Windows 7's Calculator Bundles Real-World Scenario Uses [Screenshot Tour]
While mathletes, scientists, coders, and statisticians will appreciate Windows 7's built-in calculator's programmer, statistics, and scientific modes, everyday people will love figuring out things like hourly wages and mortgage payments without a spreadsheet. Yes, it may seem ridiculous to give more than a few lines of attention to something as minor as a calculator, but until you've seen the built-in calculator in the Windows 7 Preview, you've haven't known pure calculator bliss. This default calculator goes above and beyond the brick on your desk by including unit conversions, date calculations, and a neat new set of "templates" that let you do things like figure out gas mileage, hourly wages, mortgage payments, leases, and more. Check out some of the calculator goodness in the Windows 7 Preview.
Use the Mode drop-down menu to switch between scientific, statistics, and programmer mode. Those are all exactly what you'd expect.
Standard mode:
Statistics mode:
Programmer mode:
Scientific mode:
Hit the Options menu to get to the interesting stuff.
The date calculator lets you figure out the duration between two dates:
Or add and subtract a period of time from a given date:
While it might be easier to just use Google for this, there's also a unit converter built-in:
But the templates area is where real-life scenarios that would usually require a spreadsheet of some kind can be done. Here's how to calculate:
Gas mileage
Hourly wages
Mortage payments
Lease payments
So while the calculator won't be the reason you upgrade to Windows 7, it is one of the many little things that do make life on the desktop a little easier. See our Windows 7 screencasts for more on the pre-beta preview.
Make and Stick to a Realistic Spending Plan [Personal Finance]
The Wall Street Journal walks through its own Budgeting 101 course, examining what makes a budget so hard to stick to and how to create realistic budgets that actually fit your fluctuating spending habits.
Think about your life for a moment. Do you make the exact same purchases every single month? Of course not. What you buy differs from one month to the next. Yet many people use the "average cost per month" approach to budgeting, so that in any given month they can spend an average of $150 on clothes, and an average of $100 on a vacation, and an average of $300 on eating out, and so on.
As we all know from experience, your spending doesn't always fit well into such strictly defined boxes—which is why it's so easy for your budget to break. Photo by Jeff Keen.
You don't take a vacation every month, and the vacations you do take aren't costing you $100 when you take them. More important, you're not saving that $100 each month to cover the vacations when they do arise. You're spending the money on other items and then, when the vacation pops up, you're shoving the full cost—well more than $100—onto a credit card because the budget isn't prepared to handle the outsized outlay.
Instead of taking the all-too-common "average cost per month" approach, the author suggests managing your discretionary income on a per-month basis, which means determining how much you can actually afford to spend and then deciding how you want to allocate that cash. You may not be eager to take budgeting advice from a publication named after Wall Street, but it really is a worthwhile read. Whether or not you follow similar budgeting tips, let's hear more about how you stick to a budget in the comments.
YouMail Replaces, Transcribes Your Voicemail [Cellphones]
Webapp and voicemail service YouMail replaces your default voicemail with a beefed up, feature-rich alternative. We first featured YouMail for its personalized greeting features, but it's been busy since then, adding visual voicemail, caller filtering, and voice-to-text transcription of messages that it delivers as a text message. The transcription feature—which left beta today—is the only feature that comes with a price.
For $4/month, YouMail will transcribe and text 50 messages to your phone; for $18/month, you can get unlimited conversions. Whether or not you feel like ponying up for the transcription plans, YouMail is still a killer voicemail replacement. Of course, YouMail isn't the only service to offer visual voicemail. Previously mentioned apps like GrandCentral and CallWave offer similar features. In fact, CallWave has their own voice-to-text feature that attempts to send just the gist of a voicemail to your via SMS—a slightly different approach from YouMail's full human transcription.
If you've been using any of these voicemail alternatives, share your experience in the comments.
AT&T-Approved iPhone-to-Laptop Tethering Coming Soon [IPhone]
TechCrunch reports that AT&T-sanctioned 3G tethering is on the way for iPhones "soon." It's good news for iPhone owners, but if soon isn't early enough, you can try solutions like previously mentioned iPhone Modem or my personal favorite, PdaNet.
FuturixImager a Free, Easy Image Viewer and Editor [Featured Windows Download]
Windows only: If you're looking for an alternative to the image viewer and editor built-in with Windows, try FuturixImager. Open images from your machine to create a slideshow or import images from a camera or scanner. View file information including EXIF image meta-data, print images, and even edit them with the simple image editor that allows you to crop, rotate, and add filters. A set of lossless JPEG transformations will also allow you to make some edits (like rotation) while preserving file data. Additional plug-ins can be downloaded as well. FuturixImager is a free download for Windows. Thanks, slikvic2002!
Analog Clock Adds a Classic Timepiece to Your System Tray [Featured Windows Download]
Windows only: Free system tray utility Analog Clock replaces your default Windows date and time display with a classy new clock complete with a pop-up calendar. The app comes packaged with several customizable skins you can tweak to your liking, and though the analog version seems like the biggest draw, Analog Clock also comes with digital skins that still improve on the Windows default. The new looks are great, but the best feature may be the pop-up calendar that appears when you hover your mouse over the clock (a real godsend in XP). Analog Clock is freeware, Windows only. If you're looking for a bit more control and want to go really classic, check out the old-timey woodworked desktop. Thanks equazcion!
How to Unlock the Windows 7 Preview's Aero Goodies [Windows 7 Preview]
If you've gotten your paws on the Windows 7 Preview release, you'll be disappointed to see the regular old boring taskbar you already know and love from Vista in the default installation, not the new flashy Aero features you've been hearing all about. Fear not, friend: the advanced Aero goodies ARE included in Build 6801, and you just need the key to unlock 'em. Windows expert Rafael Rivera provides an EXE file that does just that. Be warned, though: using the unlocker involves some command line gymnastics, but it worked in my test on first pass. Keep in mind the advanced Aero functionality in the test build isn't quite as complete or stable as what you may see in some of the PDC demos, but it's pretty far along. If installing pre-beta operating systems just isn't your thing, check out our series of Windows 7 screencasts to get a taste from the comfort of your legitimate release-build OS. Thanks, Asian Angel!
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