Windows Vista Media Player Gadget
I'm not completely sold on the whole Gadgets thing for the Windows Vista Sidebar, but there are a few I'm finding it hard to live without. The Media Player gadget is definitely a must, because I have no use for having Windows Media Player open all the time. This is a handy intermediary, giving me quick access to playing music, browse my library, watch videos, and building playlists. Four skins are included and you can retract the playlist to conserve space.
If you don't drive frequently gridlock roadways, you may not care much about Traffic.com. If you never leave your house, having a mapping service like Google Maps may not help you find your way from the refrigerator to the bedroom closet. For the rest of us who live in traffic congested regions of the country and bravely venture onto the streets during those drive times of the early morning and late afternoon hours, a recent mashup-up of Yahoo's Traffic.com and Google Maps pinpoint the high traffic areas in most urban areas. Greg Sadetsky, creator of the Google-Yahoo traffic mapping overlap, demonstrated some of the features from the Where 2.0 stage. One thing he illustrates is the geo-locations of accidents at any given snapshot in time. What I want to see long term is a map that shows geo-locations of accidents over time. Having historic data would help show some of the more dangerous areas to drive and either offer warnings of upcoming high risk areas or help make better informed decisions about improving roadways over time. I'm sure much of this data is already available somewhere, it's just not readily usable because we're all swamped with too much information. Pairing historic crash data with current maps makes driving risk assessment easier with an application that provides warnings on-the-fly.
MetaCarta Geographic Text Search
John Frank of MetaCarta followed David Rumsey on stage. MetaCarta sells technology to couple mapping with document search, providing geo-location for points of reference within text. Basically, if you want to know everything written by your company about a specific geographic region, MetaCarta can link your research documents to the locations they reference. This isn't particularly compelling from a consumer perspective yet, but if MetaCarta makes the technology publicly available we're sure to see their technology integrated with things like Wikipedia to create a Encyclopedia of Earth with geo-specific documentation that actually delivers relevant results. This is one area I'm particularly interested in because at the moment there are still errors in search where I get information about Des Moines, WA when I want details about Des Moines, IA. Bringing data to a more micro level, the MetaCarta technology makes it possible to find everything written about a specific part of Des Moines, rather than the massive dump of information delivered under current results on the city when performing a local search.
View the David Rumsey map collection
I'm sitting in the opening session at Where 2.0 still marveling over the mapping mash-ups done by David Rumsey. He's a collector of historic cartography with over 11,000 different maps available from his site. On stage Mr. Rumsey demonstrated some killer combinations of 3D topographical maps overlayed with some of the historic maps in his collection. While this seems gimmicky on the surface, it actually makes flat mapping more relevant because the maps are integrated in context with the environment. One timely example is a Rumsey archive map from the Lewis and Clark expedition paired with a 3D topographical view of the same path covered by the expedition. Sure you could re-create a similar map using software, but to get the perspective of historically hand drawn map from a 30,000 foot view of the topography, integrated with the ability to zoom in on specific locations and follow the Lewis and Clark trail, a new perspective is created. I'm not describing this with the same effect viewing the maps onscreen made, but it's seriously one of the most unique mapping tools I've seen.
Test drive A9.com Local Image Search
I finally found something about A9.com that makes me want to check it out. I haven't paid much attention to their search technology because I'm still very happy with Google search results and don't see much use in switching. Something I most likely will use is their new technology for connecting photos of a specific location and tying them to GPS coordinates to link map points in Mapquest to the images to provide a visual reference with an otherwise meaningless destination in driving directions. While static pictures would be somewhat cool, they've further raised the bar making the images navigable so you can see images next to your destination or across the street from your destination on the map. No more wondering if you're in the right spot, you'll know because you've seen it before you get there.
From a gadget hackers perspective, you may already have all the required tools for making your own photo location map. To link the images, A9.com uses an SUV-mounted digital video camera connected to GPS, which links to a laptop that automatically processes the images. Ultimately the whole project ties back to a Mapquest search providing you relevant images for a planned destination. You can see this demonstrated in my image search for the Westin St. Francis hotel, location of Where 2.0.
Download 3D Dancing Skeleton Now
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If Christopher Walken danced his way through Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice video while standing in front of an X-ray machine, it might look something like this screensaver. Skeleton's get their groove on, dancing to eerie Halloween music or to a custom soundtrack created by you. By default, a solitary skeleton dances alone, but the screensaver is easily configured for multiple skeletons in a variety of festive colors. The registered version also entertains with floating ghosts, pumpkins, and other Halloween beasties. With everyone's favorite holiday fright-fest just around the corner, it's time to get the virtual desktop in the party spirit.
Download Flag 3D Screensaver Now Order Flag 3D Screensaver
Demonstrate your loyalty to wherever your home may be with a flag screen saver. With 52 flags to choose from including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, EU, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Korea, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Taiwan, UK, United Nations, and US, a large percentage of the world's population is represented. Realizing there are over 500 flags in the world representing nations, states, regions and provinces, the screensaver also includes a custom option to add your own favorite. See your flag with a sunset in the background and the rippling of a breeze to make it float across the screen.
Download TuneUp WinStyler Now Order TuneUp WinStyler
With the fresh new face of Longhorn seeming light years away, products like this designed to give Windows XP a fresh face can only grow in popularity. Switch icons with ease, customize the desktop appearance, and even give the logon screen a complete overhaul. Virtually any system icon may be replaced with one of the themed icon packages available to WinStyler users. The taskbar, start menu, and all attributes of the Windows interface are easily overhauled to replace the swiftly staling blue with something a little more to your own personal taste. If a particular style doesn't quite meet your needs, change it to create your own custom style. WinStyler makes it easier to navigate through the Windows folder tree, providing custom access and shortcuts to frequently used tools and folders. The companion TuneUp Online offers frequent updates with new and improved tools, to prevent your desktop from ever becoming stagnant.
Screenshots:
Windows Logon Screen
Start Menu and Wallpaper
Icon Updates
Quickly finding information on your PC using the Window XP built in search tools is just not the reality it should be. Even with indexing turned on, you either need a very narrow idea of where the file might be located or you need the patience to wait for a search through the entire file system. Several third-party tools offer to assist in file searches, at the expense of slowing your system to a crawl and lightening you wallet by quiet a few dollars. Copernic Desktop Search offers a great balance between the for-fee search tools and the native Windows XP search. Search is quickly available, with an imbedded search box right in the windows taskbar, so there's no need to launch Windows Explorer just to find your files. An index of all relevant files on your system updates while your system is idle, so you get the latest results, without the performance hit of indexing during active computing. Outlook and Outlook Express emails are automatically indexed as they arrive and new files get indexed as soon as you save them to the hard drive. Smart searching looks for information inside your files, not wasting time with searching through core operating system components, which is a key slowdown in the Windows XP search. Copernic managed to make the system robust, keeping the index from accidentally getting corrupted due to a data overload. If any file type isn't indexed by default, you can add the file type to customize Desktop Search to fit your needs. [Windows XP/Vista $0.00]
http://illustmaker.abi-station.com/index_en.shtml
Messenger clients and forums offer ways for you to personalize your profile with an image representing your personality. While creating an image from graphics related to your favorite movie or cartoon character is an easy way to pledge allegiance to a personally identifying subculture, making something unique is infinitely more representative. Portrait Illustration Maker offers a fully customizable way to build your own illustrated icon. Choose from dozens of configuration options for facial features, hair styles, accessories, and hand gestures (nothing offensive). Illustration styles range from comic book to anime. If you need an avatar for the MediaBlab forum, this is a great place to create your own.
Download Mechanical Clock 3D Order Mechanical Clock Now!
Turn your desktop into an 18th century Swiss clock with the latest 3D achievement from 3Planesoft. Intricate gears turn in the background behind an exquisite clock face perfect for adding sophistication to any home or workplace desktop. Realistic clock sounds tick the seconds away and chime the hour. The clock face displays the current time based on the Windows system time (which in turn synchronizes with a network time server), giving you a timepiece more accurate than anything Huygens could have ever imagined.
Download Summer Butterflies 3D Screensaver
Watch butterflies floating through the trees in this 3D screensaver offering. Background music provides soothing relaxation as colorful insects drift across your screen. A background canopy of trees provides the canvas. The screensaver also incorporates password protection to keep your personal information locked down if you need to leave your desk.
http://jakeludington.com/kidscreensavers
Having an extra PC in my office makes it easy to use one screen for children's entertainment. One of the more successful diversions I've found is screensavers. While a simple series of still photos rotating through a slideshow presentation generally does the trick, it's nice to change things up with something different on occasion. Mr. Free Free provides some great links to free screensavers geared for children of most ages, including links to some well know animated characters.
Modern font design can't be discussed without mention of Chank Diesel. I first discovered Chank fonts via a link from Jeffery Zeldman, probably not long after Chank came online in 1996. Beginning with 1999, Chank hosts an growing collection of annual recognized free fonts. The latest offering, stemming from a teaching gig at the 2004 AIGA Design Camp include three unusually floral fonts derived from three Chank staples. Browse the collection of fonts new and old to add creative typography to your desktop toolset. Commercial use does require the appropriate license for the fonts.
You may also want to learn how to install new fonts.
Download Serengeti Safari Screensaver
Rhinos, and gazelles, and wildebeest, oh my. Experience the African savannah on your desktop, as 3D animals traverse the idle moments of your Windows desktop. Watch elephants lumber by. See herds of zebras pursued by hunting big cats. Lions patrol the grasses as predatory birds hunt from above. Animal sounds and music may be muted to keep from annoying co-workers. This screensaver is great for nature lovers and parents looking to distract their children. [Windows 9x/2k/XP $9.95]
Download Calm Before The Storm Screen Saver
An abandoned outpost looks out over a forgotten lake as leaves whisk past, with the sky growing dark in the distance. Lightning brightens your screen as music builds the calm before the storm. The scene changes to a lonely lighthouse protecting ships from the rocky crags below, as the sky swirls in anticipation of the coming tempest. Another scene crackles with lightning as the desert prepares for a coming storm. When your computer is resting, a storm is brewing with this animated screen saver.
http://www.windowsmedia.com/mediaguide/scoobydoo2
While I'm doubtful the new Scooby Doo movie is any better than its predecessor, fans of the always hungry crime-solving dog will enjoy this entertaining tandem of Windows Media enhancements. Get the free Scooby Plus! LE dancer and a free Windows Media Player skin based on the movie. As much as I keep wanting to despise the Plus! Dancers, I find myself strangely drawn to them. Owners of the Plus! Pack get the bonus dancing duo of Scooby and Skele-Man. For HD fans, the Scooby 2 trailer is available in WMV HD here as well.
Great 3D world rendering keeps me coming back for more screen savers from 3Planesoft. This time, your computer's idle cycles take an underwater submarine cruise with realistic panoramic scenes of sunken treasures. Explore sunken ships, underwater castles, and other detailed underwater experiences, all from behind the virtual glass of an underwater diving vessel. Shift perspective to see the submarine break the surface of waves, before diving underwater for another trip past detailed underwater scenes. Once again, the 3D modeling is on par with the best stuff from the PC gaming industry. [Windows 9x/2k/XP/Vista $14.95]
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/cd/order.asp
This isn't exactly a desktop customization, but it will help protect your PC desktop. If you don't do Windows updates regularly because you are on dial-up or if you know someone who doesn't do security patches because downloading takes too long, order this CD. All patches released through October 2003 are included, which should eliminate most of the more common virus and security concerns. Shipping appears to be free to all parts of the globe.
Thanks Robert
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Say the Time is an awesome replacement for the Windows system tray clock, making it easy to change the font and modify background colors. At prescribed intervals, the time is announced by one of two pleasant voices. Hovering over the clock causes a calendar to pop-up (a feature Microsoft should have included in Windows), including a list of upcoming reminders. For appointment conscious users, Say the Time offers advance warning for upcoming events by announcing the time, at the same time displaying a visual reminder similar to Outlook reminders, and optionally playing audio specific to the message or launching an application. One of the best uses I've found for Say the Time is launching audio files created using TextAloud containing a to-do list of things I need to remember.
Rover and the cast of animated characters Microsoft includes to assist in the search process are cute, but they don't really improve the search experience. When the puppy love fades, removing Rover is easy.
If you can't live without animated assistance, add some variety by replacing Rover with one of his friends.
One thing Windows has never included is a real sound editing app. Sound Recorder is very feature limited and only edits WAV files, making it hard to quickly slice a sound byte from your favorite mp3 or wma, without investing in additional software. Fortunately, Windows XP users have a tool that is almost ideal for cutting audio tracks into smaller pieces--Windows Movie Maker.
To slice a section out of an audio track using Windows Movie Maker, follow these steps:
1) Open Windows Movie Maker
2)Click the File menu and select Import into Collections.
3) Add the clip you want to edit to the Movie Maker Collections.
4) Click the View Timeline button on the Storyboard, and then drag the audio track to the timeline.
5) Zoom Out the Timeline so that finding a precise point in the audio will be easier.
6) Play the track by clicking the Play button on the Timeline (if the point where you want to split the track is well past the beginning, move the marker closer to where you want to insert the split).
7) When the marker reaches the point in the song where you want to clip the track, click the Pause button.
8) Click the Split Track button under the video monitor to make a track division.
9) Continue playing the track until you reach the end of the segment you want to keep.
10) Pause the track and click the Split Track button again.
11) Discard the portions of the track you want to eliminate by selecting them and then clicking the delete key.
12) Save the finished audio clip by choosing File > Save Movie File (Ctrl+P) from the menu.
13) Choose My Computer as the location and click Next.
14) Name the audio file and choose a location to save it, and then click Next.
15) Click Show more choices, and then click Other Settings to select an audio quality from the dropdown menu.
When Movie Maker completes the save process, click Finish.
The final track will be in WMA format, which can be used in movies created with Windows Movie Maker, played back in most media players, or burned to CD as an audio track. The one useful feature Windows Movie Maker doesn't include is the ability to save audio tracks as WAV files, which are required to replace the default Windows system sounds.
The first step in creating a custom picture is to find the picture you want to use. Once you locate a picture, open it in your favorite photo editor. Most pictures will require resizing because the final image needs to be bitmap 48 pixels by 48 pixels.
For resizing, something like the free utility IrfanView works nicely because it performs the resize easily and displays the height and width of the selected area as you drag the cursor. Make adjustments to your selection until you have a square area selected, then crop the image.
Resize the new square image to 48x48 and save the image as a .bmp file.
To use the image in your user profile you need to move it to the
C:\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures folder.
If you haven't done so previously, you will need to unhide this folder.
To change the picture for your user, go to Start > Control Panel > User Accounts
http://www.sayesoft.com.au/mySB/info.htm
http://jakeludington.com/mysb
The Windows Start button quietly sits in the bottom left corner of your screen, waiting for you to click on it when you need to access programs and files. Give the Start button new life with MySB, a tweaking tool designed specifically to enhance the Windows Start button. Use custom graphics, animate the Start button, change the tool tip text, or make the Start button invisible. MySB includes a Theme editor, giving you control over every aspect of your Start button's appearance.
After recently renting Disney's Treasure Planet, this seems like the perfect screensaver to adorn my desktop. Choose from seven camera angles, letting you see the ship from the deck, as well as aerial and side views. This ship looks like it should be crawling with the boarding party from some rogue crew. Pick from a selection of country flags, or fly your own custom flag from the ship's mast. The creaking of the ship as it sales across your screen can be a little unnerving until you get used to it and leaving the volume turned up after a round of UnReal Tournament will have you jumping out of your seat when the cannons fire, but that's just a testament to the quality that went into Galleon 3D's design.
http://www.topdrawerdownloads.com/archives/000019.html
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