If you're social life won't be complete until you're socially connected to David Hasselhoff, I have some good news for you. Now you can sign up to be one of the Hoff's 15,000 closest friends by joining his social network HoffSpace. Woo.
Free membership on the site gets you your own home page, and access to Hasselhoff's media collection of pictures and videos (though I'm guessing not this one.) You'll also be able to read Hasselhoff's blog, shop for personalized gifts, and chat with his adoring fans worldwide. There's even a page filled with ringtones and wallpapers for your mobile phone.
I know you're probably thinking this has to be the oddest social networking site ever created. Probably not.
Sun has released a major update to VirtualBox, a free virtualization application that lets you run one operating system inside another. VirtualBox 2.0 runs on Mac, Linux, and Windows machines and lets you run guest operating systems inside your computer's native environment.
For example, if you're a Linux user but you occasionally want to run a Windows application that doesn't perform well under WINE, you can load up VirtualBox and run Windows (assuming you have a valid license key).
The latest update brings improved performance for machines with AMD processors and support for 64 bit guest operating systems as long as your host OS is also 64 bit, and support for VHD disk images created using Microsoft Virtual PC. VirtualDisk 2.0 also adds support for the Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 9 Linux distributions. You can find a complete list of bug fixes and updates in the release notes.
One of the features I've always liked about Vista was the Start Menu's search box. I heard a lot of complaints about the missing run command, but who cares? Win + R still works.
Besides, once you download and install Start++ the search box will be kicking so much ass you won't believe it.
Start++ adds a number of handy functions. For a start, you can set up custom keywords to perform search operations. By default it will recognize g (Google), y (Yahoo!), l (Live Search) w (Wikipedia), and imdb ('nuf said).
Type g[space] your search text, and Start++ will display results right in the start menu. You're even able to switch views between web, news, blog, and image seamlessly. Text and links can be highlighted and copied with ctrl + c, though right clicking does not work.
URL shortening services like TinyURL are great if you're trying to convey a lot of information in a tiny amount of space. For example, if you want to share a link with your friends on Twitter. But if you're a cautious web surfer who prefers to know where a link will lead you before clicking, LongURL can help.
All you have to do is copy and paste a shortened URL into the text box on LongURL, and the site will let you know where the link leads. Better yet, you can install a Firefox extension or Greasemonkey script that will automatically show you the full URL for any shortened URL whenever you mouse over one.
LongURL supports more than a dozen popular URL shortening services including TinyURL, SnipURL, and Tweetburner.
Ever wondered how accurately your eyes can see the subtleties of color? Find out by taking this quick test. Drag and drop colored squares in each of four rows according their hue, then submit the results for calculation. The lower your score, the better your eyes discern color.
The test indicates which hues you see best and also lets you compare your results with others in your gender and age range. I wasn't too thrilled when I got a 61 until I found out someone scored over 1,000. Wow.
For most people, this is just a fun little time-waster (or a way for you super-competitive types to beat up on your pals -- "Dude, I see olive-green better than you!"). For anyone in Web or graphic design, however, it might be an interesting little test to see how your eyes measure up.
Everyone loves free games. Everyone knows ninjas are cool. And Flash with physics is pretty sweet, too.
Roll it all together, and you've got N: a simple but addictive platformer that is very reminiscent of the old Loderunner games. You mission is to navigate 2-D levels and collect all the gold you can. You'll have to be careful, however, because the game's ragdoll physics can play havoc with your tiny ninja self.
The controls couldn't be simpler: left and right arrows to move, shift to jump. Hold shift to jump higher.
The environment seems fairly tame at first, but some rooms contain I Wanna be The Guy -style booby traps. You've got to keep your Ninja wits sharp, or some springy block will shoot out and trampoline you to your doom. There are tons of rooms to explore - including a number of user-created levels - and it's insanely addictive.
N is Flash-based, and downloads are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux so everyone can enjoy the updated old-school action. Hell, you can even get versions for Xbox Arcade or your Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Awesome!
If N's not enough to quench your thirst for gaming, don't forget to check out some of our previous posts!
For years, the Internet Movie Database has been the go-to spot for information about movies, TV shows, actors, directors, and all sorts of other information related to the entertainment industry. But over the last few years as online video started to take over the web, there was one thing conspicuously absent from IMDB: video. Now that's all changed, as IMDB's parent comkpany Amazon has rolled out a major update which lets users watch over 6,000 videos from sources like Hulu, CBS, and independent filmmakers.
There are a few things that I really like about the new service. While many videos are slapped up on the site using an embeddable player from Hulu, IMDB is the first site I've seen that lets you watch these embedded videos in full screen. And it's nice being able to find videos right next to the images and other media that pop up when you're searching for information about a movie or TV show.
On the other hand, this is pretty much the only way to find videos. While there's a new landing page for IMDB video with featured movies and TV episodes, there's no way to search the entire site just for videos. So if you want to see a list of shows in a particular genre or from a particular network, you're better off just going to Hulu.
CodeWeavers, the main corporate sponsor of the Wine Project, have released a port of Google Chrome, known as CrossOver Chromium, for Linux and OS X systems. Although users running virtual instances of Windows in either OS X or Linux have been able to run since day one, CrossOver Chromium is unique because it does not require a Windows installation to run.
Although CrossOver Chromium works, please note that this is not intended to be used as a default browser. CodeWeaver's website even states that this is just "a proof of concept, for fun, and to showcase what Wine can do." This is important because at least on my MacBook running Leopard 10.5.5, CrossOver Chromium was extremely slow. Some images were also squished and text display was slightly off, probably a result of trying to compensate for Microsoft's ClearType and Apple's Quartz display engines.
To be honest, performance was significantly snappier running Chrome in a virtual machine in VMWare Fusion or Parallels than it was within CrossOver Chromium. But I suppose that's not really the point; the point is that the magic of Wine has made Google's latest browser accessible on Intel machines not running Windows. And that's pretty cool.
CrossOver Chromium is free. You can download it for OS X (10.4 or higher, Intel processor required) or in variants for Ubuntu and Debian (32-bit and 64-bit available), RedHat, Mandriva, Suse and other Linux distros here.
If there's one thing I hate having to talk a user through over and over, it's how to change their IP settings in Windows (especially Vista).
NetSetMan provides a simpler way to manage these settings. It allows you to set up profiles for any number of networking situations. Need to hard code an IP or leave it up to DHCP? Alter your hostname and workgroup? Map a printer and network drive? Create a profile, and NetSetMan will tackle all those tasks with a couple of clicks next time.
The system tray icon provides quick access to profile switching, and mousing over it will give you a detailed heads up display of all the adapters in your system. It's a nice feature, especially on a machine with 4 nics - it gives me all the info I need about my adapters in a hurry.
It's free for private, personal use and 12€ for the Pro license, and a nice way for any stressed-out technician to avoid some annoying phone calls.
One of the nice things about the Google Chrome web browser is that all you need to do to backup your profile information is locate the folder where your user data is located and copy the data. If you're using Windows XP, that directory is probably in the Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data folder.
But if you're looking for a simpler solution, you might want to check out Google Chrome Backup, a free utility that lets you create, backup, and restore profiles.
Backing up a profile works the way you would expect it to. Google Chrome Backup will attempt to locate your existing profile and all you have to do is right click on it and select backup and choose a destination directory. A much cooler feature is the ability to create new profiles. Just click the new profile button and you can create a new profile with separate settings and browser history. You can later choose between profiles by launching Google Chrome Backup and selecting your profile from the application.
Alana Taylor is probably best known for writing a song about Twitter, but maybe not for long. She's also just released a Facebook app that you might find handy. If you go to a lot of tech-savvy social events, like Alana, or if you just have friends who like to play Facebook paparazzi, you've probably wished you could grab all the tagged pictures of you in one fell swoop.
That's what this new app, the accurately-named Get My Tagged Pics, can do for you. It displays all your tagged pics in rows of 10, and lets you download each row as a zip. This is good, because it's halfway between the one-at-a-time method and the other extreme of grabbing hundreds (or maybe thousands!) of pics in one huge file. Sure, it could let you select 10 at a time, but clicking to select wouldn't be any faster than clicking to download. One click is all you need, here.
The developers behind the popular open source VLC media player have released VLC 0.9.2. The update brings a new user interface for Mac, Linux, and Windows versions of the player. One feature I'm extremely happy to see are playback controls that show up when watching a video in full screen mode.
There are also new, simplified settings menus, and new filters. VLC 0.9.2 adds to the already long list of video formats supported. While VLC 0.8.6 could play FLV files, I find that the new version does a much better job. For example, I downloaded a YouTube video as an FLV and tried to play it in each version. VLC 0.8.6 opened and played the video, but when I tried to skip ahead, it closed the video file. VLC 0.9.2 had no problem starting the same file from any point in the timeline.
VLC 0.9.2 also supports playback of YouTube, Google Video , and Daily Motion videos by entering their URLs. As previously reported, the media player also now works with last.fm.
The VLC wiki is being hammered at the moment, but you should be able to find a list of some other other features in the latest release at the What is cool in 0.9 page. And you can check out a video of VLC 0.9.2 in action after the break.
Web applications that function like familiar desktop apps are all the rage these days. Web apps already have the advantage of being accessible from everywhere, but add in a UI that works like something users already know, and you've got something pretty cool. Cappuccino is an up-and-coming way of getting this done, and the code is now all open-source. It's a framework for building apps like this using some tools that are already pretty standard on the web, like Javascript, combined with what's basically a port of Apple's Cocoa APIs, and tying it all together with a language called Objective-J.
Objective-J is to Javascript what Objective-C was to C. As the Cappuccino site puts it, "programs written in Objective-J are interpreted in the client, so no compilation or plugins are required." Beautiful. The developers are pretty clear that Cappuccino is just for apps, not for building websites with "dynamic content," or whatever the kids are calling it these days. Want to see Cappuccino in action? We've actually already reviewed the first great Cappuccino app, 280 North's excellent presentation software, 280Slides.
Postcard.fm is a brilliantly simple idea: choose a photo, choose a song, and send them to a friend as a "postcard." The interface is totally free of frills and junk, making it incredibly easy to use. There's no way anybody could confuse this with the totally obnoxious animated postcards your mom or grandma email you. Plus, it's all hosted at Postcard.fm, so you won't be filling up your friend's inbox with files.
A few obvious uses for postcard.fm spring to mind: it's more thoughtful than a Facebook wall message for a friend's birthday, and it might even go over well as a surprise for a significant other. In a pinch, you can use it to share a song with a friend, if you don't have somewhere else to upload. There are some limitations, but they're not a big deal: it's mp3-only and just streaming, no downloads. The best part is that postcard.fm isn't at all ugly or tacky, so it's as considerate a way as we've seen to quickly show someone you're thinking of them via the Internet.
As someone who unboxes a lot of new laptops, PC Decrapifier has been a trusted helper for a long time.
It's always been good at removing the bloat from factory Windows installs. In the past, however, it's taken a little while for programs to go from forum suggestions to being included in Decrapifier. That's what version 2.0 is all about.
With an improved scripting engine, updates to Decrapifier should be available much more often (read more about it in Jason's post on the Decrapifier site).
Currently Decrapifier can remove common bloatware like McAffee, Norton, and Office 2007 trials, several Roxio, Sonic, and Corel apps, and even AOL software. If you're the "friend that knows about computers," be sure to keep Decrapifier on your flash drive for quick, automated removal tasks.