Subscriptions make great presents - Holiday Gift Guide
Filed under: Internet, Commercial, VoIP
To kick things off, I wanted to talk about a gift idea for the computer user who doesn't really need any new software: subscriptions. Nothing says I love you like a year's worth of unlimited domestic VoIP phone calls, or the security of knowing your files are securely backed up to an offsite storage space. Well, maybe not nothing, but certainly few things. Here are a few ideas for subscription based services you might want to buy for your loved ones. Feel free to add your own ideas or argue with my choice of services in the comments.
Skype
Skype provides a free way for Windows, Mac, and Linux users to make free voice or video calls to one another. But you can also buy credit or monthly subscriptions to make calls to regular telephones. You can also purchase a phone number that people can call to ring you on Skype.
Prices range from a few cents a minute for domestic calls, to $9.95 a month for unlimited international calls. For less than $36 a year you can buy a plan that will allow users to make unlimited domestic calls in the US and Canada. $60 a year will get you a SkypeIn phone number. And there are a ton of other options available.
Skype isn't the only game in town. You might also want to check out Gizmo5 or newcomer VoxOx.
Continue reading Subscriptions make great presents - Holiday Gift Guide
Subscriptions make great presents - Holiday Gift Guide originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsNew Digsby installer loaded with bloat and adverts
Filed under: Internet, Windows, Freeware, Social Software
First off, you don't even download the actual installer from Digsby.com anymore - it's a downloader application. While I'm not a fan of downloaders in general, this one in particular got me all riled up.
Apart from half a dozen crapware install offers, the final screen before anything actually happened asked to change my homepage and switch my default search provider to Yahoo. I'm all for supporting an app, but this was more than I'm willing to tolerate from an installer.
Are you kidding me? Digsby, tell me you're kidding. Looks like it's time for me to give Pidgin another try.
What about you? Are you willing to put up with skipping over the crapware so that you can still install the latest version of Digsby? Sound off!
New Digsby installer loaded with bloat and adverts originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsBitPim: Bluetooth syncing for CDMA phones
Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Mobile
BitPim isn't a new app, but I've been using it for quite a while, and I thought I'd share. We write a fair amount about the iPhone here at Download Squad, but some of us are stuck with less-than-smart phones that are over a year old, on CDMA networks. Not that I'm bitter, or anything, but how are you supposed to get data like contacts and ringtones onto (and off of) these things? BitPim! Bitpim is an an open source app that lets you access your phone's data via Bluetooth. I use it to get custom mp3 ringtones onto my junky Samsung dumbphone, and it works phenomenally well. There's a list of compatible phones on the Bitpim site, but chances are that yours will work. Be aware that Bitpim could potentially mess up your phone, although I haven't any issues with it personally.
BitPim: Bluetooth syncing for CDMA phones originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsFoxGLove is Firefox for Google addicts
Filed under: Windows, Freeware, Browsers
The browser is based on the portable version of Firefox, which means you can run it without messing up your normal Firefox settings. You can also run it from a USB flash drive. At first glance, the browser looks a lot like Google Chrome, thanks to the ChromiFox theme. The home pages have been set to Gmail, Google Reader, and Google Docs, and there are bookmarklets that will open GTalk, Google Calendar, or Google Notes in your sidebar. But that's just the start.
FoxGLove also comes preloaded with a ton of Firefox addons that provide enhancements for Google applications. It also replaces the Firefox search bar with the Google Toolbar. And the developer even figured out how to make Google Gears portable so you can have online/offline access to web pages and applications that support Gears.
FoxGLove is Firefox for Google addicts originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments5 disposable email services with RSS support
Filed under: Internet, Security, Web services, Lists
If you're looking for a little anonymity and security when signing up for download links or invite codes, a disposable email service is a good option. Instead of providing one of your working email addresses, just grab a meaningless temporary one from any of these sites and keep your identity hidden.These five sites all provide RSS feeds for your address, which is handy. No need to return to the site after registration, just subcribe with your favorite newsreader.
MailCatch - Choose your own address or roll the dice. MailCatch also provides an iGoogle gadget and creates a subdomain (using your address) for quick access to your web inbox. MailCatch also provides temporary forwards, and they've got an FAQ and forums.
MyTrashMail - Offers password protected temporary accounts in addition to the traditional public variety. Note that the Firefox "toolbar" they offer requires you have the Google toolbar installed first. FAQ and about links are prominently displayed.
Continue reading 5 disposable email services with RSS support
5 disposable email services with RSS support originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFoxit PDF Reader 3.0 for Windows now works with Firefox
Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware
Last week the Foxit team released version 3.0, with a ton of updates. Possibly the most exiciting is a plugin for Firefox that lets you open documents in your web browser. Adobe has offered this feature for ages, but again, it often takes forever to load. To be honest, the Foxit plugin isn't exactly a speed demon. You may find it faster to download some files and open them in the desktop version of Foxit Reader. But it's nice to have the option of opening them in your browser.
Here are a few other new features:
- Thumbnail previews of each page
- Attachment panel shows list of files attached to a PDF and allows you to open, delete, or perform other actions on them
- The text select tool now also lets you add annotations like highlights, strikeout, or underline
- You can transfer your preference settings by copying an INI file
- New Foxit OnDemand Content Management add-on allows users to share and collaborate on documents online
[via CyberNotes]
Foxit PDF Reader 3.0 for Windows now works with Firefox originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsPost screenshots to Wordpress blogs with a Firefox add-on
Filed under: Internet, Photo, Blogging, Mozilla, Browsers
Today, I replaced it with Screen Grab to Wordpress. As you probably guessed, it's got the same core functionality with one major addition: the ability to send images directly to your Wordpress-powered blog.
Configure the URL, username, and password to all your Wordpress blogs an you're ready to go (just make sure you have XML-RPC remote publishing enabled).
Click the icon in your Firefox status bar to display SGW's menu and choose what to capture and where to send it. You can save locally, copy to the clipboard, or post directly to Wordpress.
If you're blogging a capture, you can enter a title, tags, body text, and even set your new post to publish - if you don't check the box, the post defaults to draft status. After successfully uploading, you're taken directly to the Wordpress edit page to put the finishing touches on your new post.
With less than 600 downloads to date, this one is a bit of a diamond in the rough. It's a tremendous timesaver for anyone blogging about items discovered while browsing with Firefox.
Post screenshots to Wordpress blogs with a Firefox add-on originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsMailplane 2.0: desktop Gmail client now supports Gmail video chat
Filed under: Macintosh, E-mail, Productivity
If you use Gmail on a Mac, you should definitely know about Mailplane. It's basically a really fancy site-specific browser for Gmail, getting Gmail out of your browser tab and adding a lot of features you'd demand in a desktop email client. You can drag and drop attachments and sign in multiple accounts at once, just to name a couple. Plus, a release candidate for Mailplane 2.0 just came out, and it adds 37 new features. You can do anything in Mailplane that you can do in Gmail, including the new video chat feature. The new gmail themes are also supported, and you can add your own custom stylesheet. It feels strange to use Gmail in a browser again after playing with Mailplane. Customizable keyboard shortcuts, dragging and dropping, and iPhoto integration are just a few of the handy features that make Mailplane a joy to use. It also supports one of my personal favorite things, Growl notifications
Mailplane 2.0: desktop Gmail client now supports Gmail video chat originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsFlip Title lets you type uʍop ǝpısdn!
I always thought typing upside down was an obnoxious novelty trick, but I admit it can be pretty fun. Flip Title, a site that flips over any text you input, showed me that it can also be useful. Upside-down characters can be part of URLs or passwords for a little bit of extra security. They can also be part of usernames on some services, which makes it a pain in the butt for anyone to add you without using copy and paste. Using the magic of Unicode, Flip Title totally flips your words, upside down and backward. If you want text that's upside-down and forward, you'll have to look elsewhere (or type everything backward into Flip Title). Despite the practical uses I described above, I'm still against anyone using upside-down text to annoy me in instant messages.
If you're looking for a text-flipping alternative to Flip Title, you might want to check out our earlier review of Reverse Fad's upside-down text tool.
Flip Title lets you type uʍop ǝpısdn! originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsJelly Towers - Time Waster
Filed under: Fun, Games, Internet, Freeware, Time-Wasters, Web
Jelly Towers is a physics-based flash game in which the goal is to feed jelly blocks to monsters called Jydras. Too successfully complete a level, you must stack up the jelly blocks to get them to the point where one is near or covering the mouth of the Jydra.You get variously colored and shaped blocks to deal with, and manipulating them can be challenging since you grab with your mouse pointer, and they can rotate around the axis of the point at which you grabbed them. Further, the tether that you have to grab with is elastic, so the jelly blocks tend to move around more than you might like.
I'm not sure what it is about this game that keeps me engaged; I find it frustrating at times, and the Jydra component is not very compelling, at least from my perspective. But it's a new and different physics-based game, and I can't seem to get enough of them.
Jelly Towers - Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsThumbstrips adds visual browsing history to your Firefox
Filed under: Internet, Mozilla, Freeware, Browsers
Though not as well-known as Microsoft's Office Labs, Intuit has a similar endeavor of their own. One of its slickest apps is Thumbstrips, a Firefox addon that records your browsing history as thumbnails.
It's currently featured in the Digital Pack Rat assortment on Fashion Your Firefox, and for good reason. Thumbstrips' snapshots make locating previously viewed pages much easier. Apart from the thumbnail, the site's domain name and the approximate time it's been since your visit are also displayed.
Now that I've shown my four-year-old son how to click the little overlapping box icon to show and hide it, it's cut down drastically on questions like "Daddy, how to I get my Scooby game back?" A less frustrating browsing experience for my family members is always a welcome change.
My only complaint about Thumbstrips is its limited customization. I want to be able to display the strip on the left or right side of my display: 1280x800 gives plenty of width, but not so much height. Still, it's a definite improvement over a text-only history listing and worth the install.
If you've used thumbstrips, share your thoughts! If you're using something similar, we'd like to hear about that, too!
It's currently featured in the Digital Pack Rat assortment on Fashion Your Firefox, and for good reason. Thumbstrips' snapshots make locating previously viewed pages much easier. Apart from the thumbnail, the site's domain name and the approximate time it's been since your visit are also displayed.
Now that I've shown my four-year-old son how to click the little overlapping box icon to show and hide it, it's cut down drastically on questions like "Daddy, how to I get my Scooby game back?" A less frustrating browsing experience for my family members is always a welcome change.
My only complaint about Thumbstrips is its limited customization. I want to be able to display the strip on the left or right side of my display: 1280x800 gives plenty of width, but not so much height. Still, it's a definite improvement over a text-only history listing and worth the install.
If you've used thumbstrips, share your thoughts! If you're using something similar, we'd like to hear about that, too!
Thumbstrips adds visual browsing history to your Firefox originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsAnyone can make animated digital clips with Xtranormal
Filed under: Fun, Internet, Video, Beta
A beta web app by Xtranormal aims to level the playing field by making movie creation drag-and-drop simple. If you can write dialog that makes sense and click a mouse, you're well on your way to creating a digital masterpiece.
Choose a character, type in a block of text, and drag in facial expressions, actions, and sounds. The speech is surprisingly fluid, all things considered - no MS Sam here!
You're currently limited to one or two actors, but that's plenty for putting together a quick, fun clip. You can choose either Lego-style (my preference) or more life-like actors to play out your script.
When you're done piecing together elements, just click the action button and Xtranormal will render your clip. If you've registered for an account you can save your work for later. Finished clips can, of course, be shared for anyone to view.
Quite honestly, I don't have the time or skills to throw together 3d animations from scratch. Even if I did, I'm not certain the half-baked ideas I come up with would merit expending any serious effort.
Xtranormal is a great way to finally see your cinematic ideas in come to life with minimal fuss.
Anyone can make animated digital clips with Xtranormal originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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