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Number of Android Devices Has Devs Worried

Ryan Whitwam — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:02:31 -0600

It’s been just over a year since Android was released, and we’re finally seeing the floodgates open. There are currently no fewer than 12 Android phones available and still more coming soon. While this may make Android fans out there giddy with excitement, it’s not so thrilling for app developers.

There are 3 versions on Android in the wild: 2.0, 1.6, and 1.5. Developers increasingly find themselves devoting time to patching incompatibilities with new Android handsets. “Instead of working on updates to our apps, we find we are trying to make each app work for multiple versions of the OS and different hardware capabilities,” said Froogloid’s Chris Fagan.

The modifications some manufacturers are making to Android complicate things even further. The recent;y released HTC Hero, for example, was incompatible with Froogloid’s application ‘a2b’. When a2b attempted to enable GPS using standard commands, the Hero would instead respond by presenting the lock screen. The new Motorola Droid also had a few incompatibilities due to the high screen resolution and new Android 2.0 APIs.

Can Android overcome this fragmentation? The solution may be to keep phones more uniformly updated. But that requires better cooperation between hardware partners and Google. Only time will tell if Android’s ecosystem can continue to grow more robust despite these challenges.

Freeware Files: Five Mozilla Jetpack Add-ons to Fuel Your Firefox

David Murphy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0600

What, you ask, is Jetpack?

Right now, it's just an add-on for Mozilla Firefox. But it could also represent the future of browser-based extensions as we know it, depending on how much developers can twist and craft this new open framework to their advantage. Unlike normal Firefox add-ons, which require a decently skilled knowledge of Javascript and XUL, Jetpack add-ons use a combination of HTML, CSS, and Javascript to deliver new features and functionality directly through the browser. According to Mozilla, one could theoretically write an easy-to-use Jetpack add-on in "under a dozen lines of code." And the benefit for the casual Web browser? Jetpack add-ons promise universal compatibility with different versions of Firefox and, the kicker, require no browser restart to function.

Mozilla just launched the official gallery for this new framework last week. As you might expect, there aren't a ton of browser add-ons to play with. However, I'm going to take a look at five of the more innovative, interesting, and downright install-worthy of the Jetpack add-ons that are currently available in this week's freeware roundup. And remember--you can install and uninstall these add-ons without mucking up your browser session whatsoever, so feel free to be a Firefox Rocketeer and grab as many as you want to try out!

Thumbtabs

One of the fussier points of Firefox is that you can't natively get a thumbnail view of a site when you hover your mouse over its tab in your browser. Thumbtabs adds this functionality into your Web surfing experience by building a little, clickable arrow on the left-hand side of your tab toolbar. When you jam it with your mouse, a sidebar pops open to show you exactly what the pages represented by your various tabs look like. It's not quite as slick as, say, a mouseover window popping up, but Thumbtabs certainly gets the job done.

Download it here!

JetWave

If you're one of the many who use some variant of the Firefox Gmail Manager add-on to show you when you have new messages in your Inbox, you'll love JetWave. In short, it borrows the same functionality from Gmail Manager and pops a little Google Wave icon in the lower-right corner of your browser. When someone adds a message to one of your Google Waves, a little window pops up and lets you know. Clicking on the icon itself will take you right to the Google Wave home page, giving you a quick, easy way to add a reply. You can also access individual waves via a handy little sidebar on the left side of your screen.

Download it here!

Jetstatus

That didn't take long. Of course, Jetstatus is the Twitter tie-in of Jetpack add-ons. Just like JetWave, little pop-up windows appear in the lower-right hand corner of your browser whenever one of your Twitter followers posts a link. If you're popular like Associate Editor Nathan Edwards, then your browser should be a flurry of activity each time you open the window. Although you can't reply or otherwise engage your "Tweeps" via these Jetstatus pop-ups, you can at least use the add-on's built-in sidebar window to jump to the homepage of any of your followers, as well as any links they've posted in their Tweets.

Download it here!

ClicktoFlash

Are you ever bothered by Web sites that just bombard you with Flash content when all you really want to do is navigate a page? Yeah. ClicktoFlash is perhaps the world's easiest method for turning Flash on and off at your leisure. When you toggle the little button on the lower-right corner of your Firefox window to "off," or the big "F" with a circle and a line through it, then no Flash content will load on any page you surf to. If you change your mind and really want to see what a site looks like with the Flash content going crazy, then just click on the "Flash" button that now appears where Flash content used to be. Presto--up it loads!

Download it here!

Image Editor

This add-on is, in a word, crazy. All it really does is add a little menu option, "Edit Image," to the right-click context menu whenever you click an image on a Web page. From there, Image Editor loads said picture into a Lightbox of Pixlr. It's no Adobe Photoshop, but Pixlr is nevertheless a great way to accomplish a number of editing tasks--from drawing, to resizing, to screwing-up-with-lots-of-filters--straight out of your browser window. When you're done playing around, you can save the image directly out of Pixlr to your desktop just as if you were doing it in a standard, installed program. Awesome.

Download it here!

David Murphy (@ Acererak) is a technology journalist and former Maximum PC editor. He writes weekly columns about the wide world of open-source as well as weekly roundups of awesome, freebie software. Befriend him on Twitter, especially if you have an awesome app or game you're dying to recommend!

Freeware Files: Five Apps for a Windows 7 Desktop Makeover!

David Murphy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0600

There's nothing wrong with the Windows 7 desktop per se. But for freeware developers, that's no excuse not to tweak, hack, and otherwise modify every possible piece of your screen. And it's not that difficult to add new functionality to your desktop that doesn't otherwise exist in the operating system. The hardest part is finding software that makes a substantive change to what you already have. After all, the last thing you want to do is install a ton of different freeware apps and find your desktop in even worse shape than it was before (if you do, take a quick trip to Revo Uninstaller).

The intensity of the following five free applications ranges from apps that completely revamp your desktop's look and feel to programs that add new ways for accessing common apps and folders straight off your desktop. How far you want to go with your tweaking is entirely up to you--these are just some of the more interesting tools I've come across that should go a long way toward raising your "Windows Power User" level a few notches.

Desktop Media

Here's an easy one. Desktop Media emulates one of OSX's most basic and useful features. Whenever you stick a new CD in the drive, connect a portable USB storage device to your system, or fire up a network drive (amongst other options), Desktop Media slaps a shortcut to said device right on your desktop. Remove the device (or take the CD out), and the shortcut automatically disappears. Fire this one up in front of your friends and they'll swear that you've built some crazy Mac/Windows hybrid--you'll be the life of the Windows 7 party.

Download it here!

StandaloneStack 2

I've always enjoyed how Windows 7 has managed to simultaneously de-clutter and improve the usefulness of the default Windows Vista and Windows XP taskbars. However, every icon on the bar at the little bottom of your screen still only represents one program. Sure, you can get some added contextual items to select if you click on an application's arrow icon on the Start Menu, but this isn't a universal feature for all applications--and you're still only interacting with a single program.

StandaloneStack 2 allows you to move one step beyond these features and create program "stacks," or graphical lists, based off of a single icon. When you click on this icon, you can use the ensuing menu of items to launch new programs, folders, or settings options. It's like having a number of different Start buttons that you can customize as much as you'd like.

Download it here!

7 Taskbar Tweaker

This app might be limited in its prettiness, but it more than makes up for it with its usefulness. As you might expect, 7 Taskbar Tweaker is a simple utility for adding additional functionality into your default Windows 7 taskbar. For example, you can switch between either a default jump list or standard window menu when you right-click an icon, toggle application grouping on and off, and make use of new middle-click functionality that either opens a new instance of a taskbar program, closes the window, or focuses the window. You can also disable thumbnail previews, should you so choose. It's not a weighty list of items to play around with, but 7 Taskbar Tweaker's modifications aren't normally customizable options in the Windows 7 OS.

Download it here!

MenuApp

Speaking of the Start Menu, let's suppose you have a ton of different files, programs, favorites, and shortcuts that you want to be able to access from a single location. Let's call this set of objects "work." Normally, you'd have to make a folder somewhere on your system or desktop and dump all of your pertinent files in there, as well as all of your bookmarked Web sites, shortcuts to all the programs you need to access, et cetera. To organize this folder, you'd have to use subfolders related to the items you intend to store. Fun.

MenuApp removes the ugliness from this organization by allowing you to create Start Menu-like hierarchies based off of a single icon on your desktop. Now, you can simply click on your newly created "work" icon and pull up all of your files, shortcuts, and other objects of interest via an easy-to-access system of menus without having to move a single piece of data around your PC. Just tell MenuApp where the documents you want to access are located on your computer and it'll automatically create menus based on the contents of those folders--from there, you can shuffle and create organized pathways through your data at your leisure.

Download it here!

Rainmeter

For the ultimate in desktop skinning without a ton of crazy configuration files to wade through, Rainmeter is an excellent tool for changing the look of your entire desktop without sacrificing a large amount of system resources. A recent update to the application adds a little feature called RainBrowser, which lets you run through the different skins you've installed for the application and tweak their settings or preview their look before you start changing up your desktop en masse. The Rainmeter developers do the best job of summarizing the coolness of this free app: "Every inch of a skin is completely customizable."

Or, in other words, the sky's the limit. Ha-ha!

Download it here!

Flickr Plants Seeds for New "App Garden", Better API

Ryan Whitwam — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:16:12 -0600

The Flickr API is nothing new, but the photo sharing site is now bringing it more front and center. Flickr has unveiled their new “App Garden” that provides a better interface for finding useful photo apps. The new page is more compact than the old API interface. Each app gets a thumbnail preview that links to an individual page. Here, users can tag, discuss, and favorite an app.

There are still a few missing features, though. Flickr is about sharing, but there’s no way to share a list of your apps with friends. It also doesn’t take advantage of Flickr’s friend activity feed to show off what apps you’re using. However, the recommendation system does allow users to recommend individual apps. If you’re a Flickr user, do you like the new interface?

Freeware Files: Auto-Installers for Your Favorite Windows 7 Apps!

David Murphy — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:45:00 -0500

I feel as if we just crossed this path the other day. But that's okay. On the grand scale of "pony-themed games" to "extremely useful freeware applications," automatic application installers--or package mangers--tend to fall toward the latter end of the spectrum.

I wouldn't be broaching this topic so close to a previous, similar roundup were it not critically important for you to check out some of the apps that I've recently found. Although a few package managers might slip into the mix, the freeware programs I'm about to profile today... aren't really programs at all. At least, they aren't installation packages in the way you're typically used to seeing them.

Unlike package managers, which require you to install a separate application that contains some fancy list of other applications to download, some of the apps I'm investigating today remove this extra step from the equation. When stumbling into the official Web site of said programs, you're given the opportunity to customize a list of programs you want to install before you have to download anything. Once you're ready, the site creates a single executable that--if all goes well--downloads and spits the applications onto your hard drive without so much as an extra mouse click of your time.

Of course, that's the best-case scenario. There are still a number of helpful "application packages" that are a wee less automated but still worth looking into. And if you need any further encouragement, one such tool cut my typical post-installation software installation time from around 30-45 minutes to a grand total of five--five hassle-free minutes, mind you.

Ninite

I won't bury the lede. Ninite--coincidentally released this past Friday--was the first program I turned to post-successful Windows 7 installation. Why's that? Because I, like you, don't enjoy wasting an hour or more hunting across the Internet for all the apps I frequently use. And after that, there's the installation process: Tedious, sequential steps of application installation routine after application installation routine. A few thousand mouse-clicks and ten computer reboots later... and I feel like I've wasted my entire day installing programs instead of actually using them.

Ninite delivers an easy solution to this mess. Go to the website and click on the apps that you ultimately want to install. When you're done, Ninite creates a customized executable that downloads and installs these apps for you. Each app is installed with its default settings to its default location--a boon for those who just want a "set it and forget it" dump of all their favorite applications, although picky purists who prefer to tweak an app's advanced installation options might find themselves slightly disappointed.

Download it here!

Google Pack

It goes without saying, but this tried-and-true set of applications from Google offers a wide latitude of variety for just a single installation executable. From the Chrome Web browser, to Google Earth, to third-party applications like Skype, you'll find a lot of functionality that's easily customizable to create your own personal Google Pack. Simply head on over to Google's Web site for the software and select which elements you want to appear in your customized download executable. Double-click on the file once you've downloaded it and Google, for the most part, will take care of the rest.

Download it here!

Allmyapps

Allmyapps has the slight ring of a package manager to it, in that the application you download is mainly a resource for processing specialized links from the accompanying Web site rather than a full-fledged installation package of its own. However, the functionality this site offers is comparable to Ninite... and there are a ton more freeware and open-source apps to choose from! Like an Amazon shopping extravaganza, simply add the apps you want to download to your shopping card, er, list. Register for the site and save your list, and you'll be able to grab all the programs at once using the site's downloadable installer application.

I'd much prefer to skip the registration process entirely and just get the apps a la Ninite, but it's hard to argue in the face of the site's comprehensive list of programs to pick from.

Download it here!

BaseShield App Store

Similar to a concept I've blogged about in the past--okay, it's exactly identical--BaseShield is the equivalent of an iTunes for freeware and open-source PC software. Install the App Store application and you'll be able to browse for additional programs as if you were searching for a new application for your iPod Touch or iPhone device.

To be fair, BaseShield isn't a carbon-copy of iTunes. In fact, it's really more of just a graphical package manager. I guess I was a little thrown off by the title. The pretty treatment and abundance of available (and updated) freeware and open-source software titles does set this package manager a bit apart from its peers. And since it's made by the same people who made the ever-awesome Ninite app you read about earlier, I have the utmost faith that this program will be as delightful a treat for your PC as its brother. Or sister. Take your pick.

Download it here!

Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0

Every now and them, I stumble across a piece of freeware for the hardcore developer crowd. I'll never use it myself, but Microsoft's Web Platform Installer 2.0 makes for a simplified way to download and install a whole bevy of components at once, including: Internet Information Services (IIS), SQL Server 2008 Express, the .NET framework, and Visual Web Developer Express, amongst others. Microsoft has even built a community of-sorts around the various Web apps that you can integrate into your site after-the-fact, including Wordpress, SugarCRM, and Gallery, to name a few.

Like I said, this is pure, geeky developer stuff. But, hey, automated installations are automated installations, eh? If your geek-fu isn't quite at this level, maybe you can start by playing around with XAMPP?

Download it here!

Murphy's Law: The Post-Windows-7 Freeware Survival Guide

David Murphy — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0500

What's the first thing you're going to do after installing the Windows 7 operating system? If you live in Japan, perhaps you'll go celebrate your new, wallpaper-shifting desktop with some cardiac arrest. If you're one of the stalwarts still clinging to your XP or Vista operating system, well, you're probably going to spin your chair around in smug defiance of Microsoft's latest bit of software. And if you're a Maximum PC reader, I would hope that you're going to treat your fresh new installation of Windows 7 as an October spring cleaning of-sorts.

In fact, I urge you to. One doesn't often get a chance to reinstall an operating system from scratch. Or, rather, it's always easier to think of the hundreds of reasons why it's just not the right time to wipe-and-reinstall the contents of your primary hard drive. Resist the temptation to take the easy route. Backup your drive, give it a good format, and install Windows 7 onto your clean-as-a-whistle partition.

And once you've done that, read the rest of this article. While my colleagues at Maximum PC have given you some good first steps into your new Windows 7 world post-installation, I'd like to go one bit further and list out my typical post-installation routine for any Windows operating system. There are a number of key freeware choices that you'll want to slap onto your system to establish a baseline environment that's as efficient as it is secure--that, and you should really take this time to establish preventative measure that will keep your PC as clutter-free as can be throughout its new Windows 7 lifespan.

After all, bloated systems make Kylie sad.

Step One: The Interwebs

After I've gone through the various Windows 7 settings and tweaked them to my personal preferences (I like my hidden folders shown, damnit), I fire up Internet Explorer for its first and last time... to download Mozilla Firefox. I'm not a Firefox fanboy through and through--especially given the memory leaks that continue to plague the browser in various ways. However, just about anything is more useful, less cluttered, and better secured than Internet Explorer. The helpful IE View extension ensures that I'll always be able to load up the IE rendering engine if I'm in a jam (or navigating Microsoft's Windows Update site). Better still, I can immediately grab all my cherished bookmarks from the Cloud using the much-loved Xmarks add-on.

Step Two: Security

Before I start downloading programs and files en masse, I like having some kind of virus scanner either running in the background or easily available through a context menu. When's the last time I actually had a virus? I couldn't tell you. But I could tell you when the next time is that a virus is likely to infect my PC: never. There's been a lot of chatter about Microsoft's free Security Essentials application. I haven't honestly tried the scanner myself. I'm a time-tested fan of good ol' Clamwin, the open-source virus scanner that's quick to install, easy to run (and update), and relatively scare in its footprint. Whatever your choice, an antivirus scanner is worth its weight in easing your own personal stress over potential computer infections... even if it never ends up finding a virus at all.

Step Three: Decrapping

Just so I can get a good habit started before I forget, I make sure to grab the latest version of Spybot S&D and set the program's advanced configuration so that it always runs on my machine at particular intervals. I like Spybot S&D for this very fact: You can literally "set it and forget it," as the popular infomercial saying goes, and have a constantly updating, spyware-free system without having to worry about starting the application manually. Another nice feature of Spybot S&D is its ability to "immunize" your system against certain spyware "infections." In short, the program adjusts your browser's settings to block out known problems before they occur--a nice bit of preventative maintenance that you don't always find in a typical "scan and delete" application.

Get ready for steps Four and Five on page two!

Step Four: Isolating and Removing

If you're one of the lucky users to get your hands on Windows 7's XP Mode, congratulations--you've just acquired a wonderful virtualized operating system for testing new files you've downloaded. If not, don't sweat it. XP Mode is merely a free, virtualized version of the Windows XP operating system that's designed to run on Microsoft's Virtual PC application. You can download Virtual PC for free and install a version of Windows all by yourself (or grab VirtualBox if you want to run non-Microsoft operating systems). It's not a complicated task by any means, and you'll receive the same virtual functionality as those fancier Windows 7 users and their XP Mode.

The bigger question remains: Why bother? Well, a virtualized operating system running overtop your Windows 7 client is a perfect sandbox for testing new applications without having to gunk up your main operating system. Unsure of whether a piece of freeware is really a fit for you? Worried that something you've downloaded might be more problematic for your PC than good? Do you only need to install a particular application for a single use (like, say, obtaining a screenshot)? These are all scenarios where the sandbox environment of a virtual operating system becomes a useful tool. If your virtual OS gets too cluttered, you can always delete it and reinstall... while still going about your daily activities in your normal Windows 7 environment.

If you're still not convinced, or if you've already found yourself with some unwanted applications on your Windows 7 OS, don't uninstall them--not using their default uninstallation routines, that is. Grab Revo Uninstaller, a third-party freeware application that goes to great lengths to eliminate all traces of a program from your machine. Included in this elimination are leftover files in the installation directory, registry settings that were somehow overlooked by the normal uninstaller application, and anything else that's been introduced into your PC by said program. Using the program is no more difficult than Windows' "Add/Remove Programs" option in the Control Panel, but it's many, many times more thorough than the uninstallation routines you'll find on most apps.

Step Five: Saving

I'll hand it to Microsoft, their built-in "Backup and Restore" feature for Windows 7 ain't half bad. If you're sick of installing freeware at this point, then it's worth your while to fire up this Windows 7 application and schedule a drive backup to run on whatever interval you're most comfortable with. If you're a gambling person (or otherwise too impatient to wait for a full system restore should your primary drive hit the fan), you can select the individual files and folders you want Windows to copy over to a new location per your schedule. You can also bundle this piecemeal approach with the creation of a full system image. You won't be able to pick and choose files to restore should you, say, erroneously delete a folder that you didn't include in your piecemeal backup. However, if your computer goes haywire, you'll be able to restore the full. working contents of the your drive elsewhere.

I prefer to use Syncback Freeware for my backup needs--here's why. The program comes with a strong set of filters for the inclusion or exclusion of files or folders, as well as a solid list of "if this file does/does not exist on the backup drive, what should I do?" options for further specificity. I use both of these elements to customize a file synchronization between my primary hard drive and a secondary drive.

Why's that? I don't really want to waste time backing up files I'm never going to need in the event of a complete system meltdown. I'm the kind of guy who opts for the format-reinstallation of an operating system when danger arrives. It's the easiest way to turn back to a blank slate of perfection for my system, and I really don't mind copying the contents of my music, picture, and video folders from the backup drive to the primary. Well, that and all those program reinstallations... but, really, a meltdown is kind of like a forced spring cleaning to me. Consequently, I only want to back up the files that I'm going to need to copy back to the drive. I'd much prefer to reinstall everything else.

Step Six: Your Turn

Of course, these five topics are the first steps I take when my system's brand-new desktop screen pops up for the first time. This list is hardly comprehensive, however--there's much more I install after-the-fact, mostly programs that are less critical to my system's general operations than those represented by these five categories. What about you? What are some of the first steps on your Windows post-installation to-do list?

Ten bonus points and a traffic cone if anything with the word "plants" and "zombies" shows up within the first five items.

Freeware Files: Five New Tools for Your Virtual Toolbox!

David Murphy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:30:00 -0500

With the imminent launch of Windows 7 and its much-hyped Windows XP mode, the word "virtualization" is going to be everyone's lips throughout the month of October. Never one to let a fad slide on by, I'm jumping on the bandwagon in this week's freeware and open-source application roundup. I'll be taking a look at five different programs that enrich your computing experience with some kind of virtual add-on.

What does that even mean? A number of things. Windows XP mode is a great example of the common definition of virtualization--running a second operating system inside your primary operating system in a way that typically allows you to quickly switch between the two and access the contents of your primary machine's hard drives from the virtualized environment.

Virtual desktops are a lesser derivative of this concept. Instead of running a separate operating system, you're merely extending the size of your workspace by stacking on additional desktop layers that you can swap back-and-forth. You can also install a virtual keyboard that sits overtop your programs--analogous to what Windows offers for tablet PCs--if you're concerned about keyloggers somehow getting their hands on your mission-critical information.

I won't go on, as that might spoil some of the fun applications listed below. The virtual world, er, world of virtualized software is vast and interesting, featuring many applications that can expand your computer's functionality without adding a crazy amount of complexity. The coolness of these apps is only rivaled by their ability to save you precious time and headaches from doing things the old-fashioned way. Let's go exploring!

VirtuaWin

As mentioned above, VirtuaWin is the open-source program that allows you to create multiple desktops on a single operating system. You can switch between your desktops, or workspaces, using a handy little taskbar icon or preset keyboard hotkeys, although you can also set the program to swap over to a new workspace whenever you hover your mouse near the edge of a screen. Sending applications from desktop to desktop is as easy as clicking the taskbar icon or using the hotkeys as well. You can also drag a window over the "gutter" between your desktops, then swap over to the other side and pull that half of the window over to the new screen.

The downside? VirtuaWin doesn't create new desktops per se, in that your icons and background will look identical from screen to screen. Still, this program is a great organizational tool. It's nice to see Windows finally getting the same treatment that Linux has had for how long now?

Download it here!

Neo's SafeKeys 2008

If there's one thing that strikes fear in the computer-savvy traveler, it's having to use an unsecured terminal somewhere to access one's important, password-protected information. Who knows what could be lurking on a PC over which you have no control or supervision? Neo's SafeKeys 2008 attempts to relieve the stress of having to use potentially infected systems by giving you a virtual keyboard for inputting your sensitive information (think logins and passwords). It's not foolproof, but it does provide a measure of security from keyloggers using a whole swath of measures: clicked-on keys aren't translated to real-life key presses, the utility changes height and width to fool mouse-loggers, and you can even hover over keys you want to input instead of pressing the mouse button to thwart would-be screen-grabbers.

Like I said, this program isn't going to be the James Bond of safeguards against someone who's using a number of fancy techniques to steal your sensitive information. However, I'd much rather use Neo's SafeKeys 2008 than just type my password onto a provided physical keyboard. Yikes!

Download it here!

MobaLiveCD

It's not the fastest virtual environment around in terms of raw application speed, but MobaLiveCD puts up a fight for the title of fastest-loading. That's because this one-shot, single-executable application lets you launch into LiveCD-based operating systems at the touch of a button, right in the middle of your pre-existing Windows environment! If you're trying to save yourself coasters by installing your Live CDs straight onto bootable USB keys, you can use MobaLiveCD to launch into said operating systems without having to reboot your PC. The program can also launch a LiveCD-based OS from the .iso file you'd otherwise use to burn said CD.

Download it here!

Visual Subst

For convenience's sake, Virtual Subst allows you to take any folder on your system and mount it as if it was its own virtual hard drive. While the functionality is somewhat negated by the "Favorite Links" section in Windows Explorer, you have to dig a little deeper to see the true genius of Visual Subst. For example, pretend that you've mapped all of your iTunes music to the X:\ drive. The actual folder that corresponds to said virtual hard drive can be located anywhere on your PC, and you can move it around to anywhere else you want without any problem. To iTunes, your music will always exist in a single location--X:\. For you, however, you can shift and shuffle your files to your heart's content, provided you always point the final destination back to your trusty virtual drive of choice. That's just one thought--the mapping possibilities are endless!

Download it here!

VirtualBox

I would be remiss as an app-reviewer if I didn't mention VirtualBox, the oft-heralded free application of choice that allows you to load and launch any number of operating systems in a virtual environment. Essentially, this program will perform nearly the same functions as Windows 7's Virtual XP Mode. It offers you greater configurability and increased support for operating systems beyond Microsoft's own creations. You can also rollback changes you've made with an included snapshot mode, an ideal feature for those looking use a virtualized operating system as a clean test platform for new applications. Nothing against the Windows Virtual PC application--VirtualBox just offers more bang for your $0 worth of buck.

Download it here!

Palm Pre Shuns iTunes and Embraces Amazon

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:15:45 -0500

After the USB Implementers Forum reprimanded Palm for using Apple’s USB Vendor ID to re-enable iTunes sync on the Pre – Apple had blocked Palm’s Vendor ID, Palm was left with little choice but to abandon the practice. With the release of webOS 1.2 for the Pre, Palm has grudgingly abandoned its fixation with iTunes and opted for Amazon in its stead. Users can now download their favorite tracks from the Amazon MP3 store using either WiFi or WAN. But iTunes aficionados, who own a Pre for some reason, can use third-party alternatives like double Twist and iTunes Agent to enable iTunes sync on their own.

Image Credit: Gadgetsteria