Like many people, I sometimes have to use Windows. Windows seems to go out of its way to make applications difficult to find and launch, or maybe I’m just not as organized as I should be.

My Windows experience was greatly improved yesterday by the discovery of nDroid, a little launcher tool. It’s based on AutoHotKey, the powerful hotkey scripting software, but it’s specialized to index my folders and launch what I want it to.

It is quick as a bunny, lightweight, and simple. The only defect I’ve found so far is that has that we’re-programmers-aren’t-you? sort of nonintuitive configuration that’s typical of open source software, which I personally don’t mind.

In the past I’ve tried Launchy, which is slow, and Find And Run Robot, which is very slow, and Google Desktop, which is invasive, and now at last I’m happy.

How do you launch your applications?

See Also:

• Gnome Do: Quicksilver for the Gnome Desktop

On my Treo, I typically use Xiino as my browser of choice, putting up with its quirks because it’s so much better than the built-in browser. But all Xiino traffic goes through a proxy server, and lately that proxy seems to be not working so well. The last release of Xiino, the mellifluously named 3.4.1E, came out in 2004 or so, and all is silent on the development front.

So I tried out Opera Mini 4.0, which was pretty but sort of sluggish, and now that Opera Mini 4.1 is in beta, I’ve installed that and am relying on it. It does way more JavaScript and CSS than either of the other Palm browsers I’ve used, and it has a fun zooming interface that makes you feel like a myopic person using a regular computer.

Continue Reading “Opera Mini 4.1 Beta Released” »

You’ve probably used top to monitor running processes on a server. It’s tremendously handy when you’re wondering where all that RAM went.

For web applications, the bottlenecks we deal with are more typically bandwidth and database issues. To keep an eye on a MySQL database, install mytop, a command-line tool that looks like top, but monitors database threads instead of system processes.

Continue Reading “Watch Your Database Threads” »

Farecast, the airfare price prediction site, has expanded its coverage and price prediction tools to a new beta service for hotels. For the launch the new hotel price predictions work in the top 30 U.S. destinations and pull in data from partner sites like Orbitz, Cheaptickets, and ReserveTravel, as well as Farecast’s own information.

The results for a hotel search are displayed on a color-coded map with price and other details. Red pins indicate good deals, while blue ones stand for over-priced results. Clicking on a hotel will display a graph of prices over time — particularly the fluctuation on either end of your intended stay. The data is a nice Ajax overlay that also provides photos and reviews (when available).

One thing to keep in mind when using the new hotel service, Farecast’s definition of the best deal, does not always mean the cheapest price. For instance, if a normally $500 a night hotel is offering rooms at $250, while a normal room at another hotel has no discount, but is only $150 a night, Farecast will flag the $250/night hotel as the better “deal.”

Continue Reading “Farecast Extends Price Prediction Tools To Hotels” »

Microsoft is blaming a server error for inadvertently labeling legitimate copies of Windows XP and Vista as pirated software. Thousands of users found their purchased copies of Windows labeled as pirated software by Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage validation system over the weekend.

Any Vista system fingered by the malfunctioning server was stripped of features, including the Aero graphical interface and DirectX support.

After the issue cropped up, Microsoft’s WGA program manager, Phil Liu, posted a note to the WGA forums announcing a fix, though the cause of the issue remains a mystery.

If you were hit by the glitch, head to the WGA site and click the “Validation Now” link to restore your copy of Windows to full functionality.

Continue Reading “Server Error Labels Windows Customers As Software Pirates” »

It used to be if you panned up in Google Earth you saw pixelated sky and clouds, but no more, now the heavens are just a mouse click away. Google Earth has unveiled a new feature dubbed Google Sky, that brings constellations, star maps, Hubble telescope imagery and more, making Google Earth somewhat of misnomer.

The new layers can be found in the latest version of Google Earth where you’ll see a new button “Switch between Sky and Earth” in the toolbar.

Sky layers are listed in the left side menu and include options like, Constellations, Backyard Astronomy, Hubble Showcase, The Moon, The Planets, User’s Guide to Galaxies and Life of a Star. There’s even some animations of planetary orbits.

All in all the new Google Sky in an astounding amount of data packed into an easy to navigate interface — well worth upgrading the Google Earth 4.2.

Continue Reading “Space: The Final Google Earth Frontier” »

Facebook isn’t having a good week. Yesterday a portion of its home page code was posted on a blog named Facebook Secrets and then last night the same blog put up Facebook’s search code for all the world to see.

Facebook has been firing off Cease and Desist letters to everyone who posts the code, though it remains unclear whether it’s actually illegal to post it considering no laws were broken in obtaining it. It’s also worth noting that what’s been posted so far is at least good-looking, well-organized code.

But that’s probably cold comfort for Facebook who no doubt would like to know who’s behind Facebook Secrets (the main site which hasn’t complied with the C&Ds).

Although Facebook Secrets contains no hints as to who is in charge, last night’s code post very likely came from the same server malfunction that Facebook blamed for the initial code exposure.

Continue Reading “Facebook Code Leak Continues To Trickle” »

Apple has just released a new version of Boot Camp, the company’s software for running Windows on your Mac. Boot Camp 1.4 features improved drivers for graphic cards and more.

Boot Camp is still an unsupported beta, but the Apple says the software will be included in the upcoming release of OS X 10.5 Leopard.

The new Boot Camp 1.4 includes:

• Support for keyboard backlighting (MacBook Pro only)
• Apple Remote pairing
• Updated graphics drivers
• Improved Boot Camp driver installer
• Improved international keyboard support
• Localization fixes
• Updated Windows Help for Boot Camp

You don’t need to repartition to upgrade though you will need to walk through the Boot Camp installer to burn the new drivers CD.

Just hours after Microsoft pushed its new SkyDrive online storage option out the door, Google announced its own new storage options. There have long been rumors that Google would eventually offer some sort of “GDrive” for online backups of data, and while this may not be what many people had in mind, it’s certainly a step in that direction.

The big catch for many people will be that the new storage options aren’t free. In fact they aren’t exactly a bargain either. here’s a price breakdown:

• 6 GB: $20 per year
• 25 GB: $75 per year
• 100 GB: $250 per year
• 250 GB: $500.00 per year

Continue Reading “Google Ups Online Storage Ante With Fee-Based Options” »

Flickr has re-designed its web uploading tools, jettisoning the old, somewhat clunky interface for a slick new upload form that makes it much easier to do bulk uploads.

There are of course literally hundreds of uploading tool out there from third parties, but sometimes — like at an internet cafe while on vacation — uploading through the web interface is the only viable option. And thanks to the new uploader the process is no longer the clumsy pain-in-the-arse it used to be.

The old uploader limited you to six photos at a time and you needed to select them one at a time in six form boxes. The new uploader dispenses with that nonsense and allows you to shift-select a batch of photos all from one dialogue box. That said, there do appear to be limits. To test it I threw 383 images at it and it choked.

Continue Reading “Flickr’s New Web-Based Tools Make Batch Uploads A Snap” »