Free Software – Not Always Bad & Crappy

As a word of caution, free software is USUALLY bad and/or crappy…but not always! I found this site listing “the best free and open-source software for Windows“. I currently use or have used many of the products on their list: Firefox (Web Browser), VLC (Media Player), OpenOffice (think M$ Office…without all the $$$), Audacity (Sound Editor), Gimp.app (image editor), and Paint.net (another image editor).

So that got me thinking about the other free programs I use. First of all, SourceForge is a great site that hosts a ton of free programs, but the projects range from abandoned to the idea stage to non-functional to crappy to okay to good to excellent…so explore at your own risk! Also, before I get to MY list, I do hafta acknowledge a good, free product from Microsoft – Windows Defender. If you read any of the articles listed in my blog entry for Vista, you may remember this being mentioned as a standard component of the new OS.

So here’s my addendum to the products listed above:

• Spybot Search & Destroy (Spyware Protection)
• AVG Anti-Virus (Virus Protection)
• Writely (Word Processing)
• maj7 (ChordPro Viewer – Chorded Song Sheets)
• Net Transport (Downloading Tool – Mostly Free!)

Well, just a few notes to finish this longest-post-yet. I guess I could’ve listed iTunes, but if you don’t know about that, I doubt you’d be here reading this blog! What you may not already know is that Writely is an online word processor which was recently bought by Google…hopefully it’ll stay as free and cool as it was before the purchase!

Gadgets In The Key Of “C”

Ever on the search for ways to do less faster and better, I stumbled across a link to this site. This company – Tronical – has developed a kit that, when installed on a compatible guitar, will automatically tune the guitar in less than two seconds! Oh yeah, this isn’t limited to standard pitch (440Hz) or tuning (E-A-D-G-B-E)…so you can either get your axe back into tune after thrashing on it or change into an entirely different tuning and/or pitch. I do, however, see two drawbacks.

1. No price listed…or in other words, go ahead and guess that this’ll be ‘spensive!
2. It’s not gonna make you sound any better! When you hit the wrong note notes, they may be in tune, but they’re still not gonna sound good!

Update: Reading an article at Sonic State, Tronical plans to release this with an MSRP below $1k. Also, if you go to the Synthax site (the distributor for Tronical), you can find some additional of the same information about this product.

Microsoft’s New View On Life

So, think you’ve mastered Windows yet…or at least close enough?! Good, ‘cuz Microsoft is unleashing a new view Vista for your computer! In addition to the information on Microsoft’s Windows Vista Homepage, GameSpot has a good article on some of Vista’s features and Blue Blog has a video showing showing Vista’s voice recognition feature.

A Penny Saved Is A…Mile

From the maker’s of the competition for a commercially viable means of transportation to space (Ansari X Prize), comes a new race involving cars. For this race, X = car capable of 250mpg + 10,000 units sold and Prize = $250,000,000!

Detroit Free Press Story

Automotive X Prize website

007′s Learner’s Permit To Kill

James Bond Part 21 will be Episode 1 for the 44 year old movie franchise. Apparently Moneypenny and Q (and therefore, most of Bond’s gadgets) don’t show up until Jimmy gets his license. Click here for a full story on the upcoming Bond movie.

And since we’re on the subject, what does a computer with Half-Life 2 have in common with an N64 and Goldeneye? Click here to find out!

No Clicking Zone

Well, didn’t really find much today, but here’s a link for a site that I found a while ago. It’s kind of a cool, experimental site that is navigated without clicking…well, except for the first click to enter the site. Not amazingly cool, but cool enough to be blog-worthy!!

Click here to visit dontclick.it

Live Action Simpson’s Intro

Not Your Grandma’s Hybrid

The picture pretty much says it all…a Ford F-150 with a new hydraulic hybrid system that’s claiming a potential 60mpg! This is no grandma – going – to – the – store – on – Sunday hybrid…this is a man’s hauling – your – Binford – tools hybrid that will help you finish your Man’s Kitchen or whatever Home Improvement you’re currently working on!

Click here for full story.

Remember The Good Ol’ Days?!

Believe it or not, the picture to the right is of one of the most advanced sites on the World Wide Web…in 1994! This was actually Microsoft’s homepage from April of 1994 to August of 1995. Click here for a larger view of the picture on the right.  There is also a link to an article (A Brief History of Microsoft on the Web) showing the progression of pages to their page as it exists today.

So, remember those good ol’ days? Maybe not as well as you think…’cuz in retrospect, they sure don’t look so good!!

Old Skewl Bloggin’

This is a great page showing some what a technology blog would’ve looked like in 1985 running on a BBS. Don’t know what a BBS is? Well, yeah…good luck with that! This link might help you, but basically a BBS is to the Internet what the Walkman is to an iPod. Anyways, the link below is a fun flashback to yesterday with a bit of today’s flavor!

Engadget 1985