There’s nothing like finding that application that helps get you through your day. Whether it’s a productivity application, or a business appliation, or a creative application, whether the need, it’s nice to know that there are alternatives to the costly pay versions. Sometimes freeware or shareware is just as good to get the job done and we turn to the internet for those downloads.
Now I admit in the past I had been going to Download.com, and found what I needed on there. But recently I was introduced to Softonic, and it’s equally as impressive as Download.com, but I’m just not a fan of the interface. I found it confusing, kinda clunky, and Download.com seems to have gotten the site structure of its heirarchy better laid out.
Still there’s tons of great apps on the site, which also features apps you should have. Sometimes you find apps that you didn’t now you needed, and that’s when you know that a site is bringing value to you. That value comes in what Softonic covers; Windows, Mac, Phones, Palm OS and Pocket PC’s. Seems like a healthy library, and growing everyday.
Give it a try and let us know which one you like better.
Here at Crenk we have been lucky enough to have access to the new Seesmic for Windows. Seesmic is a Twitter and Facebook client that lets you track and update you streams from one simple location and via multiple accounts.
At the Microsoft PDC09 conference yesterday, Seesmic announced their new native Twitter client for Windows. This application is engineered for Windows and optimized for Windows 7. Seesmic for Windows provides users managing Twitter the best experience available by combining the best features what Windows 7 has to offer.
We can offer all our readers access to the new Seesmic for Windows (Currently Closed Beta), by clicking the link here.
A lot of people are really looking forward to getting their hands on Windows 7 when it comes out. In the mean time there are a lot of people wanting to replicate Windows 7 in other operating system (not really sure why!). Here is a new Windows 7 transformation pack for Ubuntu.
Download Win7 Transformation Pack for Ubuntu from here
Microsoft has launched Windows Mobile 6.5, but their new TV ad campaign doesn’t emphasis the new version number, its more focused on just advertising “buy a Windows phone”.
Seattle blog TechFlash says the ad is a flop, calling it “downright strange” and lacking the impact of the successful Laptop Hunter series:
Am I missing something here? I’ve watched it three times now, and still don’t think it resonates. We’ve actually been impressed with Microsoft’s “Laptop Hunters” ad campaign — which appears to be making inroads against Apple — as well as some of the more recent Windows 7 ads. But this one is just downright strange.
I have to agree with TechFlash. I dont think the ad is focusing on the right areas, it seems as though they are just focusing on the fact that Windows mobile has apps for all Microsoft products and others.
However, dont they understand that the pretty much all other phones have the basic applications the average users wants on their phones (Facebook, Twitter, etc), and they are focused more on the business market with the Microsoft Office apps, but that market is dominated at the moment by Apple and RIM.
I find it funny how there are a lot of skins for Mac like skins on products, however there doesnt seem to be many people making Windows skins for Mac’s. Anyways, here is a new skin for Windows Live Messenger which makes it look like Apple Mac OS Snow Leopard. This is the first Apple theme plus! skin that works with Windows Live Messenger 9 or 14.
This Snow Leopard 1.0.2 skin for Windows Live Messenger 2009 has already had over 1 million downloads despite being in beta.
Jumplists are part of the new Windows 7 taskbar. The jumplists basically provide access to program related options.
The latest dev version of Google Chrome is now offering jumplist support in Windows 7. The jumplist can be opened by right-clicking the Google Chrome icon in the Windows taskbar. The Google Chrome jumplist is divided into four areas of which three are always visible and one only if the user has added at least one item to it.
The Google Browser will display the most visited websites, the recently closed websites and tasks in the jumplist. The most visited and recent websites are directly taken from the web browser’s history while the task allow the user to open a new window (either normal or in incognito mode).
The fourth group only becomes available if the user pins an element in the jumplist. This is for example excellent for quickly accessing favorite websites from the Windows 7 jumplist. The latest developer build of Google Chrome can be downloaded from the dev channel page. It is interesting to see that the Google Chrome development team has added jumplist support while the Mozilla Firefox team has not shown any signs that they intend to support that feature in the near future.
It was leaked a few days back and I think intentionally. Windows 7 box packaging is here and here is a quick look at what it is going to look like. Now the official Windows Team Blog has confirmed that this is the official box packaging for Windows 7. Windows Team blog says that the packages are made simple clean design, easy to open, and reduces waste. The Windows 7 logo is made more bolder and easy to read and each edition has a different box color to easily distinguish itself.
Windows 7 users need to consider switching from the Release Candidate before the 1st July. On the 1st of July the operating system will reboot every 2 hours automatically to give the user a friendly reminder that the Windows 7 beta has reached the end of its lifetime.
Users who are not intimidated by the reboot cycle will run into another problem starting August 1 where the operating system will expire completely.
Users still running the beta release of Windows 7 have the option to upgrade to the release candidate build. Microsoft has blocked a direct upgrade but that can be fixed by editing one resource file. Interested users can visit the Windows 7 Beta To RC Upgrade article over at Windows 7 News. The same technique can most likely also be used to upgrade the Windows 7 Release Candidate to the final release of the operating system.
The Windows 7 Release Candidate can still be downloaded from the official Microsoft website. Product keys are handed out as well on those pages.
Bing has been receiving a huge amount of press and slowly even seem to be gaining marketshare on Google. Bing is now in the process of developing mobile versions of their search engine in which here are concepts.
Imagine the ability to entertain yourself without loading up your browser, without loading up a game on CD, but rather using your own desktop as the battleground for a game of authentic Asteroids, using your desktop.
Adobe Air makes it happen and over on the UK’s Sci-Fi website, they are offering an amazing Asteroids replica using your mouse cursor as a ship, and your file folders as the asteroids. As your folders come crashing into you, shoot them to scatter your files across your desktop for more target practice.
Do you lose your files?
Nope, they just temporarily disentegrate as you release your frustration on presentations, projects, reports, and spreadsheets. Give it a try, destroy bordem for good and have a blast…literally.
Over at TorrentFreak they were the first to report on a new bittorrent startup like no other, BitBlinder. Most regular bittorrent users are always looking for the best way to hide themselves online and this just may be the answer.
BitBlinder is a new and free cross platform (Mac coming soon) open source project which not only claims to make anonymous BitTorrent transfers a reality but also hides your IP address while browsing the web. Its functionality also extends to the bypassing of some web filters and in the future will be compatible with more applications, such as email, IRC and instant messaging clients.
As one of its creators explains: “We want to make online anonymity fast, usable and ubiquitous to the point that organisations give up on spying and filtering us”.
It’s apparently not as fast as regular BitTorrent use, but it’s fast enough – and the key thing is that it’s free. Previously, using BitTorrent anonymously has involved paying to use a virtual private network (VPN). Among new features promised are the ability to avoid university and corporate firewalls, too.
There has been a huge amount of negative buzz about Vista since its launch and it seems to be justified. However, if your using XP but was the sexy interface of Vista then here are a few ideas on how to get it!
VistaMizer modifies about 400 of your system files, and when you reboot your system after installation you won’t remember how your old desktop looked like. It’s highly customizable and changes lots of stuff. What’s really good about is that it will keep backup of all the changes (so that you can easily revert it) and won’t replace/overwrite anything that would risk destabilizing your system.
Vista Start Menu turns XP’s Start menu into one like on Vista. Not only do you get a better look but also many new features that are normally not there. These include: resizable start menu, zoom in/out, program launcher, desktop search, power buttons, tabs, and more. Another noteworthy aspect, Vista Start Menu does not change your system settings, thus making it easy to install, as well as simple to remove.
VTP changes XP’s interface, including the Start menu, the Control Panel, system dialogs, icons, and more, to Vista style. Also includes a transparency function to mimic Vista’s Aero Glass functionality. It’s probably the most comprehensive package out of all, so be very careful with it. While I haven’t experienced any problems some folks reported difficulties in uninstalling it (see comments here). Here are some of the notable changes that will be made to your system.
[Update: Version 8 was released yesterday (Nov 28). It's seems to be better and much more stable. Read more here]
There’s nothing like finding that application that helps get you through your day. Whether it’s a productivity application, or a business appliation, or a creative application, whether the need, it’s nice to know that there are alternatives to the costly pay versions. Sometimes freeware or shareware is just as good to get the job done and we turn to the internet for those downloads.
