Wave Hello to Air Mouse

I predict fun and games learning to drive the Gyration Air Mouse but it looks like it could be worth it. Unlike an ordinary rolling ball or optical mouse this one doesn’t need a flat surface to work. Just wave it around and motion sensors inside the case tracks your movements. This information is translated by ‘intuitive’ software, which works out where on the PC screen you want the mouse pointer to go. It also responds to a range of simple ‘gestures’ that are basically shortcuts for frequently used functions, like highlighting or magnifying text. It communicates wirelessly with a small dongle that plugs into a vacant USB socket on the PC, and for good measure, it also works as normal mouse on flat surfaces, so lie back in your easy chair, wave at your laptop and it will do as it is told, probably… In the shops soon, expect it to cost upwards of £60.

Clever Camera Card

Ho-hum, another 2Gb SD card, but hang on a minute, this one is different. The Eye-Fi Explore is a Wi-FI memory card. So what, you might be asking, SD Wi-Fi cards are nothing new, the one in my PDA must be at least 3 years old, but there is more. This is a fully self-contained wireless device, so it can be used in any SD compatible camera, and used to beam images across a network to a PC, printer or uploaded to the Internet. In other words the camera doesn’t need to be a special wireless-capable model. All you have to do is pop the card into your PC to activate and configure it then put it into the camera and while it is on it automatically sends image to any wi-fi device in range (around 3 – 5 metres). There’s an added bonus, it uses a system called Geotagging to label or identify where the picture was taken. Read More »

Seeker and Ye Shall Find

Have you ever lost a file or forgotten where you’ve put it on your hard drive? Of course you have, we’ve all done it, and if you’re lucky you may even have found it by searching through folders, or using the Windows Search facility. The one in Vista is actually quite good, but even that won’t be able help you if you can’t remember what the file was called.

Here’s something else to try, it’s called Seeker and in addition to searching for files by all or part of the name, it also looks inside files, for keywords or phrases. Again it’s something Windows can do, but this search tool is fast, very fast in fact, thanks to a powerful algorithm and an unusually flexible range of search criteria. Read More »

Keeping Tabs on Windows Explorer

As you know Windows Explorer (aka My Computer, Explorer etc.) lets you see what’s stored on your computer, move files around and so on, and it works reasonably well, but it could be so much better.

Over the years we’ve looked at several Explorer alternatives, but this one, called Explorer ++ is definitely one of the best. It does pretty well everything standard Windows Explorer does but its main claim to fame is a multi-tab display, so you can quickly switch between folders. There’s also a file details and thumbnail preview pane at the bottom (it has all of the usual Explorer type ‘Views’ as well), Permanent file delete, it’s highly customisable and it supports advanced operations, like file merging and splitting. Read More »

Consumers just not that interested in Blu-ray DVD

Apparently, the world agrees with HD DVD’s original proposition: For a high definition video disc format to be adopted, it has to be inexpensive enough for people to consider in comparison to current generation standard definition choices.

The “widespread reluctance to commit to Blu-ray” by consumers (as described by ABI Research) is obvious just by just looking at the fully stocked shelves of retail stores. Only 1 in 4 people surveyed said they might buy a Blu-ray DVD player in 2009 according to this new survey of a 1000 consumers. Obstacles to adoption? The $300 high cost of players relative to current generation players and the excessive cost of video discs from $20+ each. Read More »

New Security Programs from Microsoft

Black Hat USA 2008 was the stage where Microsoft revealed that it was kicking its security game up a notch. The software giant’s commitment to protecting its customers has spawned a pair of new initiatives designed to enable a new level of security-information sharing. In this regard, the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) along with the new vulnerability Exploitability Index, are the programs offered to both end users and partners for added security.

“The introduction of these new programs helps address evolving online threats and provides more practical guidance to assess and manage risk,” said Andrew Cushman, director of security response and outreach at Microsoft. Read More »

Live Search Gets Wallpapers

Microsoft is constantly evolving the products and services under the Windows Live brand umbrella, and one of the main focuses of the company is, of course, Live Search. Chris Rayner, Senior Product Manager, and Zach Gutt, Senior Program Manager Live Search User Experience team, revealed that the redesigned Live Search homepage would from now on feature background images. The Redmond company will ensure that the Live Search “wallpapers” will alternate frequently, but this process won’t be random, and it won’t happen on every refresh. Additionally, the Live Search backgrounds will have hotspots implemented, offering users a search item in accordance with elements contained in the image. Read More »

Stick it Out

Windows application launchers come and go, and I must have used scores of them in my time, but this one, called Stick, is one of the best, and certainly one of the easiest to use. Basically it puts a series of tabs along the top of the screen and when you click or hover on it, it opens the chosen program, folder or applet. It’s highly configurable, easily customisable and you can also access tabs using Hot Keys. Needless to say it’s free, and it works on both XP and Vista. Give it a try; you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it…

Tour Space With Microsoft

It’s okay, Bill Gates hasn’t bought NASA, at least not just yet, but Microsoft is giving away a free virtual tour of space with a new web-based application called Worldwide Telescope. Be warned, you’ll need a reasonably quick PC, preferably with a dual-core CPU, and ideally running Vista, though it will still plod along under XP. The images are stunning and based on actual ground and spaced based telescopes, you can zoom in on astronomical features, explore the solar system and warp across the Milky Way. Okay, so it’s a bit like Google Sky, but there’s a bit more depth to it, better controls and it looks like it could become a very useful educational tool.

How to prevent your playlist in winamp from getting lost out

I have been using winamp from a long time as a music player, it is I think the best player which is free also, but initially when I use winamp for the first time I found a issue in it.

Let me tell you how does it happen.

I used to enqueue some songs from different directory locations ,and issue arises when accidentally I double click on any .mp3 file due to which all the playlist which I collected in winamp got evaded in seconds and the only songs which remain there is that on which I have accidentally double clicked. It may have happened to you some time if you have used winamp. Read More »