X-Window System

The X-window system is a system-level application, or rather, a process that handles the display in Linux. Basically, what you see on your screen is coming from X.

Useful Key Commands

While working with computers for the purpose of writing reports and sometime surfing Internet, I have been frequently using certain key commands or key combination that I found very useful and I wanted to share them here. Hoepfully they will be helpful to general users in daily applications, writing notes or reports or surfing Internet..

Most commonly used short commands are:

• Ctrl+Home : Go to top of a document

• Ctrl+End : Go to end of a document

• Ctrl+L : Go to/Begin from left end of a line

• Ctrl+R : Go to/Begin from right end of a line

• Ctrl+E : Go to/Begin from center of a line

• Ctrl+J : Justification of text/paragraph

• Ctrl+A : Select the whole file/text/document

• Ctrl+C : Copy selected portion/file/text/document

• Ctrl+V : Paste selected portion/file/text/document

• Ctrl+Z : To undo command/commands and also to undo auto commands that often appear while typing in words document but are not needed.

• Ctrl+A followed by Ctrl+j : To justify the whole text/document in one go

• Shift+Home : To select part of line left of cursor

• Shift+End : To select part of line right of cursor

• End Key : Go to end of a line

• Home Key : Go to start of a line

• Alt+OE : To change the case of selected portion from small to capital letters

Each of these tasks can be done with the mouse, but each one requires the user to leave the keyboard for the mouse and then comeback which in the long run is very time consuming. It might take some getting used to, but with practice you will notice these keyboard shortcuts are much faster.

ChucK - Audio Programming Language

ChucK is an open source audio programming language.

Chuck’s developers claim it is “strongly timed”. This means that everything can be controlled in real time and code may be modified on the fly, while the program is running. Chuck fully supports MIDI, OSC, HID devices and multi channel audio and works under Windows, Linux and Mac/OS. In conclusion it is a powerful yet simple programming tool that allows the user to develop unique audio synthesis programs.

y Writer 2

Novel writers know that standard word processors, such as WordPerfect or MS Word, aren’t always the best tool to use in crafting their masterpieces.

Those programs just aren’t made to keep track of the data that goes into writing a novel, and are feature-overkill for what writers need. Commercial software for writing novel exists, but is often expensive, or even, for those who aren’t yet getting paid for their writing, out of reach financially.

Enter y Writer from Spacejock Software. It’s free, well thought out software crafted specifically for writers of novels and short stories. y Writer 2 is the current version, and y Writer 3 beta is available, too.

The download is only 3 MB, and the program installs under anything from Win 95 or Win98 and above. (I’ve got it on Win98 and WinXP machines.) With a driver downloaded from the y Writer website, you can even install it as a portable app on a USB flash drive, for portable writing wherever you can find a computer. Working the program is easy.

A wizard helps create your first project. Then add chapters, characters, scenes to build your novel from initial outline to finished product. Scenes and chapters can be added, moved and deleted as your work progresses.

A storyboard allows you to see how the storyline of each character progresses. Once you’re done, you can export your work to many text formats: html, text, rtf, and even NaNoWriMo obfuscated, for those who take part in National Novel Writing Month held each November.

iSquint

iSquint is a popular video conversion software for Mac.

It offers users ways of converting their videos to various formats and completing tasks such as auto cropping and fitting 18 hours of video onto one DVD, (although I am yet to figure how someone would use that) in addition to converting wrong format videos for iPod video. It works with most video formats and is simple as “drop, drag and click” to convert a video file. iSquint has an available freeware version and also a registered version called “VisualHub” which costs $23.32.

Microsoft Popfly

Microsoft Popfly is based on their Silverlight software (their version of flash).

The alpha release has a drag-and-drop mashup creator that is really amazing. Elements of the mashups are called ‘blocks’, and you can drag blocks onto the desktop and connect them. Information items are selected from drop-down menus - no programming language required. One of the drawbacks at this early stage is that they don’t play nicely with existing flash files, so some of the potential mashups give an error message (example - library book photos do not display). There are currently more than 250 blocks (data sources) to ‘mash’ with, so that’s quite a nice little sandbox for developers.

Software As A Service (SAAS)

Software As A Service or “SAAS” is one of the recently emerging technologies which offers the concept of having various software available as a service.

For example, currently we have to purchase a CD of a software program that we want to use . Then we install it on our computers and then use it. This service (SAAS) eliminates all these hassles, and makes the software available online.

Now if you want to work with the software you can sign in to the website just like an email account and use that software and when finished, exit the site. The advantage of this technology is that often we pay for a software which has a large number of functions, but we only want to use one or two functions. So we can pay for using those functions only. The SAAS is also beneficial for those people who are one time users or use the software occasionally.

The major concern for this technology is that of security. Users who are working would definitely want to have secure and safe data transfer. This aspect is still still under consideration and many companies are looking forward to advancing this technology.

How To Insert Trademark Symbol In MS Word

If you need to reference a trademark in MS Word, such as Gizmo(tm) or Gizmo(R), there are two ways to do it:

1. After the word that needs a trademark, type open parenthesis, t, m, and close parenthesis. MS Word will automatically format the tm designation with a superscript. You can do the same thing to get a registered trademark, type open parenthesis, r, close parenthesis. MS Word will automatically format the r with a circle around it, superscript, etc.

2. You can do the same thing in MS Word by holding down the control and alt keys along and then typing tm or r.

Parallels Mac Desktop

The New Parallels software is out! Parallels is the first virtualization software that allows Intel-based Mac users to run multiple Windows applications without rebooting your Mac Dock!

With the new Parallels 3.0 for Mac, you can enjoy both Windows applications as well as Mac OS X applications concurrently! And, unlike Boot Camp, you won’t have to restart! Parallels also works with OpenGL and DirectX specifications to let you and play your favorite Windows games during any time, even when still working in Mac OS X. Now you can play Half Life, Hitman, Homeworld 2, Live for Speed, Quake1 GL, Quake 2, Quake 3 and more on your Mac! Cliff Joseph from MacWorld UK says, “Parallels Desktop 3.0 is a surprisingly effective method of running Windows software on your Mac.” Try it today; it may just be the coolest software you’ve ever purchased. And, for $80, you can’t beat the price!

Tracks Eraser Pro

I’m skeptical at first about any program that claims to protect your privacy.

It seems like half of all pop-ups use scare tactics to try to get you to lay down money on their bogus spyware-fighting program. I’m happy to say I’ve found an application that is easy to use and really helps to keep your information private. Tracks Eraser Pro is a handy-dandy application to help you to cover your tracks on your PC. It goes beyond cleaning out your history folders and deleting cookies to perform functions that are hard to do on your own. For example, you may not know that many programs on your PC store private usage data in “index.dat” files. These files can be hard to locate and sometimes can not be simply deleted without crippling your computer or applications. Tracks Eraser Pro will seek these files out and wipe out usage data inside without destroying the functional integrity of your programs. That rare feature, by itself, is worth the low purchase price. Note: Acesoft’s Tracks Eraser Pro only covers your tracks at the level of your PC. Your internet provider may still be keeping records of your internet usage. Other applications might be useful to use in combination with Tracks Eraser Pro to “shred” the empty space on your PC thereby making deleted history files and cookies permanently unrecoverable.

Invircible

Invircible is a unique virus detection application from an Israeli security company called Netz Computing.

Unlike other antivirus software, Invircible is built to protect against all viruses, including viruses for which have not yet been detected. While the generic algorithms upon which it is based does necessitate a slightly more advanced user than that of the average virus scanner, it also affords a much higher level of security. The system uses a sophisticated generic scanner to accomplish a level of security that no other virus scanner matches. Their white paper on the subject provides much more detail. Invircible has found a strong niche market among home, corporate, and governmental organizations for which the need for absolute security is paramount.

Adobe After Effects

After Effects is a very powerful solution for doing titles and visual effects on digital video, including Chroma Keying (e.g. green screen) and masking.

It also manages to make many great looking effects very easy to implement into your videos. After Effects is extremely powerful, and I found it very easy to use, especially because the help file is so robust. If you want to do anything, it’s so easy just to go into the help file, and look for what it is you want to do. It is also very straight forward, so even without using the help, it is obvious that things like titles, will be in the “Titles” menu. The effects, like chroma key, are also very easy to implement, with straight forward things like drag and drop throughout every element. Of course, because it is so powerful it has rather high system requirements, and can only be run on high end systems. Besides that, it is an essential program for anybody who is serious about doing great effects, or editing digital video. It is definitely worth the high price tag.

Adobe Captivate

Do you find yourself tasked with creating training, software demos, or client how-tos for your small or medium-sized company?

Adobe Captivate’s new version, Captivate 3, saves time in creating these materials without overloading you with a high learning curve for the software itself. Captivate outputs your screen recordings in Flash format so that you can post the results to the web or distribute on CD-ROM.

Captivate’s intuitive interface makes it easy to capture and annotate screen events via text and audio, and produce a professional-looking result in hours. Captivate’s first release, based on the earlier RoboDemo, was already easy to use for training. For quizzing, new question types and question pooling make creating tests with Captivate more flexible than before. You can more easily test the effectiveness of your training and identify areas for follow-up. The powerful annotation features allow you complete flexibility of text presentation in the video, but if you need to create documentation as well as demos and videos, Captivate also allows you to print to Word or PDF. Addition of music tracks or voiceovers is incredibly simple, as are the addition of static or interactive images.

Nelson Email Organizer

Nelson Email Organizer (NEO) is an application that implements seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook, and which provides a number of features that good old Microsoft doesn’t yet provide as standard.

The first and foremost of these is the search facility. NEO automatically catalogs your emails in an instantly searchable format, which means that you no longer have to wait while Outlook trawls through your emails trying to find what you are after. For example - you remember that you talked to ‘Terry’ a while back, and want to go back over what was said. Just type in the words “terry share options”, and you will see any emails containing those words virtually instantly. As another example - you remember that you talked to ‘Terry’ about share options, but can’t remember the exact keywords. Just click on the ‘Correspondent’ tab, and then click on Terry’s name. You’ll then be presented with any emails sent from, to, or copied to Terry, in one list. It’s hard to overstate how useful this program can be when you’ve got a bulging mail box.

Spyware Blaster

Sometimes free downloads are a gamble, but one worth looking into is Spyware Blaster from Javacool Software.

Now available in version 3.5.1, Spyware Blaster has a comprehensive list of the dialers and adaware that try to insert themselves in your computer, triggered by user internet behavior that seems pedestrian enough. Spyware Blaster has modes for both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Most users who use Mozilla still have IE on their hard drive even if they no longer prefer it. A “backdoor” to spyware could very well be that internet browser you only use occasionally and therefore more likely to be unmonitored or outdated. The software monitors itself for updates and asks permission to download them. This software has experienced no conflicts with existing dialers or applications, so most users will find it unintrusive and safe.

Windows XP Shutdown Shortcuts

Are scheduled defragmentation sessions, downloads, or file transfers keeping you up because you’d like to turn off your computer when they’re done?

Are you frustrated when you click Shut Down on your Windows machine but nothing happens? To have better control of your shutdown procedures, I recommend using the command line. This will allow you to have the computer turn itself off at a specified time, to force shutdowns of Windows no matter which program is “hanging”, restart your computer, log off, and even potentially shut down or restart a network computer for which you have administrative rights.

You can enter this command by clicking Start > Run. Type the command “shutdown” without the quotes and modify it with any of the following parameters or arguments:

• shutdown -i will display a simple graphical interface for shutting down, logging off, or restarting network computers.
• shutdown -l will log your computer off
• shutdown -s the most common variant of this command, this simply shuts down your computer the usual way
• shutdown -r shut down and restart the computer shutdown -a will abort a shut down procedure (if there is a still a countdown running to the shutdown; this command *cannot* be used to halt a shutdown in progress)
• shutdown -f begins a forced shutdown, kills hanging tasks as soon as the command is issued
• shutdown -t ?? replace the question marks with any number of seconds, up to an 8-digit integer (this means you can have your computer shutdown from 0 seconds up to roughly 1157 days, or 3 years and 2 months in the future.)
• shutdown -c if you have scheduled a shutdown, logoff, or restart, you may use 127 characters or less to inform the user about the reason for the shutdown
• These parameters can be applied as a string. For example, if I wished to shut down my computer 4 hours and 30 minutes from now, and to ensure that it did not hang and thus stay on until morning, I would click Start, then Run, then I’d enter “shutdown -s -f -t 16200″ without the quotes. Likewise, if I got up during the night and decided that I should keep the computer on after all, I’d enter the command “shutdown -a” while the timer was still on. The -t ?? parameter is very useful, and can be applied in conjunction with almost any other parameter.
• Please note that arguments for the shutdown command need to be issued in this order: -i -l -s -r -a -f -t ?? -c This means that if you wanted to combine a comment code with a forced restart command and a timer, you’d have to write the string in this fashion: “shutdown -r -f -t ?? -c ???” with the question marks replaced by values

Firefox Bookmark Synchronizer

Yoono offers a browser plug in available for Firefox and Internet Explorer that allows you to keep your bookmarks synchronized between all your computers (home, work, etc.).

Whatever bookmark or bookmark folder added on one computer will show up on your other computers when you launch the browser. The plugin displays a sidebar that shows links to pages similar to the ones you visit, and that other users found worth book marking. It will also show you users who made some of their bookmarks public, which are related to the pages you visit. You may find experts on subjects you need information about. When you find interesting stuff (videos, photos, text, etc.) on a web page, the BuzzIt! functionality allows you to grab it and build a document that you can keep private, or share with friends, or the whole world. It automatically builds a Buzzlog showing all your discoveries (privately or publicly as you chose) and even allows you to post to your existing blog on the popular blog platforms. You can send it by email, using your address book from Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. The service is free, and (so far), ad-free. It does not require creating an account unless you want to create some Buzz, but then minimal information is required: login and password (not even an email). Yoono has more than 800000 users, and was selected by Mozilla for the best Firefox add-ons list.

Windows Mobile Today Screen Tools

One of the best tools that Windows Mobile offers PDA owners is the Today Screen. It’s your primary source of information and can be set to appear every time that you turn your PDA on, reminding you of things to do or places to be. With a little bit of free software you can make the Today screen even more useful and there’s nothing better than a bit of extra utility for no outlay.

The first tool is a replacement for the standard calendar Today plugin: Calendar+. The default calendar plug-in is very restricted, only showing the next appointment or next day’s appointments. Not much use for forward planning. Calendar+ however, allows you to select the number of future appointments to display (up to a month), the format that they are displayed in and how much of the Today screen will be dedicated to the purpose.

The second tool is an application launcher from Scott Seligman, which manages to be both slick and lightweight at the same time, visually integrating into the Today screen in a way that commercial competitors fail to do. As first installed the program creates shortcuts to all the applications on your device, however by simply adding or removing files from the launcher folder you can customize this to your own taste.

ThinkUI SQL Client | Database Driven Code Generation for Java

Most developers often look at code generation with skepticism and assume that the generated code will be incomprehensible and/or of low quality.

However, under the right circumstance, code generation can be an important asset in the developer tool belt. For example, if you are a Java developer you can easily find a large number of code generation tools (e.g. search for “code generator” in any search engine).

However, most of the tools usually require a time commitment that makes code generation unattractive (except for niche domain such as Data Access Object code generation or simple JSP/HTML form generation where a large number of artifacts can be generated). However, one tool that have been recently surfaced seem quite promising.

The ThinkUI SQL Client tool allows Java developers who are familiar with the Apache Velocity template engine to easily generate code (or any text output) based on database meta data. This approach allows developers to customize the generated code to their preferences and since the tool is quite simple to use, the initial time investment is minimal.

For example, you can create customized Java bean classes for all your database tables/views is matter of seconds. This gives you plenty of time to customize the formatting and javadoc of the template to suite your needs

iTerm Terminal Emulation

For many Mac OS X users migrating from Linux or Unix, the Terminal application is a frequently used piece of software.

However, the native Terminal application leaves much to be desired, most notably due to lack of support for a tabbed interface. For an improved Terminal emulation utility, consider iTerm, a native Cocoa application that supports both a tabbed interface and transparent windows. Since the application is written in Cocoa, it maintains the standard look-and-feel that numerous Mac users have grown to love. iTerm is a free application and supports all of the same language encodings available natively through OS X. Try out this fantastic find at http://iterm.sourceforge.net, where iTerm is available as a convenient universal binary.

Capture A Screenshot From A Streamed Video

Ever wanted to take a screen shot of something you’ve seen in a streaming video? Sure you have!

You set up the stream, advance to the right time counter, and snap! But.. oh no! The frame of the media player is black. What happened? Well, the problem is likely due to video card acceleration and overlays. Basically, to produce higher quality video, your computer asks your video card to display the accelerated video in an overlay, which “overlays” the rest of the screen. From the user’s perspective, the video and the other windows are all on the same plane.

However, from the software’s point of view, the only things on the screen are the windows, since the actual video is in the overlay. This is why the streaming media player’s window appears black. How to fix this? Well, I will demonstrate with RealPlayer v 10.5 for Windows as an example, but the general idea should hold for any media player.

Go to the menu bar, and select “Tools.” Scroll down and select “Preferences…” The preferences window should appear. Within the window, select “Hardware” from the side menu. In the bottom panel, select “Most Reliable” which will show “Disable optimized video and overlays.” Then, restart RealPlayer and try capturing the image again. Voila!

Apple TV Review

Since the Apple TV finally shipped it has been met with as much criticism as it has praise. The device itself is simple, beautiful and over other options, seems to be a break-out hit.

Opening the packaging was very similar to the enclosure the iPods with video come in. A thin box slides out of the exterior shell and opens midway to reveal the Apple TV on one side, the Apple remote on the other. Only one cable is included with Apple TV: the power cable. Reasons for this aren’t clear, but it is assumed because of the variety of ways Apple TV can be hooked up, Apple would rather not have wasted the money and space to include cables that may not be used by the customer.

Setting up Apple TV takes just a few minutes, after it finds your network, you enter your wireless password, then pair the device with iTunes. Apple TV generates a code for iTunes to pair, and upon success, you are greeted with syncing and streaming options. Content ripped from DVDs into the mp4 or H.264 formats looks fantastic on Apple TV, as well as the newer, higher resolution content purchased from the iTunes store. Apple TV is a fantastically easy way to manage all of your films, TV shows, podcasts, and music within your home entertainment system.

Not that hacking the machine is necessary, but it has proven already to be very mod-able, like the first generation TiVo. There are ways of adding a larger hard drive, to upgrade from the stock 40GB drive, ways to play Divx and xvid format files, as well as ways to install a fully-functioning OSX to turn Apple TV into the smallest functioning Mac available. Apple TV is a notable entry into the content management space, and there are exciting things in store as the device gains more traction in the market.

Faststone Image Viewer

Faststone Image Viewer is compact piece of software developed for your image viewing needs.

It’s very small (installation file is about 3mb) and is fast when working with images. It shows them either in thumbnails or listed icons and it has quality filebrowser. When you open the image you can zoom it with the left mouse click which is a great option because of it’s speed and quality (zoomed image isn’t very pixely) To summarize - a great program which will save your time and nerves when working with.

Total Commander

Originally known as Windows commander, Total Commander debuted as a nice windows file explorer with all the features of the well-known DOS Norton commander.

Its main and most important feature is having two folder panels side by side to copy/move files back and forth. Currently, Total Commander supports multiple tabs so that now you can work with several folders in one window. In several levels, Total Commander supports plug-ins to add limitless new features. For example, you can manipulate registry, services, start-up programs, clipboard contents, control panel, task manager, and Uninstaller.

You can also use Total Commander as a RSS feeds reader, an emails reader, a HTTP browser, and a FTP browser. Total Commander comes with a nice viewer called Lister which also supports plug-ins. Using this viewer, you can view virtually any type of files (pdf, ps, MS word, images, videos, music, database files, web pages, just to name a few. This program has everything in one nice user-friendly window that you don’t have to shuffle through different programs to get the job done. There are folder history, folder bookmarks, program shortcuts, extensive compression type support, just about anything that is related to file or folder and much more.

Cobian Backup

Have you ever lost your files? Well, here’s a little program that will help you save those files before that happens again.

With Cobian Backup you can store your files in your hard drive making frequent background backups of some or all of your files! You can customize different tasks for all those things we bury into our hard drives. It is one of the simplest, versatile and quickest backup programs you will find. Plus you only have to set it up once and it will do its numerous tasks stealthily without you even noticing.

• Download Cobian Backup 8 Version 8 Black Moon For Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista Latest version: 8.4.0.198
• Download Cobian Backup 7 Version 7 Luz de Luna For Windows 95*, 98, ME, Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003 Latest version: 7.6.0.353

Customizing Your Windows Boot Screen

At some point in time, Windows users all get tired of the stock Windows boot screen- the screen that you are forced to stare at while Windows loads up.

Although it is possible to actually edit the original file, an easier, safer, and more versatile method is to use Stardock BootSkin, a great free program that allows you to ’skin’ your boot screen. Since this doesn’t change your original boot screen’s file, it’s a safer and more stable way of doing things. You can create your own BootSkins, or use pre-made skins found at websites like Wincustomize.
If you find multiple skins that you like, the program has a function that allows you to have a different skin from your collection appear randomly each time Windows is loaded. Overall, this program is a lot of fun and a great way to make your computer customization go further than just swapping out the image on your desktop. Stardock BootSkin is a great program for any creative Windows XP/2000 user.

Top Ten Firefox Add-ons

My top ten Firefox Add-ons:

1. Torrent Finder Toolbar: For all of you who like to play in the dark side of town downloading stuff you should not…
2. ChatZilla: Not the best ICQ software but the fact that it embed in Firefox make it a must have you don’t have to install a full ICQ software just install this Add-ons.
3. Flashgot: With Flashgot you can snatch video from Youtube or do all sorts of interesting thing and it even synchronize with Bitcomet.
4. Gmail Space: Transform a Gmail account into an online hard drive!
5. IE Tab: Some site does not support Firefox very well IE Tab takes care of that. They improve it recently or it would not have made this top ten.
6. Wizz RSS News Reader: A solid RSS reader.
7. Foxytune: Control Winamp and any supported audio player from Firefox.
8. My Stickies: Use it to make Post-it note right on a webpage. Come back to that page the notes are still there! (I would have ranked it higher but it not working for now with recent Firefox version.)
9. G Preview: Insert a preview of pages when you do research with G or Yahoo I just discover it bur I can already tell it going to be a must have soon.
10. QuickZoom-CM: It QuickZoom but for Firefox 3 it does the same thing allowing you to make the text bigger or smaller with a fast keyboard command (ctrl++ and ctrl+-)

Right Click Not Working

This isn’t one of my usual posts, but since it infuriated me so much while writing the previous post I thought I might as well right about it since I was here in my blog anyway.

While I was trying to copy and paste in my links, my right click button on my mouse stopped working. I was no longer able to simple right click and “copy” or “copy shortcut”. I had to use the Edit>Copy menu items. I dont’ know why, but this infuriated me to no end. My mouse is lucky to be in one piece. It’s still not working and after I reboot if it doesn’t see fit to cooperate my wife and I will have another piece of office equipment to go Office Space on! (I wish I had made a tape of us destroying my old fax machine!)

CounterSpy 2.0

Ever had one of those days when you were on the web one day and the next day your browser refuses to go to the sites you want and jumps from site to site.

Well I’ve had several of those days and I’ve got a program that you need if you want to be on the web each night without worrying what gets on your system. Developed by Sunbelt Software, CounterSpy 2.0has succeeded where other applications such as McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8 and Windows Defender has failed. Not only did it get rid of my browser problem, it alerted me to other security issues on my system (including tracking cookies) filtering out the bad and leaving behind the good.

You can get a free 15-day trial at the Sunbelt Software website and can upgrade to the full version for $19.95. I think it’s totally worth the price since it saved me from viewing webpages I had no interest in seeing. A word of caution though: Active Protection tends to go a bit extreme so try and create a system restore point before your first install and see how it works for you. If it doesn’t work out well the first time, use the restore point and install CounterSpy without enabling Active Protection. Good luck!