Windows 7 – An open letter to Bill Gates.

Hi Bill,

I think it’s about time we had a chat.

Because we haven’t always seen eye to eye, have we. I’ve certainly had a few unflattering things to say about your products and you obviously didn’t like that because you’ve never left me a comment on here.

That’s ok, nobody enjoys criticism and at least you haven’t had me quietly eliminated.

But I stand by what I’ve said about Internet Explorer 7, that it was the least of all modern browsers and don’t get me started about the piece of crap that was IE6. As a web designer who still has to code for the misguided souls still using it, and its terrible rendering, I’ve sometimes thought about putting a hit on you out of revenge instead.

And as for operating systems, let’s face it, Vista may have been prettier but it was a backward step after XP. Unless of course you meant it that way to force people to buy your next version of Windows.

Cunning really, I never said you weren’t clever.

Well either way your plan worked, because I have duly purchased the brand new Windows 7. And I’ve installed it, and I’ve been using it for a week and I have to tell you Bill…I like it.

It’s good, no really it is. It’s quicker, it doesn’t seem to crash and there are new features like the snapping windows that haven’t even been nicked from a Mac!

Of course it also comes bundled with Internet Explorer 8 which frankly I wasn’t bothered with, but surprise surprise, you now have a browser that I might use occasionally.

Admittedly that’s because you’ve lifted a lot of stuff directly from Firefox, including features I’ve written about but at least it shows you were paying attention.

In fact now I would tell anyone with an older version of Internet Explorer that it would be worthwhile to go to the official IE8 site and download it.

I mean you would know better than I about its improved security and the interesting features like ‘InPrivate’ browsing, where you can deliberately ask it to ignore your browsing history. Otherwise known as ‘PornMode.’

Although I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on that one and say you didn’t request it personally.

So Bill, finally I can say that our relationship is working out now, that perhaps we can be friends after all.

And that if you are ever around my way, you should stop by, I’ve got some ideas we can discuss over a beer or two. My sofa is quite comfy if you feel like crashing out afterwards.

Or if it’s easier, I could always come to your place.

You probably have a larger sofa.

Be Funky. The art of photography made simple.

Let me ask you this, have you ever felt like the frustrated artist.

That you know deep down inside you’re just bursting with creativity but the only thing you’ve ever really drawn successfully are the curtains.

Well, let me introduce you to a great little resource by the name of Be Funky, an entirely free browser based application that lets you unleash your inner Banksy by at least turning your photos into works of art.

For this is what it does, and brilliantly easily too. With one click of the mouse you can transform photographs into stencil drawings, cartoons, fine line sketches and dayglo half-tone Warhol paintings amongst many other inbuilt styles and then fine-tune them as well.

And not only that, you can access all sorts of other customisable goodies too, adding frames, speech bubbles, shapes, even a beard and devil horns to a picture of your Mother-in-Law if your creative muse so dictates…assuming she doesn’t possess either already.

Getting started is simple as well, you upload pictures via an elegant little interface and you can even select those images you already have online on social networks accounts like Facebook, My Space or Flickr.

Plus once you’re done, Be Funky is just as slick in allowing you to share your masterpieces, sending the finished results to your desktop, back to those same community accounts or you can just as easily email your work to your soon to be impressed friends.

Plus it does all this without need for registration, although it does only take a minute to create an account and then you’ll be able to save all of your prized creations.

I think Be Funky is terrific, it’s one of those websites which is part serious application, part frivolous fun but wholely ‘just one more go’ compulsive.

But don’t just take my word for it, visit Be Funky and draw your own conclusion.

* Hi Folks – A bit of an addendum to my enthusiasm for BeFunky. A few weeks after my review the site has been upgraded with even more options to funkify your images. That’s welcome, but in the process they have moneytized features that were free before and added a banner watermark to your creations on the ‘free’ account. It’s still good though, and if you’re crafty you can add a bit of  ‘padding’ to a picture with any basic photo editor before using BeFunky and then crop the watermark off.

No puppies were harmed in funking up these photographs

Free Rice. Helping to feed the World and your vocabulary.

Right, I want you to stop what you’re doing and I want you to go to a website called Free Rice.

Well not right now obviously, first I want you to keep reading but afterwards I do want you to go to a website called Free Rice. In fact I implore you.

Because not only will you get a chance to test your intelligence and learn some stuff but in your own little way you’ll be helping to fight World hunger as well.

And I know how fanciful that sounds but it’s absolutely true. Let me explain.

Free Rice is a very neat little website that is run by the United Nations World Food Program and one which lives up to the name because its sole purpose is to provide free rice to some of the poorest people of the World in over 75 countries.

And it does this with your help using simple but fun vocabulary tests, alongside some other quizzes, that for every one of your correct answers the various large companies who sponsor the site donate 10 grains of rice.

Not alot obviously but when hundreds of thousands of people are taking the challenge every single day that’s a lot of bowls being filled.

On the day before I posted this, the site says 22,659,350 grains were donated and since Free Rice was launched in October 2007 a total of 66,691,160,670 grains of rice have been contibuted so far. That’s 66 billion, crikey, I wouldn’t want to count ‘em.

But apart from the fantastic charitable aspect of the site, it’s just simple addictive fun. You’re given a word and asked what it means from a choice of four options. And oh they start off easy but begin getting harder and more obscure until you think they must be making the buggers up.

With 60 levels of difficulty as well, which for every 3 correct definitions you go up a level and for a wrong ‘un drop down a level, there’s a distinct sense of achievement when you beat your previous best. Of course that’s when they start hitting you with words like ‘dyspeptic’ and ‘vituperation’ to define.

And I was dyspeptic and hurled plenty of vituperation at the computer screen when those came up I can tell you.

Not that I knew it immediately, because then I didn’t know dyspectic meant bad tempered and vituperation meant verbal abuse. At the time they just meant I wasn’t as clever as I thought I was, but I’m a little bit cleverer for knowing them now.

So do the clever and charitable thing yourself, go to the Free Rice website by clicking this link and the first thing you should do before starting the tests is to select the Options Tab and click the button for it to remember your own tally of contributed rice. Trust me, you’ll be returning to the site plenty more times yet.

Tell your friends about Free Rice too, and if you know any kids definitely tell them about it, they’ll be the ones to benefit most other than those to whom a simple bowl of rice means so much. And if they object at first, make the little darlings visit.

Between a bit of coercive vituperation and helping to donate some food for the most needy, Bob Geldof would be proud of you.

Google Preferences that are definitely more preferable.

Well since I spoke of Google and the ‘+Show options‘ feature in my last article, let’s explore just a little more about how to get the best out of Googling.

For there are dozens of sneaky tricks and special modifiers you can add to narrow your searches down to practically a molecular level.

Nevertheless, the really advanced Google Particle Physics stuff can wait for another post. Let’s start off with some easy changes and a few suggestions that in all honesty, you will probably use more anyway.

The first thing to experiment with is your Google Preferences, because by default the big G hides away some of its better options. Such as it limits the number of results per page to just the 10, but you don’t have to be restricted to that, it’s easy to increase that number.

On the actual Google page itself, right by the Search button, you’ll see a little link for Preferences. Click that and you’ll be able to increase the number per page from 10 to 20, 30, 50 even up to a 100. It does warn that the more results per page, the longer it will take to load but it means only in nanoseconds, as a human with a normal perception of time you won’t notice any difference at all on 20 results per page.

And er, ladies, on that Preferences page, if you have impressionable children or an inquisitive husband to keep away from the saucy stuff on the internet, click the SafeSearch option “Use strict filtering (Filter both explicit text and explicit images)“. Then if he moans about it later, you know he’s been looking don’t you.

Plus while you’re there, I definitely, definitely recommend you check the “Open search results in a new browser window.” box. On modern browsers this opens any clicked search result in a brand new tab, so now you wont be condemned to the crazy back and forth between every clicked link and Google, losing your comparisons as you go.

Just make sure you save all Preferences changes before you leave this page though won’t you.

But as for the actual searching, I wonder if you’ve ever thought to do these…

The Reverse Phone Number. If someone phoned and didn’t leave a message but you 1471′d their number, have you ever thought to just type that number into Google. If it’s a business you’ll see straight away who didn’t even have the decency to say they called. Now you can righteously slam the phone down on them when they try again.

The Postcode Modifier. You may be used to adding your town or city name after certain search terms to act as a refiner, but it’s even better to replace that with your postcode. First it’s usually quicker to type and it narrows a search to a more local area.

So say you’re in the mood for a nice Rogan Josh, you can Google Indian Restaurant followed by a postcode and in a different look to the normal Google results, you’ll be presented with a list of 10 matches that are closest and a small map of their location. But you can do better, click where it says “Local Business For…” and be transported to a more specific page of those same results where you can even click a link to easily get the full Google Map directions to your curry house of choice, just by adding your postcode again.

The “When is the Film on?”. And if you fancy a film before your meal and want to know when it starts, you don’t need a cinema’s website. Just type into Google the full movie name of your choice and your postcode. The two most local cinemas will appear right there with all the start times. Click on the cinema name itself and it even provides the start times of all other movies showing as well, just in case your date doesn’t want to see a movie with giant robots in it.

Simple ways then to get more from Google, or not if you prefer.

New options to make you a Time Lord of Googling.

When you perform a search in Google, what do you do?

Do you just type in a basic search query and then try to sift through the results or do you do the smart, time saving thing and add a few further refinements.

Well courtesy of a brand new feature to Google those refinements are easier to achieve than ever. But while this welcome addition to the Worlds most familiar website is in plain sight for all to see, it’s so modest in appearance you’ll be forgiven for not noticing it or realizing its significance.

Because hiding beneath the understated wording of  ‘+Show options‘ at the top of your results there lies a whole new raft of filtering methods to streamline your searching.

Options that will instantly revamp your results if you were just looking for a review of something, a forum relating to the topic or videos about it. (Although still the better options for Video is to click at the very top of the page, you’ll get the same results but you’ll be able to play them right there inside Google.)

All very useful, but on top of this Google have now integrated a much needed method to refine your search to either recent results, to those within the last 24 hours, last week or last year and a very clever one to define your very own time period to select from, down even to looking for results from a single day, years ago if you wanted.

Because just think, if you Googled Dr Who, you’ve got 11 incarnations of our time travelling hero to choose from. But starting with the right keywords and requesting only results from a very set window of time you can narrow the hits to a particular period of Christopher Eccleston for instance.

Fantastic. Absolutely Fantastic. What can I say, he’s my favorite.

Plus you can do more, you can expand the text of each result from the traditional two lines worth, include images from those pages and there is the appearance of something called ‘The Wonder Wheel’. A fascinating ever expanding DNA representation of all the people, topics and linked terms that’s associated to your inquiry and far beyond.

There’s also a Related Search option and the inclusion of an amazing Timeline function, something to serve even The Doctor well if he ever needed to know precisely the years in history he had already thwarted the Dalek menace.

So the next time you’re searching Google, do try these new ‘+ Show options‘ functions for yourself.

You’ll get to your destination in a much quicker time and with a lot less rattling about than the TARDIS.

OpenWith. The solution to opening any kind of file.

Now then, it’s a fact of computer life that sometimes there are files on our machines that we can’t open.

Someone sends you something with the message, You Must See This! and you try every program you have but nothing will let you crack into that elusive extension.

So what to do?

Well, one option is to use a file conversion service like Zamzar, something I’ve already written about.

Or perhaps you just find a FREE program that you know is compatible with that filetype and download it, thus making life a lot less frustrating when your annoying but well meaning friend sends you the same kind of file again.

And that’s what a handy utility called OpenWith allows you to do.

Because after a simple and lightweight download of OpenWith itself, (Although a word to the wise, it does come bundled with another download for something called PC MightyMax 2009, so uncheck that option when you see that screen) now if you right click on the offending file, the first option to appear in that contextual menu is the query ‘Openwith.org. How Do I Open This?’

So you click to find out, it’s own little browser like window opens and you’ll be answered by a description of that filetype plus a list of one or more FREE programs that will definitely open it for you, even providing the download links to those programs.

All very easy and convenient but if you’d like some further info before proceeding, simply double click the filetype or program description in that OpenWith window and be transported to its own website where you’ll be able to learn more.

And don’t think OpenWith is only useful for providing a list of programs to open obscure file extensions, you’ll find free sources to open all Microsoft formats as well, along with so many others you may think require the original and expensive programming. Like I say, OpenWith provides the solution to open ANY kind of file.

Actually while I say ANY, it’s more like a disinfectant killing 99% of all known germs, a few filetypes might still be stubbornly resistant but you needn’t worry that yours will be one of them.

There’s really not much more to add, except to say that this great little program has earned 5 star reviews and is certified free from all spyware and malware.

So go to the OpenWith.org website by clicking this link, have a look at the easy-to-follow instructions page and decide whether this is something you can use.

But I would say that sooner or later you’ll definitely have a use for OpenWith, that OpenWith stays out of the way until you do need it and that OpenWith is small and safe so don’t muck about, download it while you think of it.

After all, you never know what your friend will send you next.

CoolPreviews. The best browser plug-in ever?

Ok then, how would you like to see what a webpage looks like behind a link BEFORE you click it?

Alright, you’ve probably never thought about it but hold onto your clicking finger folks because I’m about to explain how you can do exactly that and so turbo-charge your web surfing.

For the topic of my humble scribblings this time is a brilliant Firefox browser plug-in called CoolPreviews, a kind of picture in picture for your web surfing.

One that opens a new window within your present one simply by hovering over a website link, that’s ANY link on ANY page. And when you do open that window, it’s not just for a passive snapshot of a webpage, it’s to interact with that site just as you normally would.

And the point of that is :

• On Google, no more going back and forth from all those search results, now you can preview each one while staying on Google.
• On YouTube, no trawling to a new page, just hover over a thumbnail and watch any video in its own window.
• On sites like Amazon, you can shop twice as fast by shopping in two windows, you could say it’s window in window shopping.
• On News sites you could read about both sides of the story at once.
• On any intriguing link in fact you can lazily preview it without leaving the site you’re on.
• And as for a cautious reluctance to click a suspect link, see where it would lead by safely hovering over it…and therefore not activating the nastiness it could harbour.

But there’s also more to it, too much to explain here but notably a handy bookmarking feature called Stacks, so this time I’m including a handy video explanation/tutorial for CoolPreviews by its makers, the same team behind Cooliris (the topic of my first ever post on here)

It showcases a slightly older version of CoolPreviews, but it does explain most of what you need to know, although make sure you check out the preferences options on your own should you download it.

Because I tell you, I’ve been using CoolPreviews for months and it’s revolutionized the way I’ve surfed the web and while I know I’ve eulogised about other Firefox plug-ins…and I’m sure I will about many more, if you ever only download one, make this it.

You can do so by clicking this link.

CoolPreviews, your window to a brand new way of web surfing.

The F Keys. The F should not stand for forgotten.

Do me a favour will you, look at your keyboard.

I mean really look at it, examine it closely, and ignoring all the dust, crumbs and dandruff collected on it, I want you to focus on those keys you never think to use, the Home key, the End key and the top row of F keys that you prop your pen against.

Well, it might simply be that you’re overlooking those keys because you don’t know what they do or realize how useful they can be.

Actually I exaggerate, some of them are useless on their own and and we shall ignore them like the dried up sneezes that also customise our keyboards, but as for the others, it’s at least worth knowing what they do.

Let’s start with The F keys, the F actually standing for Function, although you can function perfectly well without most of them.

But the ones most worthwhile are :

The F1 key – The ‘Help’ key. The button to press when you need a little guidance about the program open at the forefront of your screen. Mind you, for most programs it would help if there was another button to press to help you make sense of the help they so unhelpfully try to help with.

The F2 key – The ‘Rename’ key. Very convenient. Click on your target, press this button and you’re able to instantly rename that folder with those dodgy pics in it – VAT Receipts 08/09. (Note to my Mrs, only an example my dear, only an example.)

The F5 key – The ‘Refresh’ key. Used in tandem with any web browser, it’s handy for confirming it is the latest version of a webpage you’ve loaded, for reloading a page that mis-loads and for stabbing down angrily when you feel a page is taking far too long to load.

The F6 Key – The ‘Transfer Focus To The Address Bar In A Browser’ key. Big deal you may think but handily removes that trip to the mouse to do the same thing and then back to the keyboard. My personal favourite and if it’d made sense to put this on top of the list I would have.

The F11 key – The ‘Full Screen’ key. If your TV had its menu perpetually at the top of the screen you wouldn’t put up with it, and you don’t have to when you’re web surfing. Hit this to make the top toolbar disappear and hit it again when you need it.

And as for those other keys you never use…

The Home key – This one is contextual and its effect will depend on the program you’re using at the time. But I’m only talking about web browsers here, so if you’ve scrolled to the bottom of a long webpage, hit this and whammo, you’re instantly back to the top again.

The End key – Guess what, this one does the opposite. Can’t face that long scroll to the bottom of a webpage, this will drop you there quicker than a mouse shaped breeze-block.

So now you know, and for F’s sake, clean all that crap out of your keyboard!

The Awesome Bar. Expert retro surfing, Firefox style.

Ok, let me ask you this, what if you really need to revisit a website or a webpage you’ve seen previously but you forgot to bookmark it?

And what if you don’t remember the website address? Or even what it starts with? Or ever knew it at all because you arrived there by a link. Or it’s too generic to Google efficiently?

And what I ask…what if none of that mattered to finding it again anyway!

Because with Firefox 3 as your web browser none of it does matter, you’ll still be able to find your site in seconds.

But how is such virtual voodoo possible you may ask.

Well it’s all courtesy of the amazing power of the Firefox address bar, so much so that Mozilla decided it wasn’t enough to merely call it an address bar, instead they officially dubbed it The Awesome Bar.

And what makes it awesome is an amazingly comprehensive search function. Because while other browsers have a predictive feature that only works from the start of a url, the The Awesome Bar has one for any characters anywhere within the url.

So for instance if you vaguely recall that the word Shop, Blog, Football or perhaps Britney was somewhere in the website address, type that into the addr…sorry, The Awesome Bar, and now all the instances matching that word will appear in a drop down box to easily select from.

And if that finds your site, all well and good, but Firefox can perform even deeper searching. Because it also remembers the title given to any visited webpage, a keyword rich description of itself that is usually far more specific than its address.

Meaning that if your elusive web page was for a Chicken Scalopini recipe, those words are unlikely to appear in the url but very likely to appear in its title.

And that’s the key, because all you need to do is type in the words Chicken Scallopini, The Awesome Bar works its keyword matching magic and now you can have it for tonight’s dinner after all.

Assuming of course that you haven’t cleared your browsing history since, otherwise you’ll be making do with KFC.

Another example for you, if you use a service like Amazon and want to revisit an item, don’t bother going back and doing the searching again, just type that item directly into the Firefox address field and voila, that page can be instantly selected.

Truly after a while you stop thinking in terms of urls to revisit old websites, you start thinking of keywords, what the subject matter is you want to end up on, or you lazily just type the middle of a url because it’s more distinctive.

In fact if you’re on Firefox now, have a play, experiment, start typing and see how the The Awesome Bar actually works its voodoo. And if you’re not on Firefox now, I hope you finally realise that you bloody should be!

But that, my friends, is how easily you can revisit a site you don’t know the address for.

Isn’t it just awesome.

Google…not everything is the latest technology.

Those people at Google think of everything.

Because what do you do for the Street View feature on Google Maps when the streets in question are too narrow to send the Street View Camera Van down?

Obviously you pimp out a tricycle instead.

Witness these photos I took while on holiday in Italy recently.

And far from feeling my privacy invaded because I’d been caught on their camera, I followed the thing 50 yards to make sure my civil rights had been violated.

So in a short while, should you be using Street View at the junction of Piazza San Elena and Vico di San Cristoforo in Genoa, the only thing I will feel compromised by is how stupidly excited I might appear and how white my legs will look in shorts.

AutoPager. Whatever next, immediately.

Sorry Internet Explorer users, this is a Firefox only offering again.

I make no apologies, apart from that one above, for if you haven’t yet swapped web browsers to Firefox you should be blatantly confronted with your terrible error.

Because this time I’ll be explaining about making Google, admittedly available for several web browsers, even better if that browser is Firefox.

Actually I shall be telling you of a way of making the navigation of many sites easier on Firefox, although Google is the most obvious example.

Now then, while Google couldn’t be much simpler to use, the one thing that could definitely be improved upon is its basic navigation field.

It’s small, a bit fiddly and since you only get 10 results per page there’s a good chance you’ll be clicking on it back and forth several times per search.

Well not if you download a free add-on to Firefox called AutoPager, because now you’ll never need to click to the next page of Google again, it will automatically load for you!

That’s because with AutoPager the next page of Google will load right below the current page of Google almost simultaneously, stacking the pages one on top of the other, building an infinite scrolling content that you only need a mouse wheel or the browser scroll bar to whizz through page after page after page.

Trust me, it is so much faster using Google with Autopager you have to see it yourself to believe it. A process which AutoPager also applies by default with many other websites that utilise a Next button.

And you can even configure websites that aren’t automatically set up with AutoPager to act in the same manner, in fact whenever you see web pages with a Next button. Although I have to admit, while it’s not difficult to do when you know how, it’s not immediately obvious and is a bit too much to explain here.

Suffice to say that in the normal automatic detection mode, whenever a pop up message appears, just say ‘yes’ to allow AutoPager to work it’s magic and make sure it’s ‘enabled’ on your Navigational Toolbar via the AP icon that will conveniently appear there once you download it.

But getting any extra sites to work is just gravy on the main course that will keep feeding one page after another of continuous AutoPager goodness for sites like Google and Amazon.

So, hungry to sample AutoPager for yourself, just click this link to it’s Firefox add-ons page to do so.

Yet another good reason to turn the page on ever using Internet Explorer again as well.

Spotify. The latest music for free, FREE!

Have you heard, there’s a new player in town.

Because while I’ve already told you about We7 with all its wealth of free music, I’m compelled to tell you there is an equal source for all the latest and greatest tracks and full albums.

It’s called Spotify, and despite a name like an instruction to rub butter into the pores of a pimply teenager, with millions of songs to listen to, it spreads only musical joy.

And like We7 the music is all free and legal because the Spotify business model is likewise supported by advertising. Although unlike We7 whose adverts are short but frequent, Spotify has fewer ads but they are a more typical radio stylee 30 seconds.

Mind you, if you want to go to the expense of paying a premium service of 99p a day or £9.99 for a month you can turn those adverts off, although there’s no real need to. Unless of course you’re up for a night of seduction and rather not risk an awkwardly timed condom ad interupting that ‘Luurve’ playlist you prepared.

But anyway, one main difference between the two is that while We7 is a web browser based streaming service, Spotify is a downloaded application to your computer hard drive. It is quick and simple though, only requires filling in a short registration and is a tiny 1.45MB download size.

That’s because the actual tracks are not downloaded, they just play in the Spotify interface. This is free music remember, it’s not iTunes, you do need to be connected to the internet to access them and you can’t add any to your mp3 player, even if the interface itself will remind you of iTunes.

For the clean looks and minimalist controls make searching and playing a doddle and it’s easy to create your own playlists with the drag and drop functionality.

Plus when you are searching for a popular artist or song you’ll be wide eyed with its amount of results. Spotify will return your enquiry for the artists own albums, compilation albums, soundtrack albums, the lot, everything short of their kiddy photo album.

And while I could explain more, I’ll leave those discoveries to you. I will just add that Spotify is another fantastic free music source you’d be crazy not to take advantage of, and you can download it by clicking this link

So go on, get Spotify, spotifying and spotified, and I don’t mean with a knob of Lurpak.

(*Hi again folks. It’s November 2009 and clearly Spotify isn’t the little known application I spoke of 6 months ago, it’s become the Daddy of ALL the free music sites.

Better than ever, some of the new features include the option to buy the tracks now and a Premium service that provides iPhone access, off-line access and apparently even better sound quality.

Myself, I’m still happy with the quality of the free stuff.)