeSoftware.com].

When Twitter was launched, I was really skeptical about how far it would go. 140 characters seemed like a joke. However, Twitter has proved me and tons of others wrong. Part of its strength is attributable to Twitter’s openly accessible API, whcih anyone can use that for free to build their own custom software (and which developers, unlike iPhone applications, do not need to get approval from Twitter). This API is why many people have come with up some really innovative applications around Twitter, and TweetMyPC is one of them.

To start, you need to install TweetMyPC on the PC that you need to control remotely. I find it useful to install this on my home PC, so that I can get stuff from it while I am in office or on vacation. After that, you need to associate the program with a Twitter account that TweetMyPC will monitor for your tweets. It is recommended that you create a separate Twitter account for TweetMyPC rather than use your primary Twitter account. Also, you should disable public access of your new Twitter account, so that no one else can do some fishy activity on your PC by sending tweets to your new account. To disable public access of your Twitter account, go to Twitter then Settings. In the "Account" tab, you will see an option at bottom that says "Protect my tweets". Once you check this option no one can follow your tweets. Also, do not follow anyone with this new account, otherwise their tweets will start coming in your timeline, and can confuse TweetMyPC.

Another step you need to take is associate a Gmail account with TweetMyPC. This email account will be used to get files from your PC (as I will explain later). You can choose an existing Gmail account, but you will need to provide your Gmail password as well, so I would recommend creating a new Gmail account for this. Once you are done with the setup, TweetMyPC will monitor your assigned Twitter account in one minute intervals to see to see if there are tweets that it needs to act on. Once you send a command to TweetMyPC it will act on that tweet and send you a tweet in response.

Here are some of the main things that TweetMyPC can do for you:

• Shutdown/Restart your PC: just tweet "Shutdown", and TweetMyPC will shutdown your system. Similarly, "Logoff", "Reboot", "Lock", "Hibernate", "Standby" will do the respective tasks as their names suggest.
• Get Screenshot of your system: if you are wondering what might be happening on your system in your absence, you can just tweet "Screenshot". TweetMyPC will grab a screenshot of your PC, and post it on Twitpic. It will then tweet you link to that screenshot.
• Download a file to your system: let’s say you want to start downloading some big file on your system so that the download is completed by the time you reach home. To do that, just tweet "download URL". TweetMyPC will start downloading the file from the URL that you mentioned. Note, however, that you need to use a URL shortened by Bit.ly
• Get a file from your PC: Let’s say you want to get a file from your computer. Just tweet "get" followed by file path. TweetMyPC will send you the file from the specified path at the Gmail address that you specified above. If you do not know the exact path of the file, you can tweet "getfilelist" followed by drive. TweetMyPC will send you list of files and folders in that drive. You can use that to find exact path of file you are looking for, and then use "get" command to get that file.

TweetMyPC has some other interesting commands as well and also an option to define your own command. All this makes TweetMyPC a really versatile tool that is very intelligent and still one of the simplest applications to use. Shoban, the developer of this software, has done some great out of the box thinking to come up with the idea for this innovative freeware, and then to implement it so beautifully. Love it!

Version Tested: 2.0

Compatibility: Windows, Mac. Windows version requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or higher.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 931K).

[Editor’s note: this posting was contributed by Freewaregenius reader Elioz Hefer; to whom I offer my extreme thanks and gratitude].

After a period of using MS Internet Explorer, my computer’s response time has become slower and I have encountered repeated problems of being thrown out from IE8 (especially). I have come to the conclusion that a clutter of addons has caused it, and resetting to default regrettably hasn’t been much help.

I therefore turned to the portable version of Mozilla firefox, with the thought that I would prefer to preserve my PC hygiene as much as possible. I have learned in time that my most valuable asset is the speed and quick response time of a computer, and therefore I try to avoid fixed installations. I also found that virtualizations such as Altiris SVS help but do not completely block remains of programs, and the same goes for programs that monitor or record program installations such as Magical Uninstall.

Firefox Portable Edition is the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser bundled with the PortableApps.com Launcher as a portable app, so you can take your bookmarks, extensions and saved passwords with you. Mozilla Firefox Portable Edition can be copied to a thumb drive so that you can use it whereever you go.

One problem though is that Firefox Portable Edition does not register itself with the system, and
thus cannot be set as the default browser using the GUI. Whenever turning to a new Url (within Portable Firefox or from library links I have previously saved, my PC would continuously opens IE8. Which is why I started looking for a way to set the portable version of Firefox to the default browser without installing the regular non portable version and the least degree of integration with my system.

The solution came in the form of very elegant program called DefaultBrowser written by Ramesh of “Ramesh’s site“, a resource dedicated to troubleshooting windows XP. This small utility can set the default browser according to user preference. What’s more, it is reversible and doesn’t install itself on the system that I could notice. Download it here.

Here is how to set Firefox Portable as the default browser for your user profile in Windows XP.

1. Download DefaultBrowser and unzip to the folder of your choice
2. Run the executable and select Firefox Portable from the list of browsers (see screenshot above) then click Apply.
3. In the Browse dialog box, select the location where the executable FirefoxPortable.exe is located.
4. That’s it. Very quickly and like magic Firefox Portable is now set as the default browser for your user account.

Notes:

1. If your desired browser is not on the list: in this case click browse button in the “for other browsers” section and point to the desired browser executable.
2. DefaultBrowser doesn’t change the IE shortcut in the “Quick Launch” menu which will still open Internet Explorer. Therefore you must manually put a shortcut of the Portable Firefox executable in the quick launch folder. To do that click the quick launch area and then choose Open folder, you can then drag create shortcuts in there or remove the ones you don’t want (I wouldn’t delete the explorer Icon from that folder in case you wish to reverse things).
3. Reversing this process: is done is done very easily by opening the small DefaultBrowser utility and choosing the reset button.
4. Important: If you’re using Mozilla Firefox Portable Edition from a USB disk: whenever the drive-letter for the USB disk changes, you’ll need to re-register FirefoxPortable.exe using the DefaultBrowser utility. For instance, the drive-letter for your USB disk may change when adding additional hardware in your system.

That’s it, enjoy!

Version Tested: 1.8

Compatibility: Windows XP.

Go to the DefaultBrowser page to download the latest version (approx 31K).

If you’re interested in a single-stop ebook and edocument reader check out STDU Viewer. It offers support for many ebook formats, including PDF, Deja-Vu, as well as the comic book formats CBZ and CBR, and is an excellent program to boot.

If you’re wondering if STDU Viewer is a good PDF reader the answer is yes. Very good in fact, and makes for a great replacement to Adobe’s reader. Here are my top ten SIX things I like about this program:

1. One ebook reader to rule them all: I love the range of formats that it covers, which comprises the most common ebook formats on the internet.
2. Tabs: are not just for Firefox anymore, and the ability to work with multiple documents simultaneously each on its own tab is not only fashionable, it makes for a good user experience.
3. Search: what’s cool about the search function is that, unlike other readers, it doesn’t just jump to the next instance of the text but actually presents a list of results (see screenshot to the right)
4. User-defined double clicking action: STDU Viewer will divide the page into four quadrants and allows you to define an action to be performed when you double click on each quadrant. For example you could set it up such that if you double click on the bottom right of the screen the program would perform a page down.
5. Thumbnails: you could place page thumbnails and the left hand margin and use them to browse. Very cool (see screenshot at the top of this post). This applies to all formats and not just comic book archives.
6. Bookmarks: if you’re reading a document you need bookmarks right? Right. STDU allows you to set bookmarks for later use. It does not store these bookmarks within the document itself.

Wish list:

• Support for: .LIT and HTML Help CHM files. This would REALLY make this program an indispensable install.

The verdict: a very nice program; install this one and use for all (or most) of your ebook / edocument reading needs.

I also like that the program is so well laid out from a usability point of view and that it is kept so simple and straightforward. Now if they would only extend their support to .LIT and .CHM files! Regardless, this reader is highly recommended.

Version Tested: 1.5

Compatibility: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 1.65 megs).

This software is similar to Windows’ built in file search function (and different from other desktop search apps previously mentioned on Freewaregenius such as Everything, DKFinder, and Locate32) in two major ways; (1) it will perform searches on demand rather than pre-index your hard drive, and (2) it will look inside file contents and not just in file and folder names.

As such it is a direct replacement for Windows’ internal desktop search, with one major improvement: the file filtering and queries possible with FileSeek are simply a cut above the default Windows search. In fact, with its support for regular expressions you can perform searches such as the following: find me all files that contain the text "bla bla bla" or if the file path contains "internet", also look for text "blabity bla" excluding HTML and PHP files and excluding any files that have "bob" or "smith" anywhere in the title. You will have to be familiar with the regular expression query syntax to do this of course (see this link for a regex tutorial). More on regular expressions here.

More notes on this software:

• It integrates into Windows’ context menu: you can right click folders or files to quickly search inside. You can add or remove these from the settings.
• It has advanced filtering abilities: very handy even if you will never use sophisticated regular expression syntax.
• Regular Expressions: supports regular expressions
• It looks inside file contents: in contrast to the desktop search apps mentioned in the second paragraph above.
• You can easily exclude/include folder name or path matches from results
• Preview pane: displays the search results as found inside a file
• First instance or all instances: when your searched text is found inside a file, the program can list the first instance where it was found only as an entry in the list of results or it can list the same file multiple time showing all instances of the found text inside that file.
• Does not search/index files in the background: all processing is performed on-demand. It does not create databases and representations of your hard drives.
• Portable: no-install zipped version available for download.

Wish list (or how this program can be even better)

• The ability to switch searching inside files on/off: sometimes I just want to search for filenames and I do not want to search inside a file; I wish there was a simple checkbox I could use to switch searching file contents on/off.
• To not pester me about updates if I am offline: currently, if I use this offline I get a message that it wasn’t able to check for updates.

The verdict: as a replacement for Windows’ built in search function this is an excellent option. I particularly like the versatile filtering and the fact that it can search inside files.

The program has some very cool filtering options for filtering (including/excluding) file types even if you don’t know regular expression syntax. And although I personally am not a regular expressions expert I like that they are supported and that I could put together a sophisticated query if I need to. Recommended.

Version Tested: 1.8.3

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista (x86/x64), Windows 7 (x86/64), 2000 SP4, 2003 and 2008.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 390K).

I am interested in the larger question of the different ways we request and consume information, and often think about the many different ways that RSS feeds are delivered and read, which is how this post was borne.

1- Using a web-based reader [Google Reader]: probably the most successful of the many free web-based RSS aggregators, Google Reader is the one I use to handle the many dozens of RSS feeds I subscribe to. The advantage of using a web based reader is, of course, the ability to access your RSS feeds from anywhere (say from a computer terminal at your local library), or even from a mobile device such as an iPhone.

Google Reader offers the ability to organize feeds in categories and tags and supports multimedia feeds such as podcasts. But what I like about Google reader is that it will maintain a history of RSS subscriptions that is preserved long after the original feed has moved on (i.e. you can see the backlog/history of an RSS feed previous to the latest 20 stories that a feed will typically display at any one time). Another unique feature is the option to “star” an RSS entry and have Google Reader broadcast your starred items within your very own RSS feed, which is a great way to filter out just the stuff you are interested in (and share your ’starred items’ RSS feed with others or on a widget on your site if you like). Instructions on how create a “starred items” feed in Google reader here. Also note that Google Reader also provides the ability the follow other users that use it and/or to share news items amongst users.

Alternative: Bloglines is another web-based aggregator option that is excellent.

2- Using a desktop aggregator [RSSOwl]: I’ve used many local freeware RSS clients, but the open source and multiplatform RSSOwl is my favorite (available for Windows/Linux/Mac). One feature I particularly like is its sophisticated, multi-criteria searches which you can actually save for later use. For example you could search for the terms “freeware PDF” and specify which feeds you want it to search in (say, only in 4 feeds) as well as where you want it to search (say, in just the headline, or the entire text). Finally you can save the search so it becomes an item in the sidebar alongside all the other feeds, and gets updated with new search results as new feeds are downloaded.

RSSOwl also supports tagging (which it terms adding “labels”) and will let you organize your RSS views using many different criteria (by date, by author, by category, by topic, by state, by “stickiness”, by label, by rating, or by feed). It also supports the so-called “river of news” viewing style where it will aggregate stories bases on date irrespective of the feeds they belong to. The other thing I like about RSSOwl is that it supports ATOM newsfeeds, which some clients strangely miss). It also can display RSS updates as they come in in the system tray area.

Two things I would love to see are (a) better support for Podcasts and multimedia feeds, and (b) an interface that is a little more user friendly; still, RSS Owl is definitely my favorite local RSS client.

3- Using a desktop widget [Klipfolio]: at one time it seemed that everyone was clamoring to put widgets on your desktop, from Google desktop to Yahoo widgets to Microsoft desktop search (and not forgetting Vista’s internal widgets). But my favorite freeware widget engine by far is Klipfolio, which manages to combine an excellent user experience with low resource utilization on your PC (and offers a wide range of powerful widgets to boot). Klipfolio is a winner when it comes to the coolness factor alone. And aside from RSS feeds, its also a great way to put Facebook, stocks, weather, and other information on your desktop (assuming you want all those things to lay claims on your attention bandwidth at all times ).

Klipfolio can dock to the side of your screen or be displayed as a floating window. You can click on an RSS item to view it in the browser or hover over it to view the story, in-place, as a hovering tooltip (see screenshot).

4- As tabs on the edge of your desktop [Stick]: Stick is a nifty freeware app that allows you to place all sorts of information (such as notes, folders, and RSS feeds) within tabs on the side of your screen (see screenshot). It will also optionally display real-time notifications of incoming feeds in the system tray area.

What’s different about tabs, of course, is that unlike say desktop widgets they are less obtrusive and in-your-face, yet instantly and immediately accessible through a simple click. They can, in other words, be used to both organize information and de-clutter your desktop as well as make that information available at your fingertips simultaneously.

5- Inside a dockable area on your desktop [SideSlide]: similar in concept to “Stick” above, SideSlide delivers a sort of virtual desktop that you can dock and undock in the top of your screen, and where you can place many different things including notes, shortcuts, “virtual” containers that point to actual folders, and RSS feeds.

SideSlide’s dockable interface presents another interesting option for making information instantly available within a couple of clicks yet being able to keep it out of your way when you don’t want it. The interface takes a little bit of getting used to and is a little clunky, and the RSS function provides options such as searching and tagging, among others.

6- As post-it sticky notes [Note Mania] : I was considering a review of a freeware sticky notes program a few weeks ago called Note Mania. I didn’t end up writing one (although I probably should have, as it is a really good one), but what struck me as being really unique and original was the option to display RSS feeds as sticky notes on your desktop (see screenshot).

Just imagine: you log into your PC and the RSS feeds you subscribe to are displayed as sticky notes on your desktop. You can then delete the stories you are not interested in and either click on the ones you want to read or simply keep them as desktop sticky notes to remind you to read them later on.

7- Embedded into your wallpaper [Chaos Wallpaper]: this program will embed RSS feed stories into your active desktop. Feed items can be clickable as well as scrollable through the on-screen slider on the right, and will update/refresh your feeds periodically. If you know a bit of HTML you can tweak the CSS stylesheets in order to modify the way that feeds are displayed on the desktop.

Note that aside from this functionality Chaos Wallpaper also functions as a very competent wallpaper changer.

8- As scrolling stock-tickers across your screen [EasyDeskTicker]: EasyDeskTicker displays your RSS feeds as horizontally scrolling news-tickers reminiscent of the scrolling stock and/or news tickers that are displayed on TV and even in some public venues. It allows you to add any number of news-ticker streams, to place them anywhere on screen, and to customize their behavior and speed, their color scheme as well as the size of the fonts, etc.

I would say that this is one of the most versatile and powerful stock-ticker type RSS feed readers out there, and is visually very smooth and problem-free. Note, however, that this program is free for private use only (vs. commercial). Also note that the way it works is each horizontal ticker you add has its own options dialog, which at first I didn’t realize and caused me some confusion.

9- As email in your Inbox [FeedMyInbox]: if you prefer to receive email notifications rather than subscribe to RSS feeds, FeedmyInbox is a free web service that can receive RSS feeds for you and automatically email them to an address you specify. Please note, however, that many sites (such as this one) offer the option to subscribe to both RSS feeds or to email notifications, so in theory for many sites you will not need the FeedMyInbox service. However, if a site does not offer email notifications, or if you like its RSS feed better than the emails that it offers (and I know that for example that for Freewaregenius the emails are very abbreviated) then FeedMyInbox may be for you.

If you know of other interesting ways to access RSS feeds using free software or services please share in the comments section.

If you use Outlook, like I do at work, you may frequently want to keep it running in the background in order to get email and other notifications as-they-occur. Fine and dandy, except if it has to be running all the time, you may want Outlook to at least be out of the way, neatly tucked away as an icon in the system tray rather than cluttering up the taskbar. Strangely, however, Outlook by default does not have a minimize to tray option, which is where HideOutlook comes to the rescue. More notes on this one below:

• Minimizes Outlook to system tray: interestingly, there will be two icons in the system tray, the minimized Outlook icon, and the HideOutlook icon (which also looks like an Outlook icon).
• Launch common tasks: right click on the HideOutlook icon to launch common tasks such as new emails, notes, appointments, tasks, etc.
• Memory consumption: about 10 megs, which is quite small but seems like it could have been less.
• Optionally starts with Windows
• Also available for Outlook Express (see links below)

The verdict: HideOutlook provides a function which should have been included in Outlook, and once you start minimizing Outlook to the system tray you will not want to go back. Note that another way to minimize Outlook (or any app) to the system tray is by using Trayconizer, but HideOutlook is certainly easier to set up and provides extra functionality (it is also more straightforward in terms of recommending to other people).

Version Tested: 1.0.18

Compatibility: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP; probably Vista as well (please confirm if you have Vista). I tested with Outlook 2007.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 105K). Go here for HideOE for Outlook Express.

Do you know what you spend the most time on when you’re using your computer? For example, you may want to know how much time you spend checking and responding to email vs. the amount of time you spend on doing “real work” (vs. the amount of time you spend randomly browsing the internet). Recently I’d been thinking about the amount of time that I spend doing research online (a lot) compared with the amount of time that I am actually working on creating something, whether its my deliverables at work or creating actual posts for this blog.

Which is why I am now running ManicTime. Here are more notes this program:

• The User Interface: is divided into a day view and a “statistics” view where you can view a range of dates together. Four timelines are simultaneously visible in the day view (Computer Usage, Applications, Browsing, and Tags). Clicking on any of these will change the type of information that is displayed on the bottom half of the screen. Not that you can (a) click on any colored chunk in any timeline to zoom into that information, and (b) you can select any range with the mouse to hone in on that. ManicTime uses color coding for similar items listed in the data section, which makes it easy to work with these.
• Tagging: is a great way to organize information in a way that makes sense to you. For example you can create tags such as “Project A”, “Project B”, “Work”, “Personal”, or even, say “Procrastination” or “Research” or whatever… anything that makes sense. You can right click on any colored chunk on any timeline to apply a tag to it. You can also check items within the data table on the lower half of the screen then click the “Add Tag” button on the top left. Kind of unintuitive at first, but works.
• Charts: in the “statistics” tab, you can add any element (from the Computer Usage, Applications, Browsing, or Tag timelines) and chart it against other elements. Very cool.
• Filtering: in the “Day” tab, type straight into the “Filter” box on the bottom of the screen to filter. Or otherwise check the boxes next to the individual entries, move the mouse to the “Summary (Selection)” section on the right hand side, and right click “filter by this group”. Click on the “Clear” (next to the filter box) to unfilter.
• Off the record: right click on the “ManicTime” icon in the system tray and select “off the record” to manually tell the program to stop recording.
• Exporting data: to CSV, is possible. Select a specific date range or “all”. Note that the “table” tab in the statistics section is what’s exported, so make sure to add as much (or as little) data detail to that as you want.

The verdict: This is the kind of program you simply let run in the background and only interact with once it has had the time to collect sufficient data, once a week or so. It can provide a great deal of information; however, whether this info is useful and/or insightful largely depends on you, the user, and what you want to get out of it.

What I like is that allows so much control over the data and collects data with such granularity as every single URL you have visited. I would say that interacting with the data can be somewhat confusing though, esp. filtering and tagging (which is why I describe them in detail above). The other drawback is the memory usage which, at approx 46-55 megs on my machine, may be a little too resource intensive on some machines.

Still, this is a very mature program and what it does ManicTime does an excellent job. The breadth and sophistication that this program has built into it is commendable and honestly quite surprising, and certainly is one of the best free programs of its kind. Recommended.

ManicTime Video Tutorial, Part 1:

For more tutorials, see the links below, or go to the Tutorials section on the program home page.

ManicTime Video Tutorial, Part 2
ManicTime Video Tutorial, Part 3

Version Tested: 1.2.1.0

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 4.81 megs).

This program will let you view/download stock data in real time and define portfolios of stocks and monitor their activity and profit/loss; but the WOW-inducing feature is the ability for users to define their own "Stock Indicators" and to have the program automatically deliver alerts based on these. For example, you can tell JStock to alert you by SMS if it finds a stock price that’s at the highest its been for the past 6 months. This may not sound too exciting if you just have one or two stocks that you are interested in, but JStock will do this for hundreds of stocks that you might want to monitor and define in its database. Here are more notes on this program:

• How it works: the main "Real Time Info" tab displays a list of stocks that you can monitor. Although it is pre-populated when you launch the program, note that you can delete stocks from the list and add just the ones you find relevant. Also note that you can select the country of interest and download the entire list of stocks for that country, which is very convenient. If your stock is somehow not showing you can add it to the database individually. JStock will now download price changes in real-time for these, and will even chart . Once you have your list, sorting by column headers can be a great help. I would say, however, that the list is in need of more filtering options (see my wish list below)
• Charting: right click on an individual stock and click "History" to receive an instant 10-year chart for the stock in question showing both stock prices and trade volume. You can also request a candlestick chart. You can limit the range of charted data by simply drawing a rectangle over the time period you are interested in with the mouse.
• Alerts: once you set up your desired "Stock Indicators" (see below) JStock can deliver SMS, Email, or system tray alerts based on these. SMS alerts are 100% free (you need to set up a Google Calendar account and register your mobile number; more info here). Alerts can be sent for stocks in your "real time" list, for an entire country’s stock market, for a particular board such as the NYSE, for a unknown "industries" (I am not sure exactly how JStock comes up with these), or, perhaps most useful, for the stocks that are user-defined in your database (choose "user-defined" industry for this one).
• Stock Indicators: JStock allows you to create your own indicators and use these to generate alerts. A visual editor is built into JStock that allows you to create these without any programming skills; however, it helps to know what you are going after . I simply re-created the indicator that was described in the help section and it was apparent to me just how powerful and versatile these indicators could be. The image to the right shows an alert that will be triggered when the stock’s current last price is the maximum it has been for the past 14 days. Very cool!
• Portfolio Management: this is where you can record transactions that occur on a list of stocks and keep track of your profit and loss. I did not really use this, but I imagine that it would be extremely value added
• Chatting: I was not able to find anyone to chat with; either there were no users online or I set it up incorrectly (although the set-up seemed super easy).

Wish list:

• Tagging: it would be great if you could create custom tags and associate them with stocks (perhaps in the user-defined stocks database entries), and then use these later for filtering/grouping, for alerts, or other operations.
• Filtering: I found it strange that are no means to isolate a stock or group of stocks in a list and view these in isolation. You cannot even type in a stock ticker symbol and filter it out from the list. What would be tremendously value-added is if you could filter each column Excel-style using certain criteria (e.g. only if the Chg% is larger or smaller than a certain value, etc). Of course you can currently create Stock Indicators and filter lists that way, but it would be so much more user-friendly to be able to filter on-the-fly.
• Downloading: ok so I charted the past 12 months for stock x; now can I please download these into CSVl? A strange omission.
• Chart range pre-sets: as in "the past week", "the past 1 month", "2 months", "1 Year", etc., to be selected from a dropown. Another very strange omission.
• Pre-defined indicators: it would be cool if the program with a few "clever" or value added indicators pre-defined, to get people started with indicators.

The verdict: this program one of the best in its category. It could use a streamlining of the user interface to make it more user-friendly, but it makes up for that in the power that it has under the hood and the sheer ambition of its covered functionality. Occasional or regular investors alike will find this program very useful and value added. Highly recommended!

Version Tested: 1.0.4i

Compatibility: Windows/Linux/Mac/Solaris

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 16.5 megs).