Description: Pictomio is a free image viewer which features a slick, modern interface and 3D accelerated browsing of image libraries. It brings together a host of functions for working with images such automatic grouping of images, tagging, image rating, EXIF and metadata editing, as well as image rotation and zooming. Pictomio can also view and manage video and media files and requires a fairly powerful graphics card to run.

In software as in anything, we ideally want to balance both form and function. And although Pictomio scores high marks on both, there exists a good number of more powerful and feature-rich freeware image viewers out there that nonetheless will not hold a candle to this one in terms of sheer coolness and the richness of the user experience. It does come at a cost (will require a powerful graphics card, and is somewhat higher on resource consumption than the average viewer) but if your machine has the resources you will probably love this. Here are more notes on this program:

• The user interface: simply looks good and is definitely the program’s strong suite. Navigation is intuitive and everything is accessible through a combination of tabs (on top, on the side of the screen, etc) and right-click context menus.
• Image browsing: offers thumbnail browsing, film-strip browsing, single image browsing and the iTunes-style carousel browsing, which is somewhat cool but not exactly mind-blowing (and which is presumably why the 3D acceleration is needed). Allows you to sort and/or filter images based on different criteria (see “organization” below).
• Organization: if you are looking for a tool that can best organize a complicated image library this one is on steroids. Pictomio scans a user selected folder initially and immediately sets to work indexing your library and organizing it across different categories and elements. For example, it allows you to classify images into user-defined categories, rate them, flag them as favorites, tag them using multiple arbitrary tags, create albums, browse by medium or by “color mark”, browse by EXIF data, and maintain a shortlist (a basket, if you will) of images to work with. It even keeps a history of performed search queries. You can filter what you are looking at by everything (e.g. date criteria, landscape or portrait, etc.)
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Description: gAttach is a free program that integrates Gmail into your system as your default email service, to be used by default instead of a local client when you send email or attach files from the desktop, the browser, or any local applications. (Note: you can also use Yahoomail as your default email service using sister application yAttach).

If judging only by my friends and the people I know, the number of people using web mail services such as Gmail or Yahoomail as their primary email accounts seems to be growing exponentially. And although there are many advantages to using web services, there is one pervasive drawback: web mail services are in general divorced from your desktop, which means that many email-integration functions that are built into your operating system or other local apps will automatically attempt to use a local client to send email, images, or other files (typically Outlook Express or Outlook) rather that Gmail.

With gAttach you now can use Gmail in lieu of a local client. Here are some examples of things you can do that previously would have automatically opened a local email client (but which gAttach will re-route to Gmail):

• Send “mailto” email from the browser: most sites feature “mailto” links to send email that typically open the default email client and pre-populate the email and subject (see image to the right). gAttach will ensure that these open Gmail rather than a local client such as Outlook Express.
• Send files by email using the send to menu: right click on any file, go to the send to menu, and click on “Mail Recipient” (see first screenshot above). You will be asked whether or not you want to resize the picture, and after that instead of opening a default local email client gAttach will open the Gmail login page, where it will create a new draft email with the file uploaded as an attachment.
• Email any file from within Windows explorer: using the “email file” link that exists in Windows Explorer (on the left explorer pane under “File and Folder Tasks”). Behaves in the very same way as emailing using the send to menu.
• Send links from the browser: see image to the right (from Internet Explorer). You can now send this Freewaregenius URL to your friends and be sure that IE will use Gmail rather than a local email client.
• Other programs: gAttach will work globally from any local application that you can send email from. You can send attachments directly from applications like Picasa, Windows Photo Gallery, Microsoft Office applications, Adobe Acrobat, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.

Here are more notes on this program:

• How it works: when you attempt to send an email or file, gAttach will open a Gmail login window. Once you enter your account info you will arrive at a new draft message with any relevant files uploaded as attachements.
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Description: DeskOnTop is a free program that resides in the system tray and provides access to your desktop files and folders by popping up a mini-representation of the desktop in the system tray. Alternately, it can also provide a start menu style list of all your desktop items.

The idea behind DeskOnTop is so simple and obvious it makes me wonder why I haven’t seen more implementations of it: access a miniaturized recreation of the desktop from the system tray. This is the sort of original program that I love to write about on Freewaregenius.

The most obvious use for this program is a when you are working with a number of open windows and would prefer not to minimize them in order to access something on the desktop. Instead, you can left click the DeskOnTop icon in the tray and get a hovering representation of the desktop where you can access all of the desktop contents, and where mousing over the icons displays tooltips that reveal the filenames (see screenshot above). Here are more notes on this program

• Two display modes: you can either opt for a floating, miniaturized pop-up representation of the desktop (left click) or a cascading, start-menu style list of icons (right click).
• Displays the desktop icons even if they are hidden on your actual desktop: just think about this for a second. You can disable your desktop icons in order to instantly get a clean and visually pleasing work environment with no icons cluttering your space. Meanwhile, DeskOnTop can provide access to everything that’s there from the system tray.
• Customizable: the "small" desktop can use your default explorer wallpaper, or can be pointed to a directory of images to use instead. The transparency of the mock desktop, size of the icons, font size and background color in the tooltips as well as the color and thickness of display frames can all be tweaked.
• Memory consumption: approx 8 megs in memory. Not a lightweight program but quite reasonable, in my opinion.
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Description: Evri is a web service that indexes parts of the internet, reads and linguistically “understands” it and discovers connections between entities based on the activity of texts and articles. It then allows you to browse information within the dynamically built (and constantly changing) structure of interconnected entities that it finds.

Not freeware, but a free web service that helps users browse some of the most popular subjects on the net (popular people, popular places, and popular things) and discover connections between them. Evri is a bit of a combination between a recommendation engine of related links and a sort of dynamic, self-creating Wikipedia.

While Evri might look like a news and/or media portal with some nice, flash based links, this startup is based on a robust technology that should raise some eyebrows. Evri is in fact powered by a search technology that scours parts the net (focusing mainly on news, politics, and general media related web pages) and actually understands references within the text to people, places, and things. So, for example, when indexing a news article that talks about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigning together in Unity, NH, it will “understand” that Barack and Hillary are people and that Unity is a place (and it will do so on its own, without any human intervention). If it sees a lot of texts connecting Obama, Clinton, and Unity on the web, it will be able to gauge the “strength” of these connections, as it were.

What this enables Evri to do is construct a web of links and interrelations that mirrors the flurry of activity (expressed in texts, articles, etc.) that takes place on the internet. It is designed to reveal interconnectedness of the web as expressed linguistically in what is being said/discussed rather than in terms of linked hyperlinks (as, for example, Google does).

What it means to you now: the Evri beta has been launched (at this point you will have to sign up for an invite). Here are some of the things you can do on it right now:
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Description: The KM Player is a free media player that supports a comprehensive range of media format, including broad DVD support using all internal filters and codecs. It is extremely feature-rich, offering a range of features such as applying filters during playback (sharpening, denoise, color effects, etc), excellent subtitles support, playing (and capturing) streaming media over the internet, playing incomplete files, bookmarking parts of videos, and others.

The KMPlayer (not to be confused with simply “KMPlayer”, which is another product) is the kind of free software that is so good it makes you wonder how anyone can still manage to charge money for a program in the same category. The reason I give it such a high endorsement is that software manages to juggle four things at once, each of which is remarkable in its own right:

1. Supports a very wide range of formats: (including obscure ones).It includes all essential decoders internally (including RealMedia, Flash video, and Quicktime) that are not registered to the system, but also interacts with system filters through a “fully controlled environment”. This means that The KM Player will (a) eliminate any possible errors due to codec conflict, (b) none of its internal filters will be running in the background at all times, taking up resources, and (c) If you have a media file that you cannot get to work this program will most certainly play it.
2. Has a very light footprint: takes up only 16 megs in memory and a (negligible) 50 megs on your hard drive.
3. Delivers an unusually rich selection of features: from those features that make you think “finally someone thought to include this” to “I can’t believe they thought of this”.
4. Delivers a simple and straightforward interface: despite all the supported features, everything is context-menu based, and the program can be used in a simple way without overwhelming the user with the diversity of options. On-screen tooltips are displayed on hovering over an element that tell you what it is.

This does not mean that this program is perfect but, in my view, is very close to it. There are a number of drawbacks which I will get into in my “wish list” section below. For now here is an overview of some of the features on offer:

• Formats supported: a listing would take a lot of space and would be superfluous. Suffice it to say: every conceivable video format (including DVD), audio format, playlist format, image format, and even disk image formats.
• Image processing: allows you to apply a wide range of effects to your video as it is being played, including color controls, (e.g. greyscale, auto-level control), sharpening, blurring, denoise, resize, flip/rotation, etc. Resize, flip, etc. Variable playback speed also supported.
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Description: Click&Clean is a free tool that works alongside CCleaner to provide 1-click hard drive and browser cleanup from within Internet Explorer, Firefox, or the desktop Quick Launch bar. It can perform an instant, complete uninterrupted cleanup with CCleaner without exiting the browser or dealing with prompts and dilags.

If you use CCleaner to clean your hard drive (temp files, internet activity, cookies, history, etc.) you already know that it is an indispensable and excellent program. What Click&Clean does is simply provide a 1-click complete cleanup using CCleaner from within Internet Explorer, Firefox, or the desktop Quick Launch without having to interact with any of CCleaner’s prompts or dialogs. Moreover, if Click&Clean is used from within a browser, the cleaning operation will be performed without the need to shut down the browser first. Here are more notes on this program:

• Adding browser buttons: in IE right click on the IE toolbar then ’customize command bar’ then ’add or remove commands’. Select the blue ’Cleaner’ icon and add it to the IE toolbar. For Firefox, right click the toolbar and select ’customize’, then drag the blue Cleaner icon to the Firefox toolbar. A desktop “quick launch” icon is added by default upon installation.
• How it works: clicking on the Cleaner button in a browser or otherwise launching it from the Quick Launch bar will start the process. In Firefox, Click&Clean seems to also kick-start Firefox’s “clear private data” option (seems to be a workaround designed around CCleaner’s inability to clean the Firefox environment without shutting it down first). To configure Firefox properly, go to Tools > Options > Privacy, clear a check mark beside “Ask me before clearing private data” (see this page for more info).
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Description: Ulteo Virtual Desktop installs a virtual Linux environment inside Windows. This free program shows up as a panel inside the Windows desktop and allows you to access Linux applications within Windows with little effect on performance, enabling users to run both Windows and Linux apps simultaneously and to switch between them at will.

For those who would like to run Linux inside Windows “Ulteo Virtual Desktop” provides a virtual Linux environment inside Windows. Ulteo is based on Debian Linux and comes pre-bundled with a wide range of Linux apps, including Firefox, OpenOffice, KPdf, Kopete, Skype, Thunderbird, Enigmail, GIMP, Digikam, Inkspace, Scribus, and many others.

Why run Linux in Windows?: I am assuming that you have a need to access both Windows and Linux apps or, like me, you have the desire and/or curiosity to run Linux applications. Or perhaps you would like to learn Linux or want to use it because you are looking into it as a replacement for Windows. Having the Linux environment inside Windows will save the time spent switching between operating systems and will circumvent the need for messing around with partition tables and other technical details (and, of course, let’s not forget the sheer coolness factor!). Here are more notes on this program:

• Downloading/Installing: once you get the 500 meg installer downloaded installing it is a breeze; however it will take up some 6 gigs on your hard drive, so make sure you have the space for it. Once installed (does not even require a reboot), the program will show up as a panel on top of your screen, and you can simply run the application you need to use from the Ulteo panel and its window will show up like any other Windows application.
• Performance: is very good, from my experience, but of course this is difficult to measure objectively. The Developers state that this software doesn’t run “traditional virtualization software”, and that instead they built it using “a special Linux kernel patch called coLinux that achieves great performance, close toa native installation on the PC”.
• The virtual file system: this is a 5 gig virtual file system that lives in a file (C:\Program Files\Ulteo\Virtual Desktop\os\vdisk ). What you see as a user is a Linux file system that can also access the root (C:\) and “My Documents” folders in your Windows filesystem. You can thus easily transfer documents back and forth across the two OS’s. Also note that the Linux vdisk can be both resized or mounted into Windows (see the FAQ for info on this).
• Access to your computer’s resources: Ulteo virtual desktop supports sound and is able to print from your regular printer. The Linux apps can access the internet (no proxy support but it’s promised), and I am assuming that they can also use the other hardware resources (e.g. CD/DVD drives, etc.)
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Description: Stick is a free program that introduces tabs attached to the sides of your screen (called "Screen Tabs") that can display notes, folder contents, web pages, RSS feeds, as well as mini apps such as a calendar or calculator.

If you have folders that you always work with, or a web page that you like to always be easily accessible, notes that you frequently refer to or, say, an RSS feed that you like to check frequently you might want to give this program a try. "Stick" enables you to use "Screen tabs" attached to any of the four sides of your screen that you can easily expand and retract, and that can display the following: rich text notes, RSS feeds, folders, web pages, a (non-interactive) calendar, and a calculator app.

What I like about this program:

• It can look elegant: meaning that (a) you can use this to good effect in your quest to reduce clutter on your desktop, and that (b) of the handful of "skins" available is possible to use a configuration that looks good and adds to the desktop experience. (Conversely, you can end up with some pretty ugly tabs on your desktop, but you can only blame yourself if that happens).
• Favorite folders as Screen Tabs: having a handful of your favorite or frequently used folders easily accessible through retractable tabs on the side of the screen is a very good idea; esp as these support drag and drop, context menu commands, different views, and navigating the directory structure. There’s even a little arrow button that opens the actual folder for you in explorer.
• Web pages as Screen Tabs: I didn’t think much of this at first, until I thought to put my main Gmail account in one of the tabs, which was certainly an interesting setuip.
• Customizable tab behavior: you can control the color, skin, transparency level, the speed by which the tab opens, always on top, whether it opens by hover or click, and whether it closes by hover away or click.
• RSS feeds as Screen Tabs: for those must-view RSS feeds that you want to be able to access quickly and easily - e.g. Freewaregenius - the RSS Screen Tab will be very handy. The RSS function has some quirks (e.g. newer items are shown on bottom, no Atom support) but is overall a good option if you want RSS on your desktop.
• Keyboard shorcuts: for each tab you create you can define keyboard shortcuts that make it visible.
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Description: CookiePie is an open source plugin for Firefox and other browsers that allows the user to open multiple accounts for services such as Gmail, Yahoo, eBay, Facebook, Twitter, or others in different tabs or browser windows simultaneously. It can also be used by developers who want to work with different versions of web pages with each tab or windows having its own distinct cookies environment.

Those of us who have multiple accounts on Gmail, Yahoo, eBay, Facebook, Twitter (or just about any online service) know that, because of the way these accounts store information in the browser cache, it is not possible to work on more that one account at any one time in the same browser.

Until now, that is; with CookiePie you can simply right click on a browser tab or window in order to give it its own unique cookies environment. Here are more notes on this program:

• How it works: right click on the browser tab and select "Toggle on/off CookiePie", then log into your desired account. Do the same thing in other windows/tabs as you please and you can be working with multiple accounts of the same web services (Gmail, in my case) at the same time.
• New tabs: created by right-clicking a CookiePie-enabled tab will not share the latter’s cookie environment.
• Supported browsers: Firefox, Flock and GNU IceWeasel. I used it with Firefox 3.
• Bugs/issues: although it worked perfectly for me, it seems that this plugin is still somewhat of a work-in-progress. (From the developer’s website) re-ordering tabs might in some instances not work properly, might conflict with some other extensions such as Tab Mix Plus.
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Description: "Types" is a lightweight open source configuration utility designed to enable users to edit the program associations, icons, context menus, and other properties of various file types.

If you’ve ever wanted to change the program used to open a certain file type, or change the icon used for a filetype, or add or remove a context menu entry that appears when right clicking on a file type then this program is for your. Here are some notes on this program:

• Finding the file type in the interface: pressing a key within the program interface will cause it to jump to the extensions which start with that key. From that point you can simply navigate with the arrow keys to hone in on the extension you want.
• Changing used icon for a file type: in the Types interface, right click filetype then properties. In the icon tab you can select any of the icons displayed or browse your hard drive for an icon or icon library (ICO, ICL, DLL, or EXE). Once selected, exit the dialog and then the Types program. You might need to wait a few seconds for the new default icon to kick in.
• Changing filetype program association: right click filetype then properties. In the class tab scroll down the list of apps under "Use linked class"; you will need to select the appropriate class (e.g. for mp3’s, "iTunes.mp3" rather than simply "iTunes"). As such in most cases it may be easier to simply re-associate file types using the windows "open with" context menu (more info here).
• Adding/removing context menu entries: this is one of the coolest parts. You can add or remove context menu entries that are displayed when right clicking on a file type. When using an external app for your new context menu entry you will need to know the command line syntax that get it to function correctly.
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